Jyu Oh Sei made me lost my trust in Japanese anime for quite some time, but after watching few episodes of Princess Princess D (it is decent, but nowhere near the anime version), I decided that I should try watching more titles in this entertainment medium again. So, I play it safe and tried to watch this anime titled Wolf’s Rain that was recommended in many anime discussion forums out there in the Interweb as a masterpiece. Now let’s see whether those self-styled hacks are right or not…..
Story:-
This anime is pretty similiar to Fantastic Children, without the snail-paced introduction. This is all about wolves who can take shape like humans in an adventure to find a flower that looks like a human woman so that they can go to paradise. And of course there are plenty of people (real humans BTW) who want to stop those wolves from taking over the world finding paradise.
Basically, the story is mundane, just like it is in Fantastic Children. And it has about 3-4 consecutive filler episodes about halfway of the series that I have skipped without remorse, and I know I do not miss anything storywise at all. I wonder what makes many people saying that this series is a masterpiece. It is nowhere near as good as Princess2 or Galaxy Angel. Better than Jyu Oh Sei though. Almost everything is better than Jyu Oh Sei.
Character Design:-
Unlike the storyline, character design in this series is anything but mundane. Three characters spring to mind, which is Kiba, Cher and Blue, in which designs are simply awesome. Blue in human mode for instance, waltzs into my very very exclusive list of my top 5 most beautiful and attractive female anime characters in anime history. Other characters such as Cheza, Harmona/Jagara and Darcia The Third are also great. Probably the only good point in this series.
Voice acting:-
Unfortunately, this anime has average voice acting for vast majority of the characters. Maybe only Cheza has somewhat decent voice acting here.
Music:-
The OST is pretty good, but the OP/ED themes are not worth mentioning here. Somewhat like Jyu Oh Sei right?
Animation/Direction:-
While the animation is great, some f**k-up in the directing really stands out like a sore thumb. Like the scene in Jagara’s castle where a wall suddenly appears out of nowhere to split Kiba and Tsume without warning. Thank god for the rewind button. Pretty bad, considering the fact that most of the other time, the directing is decent.
Conclusion:-
Definitely not a masterpice IMO unlike those at the anime discussion boards in the Interweb claims. 6 out of 10.
