📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS
📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS

Mamoru Hosada (director), Wolf Children, 2012. 117 min.

A story about a single mother trying to bring up two half-Japanese children on her own might naturally be of interest to a foreign parent living in Japan like me, but in the case of Mamoru Hosada’s animated film Wolf Children, the two kids, Yuki and Ame, are half-wolf. As young children/pups, they are only slightly more destructive than normal toddlers as they tear apart a small Japanese apartment.  

Haru Kuroki voices Yuki as a young child, with Momoka Ona voicing her as she grows up. Younger Ame is voiced by Yukito Nishii, and as an adolescent by Amon Kabe.

Hana, the human mother, is voiced by Aoi Miyazaki. The voice acting is never exaggerated, part of a style of animation that is highly realistic, despite the supernatural plot, which helps the viewer suspend disbelief. Also, greatly enhancing the sound of the picture is the music of the criminally under-appreciated singer, Ann Sally.

Anime, at its best, tells us something about human nature. What does Spirited Away (2001) say about greed, for example, or Princess Mononoke (1997) about humankind’s relationship with nature? Although it is from another film company, Wolf Children shares a lot with those two Studio Ghibli pictures in terms of quality. It is an animated film that, despite its supernatural content, offers a lot of insight into contemporary life in Japan. For example, the fear and embarrassment of disturbing neighbours. Hana soon realises that raising the two noisy animal-like children and hiding their true identity, in a small apartment in a city, is not going to work. She buys a dilapidated house far into the country. There are many such houses in Japan today as the population declines and many younger people gravitate to the cities. But the home is ideal for the children where they can run and play in a natural environment. Still, Ame, in particular, struggles equally with the wild outdoors and school as Hana tries to adjust them to human life while at the same time nurturing their animal side. His timidity and inability to fit in anywhere, made worse by bullying, is sadly reminiscent of the socially awkward in Japan, who, in the extreme, never leave their homes.

Wolf Children is not without its flaws, or areas for criticism. It’s overall suitable for children although sad in parts. However, parents should be cautioned about a very brief scene of intimacy. More significantly, there’s a persistent theme of the risk and sacrifices parents make for their kids, that borders too heavily on fatalism. It is perhaps this view that discourages many from having children. This is especially evident in the case of the missing wolfman father, but also with Hana.

The film is on occasion shamelessly tear-jerking. However, no loving parent can be unmoved. With or without kids, Wolf Children is worth watching, but bring your tissues.   

How to cite: Dutch, Jeremiah. “Wolf Children as a Statement on Parenthood and Modern Japan.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 22 Jul. 2023, chajournal.blog/2023/07/22/wolf-children.

As an American who has called Japan home for over 25 years, Jeremiah Dutch’s writing crosses both cultures. He’s written about such diverse topics as horror films and climbing Mt. Fuji. While still an undergraduate, he wrote for The Haverhill (Massachusetts) Gazette and The Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Herald. In 1997, he graduated from the University of New Hampshire and moved to Japan to teach English the following year. In 2007 he earned a MS.Ed in Education from Temple University and for over seventeen years taught at the post-secondary level while continuing to write academic articles, fiction, and non-fiction. He currently teaches at Rikkyo University.  In 2022, his short piece, Zen Failure in Kyoto won an Honourable Mention in the Seventh Annual Writers in Kyoto Competition. This was excerpted and adapted from his then novel-in-progress, Gaijin House. Another adapted excerpt was published this year under the name “Transported Souls in the Motel of Regret” in the anthology Mono no Aware: Stories on the Fleeting Nature of Beauty. These days he calls Yokohama home and lives there with his wife and two daughters. When not writing, teaching, or spending time with his family, he enjoys reading, exercising, and following baseball. Some more information about Jeremiah and his writing can be found on his website and Instagram. [All contributions by Jeremiah Dutch.]

---