Wolf-Children-EN

Welcome one and all to the greatest show on earth! Well, at least for someone that is!! This is the first of a series I plan to make. I dub it: Anime we Love! This is simple in idea and execution. I find a wonderful person on the interwebs and just simply interview them about their favorite anime. I feel like the culture and fandoms we see so often are just a distorted and ugly place most of the time. I’m tired of all the perverse and mean behavior. People insulting things just because, and then in turn insulting the person for having unique tastes. It’s awful and needs to stop. So, I am here to spread the love.
Today’s guest is one of my many friends from the social anime networking site Hummingbird. Her name is Marie and her favorite anime is Wolf Children. Wolf Children(2012) is one of the most well known films by Mamoru Hosoda.  His other notable works are The Girl who Leapt Through Time(2006), Summer Wars(2009), and the more recent The Boy & The Beast(2015). His movies are well known for their great amount of depth and reliability, and Wolf Children is no different in this regard. So let us explore together the love and adoration for anime. Today we love Wolf Children.
DISCLAIMER: This post contains spoilers for the movie Wolf Children. If you have not seen the movie and want to avoid spoilers I recommend coming back to this post afterwards. Thank you so much for your time and now on to the interview! 
Do you recall when you first saw the film? Was it something you already had planned to watch or was it on a whim of sorts? 
Marie: So I first saw Wolf Children some time in late 2014/ early 2015; I don’t quite recall. I decided to watch it when I listened to the podtaku episode (episode 22 I think) in which they talked about it. It was a sort of whim?
Doaki(That’s me!): I always enjoy seeing that being the reason for watching something. Hearing people talk about something they love can really influence us in ways we don’t really think about. So in a way you would probably thank the podcast group for motivating you to watch it wouldn’t you?
Marie: Yes, I suppose I would thank the podcast; they introduced me to a lot of good anime back when I was a beginner.
So now for the fun part. Tell me a little bit about what makes this anime stick out so much for you. Why do you love it so much? 
Marie: Wolf Children tells the story of a human woman raising her wolf children on her own. The children change as they grow, and the movie displays perfectly the struggles we can go through to figure ourselves out. The theme of growing up and finding yourself… it resonates with me. It makes me cry without fail every time I watch it.
Doaki: You know when I watched the film those same central themes really struck home with myself as well. I love how powerful a movie can be to make a message appeal to such a large and broad audience. To me, that is a tell tale sign that the work is something special for sure.
The movie has a fairly small cast but I assume you have a favorite of the bunch. Who is it and why are they the personal favy?
Marie: Hana is my favorite character. She is the kind of person I strive to be. “He told me to keep smiling through tough or painful times, even if I had to force myself to do it” is my favorite line in the movie, and describes Hana’s person very well. Her kind, strong spirit shines throughout the film, while she struggles to fulfill the promise to the children’s father of raising them right.

Parenting is a hard job. You have to out out your best to be someone you can be proud of. Be like Hana.

Doaki: You are so very right that Hana is a wonderful example of something we could strive to be. Her strength throughout the course of the film is truly awe inspiring, yet it never breaks the idea of realism, so it really makes her a super relatable character from her first seconds on screen. 
Are there any particular scenes in the movie that really exemplify your love for it? 
Marie: The part where the father dies is the first part of the movie to make me cry. The scene when they run through the snow is very beautiful. The music stands out in this scene, as well as the animation. (The mixture of 2D and 3D animation is incredibly good in this scene, as well as throughout the movie.) Then the scene when Yuki and Sousuke are talking in front of the mirror; talking about wanting to be grown up. Finally the scene near the end of the movie when Hana must let Ame go and face that her children have grown up.
Doaki: WOW! Haha You gave me several examples! I suppose I should have expected that with it being your favorite anime! I can totally see why you love all of those scenes in particular. They are all immensely powerful and just make the film so thoroughly enjoyable. I would say my favorite is the snow scene, something about it is just beautiful and it’s really such a burst of emotion that made me smile so much. 
Marie: If I had to pick an absolute favorite out of all my favorite scenes, it would probably be the mirror scene. That scene just struck home with me.
Doaki: Oh, I can totally see why that scene stuck out to you in particular. It’s such a strong showing of emotion into the characters psyche. Those are really the kind of moments that are bound to make an impact of the viewer and their experience!
Is there a particular musical track you love the most in the movie?
Marie: The violin tracks throughout the movie always stick out to me. Also of course the ending song. I just sit there at the end of the movie crying my eyes out while that songs plays xD
Doaki: Violin and piano tracks always have that effect I think! The soundtrack for Wolf Children is a mixture of melancholy and calmness to me. And I really adore that credits song as well. It really it the totality of everything that is Wolf Children.