One Stormy Night: Secret Friends (Arashi no Yoru ni: Himitsu no Tomodachi) is a 2012 anime series based on the children's book series One Stormy Night and the second Animated Adaptation of the books after the 2005 anime film.
Gabu is a wolf who becomes friends with a goat named Mei (or May in the English translation) in a barn during a one stormy night. For the most part of the series, the wolf and the goat live some adventures, alternating between spending time together in secret, and living with their clans.
While the movie tells the whole story, save for some parts, this series is an expansion of the life of Gabu and May.
It began airing on TV Tokyo on April 4, 2012 and ended September 26, 2012. The anime is noteworthy for depicting Mei as a girl, compared to the books in which Mei's gender isn't specified (though the author later said Mei was supposed to be male all along, but let the reader interpret Mei's gender as they want), and the movie in which Mei is depicted as a boy. The series hasn't been released internationally but it has an English dub because it was written in English then dubbed back into Japanese.
This series provides examples of:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Mei is a pink-tinted white goat instead of white.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Mei and Mii are pink goats, Tapp is a blue goat, Gabu seems more red than brown, and Bari is a blue wolf.
- The Bard on Board: It could easily be argued that this story is essentially Romeo and Juliet but with wolves and goats.
- Big Brother Mentor: Boro, a young wolf pup considers Gabu like his big brother, even calling him "Big brother Gabu" in the VO. We can see the poor pup speechless and sad when he learns that Gabu is a traitor in episode 24
- Big Eater: Moro, a chubby goat who enjoys eating a lot.
- Cerebus Syndrome: After the 20th episode, we're led to believe that May's herd won't have to move after all, so she won't have to be separated from Gabu, and they will continue to have some funny adventures together. Then, the 21th episode happen. In this one, the two friends help an outsider wolf named Jess to run away from his old pack after he attacked (or killed) his old boss to avenge his best friend who was tricked and killed by the said wolf-boss. After that, we never get to know if Jess will be caught. In the next episode, May and Gabu have funny dreams in which wolves and goats are finally good friends. And so, the duo decides to make their families have the same dream. Needless to say that it didn't work. Even worse, the wolves decide to hunt because of that weird dream, while the goats believe that they have to move away, thinking it was a bad omen to have such dreams. Because of all of this, the goats and wolves discover the secret relationship between May and Gabu. And the situation isn't pleasant at all for the two friends, as they are locked away for their treason. Even Zak and Butch visits Gabu just to mock him and taunting him about his relationship with May, while they know he will be killed. And when you think they'll be okay after running away, we then learn that the wolves intend to chase them and kill them without any mercy.
- Forbidden Friendship: Or Star-Crossed Lovers, much like the 2005 film, it’s up to interpretation whether May and Gabu are just friends or something more.
- Four-Leaf Clover: At their first meeting, the two protagonists exchange a four-leaf clover as a gift. Since then, it seems to be a recurring thing to do. The very last shot off the last episode shows Gabu and May in the background walking towards the mountain, while a pair of clover are in the foreground.
- Gender Flip: Mei has an Ambiguous Gender in the book but the author always intended Mei to be male, which he is how he is depicted as in the 2005 film. This anime depicts Mei as female.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: In the series Mei has pink eyes (and fur) while Gabu has blue eyes.
- Pink Means Feminine: Mei is a girly goat with pink fur and eyes.
- Platonic Boy/Girl Heroes: Ambiguous, the two main characters are a male wolf and female goat that are best friends and there is never any direct indication of any romantic feelings between the pair.
- Tuft of Head Fur: Mei has a hair-looking tuft of pink fluff on her head.
- What Does She See in Him?: In episode 6, the friends of Lala, a she-wolf who happens to be the little sister of Barry, mock her when they found out that she has an attraction for the "weak and slow" Gabu. Of course, Lala is annoyed by that.
