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Wolf's Rain Vol. 4: Recollections
Bandai // Unrated // December 14, 2004
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"You are out of luck today."In the distant future, humanity lives in great domed cities on a desolate Earth, and wolves are thought to have been hunted to extinction over 200 years ago. But unknown to man, wolves instead began to live amongst them, disguising themselves as humans. Legend has it that at the end of the world, wolves will lead the world to Paradise – and one wolf, Kiba, is convinced he knows the way.
So I skipped to volume four in my player, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? The beginning of episode one! Oh, I went too far, I thought. I opened the player and checked the disc. No, this was four. They must have sent me a misprint. Wait, the title on this says "Recollections"-- oh no. This is a clip show disc, isn't it? Nooo! Sure enough, all four are a recap of the previous 14 from four different viewpoints: Tsube, Toboe, Hige, and the three humans. Yikes. Avoid, avoid.
Video:
A nice transfer with some moderate aliasing here and there, but overall clean with bright, vibrant colors (partially owing the rich color palette of the show). The screenshots are duller. Exactly what I'd expect from a show that originally aired in Japan a mere year before its North American release.
Audio:
As with most anime series, the original stereo language track is the best – voices are appropriate for the characters and the acting is excellent throughout. Some may understandably opt for the English 5.1 track instead for a much fuller sound, though; I was tempted. It's a shame (but understandable) that five-speaker tracks aren't more common for television shows, as the sound here is excellent. There are some great visceral sound effects like a person's larynx being crushed. There's also an English stereo track, as well as English subtitles, of course.
The English actors do a decent job in spite of some questionable dialog in places, and the track is fine for those inclined that way. The real standout exception is Johnny Yong Bosch, who is just fantastic as a subtle, natural-sounding Kiba. Crispin Freeman (Tsube) has some fans and an instantly recognizable voice, but every character of his
sounds the same to me, and a lot of the time it seems like he's mismatched with the characters he plays (Captain Tylor, of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, is a prime example). He's closer here, but Tsube still sounds too deep, too heroic. Joshua Seth as Hige and Mona Marshall as Toboe have perhaps the most obvious "character voices" on the show, which can be distracting. And as in most dubs, stilted delivery occasionally rears its ugly head. But it's inherent in the trade, I suppose.The music in Wolf's Rain is good (with the exception of the awful, awful opening song "Stray" which you can safely skip without missing any of the episode), but admittedly it's hard for Yoko Kanno to top her previous work in Cowboy Bebop. Music is not so much the focus here as it was there, but she still manages to work in some nice themes, including the striking credits song, "Gravity."
Extras:
Two textless endings and some trailers, including one for a Ghost in the Shell game.
Conclusion:
What is Bandai thinking? Four episodes for $29.98 MSRP? This disc should at least be marked down as it only required a few seconds of new dialog. Even then I wouldn't recommend it, but at least the completists might not grumble so much on their way to the cash register. Skip it.
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