Released in 2003 as a 26-episode television animation series and four original video animation (OVA) by Bones Studio under the direction of Okamura Tensai on Fuji TV and the animation CS television network Animax, Wolf’s Rain ranked third among anime series airing simultaneously, such as Air Master and Dear Boys. Wolf’s Rain focuses on the journey of four lone wolves (Kiba, Tsume, Hige, Toboe) who cross paths while following the scent of the Lunar Flower and seek for Paradise. In a post-apocalyptic future, humans live in domed cities surrounded by wasteland. According to an old legend, when the end of the world comes, a place known as Paradise will appear, but only wolves will know how to find it, who are believed to have been hunted to extinction nearly two hundred years ago: they have been surviving by casting illusions over themselves to make them appear human. Now, the four young wolves will follow the scent of Lunar Flowers on a dangerous quest to find that place promised to them by the legend: the Paradise. On their way, Cheza, the Flower Maiden who is destined to lead the wolves to Paradise, is being studied at a laboratory under the care of Cher Degre, but she is awakened by the smell of wolves’ blood. As Kiba and Hige approach the laboratory to find her, she is stolen away by Lord Darcia the Third, whose people created Cheza. In the OVAs, eventually, Darcia and Kiba battle over who will open Paradise, during which Kiba is fatally wounded. Darcia dies when he attempts to enter Paradise due to not being a true wolf. Kiba finds Cheza as she dies and disintegrates into seeds. Dying, Kiba concludes that his quest has failed, but rain begins to fall and Cheza’s seeds grow into thousands of lunar flowers. As he dies, Kiba falls into the water’s depths and sees the blood-red moon turning back to its normal color. Cheza’s death causes Paradise, as well as the world, to be reborn; at the same time, Darcia’s corruption can be seen taking root in this new Paradise.
The characters of Wolf’s Rain are plain wolves, clearly acting as wolves: a lot of the series’ most interesting dynamics comes from wolves behaving like wolves in human environments – breaking up into packs (complete with obvious hierarchies), challenging each other for dominance, showing only incidental respect towards humans, fighting to defend their turf, etc. The wolves in Wolf’s Rain use illusions to give themselves a human appearance, enabling them to blend into the human world and escape detection. They always retain their true nature, though, neither thinking nor acting as true humans in the world do. Like in other Japanese animation works such as Cowboy Bebop (1998), the characters in Wolf’s Rain have an universal nature at their very core: Kiba has a quiet nature in which he disguises his insecurities; Tsume, a typical loner, hides behind his superficial tough appearance and emotional unavailability; Hige is the permanently hungry wolf on his quest for a female companion; the young Toboe is affectionate and warmhearted. Cheza, the human Flower Maiden, is a girl artificially created from a Lunar Flower by the Noble Darcia the First using the lost art and science of alchemy. Together with Blue, they are individuals looking for redemption in a world which has long lost its center and values. The antagonists (the malefic Darcia, the revengeful Jaguara) and the secondary characters (Hubb Lebowski, Cher Degré, Quent Yaiden) act as credible counter-entities to the quest for salvation and immortality, while simultaneously contributing to the atmosphere of adventure and realism.
(Aimed at a seinen readership, young males in their mid-20s until their mid-40s, when they are, demographically speaking, entering middle-age, the manga version of Wolf’s Rain was published by Kôdansha in two volumes in the same year as its adaptation into television animation series, 2003. Written by Nobumoto Keiko and illustrated by Iida Toshitsugu, the manga follows faithfully the narrative arc of the animation series, offering surprisingly few additional information related to the original contents mediated by the animation version. In the manga version, most of the characters are similar in appearance and personality to their animation counterparts, but some characters seen in the animated version do not appear in the manga, including the Noble Lord Orkham.)
The music for the Wolf’s Rain soundtrack was composed and arranged by Kanno Yôko. The vocal songs are performed by various artists, including Sakamoto Maaya, Raj Ramayya, Ilaria Graziano, Steve Conte and Joyce, and they were recorded in various countries (Japan, Poland, Brazil, USA, Italy) in order to offer a diverse range of music and give the soundtrack an international flavor. Two CD soundtracks, produced by Kanno Yôko, Ôta Toshiaki, and Sasaki Shirô, were released in Japan by Victor Entertainment.
Wolf’s Rain Original Soundtrack, Volume 1 was published on 29. March 2003. It contains twenty-one tracks, including the opening and closing themes throughout most of the main series “Stray” and “Gravity” as well as many of the background sounds used during key-scenes in the main series. Wolf’s Rain Original Soundtrack, Volume 2 was released on 21. January 2004. It contains twenty-three additional tracks, including the closing theme for the final episode of the main series “Tell Me What the Rain Knows”, sung by Sakamoto Maaya and with lyrics by Chris Mosdell. It provides the background music from the final episode not included in the broadcast version, and music from the four OVA episodes.
Both “Stray” and “Gravity” are compelling in their dramatism, with dynamic sounds, inner tragic restraint reminiscent of “Rain” from Cowboy Bebop (in “Stray”) and with a profoundly lyrical mood, expressing longing and empowerment (in “Gravity”). Arabian insinuations in the instrumental “Mouth On Fire” or the symphonic structure reminding of Antonin Dvořák’s From the New World (in “Sad Moon”) are balanced by generous melodic arches of the orchestra with the improvisational nostalgic sounds of the guitar in the foreground (in “Sold Your Soul”). The symphonic respiration of the polyphonic discourse of the instrumental dialogue with intricate communication between the violins and the oboe, on the one hand, and the flutes and the cellos, on the other hand (in “Cheza, My Little Flower”) alternates with jazzy interludes in free rhythms and dynamic melodic elements (in “Hounds”) or with a guitar ballad, starting with a lyrical dialogue between the two competing guitars, followed by a dynamization of the musical instrumental narration (in “Leaving on Red Hill”).
The same symphonic discourse, additionally employing human voices as instruments, appears in a neo-Wagnerian style (in “Shiro”), followed by the “Requiem” of gothic intransigence, deeply disturbing, announcing of a new world rising from the ashes of the old one. The Pink Floyd-inspired “Heaven’s Not Enough”, with the plain melody of the flute evolving into the human voice, is counterpointed in the background by the static sounds of the electronic instrument. “Shi no Mori” or “The Forest of Death” brings up epic music in the spirit of Two Steps from Hell, in symphonic amplitude, employing brass instruments and percussion in dialogue, with the strings counterpointing the musical discourse and dynamizing it towards a climactic finale. They provide a wide variety of styles and musical languages, supporting the diversity of Wolf’s Rain’s narrative lines and characters.
The non-tempered flute-de-pan reminding of open spaces, emerges from the texture of tempered instruments (in “Indiana”); long-lasting echoes, sounding like wolves’ screams in the forests and reverberating through snow and ice (in “Sleeping Wolves”), make place for “Pilgrim snow” with its electronic sounds like snowflakes, counterpointed by the oboe in a lyrical melody, accompanied by the soft rhythmicity of the percussion in the background, evolving into a full-fledged orchestral discourse. It is like a fairy tale, just more obsessive, with the flute taking over the main melody and transcending the nostalgic expectation. “Tip Toe Waltz” is an instrumental gem in classical spirit, reviving the operetta-like playfulness of prewar Europe with its calculated frivolity and superficial nostalgia, in strong contrast with the ritualistic sounds reminding of the spirit of a Japanese festival (matsuri) with repetitive drums and vocal incantations juxtaposed in “Visions of a Flame”. The prairie song of the saxophone (with voice), moving into jazzy insinuations, with the playful employment of the voice in the musical discourse in “Strangers” leads to the kaleidoscope-like structure, with blass instruments caught in a confusing dialogue and the strings commenting the evolution in a canon-like succession in “Night Owl”.
“Silver” is unexpectedly dynamic, with ethnic instruments competing with classical Western instruments and the guitar overviewing the development of the orchestral discourse. “Float” sounds almost expressionist in its discontinuity, while “Separated” is the most lyrical part of the whole soundtrack with the guitar expressing melancholic overtones of loss and grace, of acceptance and sadness, and of the power to let go and move on. Like “Separated”, “Beyond me” is highly lyrical, but devastating in its discontinuity, breaking down in short passages of emotional growth interrupted by segments of an almost expressionist disturbance. The jazzy insinuations, vocal virtuosity, dynamic improvisation in “Coracao Selvagem” suggest the unpredictability of life, its longings and its progressions. The likewise jazzy “Renga” is reminiscent of the roaring 1920s in the USA with their unspoiled freedom of spirit.
“Valse de la Lune” completes the group of jazz-influenced tracks, with its dynamic rhythmic structures encompassed within the alternation of 3 to 4 tact, thus creating a disturbing juxtaposition between emotional expectation and real fulfillment. The beauty of resurrection and of hope, of symphonic magnitude and strength, an explosion of vitality and solar energy is musically described in “Rain of Blossoms”. The piano discourse in “Friends”, lyrical at its very core, is elegantly counterpointed by orchestral involvement, keeping its sovereignty, its dignity as a story-teller of the beauty of friendship and courage, moving in the background of the musical discourse, while several instruments are disputing the polyphonic texture (violins, flute, cellos) towards a soft conclusion. The insinuations of blues in the conduit of the vocal part, nostalgic and progressive at the same time in “Dogs and Angels”, offers a refreshing contrast to the jazzy lyricism dominating the albums.
Reviewers of the series gave it high marks for characterization, visual presentation and its soundtrack, while disparaging the existence of four recapitulation episodes in the middle of the series. Wolf’s Rain’s unusual focus on non-human characters and the complex dynamics of wolves behaving like wolves as they interact with the human characters and environments in the series, is powerfully sustained by its stunning visuals, with beautiful backgrounds that depict settings from high-tech mysticism to urban decay and open wilderness:
I first saw the previews for Wolf’s Rain on CN, Adult Swim and was surprised. It is not often that you see such an interesting plot that grabs you right from the get-go. I of course watched it and fell in love. The animation is amazing and fluid thanks to the people who also animated Cowboy Bebop. The characters are deep and interesting, and their personalities contradict each other making it a lot of fun to watch. The music is average in my opinion, but still it is above normal anime standards for good. The one bad thing is the flashback episodes 15-18. They are a waste of time and get you to forget the story. Other than that, it is a spectacular series, right up there with Cowboy Bebop in my opinion. I would give Wolf’s Rain a 9 1/2 out of ten and a jar of cookies. I highly recommend this series to anyone who does not mind a little swearing and blood. ^^ (YGG1000 from USA; https://m.imdb.com/user/ur3661439/?ref_=tt_urv_usr_t; retrieved 10. January 2025)
In accordance with the gloomy and intricate texture of the television animation series plot and with the universal nature of the characters involved in Wolf’s Rain, Kanno Yôko’s soundtrack explores a great variety of styles, specifically focusing on symphonic structures of generous orchestration, therefore enhancing the background imaginative of broad landscapes and huge astral challenges. The positive reaction of fans and experts shows that, more than being a purely auditive accompanying medium to the images displayed, Kanno Yôko’s music reverberates by itself beyond its functionality, and recreates a universe of emotions and perceptions which allow audiences to immerse themselves into the depths of the animation work as a multi-dimensional adventure. In her quest for excellence within the artistic endeavor, Kanno Yôko transcends the liminality of cultural consumption towards more profound levels of significance, and encourages consumers of popular products to reflect, courageously, on the meaning of life, love and victory in late modernity.
