Media Review 3

Picture of Japanese Theatrical Release Poster is from "Wolf Children" article on Wikipedia.com

Hello Everyone! It’s Alyssa Fowler.

For my third and final media review, I am talking about “Wolf Children,” a Japanese-animated, fantasy movie.

“Wolf Children” was theatrically released in Japan on July 21^st, 2012 and an English-dubbed version became available on DVD and Blu-Ray in North America on November 23^rd, 2013. Mamoru Hosoda; who directed multiple anime movies such as “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, “Summer Wars”, and “The Boy and the Beast”, was the director and co-writer of this film.

“Wolf Children” focuses on Hana, a college students who falls in love with a young man who reveals himself to be werewolf. Nevertheless, they stayed together and had two children, a girl named Yuki and a boy named Ame. Shortly after, the werewolf dies after drowning in a river while hunting food for the children.

This leaves Hana as a single mother to two wolf children who aren’t able to control their transforming powers yet. To keep Ame and Yuki from being discovered, Hana moves her family to the countryside. There, she raises the children as they repair their dilapidated house and grow their own crops.

Soon, Yuki starts to go to school with other human children while Ame learns survival lessons from an old fox in a nearby forest. This makes both siblings think about which path in life they decide to follow.

In the end of the movie, Yuki leaves home to move into a dorm at junior high school and Ame becomes the protector of the forest. Hana, now alone, reflects on the time she spent raising her two wolf children and is proud that they will live happy lives.

“Wolf Children” had won multiple awards, including the 2013 Japan Academy Prize for “Animation of the Year,” the 2012 Mainichi Film Award for “Best Animation Film,” the 2013 Tokyo International Anime Fair Award for “Animation of the Year,” and the “Audience Award” at 2013’s New York International Children’s Film Festival. This was due to the movie’s accurate presentation of the struggles of a single parent who raises her two children and help them grow up and find their own path in life. It also provides the story a realistic atmosphere with a bit of fantasy elements. According to a review on AnimeNewsNetwork.com, another great factor of this film is that the environments that the characters interact with are full of life, beautifully detailed, and strikingly spacious so that they can “speak or convey meaning to the audience”.

“Wolf Children” truly is a fairytale that takes place in a modern setting. Both adults and children are able to enjoy this film as it expresses the importance of family, no matter how wild and unpredictable life can be.