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Plot Synopsis

In this anime there is a legend that human's were created from wolves, though most humans are skeptical at best considering that wolves have supposedly been extinct for 200 years. However, some wolves remain and are living side by side with the humans. The wolves are able to conceal thier identity by creating an illusion of the human form... although, there are some who can see through the illusion. The world is in a desolate state with hardly any nature remaining outside the various domed citiy limits. Through random run-ins a group of wolves emerge, they are united through physical and psychological obstacles, and are eventually dedicated to the same goal... to find paradise. However, finding paradise means the destruction of the world for all other creatures... and does it really exist anyways? This anime comes from the makers of Cowboy Bebop. It is stylish, as is Bebop, but in a less obvious way. It also has more emotional and psychological depth to the characters... which truely makes this anime a winner. It can sometimes feel vague or slow moving for those used to action packed anime. However, the way in which the story unravels suits the wolves journey well and contributes to the desolate yet beautifully hopeful ambiance.

Story & Characters

Basically the story boils down to the search of "paradise" by the main cast of characters. There are a lot of travelling innvolved as the characters moved from town to town and the mystery behind their goal is slowly revealed.

The mythological element in the story of Wolf's Rain is interesting, but the script does seem to be a bit weak later on. In particularly, the character development in the series is not as good as one hopes to be.

The story of Wolf's rain seems to take from many things i've seen. Video games, previous animes, etc. Japanese stuff pushed all together. The idea that they are wolf's and human at the same time, the lost techonolgy and human society, the dark and pessimistic world. The characters, the villians, often crazy and super dark, a hope character. Characters that i've seen before in some facet or another. In particular to characters, there seems to be a Spike Speigel and Electra copy cat. Must be just Bone's preference but i think it shows just how good that anime was. Just like Rei has been copied numerous times. But there also is a Rei like character. A strong, quit, serious main character Kiba. I mean, i've seen a lot of what i see in this anime. I enjoy Yokko Kano's music indefinitly and will watch an anime if she's in the production. But i did watch this anime the whole way through. It plot and story and characters which are the most essential remind me of Last Exile without the amazing animation. It all seems to crap out at the end. Well, not to be hard on the naime, it's doing somtehing i haven't noticed yet. it's trying to be diff.

Rating

7 (above average)

Art

Very good animation that is almost the trademark of anime from Bones' studio. Character design is similiar to the ones in Cowboy Behop and RahXephon. I would have expected no less from them.

Characters are beautifully done. The joint articulation and the teeth on the wolves especially. Buru's eyes are one of the most interesting I have seen in an anime, the color and texture is very three dimensional rather than flat. It's a great show and the artists really outdid themselves.

Each episode from the beginning to the end done feels as if its OVA quality and thats saying something something, It truely deserves the 9 for the rating.

The only reason I didn't give it a ten is because of some odd character design, ie. Tsume's outfit! That was horribly weird, but that was only a minor part so w/e.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

like the opening theme, but the choice of song and the animation sequence make it look like it belongs on VH1. The ending theme was great, too and so was the BGM. In fact, if I'm correct, there were a couple of violin scores.

I have a minor issue with the voice acting. I couldn't tell Tsume's and Kiba's voice apart. Hmm....

Oh, and the people who say the dubbed for this is bad don't know what they're talking about. The dub for this anime is actually very good. For starters, Jonny Yong Bosch (heh. The coolest name in English voice acting after Lex Lang), who made an excellent Vash, is Kiba. I've always said just about anything with Crispen Freeman is a good dub. When it comes to Kiba and Tsume, Bosch and Freeman do better jobs than the Japanese for I couldn't even tell those two apart in the subbed. Secondly, I've always said that it's rare when it's not obvious and annoying when female seiyuu voice male roles. Yuki from Fruits Basket was just...wrong. When it comes to voicing male roles, I prefer the American voice actors over the Japanese simply because of this fact. Mona Marshall, who does excellent guy roles (I do believe most of her roles are of guys), is Toboe. The true stand out though is Darcia. I don't care what David Lucas says; he and Steven Blum are the same person. Listen to Darcia and tell me that is NOT Spike. :P Especially when he starts talking about dreams and crap. I swear they took that exact dialogue from Bebop. It just makes it even more obvious. And as far as I can tell, they keep pretty close to the original dialogue. With all that said, I could easily recommend the dub for this.

Rating

6 (average)

Presentation

This is a decent anime steeped in made up mythology and post-apocalypse technological gadgets. It's interesting to note that in Japan itself, wolves once existed but were hunted to extinction a very long time ago. The first thing you'll probably notice about this anime is the intro song Stray, and the opening vocals which are ear-piercingly ugly. If you listen to it enough times, it grows on you, it really does. Actually, all the music here is done in English by English speakers. Some good, some bad.

Anyway, the initial concept of this anime(wolves hiding among humans) carries this anime a long way, and they quickly settle into a story in this world they've introduced you into. However, at times the pace gets slow and the anime gets more than a little dull. Perservere and you don't really get great rewards either. Very action oriented with occasional streaks of drama and tragedy/angst, Wolf's Rain manages to separate itself from the crowd in quite a few ways, but falls short in a lot of areas.

Rating

8 (good)

Final Verdict

7.50 (good)

Reviewed by Beamas, 2y 41wk ago