Wolf Children (おおかみこどもの雨と雪, Ōkami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki) is a 2012 original theatrical anime film directed and co-written by Mamoru Hosoda, and produced by Studio Chizu. Staff credits also include screenplay writer Satoko Okudera, character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, and music composed by Masakatsu Takagi. The film theatrically released in Japan on June 2012.
Background:
“Half Human, Half Wolf, Half Heart.
Wolf Children is a staggeringly beautiful animated feature film from director Mamoru Hosoda (SUMMER WARS). This epic cinematic achievement follows Hana, a woman who falls in love with a Wolf Man and gives birth to two half human, half wolf children. After fate intervenes and a tragic incident occurs, Hana seeks refuge in a rural town where she attempts to build a life for herself – and her children.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, February 2026.
When I first got into anime in 2012, Mamoru Hosoda was one of the first directors that I was made aware of. At the time two of his recent films The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars were among the first films that I watched and really loved them both, especially for their stories and art style. And when I started my University degree in 2013, Wolf Children received a UK theatrical release from Manga Entertainment ahead of their home video release and interestingly this was the first anime that I ever watched on the big screen. When I lived in Sheffield, the film screened at the Showroom Cinema in October 2013, which is a great place to watch a variety of films, whether it be the newest releases, independent films, foreign language films and of course anime. I watched Wolf Children in English via Funimation’s English dub which was very good, and as a whole I really enjoyed this film.
Now time has passed, we’re in 2026, and a lot has happened. Mamoru Hosoda produced more films and licensing bounced around with his catalogue. Wolf Children was re-released by Manga Entertainment in a ‘Hosoda Collection’ collector’s package in December 2017 which looked really good, but as I had already owned Manga’s 2013 collector’s edition type set I didn’t feel the need to re-purchase it. After sometime, both Manga Entertainment and Funimation lost their licenses for Mamoru Hosoda’s catalogue (from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to Wolf Children for the UK, and up to The Boy and the Beast for the US) over to Anime Limited and GKIDS. GKIDS picked up the licenses first and released each of them on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray.
In the UK, Studio Canal still has The Boy and the Beast, while MIRAI and BELLE were both picked up by Anime Limited when they were released in theatres back in the day. Ironically, Sony using their Sony Pictures Classics and Columbia Pictures label (presumably to avoid Studio Chizu not wanting the films to be with Crunchyroll by my guess) secured his latest film Scarlet which is currently considered by many to be one of his weakest films to date.
Getting back to Wolf Children, Mamoru Hosoda’s theme for this film is about motherhood and the relationship between a parent and a child. It’s an interesting one, especially as you see how the family struggles with the children being part-wolf and how they want to go ahead in life. Still visually great and with the 4K transfer it should look just as good as it did on the big screen. I don’t think it’s my favourite of his works, but I do recommend giving the film a watch.
Deluxe Edition Contents:
Now that Anime Limited have picked up the rights to three of Mamoru Hosoda’s older feature-length works (they don’t have all of them since Studio Canal still have The Boy and the Beast and Crunchyroll UK have One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island), they are going “all-out” with these deluxe edition releases.
The deluxe edition release is presented with a rigid box with an o-card slipcase, a digipack case that’s stacked housing the discs, an acrylic standee, a wooden art card and five art cards. No booklet this time which is an interesting choice, but there is a bonus Blu-ray disc that’s exclusive to this edition that features more on-disc bonus features.
Now as someone who’s picked up a lot of special editions from Anime Limited, this deluxe edition is a mixed bag. Arcylic standees are one of my favourite additions in limited edition anime releases so I’m happy to have one here, but it does mess up the spacing in the box so they should have placed it separately. Crunchyroll & Funimation’s releases always had them held in a cardboard box that can be separated for a Part 2 Blu-ray release if needed so it doesn’t ruin the flow of the box set or sometimes the box is separate from the rigid case.
Then we have the stacked digipack which is a bizarre choice because all that’s just going to do is damage the circle at the centre of the discs over time. The inclusion of the DVD disc is also baffling since the 4K Ultra HD disc is the main feature (Blu-ray being included is understandable and perfectly fine, but DVD is unnecessary). And as mentioned, there’s no booklet here which is very unusual.
For me what I would have done is replace the digipack with a 4K Amaray case, remove the DVD, relocate the acrylic standee so it’s separate from the set, at least include a booklet of some sort, and that would have the box half the size and more shelf-friendly. Hopefully the deluxe editions for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars will be much better.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the o-card slipcase covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The deluxe edition 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD combo pack has an unspecified number of units printed (but is expected to be the usual 1000 run) for an SRP of £79.99. We do have different editions available on the same date; a steelbook edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack at SRP £39.99, and standard Blu-ray for SRP £19.99. Do note that the bonus Blu-ray disc is exclusive to the deluxe edition and won’t be included in any of these other editions. I pre-ordered the film on its own during Anime Limited’s early bird offer last January for £49.99 (£44.99 with the 10% off Anime Unlimited discount) plus £3.50 postage.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork and o-card slipcase for specification and BBFC description
- Digipack case packaging
- Bonus Blu-ray Disc with Additional Bonus Features
- Acrylic Standee
- Wooden Art Card
- 5 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 16th February 2026
The deluxe edition 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD release for Wolf Children contains the film on a single 4K Ultra HD disc, a single Blu-ray disc and a single DVD disc, plus an additional Blu-ray disc with more bonus features. Despite GKIDS releasing the films on 4K Ultra HD and have done so in advance, Anime Limited’s discs were authored and encoded by VDMS for their releases in Europe with Plaion Pictures (the distributors being Anime Limited for UK & France, KSM Anime for Germany and Anime Factory for Italy). The 4K Ultra HD release also supports HDR (High Dynamic Range).
At the start of each disc, you’re given the option to select either English, German (Deutsch), French or Italian, and whichever option you pick you’ll be able to return back and pick the other without having to restart all over. The German option also includes trailers for BELLE, The Tunnel to Summer, the End of Goodbyes and Poupelle of Chimney Town before the main menu appears.
On the English menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub. On the French menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with French subtitles and the WanTake French dub commissioned by KAZE France. On the German menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with German subtitles, and the TV+Synchron Berlin German dub commissioned by KAZE Germany. On the Italian menu, you can choose between the original Japanese audio with Italian subtitles, and the CD Cine Dubbing Italian dub commissioned by Anime Factory.
The bonus Blu-ray disc, which is exclusive to the Deluxe Edition release (but are also available on the standard edition of the North American GKIDS 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray releases), includes the extras that were previously featured in the Manga Entertainment & Funimation releases. Those were the Stage Greetings (which were initially divided up between the June 18, 2012 Japan Premiere, the June 25, 2012 World Premiere in Paris, the Theme Song Premiere & Stage Greetings, the July 21, 2012 Opening Day Stage Greetings and August 7, 2012 “Hana’s Day” Appreciation Stage Greetings), the PR video Director’s Version 1 & 2, and Promotional Video listed here as a Making-Of Featurette. The only extras not carried over were Funimation’s English Cast & Staff Audio Commentary and the Funimation English Trailer.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, the 4K Ultra HD disc is all-region while the Blu-ray discs are region restricted to players set to B and the DVD disc is region restricted to players set to 2.
4K Ultra HD Specs (Main Feature Film):
| Languages | Japanese, English, French, German, Italian |
| Audio | Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 1.78:1 aspect ratio HDR |
| Region | All Region |
| Subtitles | English, French, German, Italian |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-66 |
Blu-ray Specs (Main Feature Film + Extras):
| Languages | Japanese, English, French, German, Italian |
| Audio | Main Feature Film Disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Bonus Blu-ray Disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | Main Feature Film Disc: B Bonus Blu-ray Disc: B |
| Subtitles | English, French, German, Italian |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25) |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | Japanese, English, French, German, Italian |
| Audio | Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 French Dolby Digital 5.1 German Dolby Digital 5.1 Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English, French, German, Italian |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Japanese Theatrical Trailer (01:31 runtime)
- Japanese Teaser (00:32 runtime)
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Main Feature Film:
- Japanese Theatrical Trailer (01:31 runtime)
- Japanese Teaser (00:32 runtime)
Disc 2: Bonus Disc:
- Stage Greeting (57:01 runtime)
- Extended Trailer Created by the Director 1 (03:00 runtime)
- Extended Trailer Created by the Director 2 (03:01 runtime)
- Making-Of Featurette (16:09 runtime)
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Japanese Theatrical Trailer (01:31 runtime)
- Japanese Teaser (00:32 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Wolf Children is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland, as well as various European territories under Plaion Pictures including France, Germany & Italy.
The deluxe edition 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD is available exclusively through AllTheAnime Store, whilst the steelbook edition is available across different retailers including AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK, Anime-on-Line, HMV and Zavvi.
The standard edition Blu-ray is available across different retailers including AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK, Anime-on-Line, and HMV.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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