RE: Wow.

Wolf's Rain is the second anime I've watched that B sent me. After having first seen Cowboy Bebop, the movie, and been really impressed, I wasn't sure what to expect from WR. The first disk left me more confused and unsatisfied. It felt like there may be no overarching storyline other than a situational drama about these four wolves, running, chasing, etc. Part of this I also chalked up to the story being a TV show, in episodes, rather than one grand story as in the Bebop movie.

Then came the second and third disks. Now there were definite signs of places we wouldn't go, and definite signs of a plot developing, based on what had already happened. I wanted to know more, and I was sad when the disks ended. Just as I had a taste of a rich, complex world, it was over.

B sent me the last three disks -- one a recap disk, the last two furthering the plot and wrapping it up. I've been told there are more episodes beyond these, written later because "the end left some people unsatisfied." More on that later. Disk four, although it is a recap, also provides a bit of layering and character development, because it's all narrated by the main characters -- Kiba, Tsume, Hige, Toboe -- and was welcome to me.

Then came disk four, and five. To reveal much more is to ruin the plot for those who haven't seen it. But one thing becomes suddenly clear; for all it's props as an action/adventure series, Wolf's Rain is really a very emotional story. Death, violence, and warfare are all common in it's post-apocalyptic world, and it's love -- and loss, and longing, and suffering -- that is what really binds the characters. Throughout the story, too, people redeem themselves. Tsume, Blue, Lord Orkom's General, Quint, Hige, Lord Darcia III. Making things right is an undercurrent through it all.

And the end? Who says it doesn't give us answers? The end makes us fill in the answers ourselves, and the writers left plenty of clues for us to realize what happens after this. Perhaps some people don't like the portrayal -- or lack thereof -- of Paradise, but I think that a certain Lordly character's words at the end explain enough of it. Jaguara's idea of Paradise is a selfish one. The man who kills her makes that very clear in their last tete-a-tete.

The last episode had some previews for one of the follow-on disks. Sure, I'd love to see them, but as art, they aren't required. We know all about what's important and what isn't by the end of Wolf's Rain.