History Manga / WolfsRain

[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5173.jpg]]

->''"A voice calls to me... it says 'Search for Paradise.'"''

[[JustBeforeTheEnd The Earth sits on the edge of death]]; years of war between greedy Nobles have reduced the world to a handful of high-tech, Giger-esque cities admist a barren wilderness. Only a single, small hope still remains: [[AllMythsAreTrue an old legend]] which says that in civilization's last days, wolves will follow the scent of lunar flowers to Paradise. It sounds promising, but no one has seen either a wolf or a lunar flower for centuries...or so they think.

The world's remaining wolves learned [[MasterOfIllusion how to project illusions]] that [[HumanityEnsues make them look and sound human]] in order to protect themselves. Four such wolves -- Kiba, Tsume, Hige, and Toboe -- meet up in one of the decaying domed cities after noticing the scent of lunar flowers in the air. They soon discover the source of that scent: Cheza, a [[MysteriousWaif mysterious young girl]] genetically bred from a lunar flower by a group of Nobles who want to open a gateway to Paradise.

When a Noble by the name of Darcia kidnaps Cheza to use her healing powers to help his IllGirl fianceé, both the wolves and the feuding Nobles behind Cheza's creation chase after him. An obsessive wolf hunter named Quent complicates the feud, as he knows exactly how wolves protect themselves and works tirelessly to kill them at all costs (with the help of his loyal dog, Blue).

''Wolf's Rain'' originally ran for twenty-six episodes, but budget cuts and the SARS outbreak resulted in '''four''' consecutive {{clip show}}s (episodes 15 to 18); the broadcast series ends with the wolves foiling a Noble's attempt to enter Paradise, but without a proper conclusion to the story. Four {{OVA}} episodes, released a few months later (and listed on DVDs as episodes 27 to 30), brought closure to the story -- but also received criticism for their dark and tragic events. The final episode also explains the show's title, as rain had only showed up in the opening titles until that episode. (Some TV networks outside Japan omit the [=OVAs=] from the show's broadcast.)

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!!Tropes:

* AbridgedSeries: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQi9Ax8UzCw You better believe it!]]
* [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Absurdly Sharp Fangs]] The wolves' fangs are basically the equivalent of swords and slash things way too easily. TruthInTelevision while wolves do have a ''very'' strong bite force and ''very'' sharp fangs they ''cannot just run by and cut open someone's someone's waist and cause them to bleed to death.''
* AccidentalMurder
** [[spoiler: Toboe unintentionally killed his elderly human owner/grandma because he was being too playful.]]
** [[spoiler: Later he kills a girl's pet hawk by giving over to his hunter instinct.]]
* ActionGirl: Blue
* AddictionPowered: Quent Yaden can see through the wolves' disguises when he drinks, but it does at least impair his aiming skills.
* AdventureTowns: Most of which are authentically seedy and decaying.
* AlasPoorVillain: Subverted in Episode 14; [[spoiler: Jagara's soldiers surround Darcia and his wife's corpse and there are images of the keep being destroyed, but Darcia is alive and well, as seen in his return in Episode 25.]]
* AlienAmongUs: Wolves Among Us
* AnimalTalk: The classic "two languages, Human and All Other Animals" version is explicitly in place once you see Toboe having a conversation with a horse. Even before then, Toboe often talks about having heard rumors from other animals, such as cats and crows.
* AnimeFirst
* AnyoneCanDie: You'd better believe it.
* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler: Class 3A into Class 6. The whole planet is dying, because years of war has wrecked the environment beyond repair, so the world is slowly being enveloped by a nuclear winter ice age. By the end of the last episode, Kiba is assumed to be the last living creature on the planet, before he dies and [[ResetButtonEnding resets all of reality.]]]]
* AristocratsAreEvil: The Nobles certainly aren't a very moral bunch.
* ArtificialHuman: The "flower maiden," Cheza. Ancient ''alchemy'' was involved, apparently.
* AttractiveBentSpecies: All the wolves in their human image are a prime source of this.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Jagara's elite wolf-hunter soldiers. The armor makes sense, but there's no rational reason they should use those poleaxes and swords instead of guns. The shields make sense, except for the fact that the handle is basically just a handgun grip, which is great for aiming a small weapon but terrible for use with a shield.
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Darcia]] becomes this in the OVA episodes.
* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: In the finale, Darcia kills them all and his eye corrupts the paradise Cheza's seeds created.]]
** ''May'' be mitigated by the last few moments [[spoiler:when we see Kiba, reincarnated in the modern world, starting to run, [[HereWeGoAgain implying that the search for Paradise has just begun anew.]]]]. So I think this classifies as a BitterSweetEnding rather than [[spoiler: a win for the villain]]
* BadassAbnormal: Darcia was already very {{Badass}} as a human. [[spoiler: Then he goes all Buick-sized wolf on them]].
* BareYourMidriff: Tsume. Complete with [[FetishFuel pelvic bones]]...
* BetaCouple: Hige and Blue.
* BilingualBonus: All the signs in the series are in Russian.
** And in perfectly correct Russian, may I add.
* {{Big Badass Wol|f}}ves: Well, ''duh''. However, there is a grain of realism to their fantastically long/high jumps -- wolves in the real world can clear up to six feet with no head start whatsoever.
** Kiba can bend steel with his ''fangs''.
*** Wolves do have a bite force around 1500 lbs ''per square inch''. A bulky German Shepard only has 750psi bite force and they can rip your arm clean off if they've a mind to.
* {{Bishonen}}: Kiba and Toboe, [[ViewerGenderConfusion who is easily confused for a girl by viewers]]. The voices don't help.
** It gets better: the artist for the series' manga ''also'' thought Toboe was a girl!
*** The fact that in the anime's ending [[spoiler: Toboe is wearing the girliest shade of pink ever, to the point where it looks like he was reincarnated ''as'' a girl.]] Might be Lampshading the fact the writers do realize how feminine Toboe comes off as.
** Darcia might be the most straightforward example, though; unless he's too old for the trope.
* BitterSweetEnding: [[spoiler: Everyone dies, but Cheza's lunar seeds are able to create a new paradise for their souls. However, Darcia's eye is still there and it slowly starts to taint the world. We then see that Kiba (and likely the rest of the cast) has been reincarnated in the modern day, and the search for paradise begins anew.]]. Manga ending is different from the anime, where [[spoiler:all the protagonists, including Hubb, Cher, Quent and Cheza doesn't die.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Cheza, Toboe, Blue and Hige. Like whoa.
* BreakTheHaughty: The other half of the cast.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: All the characters do this quite often after the credits. When previewing the next episode, for example Toboe says, "[. . .] [Liara]'s so nice, really nice, eh, oh wait, you don't know me yet do you? Just watch the next episode, you'll see."
* BreastPlate: Jagara plays this straight. [[spoiler: Her death [[SubvertedTrope does not.]]]]
* CentralTheme: Evil will always exist.
* CrapsackWorld: It seems to be a environmental cold wasteland, with some civilization still left together, but mostly in decaying cities that are few and far between.
* CrusadingWidower: Quent.
* TheCutie: Toboe and Cheza.
* DeadpanSnarker: Quent seems to fit this trope when he's around Hubb.
** Tsume seems to count as well, seeing how he occasionally made dry, cynical remarks and sarcastically calling Hige "Porky" at times.
** Heck, even Hubb at some degree at the mentioning of his failed marriage with Cher.
** Hige himself has a tendency to get a bit snarky as well.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Darcia]] goes through this after the death of [[spoiler:Harmona]]. We get to watch it in all its heartrending glory.
** Kiba seems to suffer a very painful one at the end of the series. [[spoiler: Not only does he die alone, he's the ''last living thing in the '''world''' to die.'']]
* DeusExMachina: Cheza
* DiedHappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler:Toboe]]
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: Jagara's palace.
* DividedWeFall: At first Kiba and Tsume have this relationship, but over time Tsume comes to believe more in their quest for paradise and becomes a vital aid.
* DoomedHometown: Curious.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim
* DrowningMySorrows: Quent, Hubb and Cher. Mainly Quent though.
* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler: Cher is the first person to die in the final episodes, unable to get out of the vehicle fast enough before it falls down the cliff. Hubb and the Wolves are able to get down the cliff fast enough for Hubb to spend his final moments with her, before he lays her body into the nearby river and lets it sink into the depths.]]
* {{Dystopia}}: Mew's world, the fake Paradise.
** Jagara's city is implied to be this.
* EmotionlessGirl: Cheza
* EvilCounterpart: After crossing the DespairEventHorizon, [[spoiler:Darcia]] basically becomes like an evil, crazy version of Kiba.
* EvilEye: [[spoiler:This is what is below Darcia's eyepatch.]]
* {{Fainting}}: Cheza faints all the time! It may be justified, though, since she's supposed to be a flower, and with all the time she spends out of water, most real flowers would wilt.
* FairyTaleMotifs: One of Cheza's outfits is, yes, a red riding hood.
* FanNickName: Jagara and Hamona, also known as [[GagBoobs Jugara]] and [[MsFanservice Hamona-hamona-hamona]]
* {{Fanservice}}: The opening credits has a very blatant ass shot of Kiba.
* FangsAreEvil: Well, considering the hero is ''named'' after his fangs...
* FantasticArousal: When Toboe and Hige get petted by Cheza, they become blushing moaning fanatics crying out that it "feels nice"
* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Kiba
** TheBigGuy: Tsume
** TheLancer AND TheSmartGuy: Hige
** TheChick: Blue/Cheza
** TagalongKid: Toboe
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: The aforementioned ability of the wolves to assume human form is sometimes confusing. Most of the time, they apparently [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent retain their wolf form, only ''appearing'' to be human]]. They also, for the most part, seem to be incapable of certain human activities such as driving or using firearms. Yet they sometimes appear to be holding objects in their hands. It usually translates to holding things in their mouths, as shown when Tsume grabs Toboe to keep him from falling. The confusion mostly stems from the fact that they also spend a lot of time looking human even while there are no humans around to fool. Possibly, this is a sort of TranslationConvention; the audience can identify with the characters better if they look human. It doesn't really get weird until they start chowing down on [[{{Bambification}} a dead deer]] -- while in human form.
* FreakOut: [[spoiler: Lord Darcia when Jaguara's men infiltrate his keep and kill Hamona]]
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Toboe, as much as he can be, anyway.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: Quent]]
* GodivaHair: Hamona and Jagara
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: The OST has songs sung in several different languages, including English, Japanese, French, Italian, Portuguese, and even some Native American chanting. [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish And it's all done flawlessly]], but then again, this is YokoKanno, after all.
* HellBentForLeather: Tsume
* HereWeGoAgain: Subverted. The series opens with Kiba wounded, staggering through the snow after the death of his pack: "A voice calls to me. It says, 'search for Paradise...' " The scene and monologue recur in episode 30, [[spoiler:only this time, he's the only character who is still alive. In the last scene of the series, some of the characters appear alive again in a modern city, and Kiba starts running, implying that his search for the Paradise started again.]]
* HeroicAlbino: Cheza
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Kiba has one after Cheza dies. Then he dies shortly after. Tsume has one at Toboe's death as well, proving himself to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold after crying ManlyTears and going into his [[TheWoobie Woobieriffic]] {{Backstory}} with his dead, fallen friend.]]
* HolographicTerminal
* HotScientist: Cher
* [[InvertedTrope Humans]] [[FurriesAreEasierToDraw Are Easier to Draw]]: This may be the only series that turns the AnimalsAreEasierToDraw Trope on its ear. The wolves may spend a questionable amount of time appearing human because it's easier to animate. [[MostWritersAreHuman The artists presumably have much more experience animating the human figure and its movements]].
** It's also a lot easier for the audience to relate to human-like characters than to wolves.
* HumansAreBastards
* HomingProjectile: the sufficiently advanced lasers.
* HowlOfSorrow
** The wolves after [[spoiler:finding Toboe's dead body.]]
** Toboe does this in remorse after [[spoiler: accidentally killing a girl's pet hawk.]]
* HypnoTrinket
* IneffectualLoner: Tsume starts off like this, but gets better.
* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard''. In the first episode Tsume is leading a human gang of thieves. During a heist a young boy who {{Hero Worship|per}}s Tsume falls. Tsume tries to catch the boy, but witnessing Tsume's sudden transformation into a wolf causes the kid to panic, fall, and die.
** Less "sudden transformation" than the fact that when Tsume appeared to be grabbing him with a hand, he was really grabbing the kid's shoulder with his teeth. The wolf-bite hurt, the situation allowed the kid to see through the illusion, and, well...
** [[spoiler: And then Toboe gets killed in the OVA...]]
*** And then in the anime version finale [[spoiler: EVERYONE dies. In the whole world. Children included.]]
* InspectorJavert: Quent
* InterspeciesRomance: Kiba has ''two''. Cheza the ArtificialHuman, and a [[CatGirl female Caracal]] (which may have been dead at the time) from the LotusEaterMachine.
** The former is even more disturbing when you think about the fact that [[Really700YearsOld Cheza is at least 200 years old]], but her human form looks about 13 or so, and [[YoungerThanTheyLook Kiba is only about 2 or 3 in wolf years]], but his human form looks anywhere from 19-21. So it's pedophilia either way, regardless of how you look at it.
** Toboe and Leara. It didn't last long though, as Toboe accidentally killed her pet hawk, and in the emotion of the moment he dropped his human disguise and let out a mournful howl. She understandably does not take any of this well.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Tsume
* JumpCut: This is how we transition between wolves looking like wolves and looking like humans; no morphing, no nothing.
* JustBeforeTheEnd
* KillTheCutie: Several. [[spoiler: Toboe is the most memorable one,though.]]
* KillEmAll: In a distressingly systematic fashion, [[spoiler:followed by a possible {{Reincarnation}}, depending on what you think is actually happening in that very last scene.]] However, [[spoiler:the manga version of the story has the wolves, humans and Cheza survive. The bad news is that Kiba ends up being blinded in the fight with Lord Darcia. The good news is that the clouds part, [[CueTheSun the sun shines]] and the Ice Age ends.]]
* [[LickedByTheDog Licked By The Wolf]]: Early on when Tsume is being a jerkass, Toboe's liking for him is one of the few things (besides his badassery) that makes him likeable. Although being voiced by Creator/CrispinFreeman doesn't hurt...
* LieToTheBeholder: The wolves' human forms are merely psychic illusions; they can't fool animals, security cameras, or so on.
* LimitedWardrobe: The wolves, when in human form, are always seen wearing the same clothes. As, actually, is pretty much everybody, for the most part (Hubb and Cher are shown wearing different outfits in {{Flashback}} but their clothes don't change much in the actual show).
* LotusEaterMachine: There's a plant whose pollen puts anyone who comes near it to sleep until they eventually die. This is possibly subverted, depending on your interpretation of the scenes that follow.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Kiba and Cheza fall for each other the moment they first see one another in Episode 7.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Hoo boy, Darcia. His love for Hamona [[spoiler:and her eventual loss]] is what drove him to become AxCrazy in the first place.
* MacGuffinGirl: Cheza.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Thankfully withheld until the nineteenth episode.
* ManchurianAgent: With a ChekhovsGun you might easily dismiss.
* MaskPower: Darcia, but all Nobles like masks apparently. Nobles are freaks.
* MercyKill: When [[spoiler: Hige is fatally wounded by Darcia]] he asks Tsume to finish him off because he doesn't want to feel anymore pain.
* MindScrew: The ending.
* MismatchedEyes: Lord Darcia.
* MonochromaticEyes: Cheza, to make her look [[UncannyValley less human]].
* MoralityPet: Toboe for Tsume.
* MortalWoundReveal: [[spoiler: Tsume got seriously injured]] in a battle. His pose suggested he was deliberately hiding it, but then he looked at it like he was surprised.
* MotherlyScientist: Cher.
* MrFanservice: Kiba, Tsume, Hige and even Darcia all qualify, depending on your [[FetishFuel tastes]].
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Jagara]] does this openly. Followed by an [[IfICantHaveYou If I Can't Have You]], when the beloved doesn't appreciate the deed.
* MysteriousWaif: Cheza
* NamesToKnowInAnime
** MamoruMiyano and JohnnyYongBosch as Kiba.
** ArisaOgasawara as Cheza.
** KentaMiyake and Creator/CrispinFreeman as Tsume.
** SteveBlum as Darcia.
** MaayaSakamoto as Hamona.
** Joshua Seth as Hige
** KoukiMiyata and MonaMarshall as Toboe
*** Correction: Toboe was not voiced by KoukiMiyata; he was voiced by HirokiShimowada
** KariWahlgren as Cher Degré
** MaryElizabethMcGlynn as Jagura
** And '''NorioWakamoto''' as '''[[MundaneMadeAwesome The Owl!]]'''!
*** And the composer is YokoKanno
* NightmareFace: Darcia makes a few of these.
* NoblewomansLaugh: Jagara
* NoExportForYou: Volume 2 of the soundtrack. By YokoKanno. Not available outside Japan. WHY.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Darcia in the penultimate episode delivers this to [[spoiler: pretty much everyone.]]
** He does it again in the finale, [[spoiler: this time killing everyone but Kiba and Cheza. The only reason why both of them survived was because Darcia got incinerated when he tried to enter Paradise alone.]]
* NostalgiaHeaven: [[spoiler: In episode 29, the dead or dying Toboe has a vision of himself as a pup with his beloved human Granny (whose death he accidentally caused and always felt guilty over).]]
* OfficialCouple: Kiba and Cheza. [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Their romance ends very tragically...]]]] Also Hige and Blue, Hubb and Cher.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Not explicitly addressed until the very last episodes. And even then, it's up to interpretation.
* OracularUrchin: Cheza
* OwlBeDamned: That freaky (ghost?) owl who keeps popping up.
* PapaWolf: Tsume begrudgingly takes on this role with Toboe, right down to the very end.
* PolarOppositeTwins: A literal EvilTwin, [[spoiler:Jagara turns out to be Hamona's evil sister]]; also, Kiba's human form looks a lot like [[spoiler:Darcia's, which as it turns out is no coincidence...]]
* PowerUpFood: Quent Yaden can see through the wolves' illusions [[ByTheEyesOfTheBlind after consuming alcohol]].
* [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Species Guy]]: Kiba has a chip on his shoulder.
* RaisedByWolves: Interesting inversion. Although this show is about wolves, only ''two'' out of the five wolf main characters were actually raised by wolves, Tsume and presumably Hige. The rest were raised by humans. Because they are wolves, they tends to lack emotion when they are in their human forms, and can be very awkward when actually conversing with humans. Toboe, Blue, and Hige are all much more comfortable around humans, because they have been around them more. In Toboe's case, his attachment to humans [[spoiler: is what ultimately causes his downfall]].
* RealitySubtext: In RealLife, Japanese wolves were rendered extinct. [[spoiler: [[KillEmAll These ones fare no better]]]]
** However, these wolves are [[BigBadassWolf big and badass]], while the Honshu wolf was only a little bigger than the coyote...
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: At least three of the four named nobles. And Cheza.
* RelationshipVoiceActor: SteveBlum and MaryElizabethMcGlynn in a series with music composed by YokoKanno. [[CowboyBebop Sound familiar?]]
** Related, UnshoIshizuka (the voice of Jet Black) with Yoko Kanno, and MaayaSakamoto with Yoko Kanno as well (Sakamoto sings the outro theme "Gravity.")
* [[spoiler: ResetButtonEnding: After Kiba dies, we see the whole world has been reset into modern day Earth, indicating that Paradise is just the real world where wolves are not mystical creatures.]]
* {{Roboteching}}: Beam cannons used by Nobles tend to behave like this.
* SanitySlippage: While in the city, [[spoiler: Hige]] starts losing his mind, making for one of the more disturbing sequences in the anime.
* SayMyName: Toboe. He seems to be looking for someone practically every episode.
* ScarsAreForever: Tsume, Kiba
* SceneryGorn: Quite a few examples, particularly the ruined city in "Scars in the Wilderness".
* ShoutOut: "Julius", the male prostitute from ''CowboyBebop'', [[TheCameo briefly shows up]] in [[OneSceneWonder one episode]].
** [[spoiler: Cher's 'funeral']] is a nod to ''FinalFantasyVII''.
* [[ShootTheDog Shoot The Wolf]]: Quent makes this his entire life mission after a wolf destroyed his home and killed his family. [[spoiler:He ends up regretting it after he shoots a wolf who gave up ''his'' life trying to save him, causing a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment just before dying with said wolf.]]
** [[spoiler: What makes it even more tragic is that this was revealed to ultimately be pointless, as wolves merely ''scavenged on the remains of his family'' after they were really killed by Jagara's forces -- either as collateral damage or part of a cover-up, it's not really made clear -- in an attempt to capture Darcia, when he had first shifted into his wolf-form years before the series started.]]
* SixthRanger: In Blue's case, she's the Fifth Ranger, though technically, she spends most of the time on her own.
* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler: Darcia]] does this a lot in the final episodes, to go along with his descent into insanity.
* SolemnEndingTheme: "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHOWudQNgAg Gravity]]", sung in English by MaayaSakamoto.
* SorcerousOverlord: Jagura. She's an EvilOverlord and {{Aristocrat|sAreEvil}} who doubles as a DarkActionGirl, and VainSorceress. And a JerkAss bitch.
* StarCrossedLovers: The most notable example is Kiba and Cheza. Hubb and Cher, Darcia and Hamona, and Hige and Blue qualify as well.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Many of the songs are sung in English.
* SwordFight: Jagura vs Darcia
* TalkingToTheDead
* [[spoiler: ThatPoorPlant: [[TearJerker Poor Cheza...]]]]
* ThemeNaming: Kiba = Fangs, Tsume = Claws, Hige = Whiskers, Toboe = Howl, Darcia = dark.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Jagura managed to hit a running wolf this way. Granted, the wolf in question was running ''towards her''.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Cheza always refers to herself as "This one."
* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Toboe and Quent, Hige and Blue, and technically Cheza and Kiba, although Cheza's body literally goes to seed before Kiba dies]].
* TomatoInTheMirror: Blue spends half the series fighting wolves with a burning passion and hatred, only to find out she's half-wolf.
* TragicDream: Hub comforting Cher while they are being held captive by discussing how after this is over they'll live by the sea in a house together, and grow old together. Even if they get out of the situation, the world is an icy wasteland on the verge of a complete nuclear winter, there's really no chance they'll ever get to see this dream come true.
* TrainJob
* TranslationConvention: All the text in the series appears to be in the Cyrillic, i.e. Russian, alphabet. The Russian seems to be genuine - eg ''Kniga Luna'', The Book of the Moon.
** That's not completely correct. ''Kniga Luna'' would be "Book Moon", unless it's made to be ''Kniga Luny'' in which the the word moon becomes possessive.
** It's ''Kniga Luny'', and all other text signs [[ShownTheirWork are correct, too]].
* TrueCompanions
* UncannyValley: Deliberately invoked to make the Nobles, especially Darcia in the last few episodes, unnerving even without those ''EyesWideShut'' masks of theirs. The show manages do this even with [[spoiler: Darcia's wolf form.]] Those MismatchedEyes are creepy.
** What's ''really'' creepy about [[spoiler: Darcia's wolf form eyes]] is the way they're ''wide open.''
** Darcia's expressions in his wolf form, because it is clear he is forcing human expression to a wolf's face. This makes his grin especially disturbing.
* UnkemptBeauty: Cher usually has disheveled hair due to her work, and this just makes her that much hotter.
* WalkingTheEarth: Justified as they're actually looking for something.
* WarriorPoet
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Inverted, most humans in the story are important only by their relation to the wolves. The remorseless killing of dozens of human mooks (and even some members of Tsume's gang) by the wolves is never given a second thought.
* WordOfGay: The character designer and director said in an interview that Toboe and Tsume being more than just friends may not have been entirely made up by fans.
* {{Xenofiction}}
* {{Yandere}}: Jagara
* YokoKanno
* YouAreWorthHell: Blue has no idea if she "counts" as a real wolf, and if she'd be able to get to Paradise at all. Hige is willing to give up paradise if she can't come with him.
* ZettaiRyouiki: Blue's human illusion wears thigh-highs.
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->''A voice calls to me... it says "Search for Paradise."''

!! ''Wolf's Rain'' contains examples of the following tropes:

[[JustBeforeTheEnd The Earth is dying]]. Years of war between greedy Nobles have reduced the world to a handful of high-tech, Giger-esque cities in a barren wilderness. But there is one small hope left: [[AllMythsAreTrue an old legend]] says that in civilization's last days, wolves will follow the scent of lunar flowers to Paradise. Both wolves and lunar flowers have been extinct for centuries, however -- or, at least, that's what people think.

The remaining wolves learned [[MasterOfIllusion how to project illusions]] which [[HumanityEnsues make them look and sound human]]. Four such wolves -- Kiba, Tsume, Hige and Toboe -- meet up in a decaying domed city, drawn together by the scent of lunar flowers. The scent originates from Cheza, a [[MysteriousWaif mysterious young girl]] who was genetically bred from a lunar flower by a group of Nobles, in the hope of studying her and capturing a wolf in order to open a gateway to Paradise.

When one Noble, called Darcia, kidnaps Cheza to use her healing powers to help his IllGirl fiancee, both the wolves (who are irresistibly drawn to Cheza) and the feuding Nobles behind Cheza's creation chase after him. Complicating this three-way feud is obsessive wolf hunter Quent, who knows how wolves protect themselves and is determined to kill them at all costs with the help of his loyal dog Blue.

''Wolf's Rain'' originally ran for twenty-six episodes, but budget cuts and the SARS outbreak resulted in ''four'' consecutive {{clip show}}s (#15 - 18) -- the broadcast series ends with the wolves foiling a Noble's attempt to enter Paradise, but without concluding the story proper. Four new {{OVA}} episodes (#27 - 30) were released a few months later; these episodes bring closure to the story and character arcs, but have been criticized for their dark and tragic events. The final episode explains the show's title, since the ''only'' rain seen up to that point is in the opening titles. Some TV networks outside Japan omit the [=OVAs=] from the show's broadcast.

!!Provides examples of:

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* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Kiba has one after Cheza dies. Then he dies shortly after. Tsume has one at Toboe's death as well,proving himself to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold after crying ManlyTears and going into his [[TheWoobie Woobieriffic]] {{Backstory}} with his dead, fallen friend.]]

* FanNickName: Jaguara and Hamona, also known as [[GagBoobs Jugara]] and [[MsFanservice Hamona-hamona-hamona]]