Best Mom Ever!: Wolf Children

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!  I’m back from my trip to MechaCon with a new review on a movie that was about damn time I saw, and definitely don’t regret it.  And yes, I’m well aware there was no Talkative Thursday posts either this week or last week as promised.  I still have plans to make that post happen, but I’ll talk more about that later cause if I’m being honest, this was one of the best anime movies I’ve ever seen.  Yeah, as you can tell by my enthusiasm, I enjoyed this movie.  In fact, much of what I knew about this came from the movie’s main character who, if you all remember, was featured on my double countdown of the best/worst anime parents back in June (fortunately, she was on the best list). Anywho, I’m too excited about this week’s pick to stall any longer, so let’s talk about this week’s review on Wolf Children!

The film begins with a young college student named Hana.  While attending classes, she meets and later falls in love with a young man who we’ll call Wolf Daddy cause, I kid you not, the movie doesn’t give him a name.  Their relationship takes an interesting turn when Wolf Daddy reveals to Hana that he is actually a wolf.  Despite this revelation, they move in together and welcome two children; a daughter named Yuki and a son named Ame.  After Ame is born, however, Wolf Daddy disappears without warning.  Hana later makes a tragic discovery in finding her wolf lover dead after trying to hunt for his family.  From that point on, she starts her difficult journey as a single mother, dealing with her children’s constant changing from wolf to child as well as prying neighbors.  However, after Children’s Services stop by her apartment, Hana decides to move her young family out to the country.  She buys an old abandoned house and makes a commitment to plant her own food, but her new life proves difficult.  It’s only after she receives help and support from the locals that she learns how to successfully grow crops as well as trust and befriend the locals.  Both Yuki and Ame grow as well, particularly after a snowy day almost turned tragic causes a personality change in Ame, once a quiet and timid boy now interested in nature and more willing to embrace his wolf heritage.  As Ame grows up, he spends much of his time in the mountains under the guidance of an elderly fox he refers to as Sensei.  It’s also after this time that Yuki shows a desire to start school, something she was forbidden to do before.  With reluctance, Hana allows her to attend with the promise that Yuki not reveal her wolfish side.  Over the years, this proves successful even after an incident where she attacks a student named Souhei, who claims a wolf attacked him.   The siblings’ diverging paths come to a head however when the two argue whether or not they are wolves or humans, resulting in a nasty fight that nearly destroys the house.  After this occurs, a storm hits the area, leaving Yuki at school and leading Ame to go off into the woods.  At the school, Yuki and Souhei are eventually left by themselves.  Yuki reveals her ability to transform into a wolf to Souhei, admitting that she was the one who attacked him before.  Souhei admits that he knew it was her the whole time and promises not to reveal her secret.  Meanwhile, after discovering Ame has gone missing, Hana searches through the woods to find him.  During the search, though, Hana slips off a ledge and is knocked unconscious.  She encounters Wolf Daddy while in her unconscious state one last time, who praises her for raising Ame and Yuki so well and reassuring her that Ame knows that he wants to be a wolf and should have the freedom to choose that life if he wants it.  Hana awakes to find that Ame has saved her.  At first, she rejects Ame’s decision to become a wolf, but after seeing him as a wolf in the wild, she accepts his choice.  A year after these events, Yuki is attending middle school and Ame is living in the mountains, leaving Hana alone at home, happily reflecting on her life raising her wolf children.

I’ve heard so many good things about this movie that I expected a lot.  And after watching it for the first time, not only did I sit back and say “that was a really good movie,” but I found that every expectation I had was just about met.  Overall, I give Wolf Children a 9 out of 10.  Everything with this film was just about flawless!  While I’d normally ramble about the good animation and great story this film possesses-which, don’t get me wrong, it does have both-, I think what really made this show stand out was the characters.  I personally prefer story-driven plots, but I think Wolf Children was that rare exception of a character-driven film that really won me over.  Part of that does come from the fact that it does tell a structured story through the characters, but still, you know from the beginning that Yuki, Ame, and Hana are the driving forces here; it’s through their literal growth and development that we watch the story unfold as the film progresses.  Hana was probably the best character in the entire film, and all she does is just be a mom.  I’ve heard many people compare her to a mom with special needs children, and while the comparison is not blatantly stated, I can see where people get the idea from.  Both Ame and Yuki are very unique kids and their wolf-like abilities make them difficult to manage.  But in spite of that, Hana tries her hardest to make sure that her children are taken care of and have the best life possible, even going as far as to neglect her own health or even leave everything she’s known behind.  Needless to say, Hana rightfully gets anime’s Mom of the Year award just about every year.  So overall, when it comes to this movie, it’s a simple character driven movie that packs a lot of sympathy and emotion.

As I stated earlier, this film was pretty much flawless.  But if I really had to nitpick, I would have liked to have seen Wolf Daddy a little more.  Well, really, I would have liked to have seen his and Hana’s relationship expanded upon a little more.  The first twenty minutes of the film cover their relationship, which is certainly not a bad thing given the film is almost two hours long.  But heck, that first twenty minutes could be the entire film itself!  It’s a really cool concept that would make for a great show. Period.  Still, like I said, I’m only nitpicking because that first twenty minutes was my favorite part of the entire movie.  Plus, given that the title of the movie is Wolf Children, it’s safe to assume that the children are going to be the focus, not the parents.  And once again, this film was just about flawless!  How can you not see it?!

There’s good reason why this film is so well-spoken of.  With great characters, a great story, and the world’s greatest mom, Wolf Children is definitely a movie worth howling over!  If you’re interested in picking up your own copy, you can buy it wherever anime is sold.  And if I’m not mistaken, Funimation has the entire film available for online streaming through FunimationNow.  Still, I recommend buying a copy cause it will be worth every penny!  And so that wraps up another awesome review.  I will definitely be doing a Talkative Thursday this coming Thrusday-and if I don’t, I’ll gladly kick myself for it!  And as always, stay tuned next Sunday for another review!

-Hanime on Anime

Wolf Children English Dub Trailer