Wolf’s Rain – 21/22 [Battle’s Red Glare/Pieces of a Shooting Star] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to another week of Wolf’s Rain! We’re in the final stretch, with only 4 more weeks to go, so it’s time for Wolf’s Rain to start wrapping things up. Is that what it does? Well lets dive in and find out.

Starting off, I want to praise Wolf’s Rain’s production this week. Music, animation, backgrounds, there was a lot to love in these two episodes. Between the soldiers combat sequence and the giant walrus, the action especially stood out to me. While the Darcia keep standoff had some nice stuff in the Kiba vs Darcia fight, this is the first time I’ve been legitimately impressed by Wolf’s Rain’s animation for a while. That isn’t meant as a knock against the series of course, you can’t keep that up forever and it hasn’t looked bad in any way. Just that this weeks production got me excited for whatever finale Wolf’s Rain is cooking up, hope that it will look gorgeous.

Getting into the episodes, first up is episode 21, “Battle’s Red Glare”. If I’m being honest, this one felt kind of slow. It was a lot of updating us on the state of the world, as the wolves had been out of and disconnected from it for a while. While this will no doubt pay dividends during the finale, as it tells us the stakes and just how many people are suffering because of Jagara, it doesn’t make for a particularly memorable episode in the moment. Not when compared to episode 21 nor the episodes that have come before. Now I want to make clear, this isn’t a huge negative. Personally, yes, I am a more action/kinetic oriented person, I enjoy those episodes more. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what episodes like these do for series later down the road.

Getting into specifics, a large portion of this episode was dedicated to the soldiers we’ve seen throughout the series. Orkhams troops that, until now, were pretty strictly enemies. They hunted Cheza and the wolves, shot at them, and generally were a nuisance. But in this episode Wolf’s Rain starts trying to change that. Showing us their perspective on things, how Freezing City was really all they had and how they are willing to fight to protect it. How they probably weren’t told everything, nor really understood the consequences of some of their actions. This doesn’t make me like them as people, sure. But it does make me root for them a bit as they fight back against Jagara’s invading forces, smiling as their purpose changes from enforcing the will of a Noble to simply protecting their home.

Speaking of the wolves, they have an interesting encounter this week. I wasn’t expecting them to actually make contact with the soldiers. More then that, I didn’t think they would actually converse. This works in a lot of ways. It wakes the soldiers up about how they’ve been lied to as well as confirming that there is more going on in this world then it seems, and it points the wolves towards Jagara’s keep, a place they otherwise wouldn’t know how to get to. On top of that, it’s also a nice callback to the first half of the show where they were constantly at odds with each other, only now to find themselves on the same side. It really helps build up Jagara as this singular villain against the entire world. Plus it makes the soldiers seem more competent as they take down a plane.

Finally we need to talk about Hubb and Cher. These 2 had a nice, quiet moment while being transported by their captors to their probable doom. One all about starting fresh, looking ahead to the future. It’s a heart to heart they probably didn’t have before, one where Hubb seems to finally ask what he might actually want instead of just going along with Cher. To be honest, it feels like a whole lot of death flags for our boy Hubb. Especially with that happens in episode 22! The guy seems like he’s being setup for a “One day from retirement” sort of death. It could work, I will admit. No one important has really suffered anything lasting, so you start to feel like they are all invincible. Is it necessary? No, Wolf’s Rain could work just fine without character deaths. Also I refuse to believe Darcia is dead.

Next up is episode 22, “Pieces of a Shooting Star”. This episode continues Wolf’s Rain’s buildup of the world and the consequences of what is happening, but it sprinkles a bit more action in to. The whole sequence in the ice flows was just great. The giant walrus, the fight, swimming underwater with the camera racing behind. Toboe finally stepping up and being a wolf. That was a bit confusing I will admit, I don’t think Wolf’s Rain lead into that very well. The kid sort of just powered up and took on a monster that was even knocking around Tsume and Kiba. But that’s a minor gripe in an otherwise great sequence, one that clearly meant a lot for Toboe too as Kiba seemed to finally acknowledge him at the end.

Getting back to the refugees and such though, the episode opened on Quent in a truck with a bunch of others, probably heading to Jagara. We already knew things were heating up with the soldiers, but this lets us see just how desperate people are getting. Calling it the end of the world, getting into fights, even shooting each other. All the while the people driving the truck don’t seem to care at all, as if it isn’t their problem. It was pretty interesting to be honest, and I love that Quent is making his way to Jagara’s as well. Gives us a good shot for a reunion between him and Blue. Not that I think Wolf’s Rain would forget that, it’s the core of both of their arcs. But it’s nice to basically get confirmation on it.

As for Jagara’s keep itself, a lot of stuff happened here, so lets just start with Hubb. We saw him get captured with Cheza last week, so it’s no surprise to see him in a cell this week. What’s cool though is who he is locked up with: An old wolf lady. Or at least I assume she’s a wolf, since she’s able to guess about his scent. Now it’s long been hinted at, or even outright stated, that the wolves were “disappearing” because of Jagara. She’s been capturing them. And there’s evidence of bullet holes and blood on the floor of Hubb’s cell. But the question becomes, why put Hubb in here if he isn’t a wolf? Will he meet the same fate as them? Or is it more just to mess with him, throwing him in a cell that will never really get checked?

As for what will happen, well I think it’s pretty clear what Wolf’s Rain is hinting at here. Why Jagara wants the wolves alive and all that. She’s eating them! Or at least that’s what the old lady seems to be implying. That steak? Wolf meat. That glass? Wolf blood. Jagara? Clearly a vampire, just like Darcia (Helsiiiiiiiiiing). Now why is she eating them? Who knows, maybe it’s some sick twisted “If I eat the wolves I’ll gain immortality/become a wolf/go to Paradise” thing. At the very least she’s doing it to mess with Cheza here, who can clearly sense what the meat is and what’s happening. I really hope this comes up again to be honest, maybe in front of Kiba and the others, if only for their reaction. If nothing else though it definitely solidifies Jagara as this big bad villain, on a personal level.

So yeah, all in all these were some decent to good episodes. 21 didn’t excite me to much, but I think it’s building up to something that I’m eager to see. Hopefully the time spent will end up being worth it. 22 meanwhile was much more engaging to me, with a good mix of action and plot reveals. Jagara and her dinner of wolf meat was especially interesting to me, and I can’t wait to see where she goes as a character as we get more and more time with her. Hopefully with Cheza and Hubb in captivity we get the chance to hear more from her. Most of all though, I’m hoping for the inevitable return of my boy Darcia, who I still refuse to believe is dead until we get a body. Only time will tell on that front, but time is what I have.