US Distributor: FUNimation
Production Studio: Madhouse
Was this provided by the publisher? Yes
More Info: MyAnimeList
Motherhood of the Wolf
I have a mixed history with Mamoru Hosoda. I loved The Girl Who Leaped Through Time, though I loathed Summer Wars. Thus, I went into Wolf Children with both high hopes and serious concerns. It won me over very quickly.
The first thing I noticed was the art style, which is a mixture of computer animated backgrounds and hand drawn characters. It took a little getting used to at first, but once my mind adapted I really enjoyed it. (More on this later).
The second thing I noticed was the reference to Socratic paradoxes three minutes into the movie. If you’ve heard of Socrates, you’re probably thinking of his famous quote, “I only know that I know nothing.” The Socratic Paradoxes, though, are actually a question of ethics. The three Socratic paradoxes are as follows:
- All men desire good. No man desires evil.
- No man willingly commits evil acts. All acts are done with some good in mind.
- It is better to suffer the evil acts of others than to commit them oneself.
I’m bringing this up in a review on an anime film, because it’s clear that Hosoda knew what he was doing. Socrates believed that knowledge was a virtue and ignorance was a vice. It is those beliefs that guide Hana through the difficulties of raising a pair of wolf children. But first, a love story (that is obviously better than Twilight).
The story is narrated by Yuki, one of the titular Wolf Children. She tells us how her mother Hana falls in love with a young man named Ookami. Hana is a student at a Tokyo university. Ookami, on the other hand, isn’t a student, though he attends classes anyway purely to learn. The second time we see the two in class, the topic is the three accusers of Socrates (Meletus, Lycon, and the one who actually mattered, Anytus).
That is some serious foreshadowing on Hosoda’s part.
We learn that Ookami is a mover and delivery man for large furniture. On one of his dates with Hana, he tells her:
“Every apartment is like its own little world inside… It’d be nice to have a home. A place where I belong… I could build a bookshelf, and once I filled it with books, what’s to stop me from building another? You just can’t put a price on freedom like that.” To which Hana replies “I could belong there too, if you don’t mind the company.”
Ookami shows up hours late for their next date. He feels so guilty that he finally works up the courage to show Hana his secret. It was one that remained hidden, even from his adoptive relatives.
Ookami is a Wolf Spirit, living amongst humans.
In a beautiful scene, Ookami asks Hana if she was scared. Her reply, while simple, speaks volumes: “No, because it’s you.”
After Hana becomes pregnant with Yuki, we see Ookami return home with a wild chicken carcass. It makes for a lovely meal.
Yuki’s little brother Ame was born a little more than a year after her own birth. On the day of Ame’s birth, Ookami went out to find food for his newborn son. Fortune was not on Ookami’s side, though, and he drowns in an aqueduct in the rain. In but the blink of an eye, Hana was forced into the life of a single mother, tasked with raising her two wolf children alone.
Wolf Children doesn’t stay dark for long, though. Within minutes, the film delivers the single cutest anime scene I’ve ever witnessed. I can’t begin to describe just how cute young Yuki is, as she demands food (Num nums!) and transforms into a wolf pup when told to wait. There is a scene shortly after where Yuki is sick and Hana doesn’t know whether to bring her to a children’s hospital or the vet.
Hana decides to call up a doctor and, thankfully, everything is okay. Shortly after, Yuki and Ame are playing in a park. Hana watches them and wonders whether or not they would be happier as wolves or people. She asks them flat out. Their answer is a simple “Huh?” They really are tremendously cute.
Hana decides to move to the countryside, where the kids can be wolves or people and not cause too much trouble (they’ve already had a few close calls). This is where Wolf Children finds its voice.
Shortly after moving, Hana meets Grandpa Nirasaki. Nirasaki has little respect for city outsiders, and with good reason. Most of them give up shortly after arriving. He, like everyone else who lives up on the mountain, underestimates the perseverance of a single mother trying to do what’s best for her two children. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but Wolf Children is very clever, and very few of its design and story choices were made without good reason.
In time, we see the conflict between man and nature (including his own), as well as the question of what it means to love someone who is quite different from yourself.
The animation of the Japanese countryside is gorgeous. The mixture of computer and hand drawn animation after the first snowfall is stunning, and it stands as some of the best I’ve ever seen. Takagi Masakatsu’s soundtrack shines here, as well.
As an offbeat note, I watched the Blu-Ray, which has a wonderful feature that allows you to access the menu while watching the film. The sound effects for menu navigation are reminiscent of an old typewriter, which is way more satisfying than it sounds.
In the end, Wolf Children lets Hana, Yuki, and Ame make their own choices. The question of ethics and the choices we make for good or ill are central to the film. That said, though, it might be best to think about them during a second viewing, and simply soak in the experience the first time around. Overall, I’d give Wolf Children a nine out of ten.
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