arsaib4.

I was thinking (especially in regards to character design), more of series like Evangelion, Nadesico, Full Metal Panic etc. 

With the majority of series the character designs are done by one artist which often leads to them having a very similar design which is only differentiated by hair style, colour and clothing. Indeed with some series, the facial resemblance is so similar, you could even interchange the male and female characters.

I'd compare the character designs in Haibane Renmie with those of series like Azumanga Daioh, each character is different facially and build wise. This neccessitates more work but is instantly noticable and more effective.

As for the cgi, I love to see it used sparingly and unobtrusively as in this series and Miyazaki's recent films. In these cases it adds to the production whereas in Wonderful days (aka Sky Blue) and to a point Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence it is too showy, this may work well in a cinema but pulls you out of the story especially on the small screen.

Haibane Renmie is a fine series and in fact as Howard noted, it is one of "anime's best-kept secrets" and is one of the few that does actually make you open your mind.

As for Miyazaki, his animes have proved to be timeless. As styles and story types fall in and out of fashion, his films are ever present and ever popular. He uses cgi to benefit the story but even before the introduction of computors as animation tools he was producing incredibly complex images. A couple of good examples are the train movement in Kiki's Delivery Service or the giant "Ohmu" in Nausicaa. You can see that his animes would still be beautifully executed without the use of cgi, it just makes the job easier and quicker. 

Cheers Trev.