Wolf’s Rain

By: Robert Murphy

Welcome everybody to the desolate world populated by pockets of human life that are fighting to survive in the harsh world that has befallen them but there are more than just human beings trying to survive in this world. Wolf’s Rain is set in a world where things appear to be at their worse and the world is winding down to the end it seems but some people are looking for something more, well not people more accurately wolves are looking for something more. In this world wolves had been thought to been extinct for the past 200 years but this isn’t the case, rather wolves had taken on a human form to disguise themselves and appear that way to most humans. Now wolves though are fighting to survive this harsh world as well but a legend tells of an incredible paradise that will open near the end of the world that only wolves would only be able to find by the scent of the alluring Lunar Flower. Our story follows four wolves in particular namely Kiba, Tsume, Hige and Toboe who are all searching for this Paradise and hoping they can make it before its too late.

Right of the bat I must show a tip of the hat to the level of animation that went into the making of Wolf’s Rain because everything you see is pretty incredibly designed. The desolate state that the world is in should be dark and dank but still features a rich and unique look to it that isn’t just thrown together in a standard end of the world type look. What I especially loved about the design work, is the work that went into the animation of the wolves themselves and to me wolves are beautiful and amazing animals and that aspect was truly brought out in Wolf’s Rain. The wolves not only look real but move and feel like the real life animals that are being brought to life here in the show and the main characters of the show like Kiba feature a great human appearance as well. Each character has their own unique style or look and it kind of represents the kind of person/wolf that they are in the show.

From here though I lose love for the show, mainly with the story itself, the show starts off strong and introduces us to a cool and unique premise of a world that is in shambles and these creatures are hiding among humans looking for a beautiful Paradise. We meet Kiba who comes to a city lured by the smell of Lunar Flowers and meets up with three other wolves who had smelled the very same scent and they all decide to join up in their search. But after the first few episodes of the show and being completely enthralled and entertained Wolf’s Rain begins to lose its footing and gets lost in random side stories and information that has nothing to do with the plot. I continued to press on through the show despite this because of how impressed I was with the premise of the story but I was disappointed at what I found as the show slowly made a good step forward one moment and then two steps back the next. Near the end of the show though things do pick up, out of nowhere I might add but this was short lived when I watched the ambiguous end to the show, making me feel a little cheated in a way but what can you do.

In conclusion, I was hoping for so much more than what I got from Wolf’s Rain, I love wolves and I loved the incredibly unique idea and back story that was behind the show but my hopes had been dashed as I watched the show. The animation as I said is so spot on and really brings the world you are into to life and the level of work that must have gone into the creation of the wolves themselves was just a great treat for me. But after a good start to the story itself, I lose interest in the show all together because the story just loses sight of what it is doing and by the time that it picks of the threads of what it had, it was far too late.

Good:

-Great animation and design work

-Had a great start and a great back story to follow it up

Bad:

-Story loses sight of what it is doing

-Boring story telling

-The ending is so very ambiguous and deserved much better

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10