History YMMV / WolfChildrenAmeAndYuki

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Ame, Yuki, and their journeys of self discovery. Did they grow up, grow more mature, and find their true places in the world, or were they shamed into choosing one side at the expense of the other?
** Is Souhei's mom really entitled and selfish, or is she just an ambiguous case of an [[MamaBear overprotective mom]] with a worst case scenario in mind?
* AngstWhatAngst: There's no indication whatsoever that Yuki even ''reacted'' to her brother leaving for good, despite the fact that she wasn't there when he left or the fact he didn't even ''say goodbye to her''. And she's the narrator of the film.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The whole thing. This movie has better animation than ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime'' and ''Anime/SummerWars combined''!
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The song at the end is a TearJerker and a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, as the lyrics are a mother singing to her children, before and after they're born.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[spoiler:Ame when he leaves Hana and Yuki. Ame pursuing the path to become a wolf is pretty justifiable, but the way he handles it causes him to be this. After finding Hana unconscious on the slope, instead of taking her home, Ame leaves her on a parking lot and then leaves. It doesn't help that moments before the storm, Ame had been as unhelpful as possible to Hana. This has caused some the fans to think that Ame is pretty rude and selfish, not even saying goodbye or giving any parting words to Hana. Some have defended him on the grounds that in his own way, he kind of does.]]
* CrossesTheLineTwice: The scene where Yuki gets sick and Hana has to rush her to medical help. Ordinarily a toddler in potentially life-threatening danger from ingesting something poisonous shouldn't be funny, but then we have Hana arrive at a crossroads with the children's hospital on one end and the veterinarian on the other and desperately try to figure out which she should take Yuki to, only for Yuki to just throw up and be relatively fine after, making the scene a pretty funny moment despite how initially serious it was.
* EsotericHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Ame leaving for good]] is presented as a very positive thing, with uplifting music and TearsOfJoy on Hana's part. However, this can come off as unsettling/unsatisfying to people who were expecting a different kind of resolution, in the vein of the fact that [[spoiler:he and Yuki never explicitly made up (though they did talk once after the fight without issue), and Ame doesn't apologize to his mother after everything, which may or may not just be part of his wolf behavior]].
* HilariousInHindsight: When she's gardening, Hana wears a yellow straw hat with a red band. When the film was dubbed into English, she was played by Creator/ColleenClinkenbeard, the English voice of [[Manga/OnePiece Monkey D Luffy]].
* HypeBacklash: Minor case. Due to so many people raving about the movie, there have been people who watch, will admit it's good, but then say it didn't live up to the expectations that the hype has caused.
%%* IronWoobie: Hana.
* {{Narm}}:
** When Hana and the Wolfman lie down to make love, the latter is still in his wolf form. [[note]]It's at least partly implied that he didn't ''stay'' that way; when Hana wakes up, he's in human form, as if he'd fallen asleep that way after cuddling post-act. Confirmed in the comic version that gives a shot of the two holding hands during the act.[[/note]]
** Ame's [[spoiler:farewell howl]]. It's obviously a human voice attempting to mimic a wolf's howl, and just a little funnier than it should be.
* NarmCharm: The aforementioned lovemaking scene is silly and potentially squicky, but it's also quite sweet. The Wolfman, despite dwarfing Hana, is impossibly tender with her.
* NightmareFuel:
** [[spoiler:Yuki's fierce expression and bloody claws after she scratches Souhei. Souhei chasing her through the school and cornering her in the garden with harsh violin music playing in the background can also be unsettling, especially for anyone who has experienced a panic attack]]
** [[spoiler:Ame and Yuki fighting each other as wolves. Special mention goes to Ame viciously biting at Yuki's throat while Hana watches in shock.]]
* PopularWithFurries: It's about wolves and werewolves, so it was bound to be popular with furries.
* {{Squick}}: Hana lies down with the Wolfman to make love when the latter is still a wolf, though it's likely he did turn back.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Both Yuki and Ame have shades of this during their fight:
** On Yuki's side, she's meant to be sympathetic because of the drama that happened at school stressing her out. However, she throws her eraser and slaps her brother, which starts the fight in the first place, and refuses to accept his decision to be a wolf despite knowing how unhappy he is in school.
** Ame arguably handles the situation worse than Yuki. While his desire to live as a wolf is sympathetic and Yuki ultimately starts the fight, his actions during their fall out are not. Ame keeps telling Yuki that she's a wolf and denies her humanity, not realizing that she just doesn't have the same passion for it as before and ignores her rising anger when he pushes the subject. It proceeds to get worse when he decides to beat the living crap out of her as she's running away and refusing to fight back. Lastly he does nothing but throw a DeathGlare at their worried mother, who only wants the fight to stop.
* ValuesDissonance:
** Yuki lets go of her plucky attitude along with her love of collecting [[NightmareFetishist bugs and animal skeletons]] to fit in more with other girls. While to a Japanese audience, it makes sense as conformity is more encouraged in their society, to a Western audience the message might look more like "different is bad". While Hana ''does'' tell Yuki to just be herself, it only seems to fall on deaf ears. The fact that she goes through a GirlinessUpgrade in the process also reflects Japan's stricter enforcement of gender roles.
** Ame is allowed to do whatever he pleases, simply because he's a boy and is given a privileged position by his mother. Yuki, on the other hand, is constantly chastised for whatever she does, even if not even being or doing wrong and ''especially'' when standing for herself. This culminates with [[spoiler:Ame being allowed to simply stay in the wilderness as a wolf]] as if nothing, but Yuki ''has to'' fit in into the human society, something that was drilled into her for most of her growing up as her final duty and obligation, without even considering she might want to do something else. This fits with Japanese perception of gender roles and traditional male favouritism, not to mention enforced TallPoppySyndrome, but can make anyone else grate their teeth as the plot goes on and can even (unintentionally) make Ame look like an UngratefulBastard for all the hardship and effort Hana went through when raising him.
* {{Woolseyism}}: The scene in which Ame sits alone in the dark [[spoiler:just prior to his departure into the wild]] has him saying just one line: [[spoiler:"I have to go."]] The dub succeeds in making it even more painful than it originally was.
-->'''Ame:''' Sorry, mom.
----

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The scene where Yuki gets sick and Hana has to rush her to medical help. Ordinarily a toddler in potentially life-threatening danger from ingesting something poisonous shouldn't be funny, but then we have Hana arrive at a crossroads with the children's hospital on one end and the veterinarian on the other and desperately try to figure out which she should take Yuki to, and then it's hilarious.

** Combined the two of them decide to get into a physical altercation that wrecks their entire house, one that Hana worked tirelessly to build, and neither show remorse for doing so.
** On Yuki's side, she's meant to be sympathetic because of the drama that happened at school stressing her out. However, she throws her eraser and slaps her brother, which starts the fight in the first place, and refuses to accept his decision to be a wolf despite knowing how unhappy he is in school. On the other hand, she shows better control to begin with, where she begrudgingly stops forcing her ideals on Ame after he refuses and tries to prevent the situation from escalating. Viewers also agree the brutality she gets from Ame is not justified.

* ValuesDissonance:
** Yuki lets go of her plucky attitude along with her love of collecting [[NightmareFetishist bugs and animal skeletons]] to fit in more with other girls. While to a Japanese audience, it makes sense as conformity is more encouraged in their society, to a Western audience the message might look more like "different is bad". While Hana ''does'' tell Yuki to just be herself, it only seems to fall on deaf ears. The fact that she goes through a GirlinessUpgrade in the process also reflects Japan's stricter enforcement of gender roles.
** Ame is allowed to do whatever he pleases, simply because he's a boy and is given a privileged position by his mother. Yuki, on the other hand, is constantly chastised for whatever she does, even if not even being or doing wrong and ''especially'' when standing for herself. This culminates with [[spoiler:Ame being allowed to simply stay in the wilderness as a wolf]] as if nothing, but Yuki ''has to'' fit in into the human society, something that was drilled into her for most of her growing up as her final duty and obligation, without even considering she might want to do something else. This fits with Japanese perception of gender roles and traditional male favouritism, not to mention enforced TallPoppySyndrome, but can make anyone else grate their teeth as the plot goes on and can even (unintentionally) make Ame look like an UngratefulBastard for all the hardship and effort Hana went through when raising him.

** Ame arguably handles the situation worse than Yuki. While his desire to live as a wolf is sympathetic and Yuki ultimately starts the fight, his actions during their fall out are not. Ame keeps telling Yuki that she's a wolf, not realizing that she just doesn't have the same passion for it as when she was younger, and denies her decision to be human despite her reluctantly accepting his own choice and explicitly telling him to drop the subject. He then decides to beat the living crap out of her when it's clear she gets the message by running. Lastly he does nothing but outright throw a DeathGlare at their worried mother, who only wants the fight to stop.

** Ame is allowed to do whatever he pleases, simply because he's a boy and is given a privileged position by his mother. Yuki, on the other hand, is constantly chastised for whatever she does, even if not even being or doing wrong and ''especially'' when standing for herself. This culminates with [[spoiler:Ame being allowed to simply stay in the wilderness as a wolf]] as if nothing, but Yuki ''has to'' fit in into the human society, something that was drilled into her for most of her growing up as her final duty and obligation, without even considering she might want to do something else. This fits with Japanese perception of gender roles and traditional male favouritism, but can make anyone else grate their teeth as the plot goes on and can even (unintentionally) make Ame look like an UngratefulBastard for all the hardship and effort Hana went through when raising him.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Hana sternly telling Yuki to [[spoiler:apologize for hurting Souhei]]. When Yuki remains silent, Hana firmly adds this is ''not'' a request; she's telling her daughter to do this. So far, we've seen Hana [[PlayedForLaughs occasionally cave in to her daughter's tantrums]] and/or try to gently instruct Yuki to behave. This conversation is a strong implication that this is ''not'' the first time Hana has had to put her foot down and use a firm voice on her children.

** [[spoiler:Yuki's fierce expression and bloody claws after she scratches Souhei.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Ame, Yuki, and their journeys of self discovery. Did they grow up, grow more mature, and find their true places in the world, or were they shamed into choosing one side at the expense of the other?

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The whole thing. This movie has better animation than ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime'' and ''Anime/SummerWars combined!''
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The song at the end is a TearJerker and a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} because the lyrics are a mother singing to her children, before and after they're born.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[spoiler:Ame when he leaves Hana and Yuki. Ame pursuing the path to become a wolf is pretty justifiable, but the way he handles it causes him to be this. After finding Hana unconscious on the slope, instead of taking her home, Ame leaves her on a parking lot and then left, it doesn't help that moments before the storm Ame has been as unhelpful as possible to Hana. This has caused some the fans to think that Ame is pretty rude and selfish, not even saying a goodbye or a parting words with Hana. Some defended him on the grounds that in his own way, he kind of does.]]
* CrossesTheLineTwice: The scene where Yuki gets sick and Hana has to rush her to medical help. Ordinarily a toddler in potentially life-threatening danger from ingesting something poisonous shouldn't be funny, but then we have Hana arrive at a crossroads the Children's Hospital on one end and the Veterinarian on the other and desperately try to figure out which she should take Yuki to, then it's hilarious.
* EsotericHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Ame leaving for good]] is presented as a very positive thing, with uplifting music and TearsOfJoy on Hana's part. However, this can come off as unsettling/unsatisfying to people who were expecting a different kind of resolution, in the vein of the fact that [[spoiler: he and Yuki never explicitly made up (though they did talk once after the fight without issue), and Ame doesn't apologize to his mother after everything, which may or may not just be part of his wolf behavior.]]

* HypeBacklash: Minor case, due to so many people raving about the movie there have been people who watch, will admit it's good, but then say it didn't live up to the expectations that the hype has caused.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Hana sternly telling Yuki to [[spoiler: apologize for hurting Souhei.]] When Yuki remains silent, Hana firmly adds this is ''not'' a request: she's telling her daughter to do this. So far, we've seen Hana [[PlayedForLaughs occasionally cave in to her daughter's tantrums]] and/or try to gently instruct Yuki to behave. This conversation is a strong implication that this is NOT the first time Hana has had to put her foot down and use a firm voice on her children.

** When Hana and the Wolfman lie down to make love, the latter is still in his wolf form. [[note]]It's at least partly implied he didn't ''stay'' that way; when Hana wakes up, he's in human form, as if he'd fallen asleep that way after cuddling post-act. Confirmed in the comic version that gives a shot of the two holding hands during the act.[[/note]]
** Ame's [[spoiler:farewell howl.]] It's obviously a human voice attempting to mimic a wolf's howl, and just a little funnier than it should be.

** [[spoiler: Yuki's fierce expression and bloody claws after she scratches Souhei.]]
** [[spoiler: Ame and Yuki fighting each other as wolves. Special mention goes to Ame viciously biting at Yuki's throat while Hana watches in shock.]]

** Ame is allowed to do whatever he pleases, simply because he's a boy and is given a privileged position by his mother. Yuki, on the other hand, is constantly chastised for whatever she does, even if not even being or doing wrong and ''especially'' when standing for herself. This culminates with [[spoiler: Ame being allowed to simply stay in the wilderness as a wolf]] as if nothing, but Yuki ''has to'' fit in into the human society, something that was drilled into her for most of her growing up as her final duty and obligation, without even considering she might want to do something else. This fits with Japanese perception of gender roles and traditional male favourism, but can make anyone else grate their teeth as the plot goes on and can even (unintentionally) make Ame look like an UngratefulBastard for all the hardship and effort Hana went through when raising him.

** On Yuki’s side, she’s meant to be sympathetic because of the drama that happened at school stressing her out. However, she threw her eraser and slapped her brother, which started the fight in the first place, and refused to accept his decision to be a wolf despite knowing how unhappy he was in school. On the other hand, she showed better control to begin with, where she begrudgingly stopped forcing her ideals on Ame after he refused and tried to prevent the situation from escalating. Viewers also agree the brutality she got from Ame was not justified.
** Ame arguably handled the situation worse than Yuki. While his desire to live as a wolf was sympathetic and Yuki ultimately started the fight, his actions during their fall out were not. Ame kept telling Yuki that she was a wolf, not realizing that she just didn't have the same passion for it as when she was younger, and denied her decision to be human despite her reluctantly accepting his own choice and explicitly telling him to drop the subject. He then decided to beat the living crap out of her when it was clear she got the message by running. Lastly he did nothing but outright throw a DeathGlare at their worried mother, who only wanted the fight to stop.

-->[[spoiler:'''Ame:''' Sorry, mom.]]

** Ame arguably handled the situation worse than Yuki. While his desire to live as a wolf was sympathetic and Yuki ultimately started the fight, his actions during their fall out were not. Ame kept telling Yuki that she was a wolf, not realizing that she just doesn't have the same passion for it as when she was younger, and denied her decision to be human despite her reluctantly accepting his own choice and explicitly telling him to drop the subject. He then decided to beat the living crap out of her when it was clear she got the message by running. Lastly he did nothing but outright throw a DeathGlare at their worried mother, who only wanted the fight to stop.

** On Yuki’s side, she’s meant to be sympathetic because of the drama that happened at school stressing her out. However, she threw her eraser and slapped her brother, which started the fight in the first place, and refused to accept his decision to be a wolf. On the other hand, she showed better control to begin with, where she begrudgingly stopped forcing her ideals on Ame after he refused and tried to prevent the situation from escalating. Viewers also agree the brutality she got from Ame was not justified.
** Ame arguably handled the situation worse than Yuki. While his desire to live as a wolf was sympathetic and Yuki ultimately started the fight, his actions during their fall out were not. Ame kept telling Yuki that she was a wolf and denied her decision to be human despite her reluctantly accepting his own choice and explicitly telling him to drop the subject. He then decided to beat the living crap out of her when it was clear she got the message by running. Lastly he did nothing but outright throw a DeathGlare at their worried mother, who only wanted the fight to stop.

* ActorAllusion: Whenever she's working with crops, Hana wears a straw hat with a red ribbon. Bear in mind, Colleen Clinkenbeard (Hana's voice actress) has also played [[Manga/OnePiece someone else who wears a similar straw hat]].

* InternalizedCategorism: Ame initially rejects his wolf side because he doesn't want to be considered a monster like the wolves in all the stories he's read. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted as he grows to enjoy being a wolf ]]
** [[spoiler: It could be argued that Yuki goes through this after she accidentally lashes out at Souhei. The original Japanese dub even has her saying she ''never wants to turn into a wolf again''. Thankfully, Souhei's acceptance of her seems to imply Yuki has embraced her wolf side once more, or at least she's starting to ]]

* NaughtyIsGood: Yuki as a child. She is constantly throwing tantrums to get what she wants, teases her little brother for being a crybaby, and leaves Hana exasperated with the messes she makes. Her sweet nature is what saves her from being a BrattyHalfPint and her misbehavior comes more from her impulsive attitude rather than anything malicious.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: For most of their early childhoods, Ame and Yuki were each other's only companions and it's rare for a scene to feature one but not the other. [[spoiler:By the time they reach adolescence, their differences in how they live means they barely interact. One of the few times they do results in a bitter argument about whether they should be humans or wolves.]]

** [[spoiler: It could be argued that Yuki goes through this after she loses control and hurts Souhei. The original Japanese dub even has her saying she ''never wants to turn into a wolf again''. Thankfully, Souhei's acceptance of her seems to imply Yuki has embraced her wolf side once more, or at least she's starting to ]]

* WeUsedToBeFriends: For most of their early childhoods, Ame and Yuki were each other's only companions and it's rare for a scene to feature one but not the other. [[spoiler:By the time they reach adolescence, their differences in how they live means they rarely interact. One of the few times they do results in a bitter argument about whether they should be humans or wolves.]]

** Ame arguably handled the situation worse than Yuki. While his desire to live as a wolf was sympathetic and Yuki ultimately started the fight, his actions during their fall out were not. Ame kept telling Yuki that she was a wolf and denied her decision to be human despite her reluctantly accepting his choice. He kept needling her about it despite her growing frustration and explicitly telling him to stop. He then decided to beat the living crap out of her when it was clear she got the initial message by running, and he likely knew just how much stronger he was by then. Lastly he did nothing but outright throw a DeathGlare at their worried mother, who only wanted the fight to stop.