Wolf's Rain

The new millennium has brought us many new anime titles. Most of which seem to involve a sad story, a sad main character, and an overall sad feel. Wolf's Rain may indeed fall into that category, but there are unique differences that make this series more complex than that. Take first, the main character Kiba. He has a goal and he'll do anything to reach it. But he has two distinct sides to his character. One is his proud, rash, and arrogant self that attacks anything that stands in his way. And the other is a quiet, mysterious, and observing type that is expressed when meetingnew friends (For instance, when he was reluctant to say his name to Hige) and whenever he is around Cheza. Though not technically the sorrowful character one would expect him to be in an orphaned and lonely state, he still makes sad connections to his past. As this was an anime before it became a manga series, BONES (the same company that made Fullmetal Alchemist) had unlimited freedom on where to go with the series. Except for a few "flashback" or "clip" episodes in the middle of the series, there is almost no filler and the pacing of each episode is excellent. The animation is amazing (as expected of BONES) and the music just as well. Beautiful orchestral music is played throughout the series, and, unique to most anime, the opening and ending themes are in perfect English (as are other soundtracks songs during the actual show). The main story follows an unusual cast of characters, most of which are not even human. Kiba and his crew are all wolves with the power to create the illusion that they are human (though it is not perfect as their shadows and pawprints are still shown through). There are also the typical human characters, like the greedy Dracia that wants Paradise to himself and a pair of lovers that rekindle their relationship through hardship. Plus there's also the ghost of a cryptic owl that gives advice in proverbs. (Whether or not this is a Legend of Zelda reference is still beyond me) But there is never a time when an anime can be perfect. There are still plot-holes within Wolf's Rain. Mainly the ending: It's open-ended and leaves more to be desired. But as a more thought-provoking series, the ending does its job... Kind of. But besides a few odd turns, Wolf's Rain is good at creating plot twists. And BONES was so confident about the series that most episodes don't even end in a cliffhanger. They just find a natural stopping point. Overall, Wolf's Rain is an enjoyable series if you love wolves, action, the supernatural, and beautiful music. Though don't expect it to be happy or provide fan-service.

Wolf's Rain was, to say the least, and interesting, but not overly involving anime. Although I liked the concept, setting, sound and art direction, I could not find myself getting attatched to the characters or involved in the plot. When I look back at it, I honestly believe that the characters just followed common stereotypes, and really didn't evolve throughout the plot. The supporting characters were able to garner a little interest from me, but the lead was dull and drab, and the only dialogue I can remember from him is "we have to get to paradise". A lead character is supposed to get a vieweremotionally attatched, not bore the viewer to tears. Then there is the plot. Basically it follows a rather dull and drawn out journey to find the wolves "Paradise", with a few twists and turns along the way. As the characters personalities barely evolve through the course of their journey, the plot becomes tedious, and I found myself not caring at all about the characters and their journey after a few episodes. Then, there is the final act. To me, the last few episodes feel rushed and poorly thought out, and the story reaches a conclusion where there is no reward for patiently watching the show in its entirety. The show ended on a very vague and sour note, and had kept me in an irritated state for a fair while. Despite not enjoying the overall plot and the characters, the sound and animation quality of this anime is great. I still find myself listening to pieces of the score to this day to fuel my imagination, which I am very grateful for. I watched the dubbed version, and the voice acting throughout was done well enough. I still despise that opening song, Strays, or whatever it was called, just not my cup of tea. In conclusion, if more thought was put into the character development and plot, Wolf's Rain could have potentially been a great anime in my eyes. The shows concept really interested me, and I wanted to like the show, but it sadly didn't work out the way I wanted it to.

Earth's decay has long provided anime with many disquieted plots over the past 30 years, but few have been more genuine than Keiko Nobumoto's "Wolf's Rain". Facing the long and dreary tundra before him, the mysterious canine protagonist, Kiba (meaning "Fang" in Japanese) reluctantly moves forward, being called to something he can only describe as paradise. The world has fallen in on itself, as humans have tarnished the earth and almost wiped out the wolf race. Kiba, along with a handful of his remaining kind have learned to blend to their environment, one day hoping to find salvation in the form of awolf paradise. And now, finally grouped with his own pack, and a guide in the form of a beautiful young flower maiden named Cheza, Kiba must face the dangerous plight to find rebirth. This compelling journey in conjunction with the amazing characters involved makes Wolf's rain easily likeable, as well as admirable because it addresses the end of life as a new beginning to an ironically never ending journey. The paradise it describes is brought forth from the journey's experiences, rather than the journey's conclusion. Directed by Tensei Okamura, who has delighted with his past collaborations on Full Metal Panic and Cowboy Bebop, this genuinely compelling series is only set with a few anime conventions: the hard pressed rival to the leader (Tsume), the insane but devoted antagonist (Darcia) and the mysterious hunter who wants to settle a score (Quent). Besides these, Wolf's Rain is a plot on its own. The whole pack is in search for paradise for their own reasons and gradually learn more about themselves on the way. They stop by various towns to face obstacles that instigate these learning experiences. While this is happening, the larger picture of the story deals with the remaining three nobles of the world. They all vie for supremacy for their individual purposes, but all come into contact with the wolf pack in one way or another. Like a kick in the pants, it was insane to see the wolf pack take on the noble's soldiers and display their canine powers. Likewise, it was great to see them fail in their attempts because it showed how real they actually were. If you enjoy being attached to characters even with their shortcomings then I strongly recommend this series. One of the great things about Wolf's Rain is that the only really beautiful characters are the wolves themselves. Everything else the art depicts is very alive, but in a darker, more decayed way. All of the landscapes are hauntingly dismal, even when the story shifts to the more modern settings. The art is very realistic in this way, and beauty is only used as a reflection for the characters who are the purest. Bad music could have really hindered a series with this much melancholy and drama. Luckily, Yoko Kanno, the jazz queen composer from Cowboy Bebop also blessed Wolf's Rain with her talents. Its so amazing the way she sets the tones for scenes in the series. She never over does anything, which makes the really big "holy shit" scenes far more impactful. There are actually many long scenes in which nothing but music is used to describe the mood of the situation, and it was refreshing to see a series that didn't jabber on to describe what was happening. All you really have to do is listen during Wolf's Rain to appreciate what is going on below the surface. Thank you for that Ms. Kanno. The characters are what make this series a classic. Every one of them, even the minor ones only have to speak or make a certain facial expression to show you how they LIVE. By this I mean, we only have to look at the way they act to get a feel of who they are right off the bat. I was sort of expecting this, because Nobumoto's writing is always so real. She was never afraid to pull punches in this series, and none of the characters are set in stone. They all grow at their own paces and aren't always the same person. The pack becomes more of an extended family as it progresses and does so through many conflicts. What I loved most is that when things really got bad, none of them really went into the predictable dramatic speech about life and death. Everything was always quiet when something bad in the series happen, and only loud when it really needed to be. This subtle realism is what made the wolves seems all the more relatable and ironically human. If you want real drama in your characters, than you'll love these wolves. Now, I'm a guy who has been brought up in fast paced, shounen style anime, and Wolf's Rain was really the first serious piece of art for me. I mean I've seen some mildly toned anime sure, but this series really gets you in the gut from the beginning. Its very dark, I mean the world is ending throughout the plot, who wouldn't be depressed? It had some lighter, happier moments, but they were often offset with depressing, real ones. I wouldn't recommend this series if you want to escape reality, but if your someone who wants to see a more genuine, less optimistic piece of art than you'll like it. I only scored the enjoyment at a 7 because even for me, a natural pessimist, the story did drag out the harshness of reality sometimes. It makes you sort of hate Nietszhe. Well, maybe not that much, but you know what I'm saying. "They say there's no such place... as Paradise. Even if you search to the ends of the Earth, there's nothing there. No matter how far you walk, it's always the same road. It just goes on and on. But, in spite of that... Why am I so driven to find it? A voice calls to me... It says, Search for Paradise." - Kiba

::Note:: This review includes the OVA. Those final 4 episodes were supposed to be included with the original TV airing run but had to be delayed because of a SARS outbreak in Japan at the time so they aired a few recaps. Note that this review ignores these recaps because it's fucking 2013 and if you watch recap episodes then it's your own bloody fault Aaanyway It used to be the case that if you wanted to start a fight in an anime clubroom, all you had to do was stand up and proclaim “Wolf’s Rain is pretentious” and watch the chaos unfold. Fandom has since movedon. Now they get fights about whether Madoka Magica is a deconstruction or not. I’m going to see if I can rekindle a few of those old flames by calling Wolf’s Rain a load of pretentious old twaddle. Also Madoka Magica is a deconstruction. Also also Lelouch is not the cart driver. Wolf’s Rain is set in the pre-apocalypse where the world is being slowly destroyed by oppressive grey screen filters. The story follows a bunch of boys as they track from city to wilderness in search of a nebulous concept called ‘Paradise’. The boys are actually Wonderful Outstanding Lovely Fellows, or W.O.L.F’s, who have deceived humanity into believing the W.O.L.F’s all look like humans because otherwise humans are just too jealous of the W.O.L.F’s so they try to wipe them out. Along the way each of the W.O.L.F’s go on a voyage of self-discovery while meeting a variety of interesting characters trying to work out why the world is ending. Despite my snarky tone, there is a lot of good things to say about Wolf’s Rain. The characters are well-rounded and flawed in interesting ways. My favourite characters were normally the humans because the four main W.O.L.Fs didn’t act very human. Which might be intentional, but in particular with the poster boy Kiba it was very hard to get invested in his story when he felt so inhuman with his actions. It was more like he was a robot following a programme in his brain than someone governed by emotions. The humans were way more interesting because you actually understood why it was they were going to the great lengths they did. Some of my favourite episodes were when it was just two of the humans chilling out, chatting with each other. One that sticks out in my mind was when the alcoholic wolf-hunter and the divorced husband spent an entire episode driving across the wasteland. It allowed the anime to show a rare sense of humour while also giving us plenty of time to get deep into these character’s minds. On a slightly less positive note, while the animation is certainly impressive, the grey landscape on grey buildings on grey characters makes the show very repetitive and dull. 2003 was around the period TV animation started to get to grips with fully digital animation and no longer look universally awful, and Wolf’s Rain is one of the most technically proficient anime from that year. But it’s so grim and grimy and endlessly grey that it’s boring to look at. There’s no stylised decay in the style of Casshern Sins. This is the realistic concrete building apocalypse. It may be intentional, but that doesn’t stop it from being boring. Similarly with the W.O.L.F characters. They are supposed to not feel quite human in their actions and thoughts. It’s a plot point that they act like there’s a radar in their mind governing their actions rather than logical or emotional thought. But that still means they are difficult to have any emotional attachment to. It makes their actions feel like tools to move the plot along rather than that of people. The tone of the overall story is…I’m not sure if there’s a word in English for it. Full of itself? Head jammed firmly up its own arse? Chuunibyou? Imagine a man wearing a trenchcoat indoors just hiding an Iron Maiden t-shirt with sideburns and a neckbeard. Or a lady with badly dyed purple hair, trousers with 50 million chains and pockets on them and wearing black eyeliner. Or just imagine the early-mid 00′s emo culture. Imagine someone like that watching this show and explaining to you: “You just don’t understand man. The wolves are, like, misunderstood by society just like me. Other humans just don’t understand them so they have to isolate themselves from the scum. But that’s OK because they are the ones that will achieve paradise when everyone else succumbs the capitalist materialist apocalypse. It will be the noble wolves that reach paradise. I identify with the wolves because society doesn’t understand me so I deceive everyone into thinking I’m human but actually I’m a wild beast who is just searching for paradise. Oh please take me away wolves where I can’t be persecuted hey listen to my poetry about how I became a wolf and got a sexy wolf wife and then we hey wait where are you going pah just another person afraid of my inner wolf.” The story is supposed to be about the world being reborn to wipe away sin, but humanity doesn’t appear to have committed any sins. The biggest sin they appear to have committed is not have the luck to be born as a W.O.L.F. There’s this over-arching story about how this noble tried to become a wolf, which is far and away the stupidest part of the whole story with the most embarrassingly awful dialogue and dumbest plot twists, who again seems to be only punished because he’s not a W.O.L.F. My snarky W.O.L.F. thing is because there’s no reason as to why wolves are the creatures that open paradise, beyond idk wolves are cool animals. While I thought the anime was generally serviceable throughout the airing run, by the time it reached the end I was starting to realise the whole thing barely had a purpose. Which leads me to my big final point: Wolf’s Rain is pretentious. It’s plenty ambitious and got loads of highfalutin but no over-arching theme to back it up. ‘Everyone must die for their sins for the world to be reborn and also wolves are cool’ appear to be the extent of the themes. Elfen Lied was also really big around the same time, so I’m just going to blame Wolf’s Rain’s popularity on the emo culture that was hip with nerds at the time.

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