Wolf's Rain (ウルフズ・レイン) is a Japanese anime series first broadcast in Japan on January 6, 2003. It ran for a full season of 26 episodes. Four more episodes were released on DVD in Japan in January and February 2004, completing the story.
The story was originally created by Keiko Nobumoto, a writer and story editor (best known for her work on the popular anime series Cowboy Bebop), who also simultaneously published a manga version of the story. The series is available on DVD in the United States, having been licensed for US distribution by Bandai Entertainment. Wolf's Rain aired as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup, and is currently being shown on Rapture TV in Northern Europe. Also, the final four OVA episodes aired on Adult Swim as a replacement of 4 episodes of the TV series (which were all clip shows). Wolf's Rain features a soundtrack composed by Yoko Kanno.
The manga version of Wolf's Rain, made by Toshitsugu Iida, began publication in English by VIZ, LLC, starting November 3, 2004. It is 2 volumes long and is an alternate telling of Wolf's Rain.
Story Overview
Wolf's Rain takes place in a post-apocalyptic time when much of the world has been ecologically devastated in a form of fimbulwinter and most people live in poverty. A legend is told in the "Book of the Moon" that wolves are mystical beings who came to the world from a place called Rakuen (Paradise), at the dawn of time. It is also said that, in the future, wolves will, with the help of a mysterious woman called the "Flower Maiden" (a being created from the essence of lunar flowers), find a way to return to paradise and in doing so, bring about the end of the world. This legend is difficult for most to believe, though, because wolves were thought to have been hunted to extinction nearly 200 years ago. Some wolves have survived though and they have been coexisting with humans right under their noses. The wolves have a way of presenting themselves as being human to other humans, thus they can blend into human society with relatively little notice. This ability is in no way shapeshifting; it is a mental trick: an illusion.
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