Hana, a hard-working college student, falls in love with a mysterious man who attends one of her classes though he is not an actual student. As it turns out, he is not truly human either. On a full moon night, he transforms, revealing that he is the last werewolf alive. Despite this, Hana’s love remains strong, and the two ultimately decide to start a family. Hana gives birth to two healthy children—Ame and Yuki, both inheriting the ability to turn into wolves. (Adapted from MAL)
Hana and her lover’s school is modeled on the Kunitachi campus of Hitotsubashi University. This can be most clearly seen in a shot of the central tower of the library building.
When Hana chooses to move her family to the countryside, she picks a home in Kamiichi, Toyama Prefecture. The house used as a model for the film, constructed in 1887, still operates as a private residence but has been opened up by its landowners and volunteers for tourists in 2015. The house may have been subject to demolition in 2007. Because the house is so old and secluded, the landowners assembled a support group in 2013 to cover the cost of important and challenging repairs and upkeep costs, including clearing snow off the roof every winter.
There is loads of Wolf Children memorabilia inside and outside the house, including fan guest books, merchandise, maps and fan art drawn by visitors, and more. Some of these images are sourced from Mike Hattsu’s blog posts in 2016 and from the house’s website. Hattsu took loads of great pictures, so if you’re hungry for more, check it out.
Below, the left image shows a nobori displayed on the outside of the house that reads Wolf Children’s hometown: Kamiichi, Toyama Prefecture. The right shows a display of photos relating to the house and the film, including one of Hosoda making a visit.
Kamiichi is proud to be a set location for a prominent anime film at both the house and elementary school, and has a great deal of cross-promotional material for the film in the tourism information center in Kamiichi Station. This includes a Special Resident Certificate 特別住民票 (tokubetsu juminhyo) for the Wolf Children Family, ‘officially’ making them Kamiichi residents.
Here’s that information center from the outside. On Google Maps I also spotted what looks like a Wolf Children touring van in the parking lot of the station from Street View footage dated from 2022.
In 2022, Kamiichi held an event it called a Wolf Children “furusato meguri” (hometown tour) digital stamp rally, where visitors could collect digital stamps at 10 locations across the local area through the KNB app in exchange for prizes. The list ranged from light novels signed by Mamoru Hosoda, to a commemorative shot glass or mug, to a set of clear files, and some local food products; either taro pottage or some ginger snacks. The website for the rally included location pins which have been translated and appended to the map here.
