Wolf Children

Wolf Children is Mamoru Hosoda's quiet masterpiece — a film about parenthood, sacrifice, and raising children who are fundamentally different from yourself, told through the extraordinary premise of a woman raising two half-wolf children after their father's death. Hana's story — moving to the countryside to give her children Ame and Yuki the space to discover which form they belong to, human or wolf — is rendered with documentary-like attention to the rhythms of rural life and the physical demands of solo parenting. Studio Chizu's animation is gorgeous throughout, particularly in the seasonal passage sequences that mark years of Hana's life with the efficiency and emotional weight of great poetry. The film's ending, which honors both children's choices even when they diverge from what their mother hoped for, is one of animation's most genuinely moving conclusions.