Wolf Children

I love this movie, obviously. I love the flowers resembling the season and feelings, I love the power lines lingering near to emphasize humanity, I love the presentation of a beautiful yet strong nature and I love how the seasons change to tell the story. Finally watching this movie, I’ve realized that it’s told by Yuki which I find very endearing although her narration grows less frequent throughout the film.  The flowers are something that really caught my eye while watching. They’re always beautiful and high quality, but always unique - minus the scenes where Hana reminisces about her Wolfman, which I believe have the same flowers each time. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about flower symbolism - in Japan, no less - to dig too deeply into this, but the hyacinths shown during the brink between spring and summer made me very happy because that’s what I saw in Japan, too.  The middle act of this film has to be my favorite part. Seeing the family adjust to rural life and slowly become people who are treated kindly and cared for is heartwarming. Seeing Yuki and Ame together is endearing. Ame catching the kingfisher and setting the stage for the final act is perfect. Aside from this, the setting is absolutely beautiful and makes me wish I was in Nachikatsuura again.  The single docked half-star is simply because at times Hana feels more like a vessel for continuation than an actual character. She lacks change, and when she does change, it’s sudden - I wish her acceptance of Ame’s choice was more gradual. While I understand that this was already late into the movie, I would’ve loved to see more development and balance between grieving one’s own, born and raised child and accepting that he has decided to live as a wolf. I’m also so interested in Yuki’s view on Ame’s decision, though I know that wasn’t the point of the movie. Wolf Children 2, anyone? (Joke) Despite that small complaint, I do love this movie, and I’m happy I finally watched it through in full. Thank you for reminding me that it’s okay to not be completely human, Hosoda.