'Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki') is a 2012 Japanese animated fantasy drama film directed and co-written by Mamoru Hosoda.

The story's central theme is "parent and child",[4] depicting 13 years in the life of a young woman, Hana, who falls in love with a werewolf while in college, and following his death must raise the resulting half-wolf half-human children, Ame and Yuki, who grow and find their own paths in life.

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990) and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), designed the characters.

Hana's life as a single mother is difficult; she has to hide the children as they constantly switch between their human and wolf forms, and they often get into fights.

After she receives noise complaints and a visit from social services who are concerned that the children have not had vaccinations, Hana moves the family to the countryside away from prying neighbors.

Meanwhile, Ame often skips school and becomes more interested in the forest and takes lessons from an elderly fox about survival in the wild.

When he pursues the matter by cornering her, Yuki gets increasingly angry, leading her to transform into a wolf and inadvertently injuring his ear.

At the meeting with their parents and teachers, Sōhei claims a wolf attacked him, absolving Yuki of the blame, and the two become friends.

She sees a vision of the children's father telling her that Yuki and Ame will find their own paths in life, and that she raised them well.

At a press conference held on June 18, 2012, the director Mamoru Hosoda announced that Wolf Children would be released in 34 countries and territories.

[16] In addition to the film, two novelizations and a manga written by Hosoda (with art by Yū (優)) were released by Kadokawa Shoten.

[23] The film subsequently surpassed Hosoda's previous work Summer Wars' gross of around 1.6 billion yen during the weekend of August 12–13, 2012.

[26] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 8 critics, signifying "generally favorable reviews".

[27] Mark Schilling of The Japan Times gave the film three out of five stars and wrote that "The Miyazaki influence on Hosoda's own work seems obvious, from his cute-but-realistic style to his concern with pressing social issues and the messy emotions of actual human beings".

[29] Dave Chua of Mypaper also praised the film's "magnificent understated eye for detail, from the grain of wood on doors to the lovingly captured forest scenes, that help lift the movie above regular animation fare".

[31] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described it as "an odd story, told in a one-of-a-kind style that feels equal parts sentimental, somber and strange", and felt the English language performances were inappropriately sweet and simplistic.