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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Mamoru Hosoda's intriguing anime tale of a mother rearing her half-lupine kids in the Japanese countryside explores the primitive aspects of the rural idyll with handsome, largely hand-drawn visuals. Hosoda's visual style and mixing of fantasy and the everyday has elicited comparisons with Hayao Miyazaki, though here he allows sentimental anthropomorphism to creep in, which is more a feature of American animation than the Japanese genre. It's the story of Hana, a student who falls in love with a classmate who happens to be the last shape-shifting grey wolf. Hana bears the wolf-man two children, Yuki and Ame, and finds herself alone with them after tragedy strikes. However, Hosoda chronicles their upbringing with plenty of gentle humour, and it is only when Yuki decides to take the human route and Ame opts to embrace his transformational nature that the real drama begins. Hosoda cogently tackles themes of identity, prejudice, mother love and the nature vs nurture debate that was also covered in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Like Father, like Son. But, while his metaphorical message is astute, the movie sometimes feels as twee as it is poetic.

How to watch

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Credits

Cast

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HanaAoi Miyazaki
YukiHaru Kuroki
AmeYukito Nishii
Mr TanableShota Sometani
Mrs DoiMitsuki Tanimura
Mrs HottaKumiko Aso
Sohei's motherMegumi Hayashibara

Crew

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DirectorMamoru Hosoda

Details

Theatrical distributor
Manga Entertainment
Released on
2013-10-25
Languages
Japanese
Formats
Colour
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