Wolf Children Discussion

Genres: Fantasy, Slice of Life
The theme of the film is the love between parents and children. The story covers 13 years and begins with a 19-year-old college student named Hana who encounters and falls in "fairy tale-like" love with a "wolf man." After marrying the wolf man, Hana gives birth and raises two wolf children—an older sister named Yuki who was born on a snowy day, and a younger brother named Ame who was born on a rainy day. The four quietly lived in a corner of a city to conceal the existence of the "wolf children," but when the wolf man suddenly dies, Hana decides to move to a rural town far removed from the city.
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And before everyone says something

Spoiler

I COULDN'T HOLD MY TEARS AT THIS MOVIE!!!!!!, It was very emotional, showing how a mom raises their child and everything no matter what happens, it just shows how much a mother cares, haven't cried since forever

And now that I've said my opinion it's time to discuss the fantasy anime Wolf Children, let your emotions flow for the following week and nominations are officially open

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My wife cried her eyes out over this movie. Being a parent, I can appreciate the sacrifices that Hana makes for her (pups?) Kids. Very touching movie & methinks this is what the genre "slice of life" is all about. I rated it 8/10.

 

I really liked this movie although I can't say I agree with the son leaving especially at that age. He could just be a park ranger or something if he wants to protect nature he doesn't need to completely live as a wolf and leave behind any semblance of human life and even if he did why can't he wait until he's an actual adult to make a decision like that? he may be part wolf man but he's also human and kids that age shouldn't be making life changing decisions like that. But even if I don't exactly agree with it I still found it touching how the mother accepts his decision when she sees how determined he is.

 

And that my friend is called a "Mother's Love"

 

10/10 will use in my HSC essay.

 

I had to stop watching it and take a break after the wolf man dude died because flashbacks of Clannad After Story came back :L I had to call my friend to come finish watching it with me (he had already seen it previously). I was a massive sobbing wreck throughout the rest of the film. I totally respect Hana for being strong and the neighbors offering to help her out was so cute!!! I'm starting to tear up just think about it, such a great movie, I give it 8/10 (Don't totally agree with the ending but it's overall a great film)

 

Exactly. I can kind of get why the daughter threw away any notion of being wolf because she wanted to embrace human society and obviously acting like a wolf makes that harder but men can live in the woods just fine as long as they are strong enough and know how. So he could totally live quietly as a man in a town near the woods or a man living in the woods and not leave his human life completely behind. In fact trying to protect the forest purely as a wolf will just get him shot by poachers or something. That is why I said I don't get why he doesn't try to be a ranger or some official who protects the forest. Nope he has to turn into a wolf, never be human again, and completely leave his old life behind.

I know it's a movie and it shouldn't bother me so much but I just hate when a movie goes "This character does this and had NO other options." when I can clearly see he had other options. It's not like he couldn't survive in human soceity at all he was just a pathetic coward which getting in touch with his wolf side a little more actually fixed. So he could totally go back to school and be okay now as the badass tough guy. But again nope we need our touching far well so he HAS to leave his human life behind forever and RIGHT now.

I know he's part wolf man but he's also part human and IMO his mother shouldn't be letting him leave home until he's an adult by human standards. Besides they live right next to the freaking forest! Why can't he be the protector of the forest while living at home? It's not like he's have to commute very far to work. Again it just annoys me when options are ignored for the sake of forcing a scene. I still loved the movie overall just that last scene kinda bothred me.

 

9/10 no explanation needed

 

I was going to rate this movie a 7.5 but rated it an 8.0 because it does things most or perhaps all anime don't do/show. It was really good but did at times seem to drag on. I enjoyed the story more when the kids were younger and while Hana was still learning the land stuff. I didn't like the ending too much, as Meta and others have said, it was forced and many things bothered me about this anime which I'll list below.

1. Dad dies, doesn't say how or why but is hinted he fell to his death right as he caught the bird or, he drowned and was washed down shore (Somehow still clutching the bird might I add) and neither of these seem believable imo. Further more, exactly HOW are his new pups going to eat that bird? If at best, only his 1st born MIGHT could've eaten it. What's more, he for some reason just leaves the groceries by the door, no knock (clearly he could've brought them in) and left everything he had in the bag, as if he knew he was going to die? Seriously this was the 1st thing that really bothered me plothole wise.

2. Hana moves out to the country cus of the crappy people causing them probs but that's not what bothered me, nope, it was her following question/line she asked/said to her kids/self. "If you could be either people or wolves, which would it be?" and followed by "Yea, let's move there, this'll be a place to let them decide what they want to be." (e.g. people or wolves) This so contradicted her love and acceptance for her husband who MIGHT I ADD, chose to live his life as both a man AND a wolf (as evident by him catching prey for his family but living life mostly as a human). The whole time I was asking myself, WHY!? Why do they HAVE to choose to be one or the other? The only answer I can think of is, whoever made this, or someone who had power who helped make this, wanted to force these plot hole scenes throughout the movie JUST to get the viewer to cry, ratings go up etc. when imo, that is the WRONG way to do it. U want that fine, but DON'T make the anime world and chars pay for it by leaving plot holes in it!

3. Hana down the mountain. This is a sol anime, she was seriously injured in that scene, yet her son caries her to some unknown parking lot instead of taking her to a doctor and somehow, SOMEHOW, she was able to stand up, move walk etc. upon regaining consciousness. Once again, for that one forced scene of Farwell which, others said it right, they lived by the mountain, he could've protected the forest from home, period! Oh, btw, I am glad Hana lived and was ok.

4. There's more but it all centers around the forced scenes however, I will say this, the only way some of these plot holes/forced scenes make any sense is if we blame Hana for raising them to pick between wolf or human. Because let's face it, her son wouldn't have left and became fully wolf if it hadn't been for that fact, and her daughter well, who can say? I mean, clearly she was afraid of becoming wolf because she hurt that boy (Fyi, no mention of him in high school which bothered me) But even if we blame Hana, as I said, her either or approach contradicts her belief and such, so really it comes back to whoever was in charge of this anime/the creator. And if u were going to say, well, maybe her husband's death caused that approach sorry, doesn't hold water, as evident by her still letting them choose to be wolf, along with raising them and accepting them and so many more ways as wolf children.

In all, I felt the ending was rushed, felt like there was more to see, I can see why people cry, rate it so high, say it's a depressing movie and why some say it's not depressing etc. but as for me, while there were 2-3 scenes were I almost cried, I never did. Incase anyone is wondering, no this isn't anywhere near a fav anime of mine and unless I become a parent myself someday, I don't plan to ever watch this anime again. Due note, I rated it an 8.0 so I did enjoy it a good bit but once or twice if a parent is enough. (For me anyway)

@Metazoxan If it helps, remember that Hana was explaining to her son the same thing u were saying, that he's too young, but then she proceeded to say "maybe a 10 yo wolf but not a..." and she paused because she realized what she just said while also remembering that her son is a wolf child and that she raised them out there to make that choice of wolf or human. She didn't want him to leave of course which is understandable. Either way, this anime's plot holes were caused by the forced stuff as I said above.

 

yeah I felt that could have been handled better to. I get the father had to die because the whole point was she had to raise her wolf kids alone. But having him die catching a bird for his young just seemed a bit off. First of all he seemed the type who leaned a bit more towards human life than wolf life so why the need to hunt? and for that matter why is the freaking city of all places! Again I'm not complaining about the fact he died in itself because that was kind of neededfor the whole plot to take off. But doing it this way just felt a bit unnatural like the event was just screaming "we killed off the father for plot reasons".

Good to know I"m not the only one who asked "why not both?" the father was a wolf man who met the mom in collage so clearly living while accepting both sides is an option. But instead one has to be pure wolf and the other has to be pure human..... because that makes for a more touching ending. It certainly worked but it also annoys me that the ending is only so touching because of forced plot progression.

yeah I probably give it a 7.5 or and 8.0 as well. Definitely not an absolute fave but I did enjoy it alot.

 

...... I do understand with what @Natsuru-san has said..... I see the problem with what Hana has said to her children... by telling them they had to be one or the other ....when in fact they are both human and wolf.... I believe they should be proud of who they are and where they came from.....

The other side...The story itself was indeed epic.... Its shows a struggle for a human woman raising 1/2 wolf / 1/2 human children without knowing what she is supposed to do.... Not knowing if what she is doing is helping or hindering ....her kids.... Its similar to what every parent feels when they raise their children... (whether they are raising their children right) Hana has the most difficult job in raising her children cuz she has no knowledge nor does she have anyone to go to for help... So all she can do is keep her children from harms way by moving them farther way from prying eyes and ears.... up towards the forest.... I also believe Hana should of put her foot down and told her son that there was plenty of time to go out into the "real world" I think he should of respected his mom and know she is only thinking of his well-being... Ame could of been the protector of the forest and gone to school... and learn everything he needed to know abt life and matured....

I wasnt trying to read too much into this.... But our pets.... when they reach the age of 8 yrs old they are considered senior citizens... they even act like it too... grey hair... or light fur color.... they have achy joints, sleep more.. and even medical problems show up....

 

But that just has to do with life spans. But judging from how they grew and judging from their papa the wolf man species most likely has a similar life span to a human's. So I don't think the Son should have at all been considered an adult because he just wasn't anywhere near developed enough. Seriously the kid FINALLY grows a pair and stops being such a wimp and suddenly he thinks he's king of the forest and is ready to leave home forever? No he is obviously acting impulsively even if he says he's thought hard about it. Because at that age once they get something in their heads any thinking they tend to do is simply to justify their actions rather than proper thinking about consequences. Especially in his case where he had trouble fitting into school but immediately threw himself into the wild life. It seemed like he was just a little too eager to find a place to belong and was just running off to where he thought that was without much thought to what comes after or what he's leaving behind.

 

Wasn't he, like, 70 years old in dog years? Maybe wolf years are a bit different. Half life maybe? A nice, mature 35 years old.

 

He was a was half wolf man though not an actual wolf. Again judging from how the father was a collage student and how he acted I would guess wolf men have life spans not all that different from humans. Plus both kids grew up at a fairly normal rate so he wasn't an adult he was a kid an actual kid with all the naivety and impulsiveness that comes with it.

 

That is only age wise Meta, not mental state wise. Just like there are actual children who act like adults, there are adults who act like kids. For humans, the last thing to develop into adult hood is the ability to empathize and reason, if I recall right anyway. (It's been many years) Now, it is true that girls do mature at a faster rate than boys but, both children were very mature for their age at the end there, esp when u consider they were cut off for so long from society. Further more, the son was the only one who could take over since his sensei couldn't anymore and had taught no one else which as mentioned by said son, the whole mountain would be in chaos if someone didn't take over. Which yes is another big plot hole right there in many ways all to "force" the story and while they didn't out right say it which is weird given their Dad and other events were said/shown, I am certain his sensei died near the end there. As I said last time, his mother realized her children were no longer kids, more so the son. (Which is ironic given how the two 1st were)

Wolf Children strikes many chords including with parenting, including with what is right and what is wrong, which is more right and so on. Everyone can say the son was too young, the mother should've held on but, I don't believe given the events that was possible. While Wolf Children has many plot holes and forced plot, it still tells a very good and touching story which is why I rated it "initially" a 7.5 despite the plot holes and forced stuff but I gave it that extra 0.5 making it an 8.0 simply because, it tells a story that we hardly ever see. In this case, a mother raising 2 kids (bonus points that they're wolf children) and also it telling the story of the kids too, not just one or the other.

 

It's the mental state I am talking about. He was not mature enough (IMO anyway) to make a decision like that. He may be part wolf man but his physical and mental development were clearly pretty much like any other humans. Besides like I've said already if he really did have to take over after his "master" then he could do that from home. The fox was teaching him from home meaning he was doing his duty apparently while staying close enough to teach the boy so he could also take over that duty while staying at home. The son was not an adult he was being impulsive and honestly it felt like he was just running away since he couldn't get the backbone to face his classmates. So instead he chose to run into the forest where he is apparently king now or something.

Also again my other issue is the whole idea that it HAD to be "wolf or human" and no in between even though the father was CLEARLY in between. You could argue it was being in between that lead to his death but if he just hadn't been an idiot and running around town as a wolf with a bird in his mouth he would have been fine.

 

And the colored text is taking us back to what I initially said, plot holes caused by the higher ups who wanted forced plot scenes to make the audience cry etc while impacting the story in a powerful way which, could've been done way better so I chalk it up to greediness and laziness. truth? Dunno, but that's how I see it as since they basically spit on the chars and world. Last thing I'll add is, did anyone besides me notice that hana could've at any given time said, well, u can protect the forest from home but instead she didn't, further more the story makes it out as if the son never returns home even for a short visit, only occasionally letting out a howl, which again I chalk up to forced plot and the like.

@Natsu care to join in here, we're having a unique discussion if ya haven't kept up. lol besides what u said in the op, what do u think about what we've been talking about? What are your thoughts and feeling and beliefs etc. on the matters?

 

No you aren't that is the whole reason I have a problem with that part of the ending. Because there was literally no reason she had to outright let him go forever and at such a young age. But like you said it was most likely just a cheap ploy by the writers to create a touching farewell.

 

Good to know and I just thought of something, lemme know how ya feel about this one. The only thing that makes sense as to why he never returned and why she let him go is because he chose to live as a wolf and animals that venture into the wild rarely return in this sort of case. This would also explain (beside him being her son) why she didn't want to let go and why it was hard for her to do so because she knew what it'd entail.

And yea, I got a lot of probs with the anime's story myself like the ending and the must be one or the other but as I said, I chalk it up to forcedness cause by u know what.