TRAGIC LOVE MONTH #11: Wolf Children, by Mamoru Hosoda (2012)

Type of Media: Animation

There are many stories about the conflict between nature and civilization. While many of those stories draw varying conclusions about the ability of civilization and nature to coexist, very few of them suggest that they might be able to combine. It's a given that nature and civilization must remain separate, and it's this separation that gives Japanese animated film Wolf Children the bulk of its drama.

Wolf Children stars Hana, a student living in the city and working part-time to make ends meet. Hana falls in love with a man who turns out to be a werewolf, and they quickly settle down and have two werewolf kids, Yuki and Ame. After the husband is killed in an accident, though, Hana has to take care of her rambunctious litter herself. She decides to move to an old, dilapidated house in the countryside where her children will have space to roam and freedom from prying eyes. As Yuki and Ame grow, however, it's clear that their wolf sides give them a place in nature that Hana can't reach, and by the time they're adolescents they have to make decisions about what they'll do in the world.

Hana is the epitome of the 'single mother trying to make it work' character, run ragged by her energetic kids and constantly searching for the proper way to raise werewolves. Aside from a blissful period where it seems like she has things figured out, you get the sense that Hana is involved with something she can't quite understand. Similar to how her lover ultimately dies because he's a being of nature in the city, Hana makes huge mistakes several times because she's a being of the city in nature. By the end Hana has to let go of her kids (sooner than most parents have to, dog years and all that) without hope for a reunion, because the world her kids can enter is one that she can't follow them into.

The art style of Wolf Children is very cute, with the characters sporting big, lumpy heads and expressive mouths. Yuki and Ame are adorable as they go from human to wolf, scampering around as pups and eventually racing through the forest as they mature. The backgrounds of the countryside as well are lovely, green and deep to suggest the mystery of nature. If you get a little bored at the sometimes slow pace of the plot, there's at least some serene eye candy you can enjoy.

If you're looking for something that's sentimental and a little bittersweet, Wolf Children fits the bill. It may also be a good movie to see with your parents, as I'm sure people with grown children could relate very well with Hana's struggles.