Wolf's Rain

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Tensai Okamura
Production
Bandai, BONES, Fuji TV
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
30 episodes
Year
2003

Wolf's Rain Volume 2

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
21st Dec 05

Highly anticipated Wolf’s Rain may be, and too much hype can often lead to a horrible disappointment. The first volume was good but not great, original but not outstanding, yet the series looks like it could become a winner.

So another four episodes as we follow our pack of young Wolves on the search for paradise. The first two episodes on this disc see our pack encounter a small city that is full of wolves; these wolves tell Kiba and the others to give up on their search for paradise, as the place doesn’t exist. They are warned to leave as soon as possible, but stay long enough to find that these wolves have lost their honour. The appearance of Kiba and the others also begins to instil some old feelings in the misguided packs leader Zari. In the next episode our wolves once again pick up the scent of the flower maiden, and sensing the wolves herself, Cheza leaps from Darcia’s airship whilst being pursued by small military force assisted by Cher. The wolves encounter Cheza, but the nearby town and surrounding area are surrounded by the military force, and the wolves must bide their time in order to escape. In episode eight still unable to escape the town, the wolves try their best to please Cheza and they encounter another flower maiden who has her own agenda.

Whilst the first two episodes on this DVD don’t really add much to the overall plot. Yet it does offer an insight into this world in which Wolf’s Rain is set, and stops us from asking questions like where are all the other wolves. The remaining two begin to take us into the main body of the series, with Kiba and the other wolves looking for paradise with the help of Cheza.

The action in the latter episodes is some of the more intense as far as the wolves try to escape from the small military force that are determined to get Cheza back. Again the way that the anime shows the wolves in their human form, and then switches to wolves during the action sequences are a marvel to see. Also Cheza becomes much more of an active character in this volume, and she is an unsettling character at the least, with a tendency to refer to herself as “this one” she’s the weakest character of the group but then she is one of the most recent additions, and it’s still early days yet.

The second volume of Wolf’s Rain is an enjoyable watch and will have the view asking more questions than it gives answers. Yet there still doesn’t appear to be anything other than the rather impressive visuals and soundtrack, which would make this title an great one. Hopefully this will change in the next volume.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English/French/Japanese Audio Tracks, English/French/Polish/Dutch Subtitles, Character Bios, Clean Opening and Closing animation, Trailers, Leaflet

Release information: Publisher: Beez Released: December 12th 2005 Classification: 15 Running Time: 100mins

Notes: The character Bios and the leaflet, which contains a few character bios on one side and artwork on the other, are nice touches. Other than those Wolf's Rain volume two is another rather standard DVD in terms of extras.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 21st Dec 05

Wolf's Rain Images