The story starts by explaining how Hana and her husband met and how they fell in love with each other. While it is important to understand the relationship between those two characters, it is not particularly interesting to see since there is nothing extraordinary about it other than them liking each other. Thus, while it might be of high importance to comprehend how Hana and her husband stand to one another, it should not take up such a large amount of time – the establishment of their relationship lasts approximately 20 minutes, which makes about one sixth of the film's total time. Of course, one should not drastically shorten this part but it feels just a tad too long for something which is not enormously relevant to the story.
Afterwards, the film deals with the hardships Hana has to deal with while raising her children and it does so excellently. Despite having a weird premise, the problems are dealt with realistically and rationally. Due to this, certain issues lead to some unexpectedly funny scenes. For example, there is one instance in which Hana does not know whether she should take her children to the paediatrician or the veterinarian. Thanks to the comprehensibility of these scenes, the viewer is able to connect with Hana and feel sympathy for her.
In order to escape these problems, Hana moves to a village far from the city so that she does no longer have to deal with neighbours demanding their children to be quiet. This is where the main part of the story begins and, along with it, some amazing character development.
Yuki and Ame are, despite having been raised under mostly the same circumstances, very different characters. Yuki is very playful and excited about the forest she can explore in their new home while Ame is a quiet child who prefers living in the city as one can see when he states he wants to go home when they first arrive in the village. However, the children develop characteristics from the respective sibling and they are accompanied by some great metaphors. For example, Ame becomes more playful when an incident happens while it is snowing, which references the meaning of Yuki's name, "snow". The same can be said for Yuki who develops character traits similar to those of Ame, which means "rain", while it is raining. Of course, character development is not limited to these metaphors as the children experience very different events when they go to school or into the forest. Similarly, the metaphors are not limited to the children's character development which results in brilliant foreshadowing in certain scenes.
As mentioned above, one feels a strong connection with Hana since you can see her as a very hard-working person who would do anything for her children to be happy and who would never be impolite, no matter the situation. Some may say that this is an issue with Hana's character: she seems too perfect to feel real. However, to counteract this, Hana makes some decisions which lead to huge problems in the film's final scenes. Sadly, these decisions make her seem out of character: Aforementioned problems mostly origin from Hana not talking about her children's troubles, which is something she would have done if she had stayed the character she was. There is also no real reason as to why she would change her character – in fact, the film is about the children's character development which is underlined by Hana having a very static personality. While it is true that she never stops caring for her children, she does so in an unrealistic manner in said scenes.
That being said, “Ookami Kodomo” is a film with a lot of qualities. Not only do the children experience outstanding character development but due to the realism and simplicity of the story, it is accessible for everyone without lacking in depth. The soundtrack is nothing too memorable but it fits the situations quite well. The animation is very fluid and a real eye joy – one needs to especially point out the transitions when the children transform into wolves. If you want to watch a film that has a lot of heart-warming moments, shows the bonds a family can have and conveys some important morals, I strongly recommend this one.
