MovieChat Forums > Wolf's Rain (2003) Discussion > Is it just me, or was the ending... *ahe...

Is it just me, or was the ending... *ahem, spoilers*


...a total sucker-punch to the stomach?

I'm okay with the idea that everyone died to bring about paradise; that's obviously sad, but at least has the potential to be beautiful/poetic/whatever. What bugs me is that there was this beautiful sequence at the end that implied that the world was being made anew, that the blank pages could be filled, and then in two seconds Darcia's stupid wolf-eyeball corrupts everything. So, did that just negate every single effort and sacrifice made by everyone from episode one? Or is the cycle supposed to repeat, corruption being an integral part of the world? Or are the wolves re-incarnated to re-save the world, or are they just able to live again in a world where life and decay are balanced? Is there some legend or folk tale influencing the end that I don't know about? Why did the series end by opening with a huge can or worms/questions? Was this supposed to be a half-a**ed attempt at an ending open to interpretation? Can I get some help here, or if not help, maybe an amen?

Ugh, but seriously, that stupid eyeball incident felt like that horrid cliche ending where you think the villain's died, and then the camera closes in on his corpse, and his eyes pop open, "shocking" the audience that he's alive just as the credits roll. Except this felt about 30X worse.

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I completely agree with you.

I do not believe this darkness will endure -Faramir

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There is no saving the world...


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[deleted]

"There is a strange, paradoxical freedom in darkness. In the freedom and ability to choose."

Well said gogo ^_^b

EVIL spelled backwards is LIVE

The new definition of beauty: Wolf's Rain

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Gilgamesh had a sort of similar ending...

Everyone dies as a part of the plan to get rid of all evil caused by humans, and then the hope of the new world stabs its creator and kills her

I did not appreciate the ending sequence much here, but oh well...

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To be honest, the first few times I watched it I didn't care for the ending. Once I got used to it though, it really grew on me. I always interpreted it that the reborn world (with Tsume on the bike and Toboe with the kitten etc.) was in fact our current world.

The Darcia eyeball thing is kind of strange, but I see it as balance. You can't have just "good" in the world, you need evil to balance it. So even in paradise, good or bad, one side will always be there to fight the other.

The new definition of beauty: Wolf's Rain

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Another thing is that we know that before the events of the series, the cycle already took place several times. Maybe it is impossible to achieve Paradise. Maybe that's the law of the world we live in- constant struggle, and Paradise being what motivates us to get better.

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I thought the ending had a cylcic vibe to it. That the world already was Paradise but it had been corrupted and destroyed to the point that nobody could call it so. The ending I thought was that they achieved Paradise but none lived to see it. The eye I think was meant for the audience, so that we could connect the Paradise we were presented with, with the dirty city at the very end.

The wolves I thought were a sort of cleanup crew intended to reset the world back to Paradise, and this is why they were seemingly 'reborn' at the end. The irony of course is that Paradise cannot stay Paradise and will inevitably return to the dire state depicted in the series creating an endless cycle of depressing 'almosts'.

Well that's what I thought.

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Actually, I thought the ending to be quite hopeful: note the differences between the opening scene and the ending scene. Apparantly it's like a chicken-and-egg situation, but things can be different every time; in the last scene, lunar flowers can actually be seen growing in the city. This didn't happen the first time around.

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Sucker-punch to the stomach? How about ripping your heart out and playing hacky-sack with it? I love the theme song, but these days I can't listen to it without crying. I think that's what keeps me from analyzing the ending too much. Though my interpretation at the time had something to do with reincarnation, but I can't remember the specifics...

"Admiration is for poets and dairy cows, Bobby."

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yeah it was sad how it ended with Cher/Hubb (even though I never cared about them until they were dying LOL)
never gave a damn about Quent, I was glad they got rid of him.

But then I wonder what happens to the humans after they die? Did they just disappear along with the end of the world and are forgotten? Or did they reincarnate into the new world with Kiba & friends but the episode just didn't show them?

ugh this is why I hate shows with time traveling or parallel universes.. too confusing

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[deleted]