I am finally done with my midseason list so I will be taking a little breather with this one before beginning with my seasonal anisong list, but I won't be making a promise as to when I would be able to make it since December looks like it is going to be pain in the ass for me and my schedule, almost every week is filled with different kind of social events that I have no other choice but to attend to. Well anyway that's enough about my personal life and now allow me to introduce a show that will warm your heart during this season of loving and giving (what am I even saying anymore lol). Well let's get this one going!
Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki)
Genres: Fantasy, Slice of Life
Studio: Studio Chizu
There is no greater love than a parent’s towards her child, is how I would encapsulate the show’s essence. Love has always been equated to romance in many works of fiction that is why seeing a different form of love story instantly garnered my undivided attention and I am honestly touched by the story despite not resorting to drastic drama tropes to draw out emotions from me. This is not a feels trip show in my book, but more of a story that is there to remind us that there are people that will always be there for us and give us unconditional love no matter what - our parents.
Wolf children is a story revolving around Hana and her two children, Yuki and Ame. They are no ordinary family though because Yuki and Ame are fruits of the love between a human and a werewolf that is why they must be careful so that their secret would never be found out by others, after all it is hard to be different in a society that fears what they don’t understand or know.
The show’s main theme without a doubt is about Hana’s love for her children, but there are other interesting stuff that I observed in the show like how people change to fit in a group they want to be a part of; the display of humanity's innate kindness (something I always admire since it is seriously scarce in reality) ; and how individuals raised the same way could end up in completely different paths in life. These things just resonated with me and made me ponder about how mysterious humanity really is, and no, I am not going to talk about the meaning of life here.
Wolf children, as I said earlier, is not a feels trip show but it gently plucks the heart by displaying what a parent can go through and endure for the sake of their children making me reflect on what I, as son, have been taking granted for all this time, it hits me on a personal level that I can simply relate it to my own life. However, the real genius of the story lies in the fact that you don’t have to be a wolf or be someone that have been on the same difficulties to appreciate it, you just need to have a human heart that can empathize, the show is very simple after all but that simpleness and genuine raw emotions that came with it is what made it even more remarkable.
For the characters, I love how Yuki and Ame, growing up, has been portrayed and how Hana gave them the choice on whether to live as a human or live as a wolf. Yuki initially was the one that was proud to be a wolf but her encounters and expiriences with other human kids and her longing to be a part of the society made her want to discard the wolf in her. This fascinates me on a personal level, well part of it is because I just recently had a lecture about human behavior lol, but I always have an interest in how people tend to change because of various encounters and experiences and that was without a doubt given justice in this one, from the moment when Yuki was young and proud of her abilities as a wolf, to how she got anxious during her first time attending school and meeting other humans, to how she made her first set of friends and started enjoying going to school, to time she wanted Ame to experience the same fun she is having and make him accept his human side too, to how she got worked up over a situation where she thought her secret’s been exposed and the possibility that she will get ostracized by everyone in her class, to the moment that someone accepted her regardless of what she is, all of those experiences all added up to her choosing to live the rest of her life as a human. On the other hand Ame, though raised the same way decided to walk the life of a wolf, guess it goes to show that it is not the upbringing alone that plays a part in shaping an individual and as to why I am saying it here? Well I found the show’s way of depicting it an area worth praising, it was built little by little and slowly showing how the path that the two have decided upon started to diverge from each other but what made it more worth the praise is how both of their decisions were accepted by Hana, going full circle and tying it back to the show’s prime focus - maternal love.
This is a real treat that depicted a unique story that is both touching and fulfilling. Hana’s happiness, grief, hardships, resilience, selflessness, everything she had been through is a story that speaks for the multitude of other parents out there that are trying their best for their children, it is a story honoring those people that have put behind their own well being to give way for their children’s needs, a story that at the core of it, is the depiction of one of the many forms of what true love can take.
Hope that is enough to instill some humanity in me for the time being lol. Well I don't have much to say this time around but let's see if I can pull some sort of miracle and finish my anisong list next week. Well then see you again next ____!
Ciao~