Wolf's Rain... Wow, just wow. I wasn't expecting much from it, but I came away surprised.

There are few people who can watch this show and not like it. They're usually the same people that you see on 'Cops' being pressed against the car and being patted down by Officer Smith.

When I review games, I refrain from explaining the story. Instead, I fill it with gameplay, fun, and badly-placed pop culture jabs.

But when one reviews a TV show, all they have is the story, which makes it hard not to spoil. But I will attempt to do so, anyways.

Wolf's Rain was made by the same folks who did the Cowboy Beepop movie and even some of the people who worked on Evangelion. Let's just say that it's in good hands.

Wolf's Rain is about a group of wolves (bet you didn't see that one coming) looking for 'Paradise'. They live in a cold, frozen, post-apocalyptic world. Wolves have been hunted to extinction, or so the humans thought.

It turns out that there are actually plenty of wolves around. But they can conceal themselves with a spell of types that makes them appear human to the humans.

***Hints from David***
You think the pawprints that they leave behind would have given a slight hint to the humans?
***Hints from David***

Anyways, that Paradise that I mentioned that our furry pals are looking for? Pretty much the world's lore goes that only wolves can get into Paradise. Paradise calls for them, which is what brings our heroes together. But what exactly is Paradise? That's one that you've got to find out for yourself.

The story meanwhile shares some of the focus with a few other characters. We have the woman who's extremly focused on her work and the man who's desperately trying to get her back. There's the old man with the blue dog who's trying to hunt down the remaining wolves, since he believes that they're still some left and that they killed his family. Then we have the nobles and their pampered little lives.

Everyone of these characters proved interesting to me. There was even one who I disliked, but sorta felt bad for him. Then he loses his meaning for doing what he was even doing and I started to feel for this man and thought that maybe he wasn't so bad after all. This was soon rectified, as in the very next episode he went and become someone that I hated more than anybody before. What was weird is that I started feeling sick because I felt sorry for him at one point.

That's good stuff.

If you're sensitive to sad scenes, bring some tissues. While the story takes a couple of episodes to really get going, when it's going it's gone. Home run.

Oh, and did I mention that it's pretty harsh at times? I'll just give one scene that happens early on...

One of the main character wolves leads a gang of humans (who, of course, think that he's human, too). He's always acting tough and doesn't get friendly with anyone. There's a kid in the gang who thinks that the wolf-guy is awesome, but is kind of a coward himself. One day, after robbing a high-security building, the gang is running along some high beams when the kid slips and is hanging onto the edge. Mr. Tough Wolf Guy runs back to save him and attempts to grab him.

But remember that he's actually a wolf. So you see him grab the kids's shoulder, then the scene switches momentarily to a wolf biting into the kids shoulder. Remember, no opposible thumbs. The kid freaks out and shakes loose, only to fall to his death. Ouch.

And while I watch several of my anime shows in the original Japanese with English subtitles, I fully recommend watching this one in English. With voice actors like Crispin Freeman (I'm a fan, so what) and Johnny Young Bosch, the dub's not hurting for talent.

One last thing before I end this review. Shawn "AutoDMC" Boles recently started to mention caviats in his reviews. Y'know, like if you don't like a ton of blood, then you'd like warning that there's gore and stuff beforehand.

For Wolf's Rain, there's some cursing, a lot of blood (no gore, just a lot of red in some scenes), no nudity that I can remember, definately no sexual scenes, but some tear-jerking moments. How's that a caviat? If you're a 'big, tough manly-man' who's really a marshmallow and doesn't want anybody to know, then you'll be glad that I warned you.

My second favorite anime of all time (I'll review my first someday). Hope you enjoy it even half as much as I did.