by: Sarah Louadi<\/p>\n
Some of them carry a deeper message than you would<\/p>\n
A Review of \u201cWolf\u2019s Rain\u201d<\/p>\n
Favourite quotes:<\/p>\n
Kiba: They say there’s no such place… as Paradise. Even if you search to the ends of<\/p>\n
the Earth, there’s nothing there. No matter how far you walk, it’s always the same road.<\/p>\n
It just goes on and on. But, in spite of that… Why am I so driven to find it? A voice calls<\/p>\n
to me… It says, “Search for Paradise.”<\/p>\n
Kiba: Why? Why do humans always look to the sky? Why do you try so hard to fly when<\/p>\n
you don’t have any wings? We’ll run on our own legs.<\/p>\n
First of all, for me this anime was difficult to follow, because of the very slow<\/p>\n
pace, the lack of action and the absence of character development. The last<\/p>\n
episode of “Wolf ‘s Rain ” left me quite unsatisfied , with more questions than<\/p>\n
answers. Although watching this anime did not fill me with the usual excitement<\/p>\n
and thrill (like with Code Geass or the D.Gray Man), I cannot deny the profound<\/p>\n
existential malaise in which it threw me… Before you go any further, please note<\/p>\n
than I will be discussing the significance of some events from different points in<\/p>\n
the story, so you have been warned, there are some spoilers\u2026<\/p>\n
To begin with a superficial analysis, I found the animations \/ drawings rather<\/p>\n
old-fashioned, but not necessarily \u201chas been\u201d. I could not help but to make the<\/p>\n
connection with ” Princess Mononoke \u201c , maybe because of the speaking animals<\/p>\n
and the shape of Hige\u2019s nose .. . Anyways, I loved the music, especially that of the<\/p>\n
ending and opening.<\/p>\n
Maybe I tend to establish a connection between the ending and the state in<\/p>\n
which the cliff-hanger left me (although this anime did not have much of those).<\/p>\n
In my eyes, the wolf running indefinitely symbolizes the endless pursuit of the<\/p>\n
protagonists, along with the repetition of a single note of music…<\/p>\n
Otherwise, to be a little less biased, I think that some aspects of the anime could<\/p>\n
be explored in more depth, such as the relationship between Tsume and human,<\/p>\n
and the disgust they inspire him, in contrast with the validation that Toboe seeks<\/p>\n
in them. I would have liked to learn more about Toboe\u2019s past with the old lady<\/p>\n
who raised him or how Tsume ended up playing “Robin Hood ” with the Nobles .<\/p>\n
Perhaps these details are to remain obscure in order to maintain this feeling of<\/p>\n
bewilderment. Indeed, at the end we realize that the world is destroyed to make<\/p>\n
way for the new world, or 4 Wolves reborn, and who knows, maybe they will<\/p>\n
resume their adventure.<\/p>\n
“Wolf’s Rain” is the story of four wolves who seek paradise in a world where<\/p>\n
their race is endangered. They learned to blend in society through a human<\/p>\n
appearance. It is interesting that they conserve only the appearance of a human<\/p>\n
being, which means that they cannot touch you the way a human does\u2026 For<\/p>\n
example, if they want to grab your arm, you would feel a bite instead of a touch\u2026<\/p>\n
The facts that take place throughout the 30 episodes seem to be part of a link<\/p>\n
in an endless cycle, where these four wolves die and then are born again. I think<\/p>\n
it is this discovery that disturbed me the most … and if our life was a cycle , and<\/p>\n
if our soul was condemned to be reborn after each Apocalypse ( assuming that<\/p>\n
the world is reborn from its ashes every time … ) with no memory of our previous<\/p>\n
life … grr … Goosebumps … the city of Jagara also puzzled me … its inhabitants<\/p>\n
followed the course of their lives without asking questions, and seemed anything<\/p>\n
but human … pawns … robots that have no idea of the issue that surrounded<\/p>\n
them, nor the nobles\u2019 ploys… While politicians and high-ranking country play a<\/p>\n
game of thrones, we, insignificant people try to earn a living and to satisfy our<\/p>\n
basic needs….<\/p>\n
Which brings us to the meaning of the quest of the wolves … their goal is to find<\/p>\n
paradise, a world ruled by wolves. But does this utopian place really exist?<\/p>\n
At one point, Kiba , the leader of the pack , falls asleep under the influence of a<\/p>\n
powerful poison and dreams of paradise. He feels happy and serene. Why did he<\/p>\n
not feel content in this heaven though?<\/p>\n
And I wonder if happiness is real? I have long lingered on the issue in the past,<\/p>\n
and I am content with this conclusion: happiness is a state of mind , accept<\/p>\n
life with optimism. But Kiba\u2019s adventure threw me off… should we settle for an<\/p>\n
illusory happiness or constantly ask for more? Kiba could have lived happily in<\/p>\n
his dream and never look back to what he had left behind. Hige and Blue could<\/p>\n
have run away and live in peace, but she chose to go in search of the unknown<\/p>\n
paradise, where all would be perfection. They wanted “more.” This is what kept<\/p>\n
them alive, this is what gives them the courage to move forward, and that’s what<\/p>\n
gave them hope. It is true that the pursuit of a goal gives us the strength to move<\/p>\n
forward and meet the challenges, but what if what we wanted was a myth ? The<\/p>\n
old man who has spent his life hunting wolves to avenge the death of his wife and<\/p>\n
his son eventually learns that Jagara guards were responsible for the massacre<\/p>\n
of his city , not beasts. He chose to deny the truth and continue to despise the<\/p>\n
wolves rather than to admit that his quest was not relevant. After all, to kill all the<\/p>\n
wolves was his goal, and this goal gave meaning to his existence.<\/p>\n
I can not help but to put myself in the place of Kiba, Tsume, Hige and Toboe,<\/p>\n
because I have faith in a better future, even if this satisfies me . Should we be<\/p>\n
satisfied with what we have? Should I be satisfied with the comfort provided by<\/p>\n
my distractions and forget those existential questions that have long troubled<\/p>\n
Thoughts about this anime? Suggestions for other anime reviews? Let me<\/p>\n
know!!! slouadi@hotmail.ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by: Sarah Louadi Some of them carry a deeper message than you would A Review of \u201cWolf\u2019s Rain\u201d Favourite quotes: Kiba: They say there’s no such place… as Paradise. Even if you search to the ends of the Earth, there’s nothing there. No matter how far you walk, it’s always the same road. It just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21699,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21699"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/waltergage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}