Chirin no Suzu is by far the darkest installment of Takashi Yanase's works and depicts the harrowing events surrounding the little lamb's loss of innocence and corruption to evil, not sparing the reader/viewer from all its details.
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- The film's theme song Chirin no Suzu is hauntingly beautiful, perfectly capturing the movie's melancholy tone. However the song is first played as we get shots of mountains, wind blowing during a blizzard, a cracked pond, footprints in the snow, and the sheep stable completely empty. The Japanese version of the song sounds very ghostly, with most of the song performed by xylophones and instruments sounding like a music box. The song gets gloomier as the movie progresses and starts showing its true colors.
- Chirin is introduced with him walking all by himself
◊ in front of a completely white and foggy background. No music is heard, and the only sounds are Chirin's bell ringing while strange noises are heard. note While the scene is creepy, it quickly gets lightened up when Chirin encounters a yellow butterfly and starts chasing it. While chasing the butterfly he trips, which causes the background to transition to the sheep pasture. - Begins with the scene where Woe kills Chirin's mother and the rest of the flock.
- And unlike, say, Bambi's mom, it all happened within the comforts of the barn where he thought he and his flock were the most safe, making it all the more horrifying and gut-wrenching. Then it becomes very heartbreaking when Chirin emerges from his mother's body thinking she survived (such as cheerfully talking to her, and thinking she was knocked out). When Chirin first sees his mother after the attack, we get a close up of his mother's face while wind is blowing in the distance.
- The book as well as other adaptations, including the kamishibai version, has the entire flock being killed off by Woe. Note the illustration in the kamishibai version when he first meets Chirin. His stomach is big…and it’s filled with probably the guts and wool of Chirin's family. What makes this version darker is that Chirin was left as a sole survivor and he was probably traumatized so much, that it lead to his revenge.
- The Lyrica adaptation from 1977 is even worse! While blood isn't depicted for obvious reasons, it graphically described Chirin being soaked in his mother's blood after she is killed, making Chirin's emotional reactions extra heartbreaking. The same goes for the extended versions of the story.
- The 2003 flash adaptation by Storygate Picturebooks depicts the aftermath of the death of Chirin's mother similar to the original book. Unlike the original book version, the aftermath starts with strange wavy lines in front of a blood red background before it cuts to Chirin hiding in a small pit of hay. Then Chirin's mother's dead corpse slowly starts emerges as it hides Chirin's body. The sequences ends with a closeup shot of Chirin's eyes glistening as he sheds a Single Tear in front of the same blood red background. The use of the color red serves as a somewhat family-friendly way of depicting Chirin being covered in his mother's blood.
- Unlike the Sanrio adaptation where he blew the door open, Woe, in the kamishibai version, breaks into the side of the sheep stable and feasts his eyes on the first snack he sees…Chirin and his mother.◊
- Try to imagine a more realistic picture of Chirin's mother's corpse, the kind you don't see from a censored lens. Since the text of the other versions describe her blood covering Chirin, it is without a doubt that Woe did indeed feast on her corpse despite the visuals stating otherwise. In this uncensored lens, or in reality, she would probably have teeth marks, her throat torn open, some skin ripped off, some mangled features…and a disemboweled stomach. This also applies to the corpse of her husband and her fellow ewes in the aforementioned extended versions.
- The entire scene of Woe attacking the sheep inside the stable. One moment the entire flock is sleeping peacefully, when suddenly they're woken up by ominous noises coming from outside. Then, out of nowhere, Woe bursts open the door (which appears to be locked) and the entire flock tries to run away from him. One of the sheep is so scared of Woe that it starts foaming at the mouth and immediately faints.
- While the flock is under attack, Chirin appears to be half asleep. He suddenly witnesses a sheep get killed right in front of him. We only see that sheep get killed in shadow form, but we do see its body fall in front of him.
- When Chirin first encounters Woe, minutes after his mother's death, he is immediately terrified by him and runs off. Chirin struggles to be brave◊, but his body language says the opposite since he's shaking in fear.
- A scene in which Chirin falls into a big cavern after trying to attack the wolf. Due to his small size, the impact of Chirin's fall almost knocked him unconscious. For a brief moment, it looked like Chirin didn't survive the fall if it wasn't for him still breathing.
- After Woe ignores Chirin's requests on becoming a wolf. Chirin decides that he should become a wolf by himself if Woe won't allow him. After he finishes that sentence, the camera quickly zooms into Chirin with a very angry expression.
- Chirin: "I'll become a wolf on my own, you'll see!" (camera zooms into Chirin with an enraged expression)
- As Chirin's still trying to convince Woe on becoming a wolf. We get a scene where Woe is seen killing a deer, while Chirin is secretly watching him in shock and fear◊, but still puts on a tough appearance. This is one of the few moments in the movie where we get an on-screen kill as well as blood.
- The scene where Woe is fighting a large bear. Woe manages to defeat the bear and is so frightened by Woe, that it decides to run away from him in fear.
- Never do we see Woe or the adult Chirin eating their victims onscreen. Nothing Is Scarier indeed.
- A scene exclusive to the anime adaptation where a bird is killed by a snake as she tries to protect her eggs and Chirin accidentally destroys her eggs, while trying to defend them. The Scare Chord playing as the snake immediately kills the mother bird as we cut to Chirin's horrified reactions makes the situation worse. Doesn't help that Chirin is immediately horrified for his actions and starts crying as a result.
- While only lasting a couple of seconds, Chirin attempts at killing the snake by biting as hard as he can onto its neck. The snake makes strange noises as it sounds like it's slowly suffocating. Not to mention Chirin's body movements as he's angrily attacking the snake doesn't look like any movements a real lamb could do.
- In Real Life, the snake would have most likely eaten the bird and not just killed her to get her eggs.
- Chirin's Transformation Sequence into a demonic-looking ram-wolf hybrid. The animators did a bang-up job of turning a sheep into something utterly terrifying. Watching him Curb Stomp an entire pack of savage guard dogs is the stuff nightmares are made of. Little wonder the sheep were terrified of him.
- Which of course, almost leads to the very ending of the film. the very profoundly bleak and heart wrenching ending of this movie, and just how it nearly comes out of nowhere, like an actual Gainax Ending, makes it worse."Chirin tried to tell the frightened sheep that he had once lived with them in the meadow. But nobody believed him. The creature they saw before them was not one of their kind. Chirin was neither wolf nor sheep; he was an animal which caused only fear and terror. He wouldn't find a home again with the sheep of his childhood, and without the wolf, Chirin realized... he had no home at all."
- Which of course, almost leads to the very ending of the film. the very profoundly bleak and heart wrenching ending of this movie, and just how it nearly comes out of nowhere, like an actual Gainax Ending, makes it worse.
- The Wolf is frightening even when he's not attacking anyone.
- In the English dub, the wolf has a Voice of the Legion.
- The Wolf King's mountain as illustrated by Takashi Yanase in his book almost resembles the face and ears of a wolf, maybe even straight devil horns.
- Chirin delivers this chilling line before finally comforting Woe as an adult ram.
- Chirin: "I've decided to go with you to hell!"
- The artwork of the Lyrica comic adaptation is pretty◊ nightmarish◊ as◊ well◊.
- This movie does a great job at making a cute little lamb actually terrifying! Even before we see Chirin as an adult, seeing him angry as a young lamb◊ is even worse, mainly when he starts yelling◊ or screaming in rage, such as the two scenes when he gives an angry speech◊. Not to mention the first person shot of an angry Chirin charging into Woe◊. It gets worse once he starts growing horns and his wool starts looking less cuddly and more menacing◊. Ever since he witnessed his mother's/parents’ death, we hardly see Chirin smiling◊ again in any version of the story. The voice acting for those scenes in the English and Japanese versions doesn't help.
- In the English Dub, Chirin's voice becomes gruffer and deeper after he finishes weeping over accidentally destroying eggs from a mother bird's nest, which is a huge contrast to Chirin's cute and cheerful voice heard for the majority of the film. His voice remains like this for the majority of the film until he grows up to become a fully grown ram.
- Even creepier is that Chirin's gruff voice actually sounds like an early version of Barbara Goodson's Rita Repulsa note which make it extra jarring hearing Rita's shrilled voice coming out of a baby lamb which could be intentional in the dub.
- To a lesser extent, the original book includes Takashi Yanase's own sketches of Chirin, one of them shows him angry.
- While also sad, any time Chirin is frightened◊ or very upset as a lamb◊. When he witnesses his mother's/parents death, he starts crying and wailing in agony◊. It's worse when he accidentally breaks two eggs from a bird's nest and starts panickingly crying◊ and feeling guilty. The animation when Chirin is crying in both scenes only adds more sense of agony to the poor lamb. The voice acting for those scenes is even sadder (especially the Japanese version).
- The original book has this creepy illustration◊ of Chirin first meeting Woe/Wor while Chirin's smiling. A reminder that this took place hours (note the time difference) after Chirin discovers his mother's death.
- How is Chirin remembered after death? An evil creature who kills baby lambs if they cry.
