Ranked #341

Wolf's Rain

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 a wolf 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 read more

Wolf's Rain is one of my most favourite anime series ever. Its *very* rare that I'd give an anime I’m reviewing a 10 for EVERYTHING, I always review fairly - even if I didn't enjoy the anime. For me, Wolf's Rain is a perfect anime. I love literally everything about it.
The story was created by Keiko Nobumoto (Screenwriter for Cowboy Bebop) and animated by studio BONES, well known throughout the anime world as the studio who brought us such popular shows as Eureka seveN, RahXephon, Scrapped Princess, Jyu Oh Sei and producing the anime versions of FullMetal Alchemist, Ouran High School Host Club and Angelic Layer. The Soundtrack was compossed by Yoko Kanno (who also compossed OSTs for; Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. and Escaflowne amongst others) and the series contained 26 episodes (followed by a 4 episode OVA.)

The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where much of the world is dead or dying, most of the worlds people live in poverty and most species of animals are now extinct, including wolves - or so people thought. Wolves (and other animals) are able to take human form and live amongst people - and so beginning to become almost more human then animal, they no longer believe they have a purpose anymore. According to the legendary “Book of the Moon,” when the world comes to an end wolves will lead the world to Paradise. Most people no-one longer believe this legend however, as the wolves are supposedly extinct.
The series follows four wolves as they try to find paradise together.

The characters, as well as character development in this show is amazing. In the beginning it starts of with 4 wolves who have nothing in common what so ever - Kiba, the mysterious, distant leader, Tsume - the cold ex-gang leader, with a shameful past, Hige - the laidback, street-smart, food lover, and Toboe - the young naïve kid who sees the good in everyone. At first they constantly argue but thought out the series they grow to depend on each other as a real pack.
Blue, Darcia, Quent, Jagura, Hubb and Cher are also quite interesting for secondary characters.

The animation through out is perfect - although fight scenes are short, the animation is nothing short of amazing.
The soundtrack is outstanding - my favourite anime OST ever, the vocal songs are mainly in English but there are also Japanese, French, Italian and Portuguese songs - which are all beautiful. The background music is equally as beautiful, “Go to Rakuen“ is easily the most beautiful piece of music I’ve heard, ever.

The one bad point to the series (30 episodes in total) is that in the middle of the series there’s not one, but four recap episodes. They are told from the point of view of some of the characters (One episode for Tsume, one for Hige, one for Toboe, and one for Quent and Hubb.) Although, they are easily skip-able.

Oo, another thing to add to the long list of brilliance that is Wolf’s Rain - the English dub is great, in fact I even prefer it to the orginal Japanese version. Literally every voice is perfectly suited, no cuts, no major script or story change, e.g.

Well, I could go on and on, but I think I’d better stop now… this reviews’ long enough as it is. 10/10 - anime at its best.
WATCH WOLF’S RAIN ~ YOU WON’T REGRET IT! :3 read more