History Anime / WolfsRain

* BareYourMidriff: Mew. Also Tsume, complete with pelvic bones.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Everyone dies, including Kiba, yet they are all apparently reborn as humans far into the future, and Kiba's search for Paradise [[HereWeGoAgain seems to start over]], making it a BittersweetEnding in some interpretations.]] In the manga, only Kiba and Cheza survive.

---> Cheza:Shailoh shailoh yatreet ka

---> Cheza: Shailoh shailoh yatreet ka

* AristocratsAreEvil: The Nobles certainly aren't a very moral bunch.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Everyone dies, including Kiba, yet they are all apparently reborn as humans far into the future, and Kiba's search for Paradise [[HereWeGoAgain seems to start over]], making it a BittersweetEnding in some interpretations.]]

** Toboe does this in remorse after [[spoiler: accidentally killing a girl's pet hawk.]]

* LotusEaterMachine: There's a plant whose pollen puts anyone who comes near it to sleep until they eventually die. [[spoiler: Kiba gets caught in it and enters a false paradise,]] and to hammer the point home, one of the first things seen in it is an actual lotus. This is possibly subverted, depending on your interpretation of the scenes that follow.

* MaskPower: Darcia, but all Nobles like masks apparently. Nobles are freaks.

* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Jaguara does this openly, followed by an IfICantHaveYou, when the beloved doesn't appreciate the deed.]]
* NewOldFlame: Cher and Hubb. They were married once, but divorced when Cher's career became more important to her. Hubb doesn't hide the fact that he still loves her, and while Cher starts out cold and dismissive towards him, she eventually show signs of still being in love with him as well. [[spoiler:Towards the end of the series they reconcile and consider starting over, which is sadly doomed by the EverybodyDiesEnding.]]

** He does it again in the finale, [[spoiler: this time killing everyone but Kiba and Cheza. The only reason why both of them survived was because Darcia got incinerated when he tried to enter Paradise alone.]]

* OminousOwl: That freaky (ghost?) owl who keeps popping up in the dead forest.

* PolarOppositeTwins: A literal EvilTwin, [[spoiler:Jaguara turns out to be Harmona's evil sister]]; also, Kiba's human form looks a lot like [[spoiler:Darcia's, which as it turns out is no coincidence.]]

* ScarsAreForever: Several wolves bear nasty scars, reflecting their harsh lifestyle.

* StarCrossedLovers: The most notable example is Kiba and Cheza. Hubb and Cher, Darcia and Harmona, and Hige and Blue (so wait, make that ''every single couple'') qualify as well.

* TrueCompanions

* UncannyValley: Deliberately invoked to make the Nobles, especially Darcia in the last few episodes, unnerving even without those ''Film/EyesWideShut'' masks of theirs. The show manages to do this even with [[spoiler: Darcia's wolf form.]]
** Darcia's expressions in his wolf form, because it is clear he is forcing human expression to a wolf's face. This makes his grin especially disturbing.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wolfsrain.png]]

When a Noble by the name of Darcia kidnaps Cheza to use her healing powers to help his IllGirl fianceé, both the wolves and the feuding Nobles behind Cheza's creation chase after him. An obsessive wolf hunter named Quent complicates the feud, as he knows exactly how wolves protect themselves and works tirelessly to kill them at all costs (with the help of his loyal dog, Blue).

* KillEmAll: In a distressingly systematic fashion, [[spoiler:followed by a possible {{Reincarnation}}, depending on what you think is actually happening in that very last scene.]] However, [[spoiler:the manga version of the story has the wolves, humans and Cheza survive. The bad news is that Kiba ends up being blinded in the fight with Lord Darcia. The good news is that the clouds part, [[CueTheSun the sun shines]] and the Ice Age ends.]]

* NewOldFlame: Cher and Hubb. They were married once, but divorced when Cher's career became more important to her. Hubb doesn't hide the fact that he still loves her, and while Cher starts out cold and dismissive towards him, she eventually show signs of still being in love with him as well. [[spoiler:Towards the end of the series they reconcile and consider starting over, which is sadly doomed by the KillEmAll ending.]]

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wolfs_rain.png]]

* AbridgedSeries: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQi9Ax8UzCw Short-lived, but still quite watchable.]]

** Kiba and Toboe, [[ViewerGenderConfusion who is easily confused for a girl by viewers]]. The voices don't help. Even the artist for the series' manga ''also'' thought Toboe was a girl!

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5173.jpg]]

** Cheza's lullaby is in Gaelic, as seen [[https://youtu.be/IY8xy2opj0c here]] .

* CrapsackWorld: It seems to be a environmental cold wasteland, with some civilization still left together, but mostly in decaying cities that are few and far between.

* UncannyValley: Deliberately invoked to make the Nobles, especially Darcia in the last few episodes, unnerving even without those ''Film/EyesWideShut'' masks of theirs. The show manages do this even with [[spoiler: Darcia's wolf form.]]

* VentriloquistAnimal: The wolves ionly physically move their mouths to talk while under the guise of their human form illusions.

* FanNickName: Jaguara and Harmona, also known as [[GagBoobs Jugara]] and [[MsFanservice Harmona-harmona-harmona]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: An example of where this is played for emotion rather than comedy. The extraordinarily tender scene between Kiba and Cheza in the finale, when they [[spoiler:lie dying in each other's arms]], could be seen as a kind of consummation of their tragic romance. Cheza's speech as she tries to comfort Kiba contains a lot of gasping (in pain), and they're holding on so tightly that Cheza's clothes start to rip and she leaves scratch marks on Kiba's skin. She then arches her back (again, in pain) and crushes his face to her chest, after which the camera cuts to a shot of [[spoiler:their blood]] mingling in the snow.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Lord Orkham is quickly and unceremoniously killed by Jaguara's troops.]]
* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:Cher]] is the first person to die in the final episodes, [[spoiler:unable to get out of the vehicle fast enough before it falls down the cliff. Hubb and the wolves are able to get down the cliff fast enough for Hubb to spend his final moments with her, before he lays her body into the nearby river and lets it sink into the depths.]]

* EliteMooks: Jaguara's fully armored soldiers take a while to fall into VillainDecay. They retain a threatening air, slaying [[spoiler:Lord Orkham]], having an immunity to bullets and wolf bites, and conquering pretty much all the other countries. One takes on both Blue and and a gun wielding Cher and holds both back until he's hit with a tank shell. When the Decay finally hits and Kiba tears through them, he's still left with injuries that last the remainder of the series.

* AlasPoorVillain: Subverted in Episode 14; [[spoiler: Jagara's soldiers surround Darcia and his wife's corpse and there are images of the keep being destroyed, but Darcia is alive and well, as seen in his return in Episode 25.]]

* ArtificialAfterlife: Paradise is, according to legend, only supposed to be available to the wolves. Many nobles have tried to figure out how to enter it themselves, while Jagara, on the other hand, is attempting to create an alternative paradise.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Jagara's elite wolf-hunter soldiers. The armor makes sense, but there's no rational reason they should use those poleaxes and swords instead of guns. The shields make sense, except for the fact that the handle is basically just a handgun grip, which is great for aiming a small weapon but terrible for use with a shield.
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Darcia]] becomes this in the OVA episodes.

* EliteMooks: Jagara's fully armored soldiers take a while to fall into VillainDecay. They retain a threatening air, slaying [[spoiler:Lord Orkham]], having an immunity to bullets and wolf bites, and conquering pretty much all the other countries. One takes on both Blue and and a gun wielding Cher and holds both back until he's hit with a tank shell. When the Decay finally hits and Kiba tears through them, he's still left with injuries that last the remainder of the series.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Darcia was already very badass as a human. [[spoiler: Then he goes all Buick-sized wolf on the heroes]].
* EvilCounterpart: After crossing the DespairEventHorizon, [[spoiler:Darcia]] basically becomes like an evil, crazy version of Kiba.

* EyeScream: In the manga, [[spoiler:Kiba]] loses one eye during [[NoodleIncident unexplained circumstances]] when he's separated from the pack. He loses the other during a fight with Darcia.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Blue]] joins forces with Darcia in the manga, something she never did in the anime.

* FanNickName: Jagara and Hamona, also known as [[GagBoobs Jugara]] and [[MsFanservice Hamona-hamona-hamona]].

** The degree of this is show to be limited to human-visible spectrums: while they appear human to the human eye and to video camera, when Jagara's soldiers look at them through heat-vision scopes they are clearly wolves.

* LieToTheBeholder: The wolves' human forms are merely psychic illusions; they can't fool animals, security cameras, or so on. Or even heat-vision scopes, which Jagara's soldiers use to tell if people are humans or wolves in disguise.

* MercyKill: When [[spoiler:Hige is fatally wounded by Darcia]] he asks Tsume to finish him off because he doesn't want to feel any more pain.

* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Jagara]] does this openly. Followed by an IfICantHaveYou, when the beloved doesn't appreciate the deed.

* PolarOppositeTwins: A literal EvilTwin, [[spoiler:Jagara turns out to be Hamona's evil sister]]; also, Kiba's human form looks a lot like [[spoiler:Darcia's, which as it turns out is no coincidence.]]

* PsychoticLoveTriangle: Jagura, a {{Yandere}}, is in love with Darcia who's a {{Yandere}} for her twin sister.

** [[spoiler: What makes it even more tragic is that this was revealed to ultimately be pointless, as wolves merely ''scavenged on the remains of his family'' after they were really killed by Jagara's forces -- either as collateral damage or part of a cover-up, it's not really made clear -- in an attempt to capture Darcia, when he had first shifted into his wolf-form years before the series started.]]

* StarCrossedLovers: The most notable example is Kiba and Cheza. Hubb and Cher, Darcia and Hamona, and Hige and Blue (so wait, make that ''every single couple'') qualify as well.

* TookALevelInJerkass: In the manga, Tsume is a lot more aggressive and suspicious of Cheza, not truly warming up to her for a long time, in counter to the anime where he accepts her much sooner. [[spoiler: Blue]] is also much more selfish as well, having more of an ItsAllAboutMe attitude, believing Darcia's clear lies that they're TheChosenOne who will open Paradise, and is openly an antagonist towards the wolves. Whereas in the anime, they're accepted by them as one of the pack after only being an antagonist in the early episodes and get into a romantic relationship with Hige.
* TomatoInTheMirror: Surprisingly restrained in the anime. Only [[spoiler: Blue]] truly ends up being surprised by the fact she's half-wolf. Quent already knew all along and the other wolves seem to have sensed something similar, for they're not surprised when they meet her again.

* DeadpanSnarker: Quent seems to fit this trope when he's around Hubb.
** Tsume seems to count as well, seeing how he occasionally made dry, cynical remarks and sarcastically calling Hige "Porky" at times.
** Heck, even Hubb at some degree at the mentioning of his failed marriage with Cher.
** Hige himself has a tendency to get a bit snarky as well.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Darcia]] goes through this after the death of [[spoiler:Harmona]]. We get to watch it in all its heartrending glory.
** Kiba seems to suffer a very painful one at the end of the series. [[spoiler:Not only does he die alone after Cheza disintegrates right in front of him, he's the ''last living thing in the '''world''' to die.'']]

** [[spoiler:Toboe, the youngest, takes a bullet from Darcia in the OVA.]]

[[JustBeforeTheEnd The Earth sits on the edge of death]]; years of war between greedy Nobles have reduced the world to a handful of high-tech, [[Creator/HRGiger Giger]]-esque cities amidst a barren wilderness. Only a single, small hope still remains: [[AllMythsAreTrue an old legend]] which says that in civilization's last days, wolves will follow the scent of lunar flowers to Paradise. It sounds promising, but no one has seen either a wolf or a lunar flower for centuries...or so they think.

!!Tropes:

* BareYourMidriff: Mew. Also Tsume, complete with pelvic bones...

* {{Bishonen}}: Kiba and Toboe, [[ViewerGenderConfusion who is easily confused for a girl by viewers]]. The voices don't help.
** It gets better: the artist for the series' manga ''also'' thought Toboe was a girl!
*** The fact that in the anime's ending [[spoiler:Toboe is wearing the girliest shade of pink ever, to the point where it looks like he was reincarnated ''as'' a girl.]] Might be Lampshading the fact the writers do realize how feminine Toboe comes off as.

** [[spoiler:Toboe, the youngest, takes a bullet from Darcia in the OVA...]]

* LickedByTheDog: Early on when Tsume is being a jerkass, Toboe's liking for him is one of the few things (besides his badassery) that makes him likeable. Although being voiced by Creator/CrispinFreeman doesn't hurt...

* PolarOppositeTwins: A literal EvilTwin, [[spoiler:Jagara turns out to be Hamona's evil sister]]; also, Kiba's human form looks a lot like [[spoiler:Darcia's, which as it turns out is no coincidence...]]

* DeathOfAChild: In the first episode, Tsume is leading a human gang of thieves. During a heist a young boy who {{Hero Worship|per}}s Tsume falls. Tsume tries to catch the boy, but witnessing Tsume's sudden transformation into a wolf causes the kid to panic, fall, and die.
** Less "sudden transformation" than the fact that when Tsume appeared to be grabbing him with a hand, he was really grabbing the kid's shoulder with his teeth. The wolf-bite hurt, the situation allowed the kid to see through the illusion, and, well...
** And then [[spoiler:Toboe]], the youngest gets killed in the OVA...
** And then in the anime version finale [[spoiler: EVERYONE dies. In the whole world. Children included.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Many might consider it a flat out DownerEnding since the world ends and all of our main characters have died lonely deaths. However, the epilogue shows us that the wolves have been reincarnated into the modern world and may begin their search for Paradise anew.]]

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Kiba]] loses one eye during [[NoodleIncident unexplained circumstances]] when he's separated from the pack. He loses the other during a fight with Darcia.

''Wolf's Rain'' is an original anime created by Keiko Nobumoto, the screenwriter for ''Anime/CowboyBebop''. It originally ran for twenty-six episodes from January to July 2003, but budget cuts and the SARS outbreak resulted in '''four''' consecutive {{clip show}}s (episodes 15 to 18); the broadcast series ends with the wolves foiling a Noble's attempt to enter Paradise, but without a proper conclusion to the story. Four {{OVA}} episodes, released a few months later (and listed on [=DVD=]s as episodes 27 to 30), brought closure to the story -- but also received criticism for their dark and tragic events. The final episode also explains the show's title, as rain had only showed up in the opening titles until that episode. (Some TV networks outside Japan omit the [=OVAs=] from the show's broadcast.)

''Wolf's Rain'' is an original anime created by Keiko Nobumoto, the screewriter for ''Anime/CowboyBebop''. It originally ran for twenty-six episodes from January to July 2003, but budget cuts and the SARS outbreak resulted in '''four''' consecutive {{clip show}}s (episodes 15 to 18); the broadcast series ends with the wolves foiling a Noble's attempt to enter Paradise, but without a proper conclusion to the story. Four {{OVA}} episodes, released a few months later (and listed on [=DVD=]s as episodes 27 to 30), brought closure to the story -- but also received criticism for their dark and tragic events. The final episode also explains the show's title, as rain had only showed up in the opening titles until that episode. (Some TV networks outside Japan omit the [=OVAs=] from the show's broadcast.)

''Wolf's Rain'' originally ran for twenty-six episodes, but budget cuts and the SARS outbreak resulted in '''four''' consecutive {{clip show}}s (episodes 15 to 18); the broadcast series ends with the wolves foiling a Noble's attempt to enter Paradise, but without a proper conclusion to the story. Four {{OVA}} episodes, released a few months later (and listed on [=DVD=]s as episodes 27 to 30), brought closure to the story -- but also received criticism for their dark and tragic events. The final episode also explains the show's title, as rain had only showed up in the opening titles until that episode. (Some TV networks outside Japan omit the [=OVAs=] from the show's broadcast.)

* ShoutOut: "Julius", the male prostitute from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', [[TheCameo briefly shows up]] in one episode.