Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki Review

Just a fair heads up to whoever may be reading this, this IS my very first review so bear with me.

I have always been fascinated with parenting, though it’s a topic that is rarely portrayed in anime. It’s an experience that on end can bring a person to complete ruin to giving someone a very reason to exist on the other. It’s ironic how being a parent is one of the greatest challenges and hardships that a person can experience but yet nearly everyone is one or will be one. One of the main reasons for this is that no one can tell you exactly how to handle parenting specifically. There’s no step by step process to follow, raising no one child is ever the same, and experience is the only true way to approach/handle it.

Though the film has fantasy elements, do not let this dissuade you by any means. I myself am no expert on fantasy but I had some concerns that the characters would be unreal and not relatable to the viewer. Any preconceptions and doubts I had were disproved very early in the story.

Straight from the beginning we are shown the main character Hana, a normal college student dealing with the day to day tribulations, part-time, studying, etc. Then one day she starts taking notice to a certain someone in the classroom. Very soon she begins to instinctively fall in love with Ookami, our other main character, who she will soon find out is not entirely human. He is a werewolf, and the two children they have end up being the same.

Unfortunately for Hana, Ookami is no longer around and now she must learn how to raise her werewolf children alone. Later on the three move out into the country to effectively raise them without much unwanted human intervention. As they grow older, the two children, Yuki the elder daughter, and Ame, her little brother, begin going their separate ways in life. There is much conflict in the process but eventually Hana comes to accept whatever Ame and Yuki wish to do with their lives from there on.

The story with its interesting and unusual mix of genres is executed outstandingly. The fantasy and slice of life elements are mixed in a way that one genre doesn’t feel overpowered over the other, it’s very well balanced. Simply one genre alone could not have achieved the greatness that this masterpiece has.

I honestly had no intentions coming into this film that I would experience anything ground breaking with the visuals, but I received exactly that. The primary reason for this is that the animations are originally designed in 3D and then 2D effects are added onto it. The movement animations because of this innovative effects style are vibrant and surreal. The movement doesn’t simply resemble multiple frames moving in fast motion like in most anime. All the background scenery is breathtaking to look at, whether it be urban streets or lush forestry. The characters animations themselves are realistic and thoroughly balanced. The characters are clearly not favored toward any particular viewer type.

Despite all the other astounding accomplishments this awesome film has to offer, the characters are definitely where this movie shines the most, it’s almost blinding. If Ookami Kodomo were only to be told from one single perspective this movie wouldn’t have been half as good as it was. If it hadn’t been executed this way then the end result would be unbalanced with more time focused on only certain characters over others. Due to the multiple perspectives the story felt more wholly and comprehensible in the end as well.

You can tell the voice actors put their effort in to their performance, each character didn’t sound out of place or more expressive over the others. You could outright tell that the cast was chosen with extensive and attentive care, considering they’re all predominantly new and unknown voice actors. All the characters had equal screen time as well, in part due to narration by some characters early on for supplementary albeit vital info.

The sound is very well balanced and nothing sounds out of place. What else can I say, it’s what you can expect form an excellent movie.

This is the finest and most groundbreaking anime film or in fact any piece of anime I have ever seen. This list of admirable innovative aspects and features found throughout Ookami Kodomo are abundant. Others that aren’t are still executed excellently and by no means in any cliché style. This is a masterpiece that other future or forthcoming anime series/films should surely aspire to become.