Manga 127221 Ookami Kodomo No Ame To Yuki

I didn’t really expect Wolf Children to works in a novel form. I know, I know, it’s the original work, the anime is an adaptation. But I still didn’t expect it to be as engaging as the movie. I am glad I was wrong.

It’s almost magical, but the adorableness of the characters is indeed included in the text-only version. That said, it would be disservice to the story to treat cuteness as its main factor. Wolf Children is much more than that.

This is the story of motherhood. The true motherhood, the essence of it. Not the much more frequent “mommy needs her wine time” ... cringy portrayal that media too often depends on. Here, it’s a depiction of true love. Bringing up children is shown to have difficult parts, but is not portrayed as self-destructive. Children are not the only ones who grow up in the process. It was a delightful change of pace to read such story without annoying tropes.

Mentioning growth, not only the tale of mother who adapts to unexpected changes without giving up, the changes the children go through are very well written. Like real people, they actually go through development. Their older versions aren’t just larger versions of their previous personalities, there are some actual meaningful changes that tie in to the message of the book.

I’d definitely recommend this one. Even if you’ve already seen the movie, you will likely still enjoy refreshment of your memory of the story this way.