Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Wolf's Rain: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

An incredible anime achievement which ranks as one of the all time best

Wolfs Rain is an anime masterpiece produced by Go Haruna (Haibane renmei), Masahiko Minami (Cowboy Bebop: The Movie), and Minoru Takanashi (Escaflowne). The critically acclaimed anime series takes place in a futuristic world in which the human race believes that wolves are long extinct creatures that no longer roman the earth. It's a futuristic science-fiction anime with an enormous heart and a knack for storytelling magic.

The reality is that wolves have been able to transform themselves into human beings and shift their shape between their animal wolf form and in taking on a human shape and identity. The wolves roam the barren and destitute landscape with a hope for finding their true home: paradise. The series revolves around a group of wolves named Kiba, Tsume, and Hige as they travel across one giant wasteland after another while seeking their true destiny and a place that they can truly call home.

One of the best things about this series is the animation. It's absolutely one of the most rewarding aspects of the production and it holds up well after all these years. The series is so beautifully composed visually with breathtaking character designs and enormously rich background artwork. Featuring some superb work from art designers Tomoaki Okada (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos) and Shingo Takeba (RahXephon), one can't help but simply sink into the art work with its enormous scale and textured details.

A beautiful anime masterpiece heightened by a terrific score by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop)

The character designs are especially one of my favorite things about Wolf's Rain. Each character feels entirely distinctive and original. The landscapes are also so vivid and cinematic: they don't even feel like something that one would find on a television production, it's so incredibly creative one would think that this was a canvas designed for the big-screen. There's something surreal about it all: the layouts and designs feel futuristic and are almost melancholic... like a memory at the same time.

The music score is composed by the brilliant Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and for anyone who has ever enjoyed the genius of Kanno this is yet another fine example of why she is anime's greatest composer and the most-valuable-player on any anime production lucky enough to have her music accompany the animation. Each piece in the series combines beautiful jazz music with symphonic suites which greatly enhance both the storytelling and visuals. Even from listening to the opening titles alone, Wolf's Rain immediately engages ones senses and pulls one in to the story.

The story and screenplay is written by Keiko Nobumoto (Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus) and is another high point of the production which shouldn't go overlooked. This is that rare anime series which never has a lull or down-moment. So many series ebb and flow between great episodes and mediocrity but Wolf's Rain is consistently entertaining, creative, and enormously ambitious with its storytelling. This aspect definitely starts with the screenplay and it ends with the first-rate direction by Tensai Okamura (who was a key storyboard artist on Cowboy Bebop).

Okamura has a keen visual style and he never emphasizes action over story. Instead, there's a perfect balance between the action and the heart at the center of the series. It's a show about finding yourself and finding a place to call home. The wolves at the center of the story are lost souls who don't know how to find their way home and the entire series is about their journey. Wolf's Rain is a great series... one of my favorites. Don't miss it.

Wolf's Rain: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in the original 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio, Wolf's Rain arrives on Blu-ray from Funimation Entertainment with a decidedly underwhelming and mediocre presentation which only offers viewers some marginal improvements on the source material. The good news is that it is still technically an improvement upon previous home media releases and even if the release is only offering a modest improvement, it's still technically better than previous home media incarnations.

Fans of the anime will need to keep their expectations in check with this release and its altogether modest improvements. The release is sourced from the original standard-definition animation. Wolf's Rain was animated in standard-definition resolution in the early 2000s. The series was produced during a period in which anime series were being made digitally without native high-definition sources being created. This was a time-period of transition between cell-based and fully digital anime productions and as such its yet another example of an upscaled production arriving on the Blu-ray format. Wolf's Rain is absolutely one of the greatest anime masterpieces of the 2000's and unfortunately it just so happened to be produced in this time-period so there is no better source material available.

The result is that Funimation has utilized a standard-definition source in order to upscale and produce a high-definition master which can only eek out so much detail and quality over the regular DVD release of the series. The presentation still includes some unfortunate jaggies and aliasing during some scenes. The release also has some moderate flickering on the image during some scenes (particularly darker, bleak sequences where there is more of a noir-style atmosphere). Black levels are horrible and are consistently muddy and look significantly more gray than full-on black. It's certainly a shame given how well-produced this anime is from a creative standpoint.

Unfortunately, there just isn't that much that can be done to improve on the materials available. Colors are often muted and are not too robust or impressive. If there is any major improvement over previous presentations of the series, it is that the encoding quality has been improved with superior bit-rates and a nice, clean presentation that while soft is certainly much more organic looking than with an ordinary standard definition transfer. This does make the release a marginal improvement on the source material and the benefits of the upscaling are certainly appreciable if never overwhelming.

Wolf's Rain: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The best thing about this Blu-ray release of Wolf's Rain is the excellent increase in resolution on the audio track. Anyone with a nice, high-end sound system will greatly appreciate the huge increase in detail and quality that is found on the presentation. The music from Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop) is beautifully reproduced and one can really sink into the earthy and mesmerizing opening title track of "Gravity" featuring the excellent singing from Steve Conte.

This anime series absolutely has one of the best scores ever composed for an anime production from the 2000's and even though the surrounds are only used for minor surround effects usage and for enhancing the overall atmosphere, the music comes through on this release with clear clarity and impressive detail. The lossless audio boost is appreciable and the music sounds much richer and rewarding with much higher bit-sample rates than previous editions. Upgrade for the audio more so than the video. It's fantastic to hear the score with such great highs and crisp resolution. The lossless audio is available in both English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD and Japanese 2.0 Dolby TrueHD stereo.

Wolf's Rain: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Cast Interview 1 (SD, 6 min. 58 sec.) features clips from the series alongside interviews with the Japanese voice-actors who perform the lead characters as they discuss their involvement in the production (all while donning suit-and-tie). This is a fun piece. Each of the series voice-actors gives some of their thoughts on why they enjoyed being a part of the series and their thoughts on the quality of Wolf's Rain.

Cast Interview 2 (SD, 8 min. 20 sec.) is a more robust behind-the-scenes featurette which showcases a wider selection of voice-actors as they discuss their respective roles: Quent Yaiden: Unshou Ishizuka, Darcia: Takaya Kuroda, Cher Degre: Kaho Koda, Hubb Lebowski: Mitsuru Miyamoto, and Cheza: Arisa Ogasawara.

Staff Interview (SD, 6 min. 8 sec.) is a short piece which explores the fun festivities behind-the-scenes in the Japanese recording booth studio. The series creator is also featured in this fun (if altogether brief) bonus feature.

Pilot Film (SD, 2 min. 20 sec.) gives an early glimpse of the series development.

Promo Film 1 (SD, 1 min. 43 sec.)

Promo Film 2 (SD, 1 min. 30 sec.)

15-Second Promos (SD, 1 min. 8 sec.) promote the original premiere.

Textless Opening Song "Stray" (SD, 1 min. 31 sec.)

Textless Closing Song "Gravity" Episode 1 (SD, 1 min. 21 sec.)

Textless Closing Song "Gravity" Episode 27 (SD, 1 min. 21 sec.)

Textless Closing Song "Tell Me What the Rain Knows" (SD, 1 min. 47 sec.)

Lastly, the release includes trailers promoting other releases from Funimation including Escaflowne (HD, 2 min. 24 sec.) Red Data Girl (HD, 2 min. 24 sec.), Summer Wars (HD, 2 min. 27 sec.), and Nobunagun (HD, 1 min. 6 sec.)

Wolf's Rain: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wolf's Rain is one of my favorite anime series produced during the 2000's and it holds up extremely well with a repeat viewing. It's a beautiful anime series and it was great to revisit it again after so many years. The Blu-ray release is a bit of a mixed bag as it has mediocre video quality which is only marginally better than the DVD counter-parts. This is due to source-limitations and although the upscaling still does a decent job of presenting the standard-definition source material (with the best quality available, improving on the earlier DVDs) there is only so much that can be done with this video presentation.

The audio quality is the best selling point for this release. Fans will love how beautiful the score music by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop) sounds on this release and that is absolutely reason enough to give this set a great recommendation. For anyone who doesn't already own the series on home media or for those who want to own this classic with the absolute best presentation (even if the video quality only offers viewers some marginal improvements overall), Wolf's Rain is a great series that I wholeheartedly recommend to anime fans for its enormous pathos, excitement, and superb storytelling. Without a doubt this is a terrific series which entertains in spades with its compelling production values and its superb artistic merit. Highly recommended.