COMMENT | There's been a significant amount of talk surrounding Mamoru Hosoda's latest anime feature 'Wolf Children'. It follows up his recent films -- 2009's 'Summer Wars' and 2006's 'The Girl That Leapt Through Time'. Both, in my opinion, were distinct and very watchable anime movies, so with all the news I'd heard early this year in regards to Hosoda's next film, I became somewhat intrigued for its eventual release over here in the UK.
Unfortunately, it was a while before UK shores were to get a cinema release, October 25th to be precise, and even then it was extremely limited. The good news, however, was that its home release wasn't too far away -- its sparse October run was followed by an end of December DVD and Blu-ray release, which takes us to today.
Just two days prior to Christmas Day, Manga UK have gifted us 'Wolf Children' not only in both SD and HD versions, but in a 3-disc Deluxe Collector's Edition, too.
The Film
Continuing with the deeply embedded, carefully woven themes of his previous films, Hosoda uses family, belonging (or lack of it) to convey the story of Hana, a student who, after noticing a strange boy in her classes, befriends and falls in love with him. His name is Kare, and while his brooding persona comes across as perhaps socially awkward or shy, he is in fact hiding a dark secret.
As the pair fall for one another, Kare reveals the reason for his behaviour: he is a Wolf Man and the last of his species of 'transformers' from human to wolf and vice versa. The pair have two children, Yuki and Ame, who can also transform, but soon after Ame is born tragedy strikes and Hana is left to deal with the consequences. 'Wolf Children' is a hugely poignant and affecting story that is told with a distinct elegance and visual beauty.
Collector's Edition
Blu-ray aficionados will be particularly impressed with the high def release, because it comes in a 3-disc set that includes a number of bonus features as well as hand-drawn art cards. As you can see, they're gorgeous, but I'd recommend purchasing the set simply for the movie itself. It's certainly something that goes toe-to-toe with Studio Ghibli's 'From Up on Poppy Hill', that also released this year.
Recommendation
Not only is this a fantastic set available, but the film is consistent in its storytelling and beautifully told. Hosoda puts us in the position of the young children/cubs and reveals their vulnerability and struggle to find acceptance and fit into a world they're convinced would reject them. School proves the most challenging aspect, especially when Yuki takes a shine to a new boy in her class. The English dub is rather impressive, too. The voice acting is solid, so is just as effective and worthwhile as watching it in its native Japanese language.
