Episode Guide

Episode #1:  Howling Street Corner

We first see a snowy countryside, fresh wolf tracks in the snow.  It is Kiba, though we do not know this at first.  In his white wolf form, he speaks of rakuen (paradise) as he lays collapsed in the snow from exhaustion.  He introduces us to his internal struggle of how he is constantly pulled to find this paradise, yet he doubts such a place exists.  But the voice pulls him to find what may not be there.

Cuts to scene of trains in heavily falling snow at night.  Bandits in jeeps are following the train, firing upon it with guns, desiring to loot its contents.  Unfortunately for the bandits, the train is equipped with its own powerful firearms.  Many of the bandits have successfully boarded the train, engaging in combat with the people on the train.   In the chaos, one of the bandits, a young boy, is thrust onto the moving train.  He is petrified by the sight of the giant robotic firearm that is blasting away at his comrades.   Before he is discovered and killed, a man clad in black leather and sunglasses, who we learn is Tsume, destroys the machine, thus saving the boy's life.  Damaged from the attack, the train grinds to a halt, and the bandits, who had since gotten back into their jeeps, speed away, cheering and carrying their loot from the train.  Their excitement is quieted when a massive noble's ship, black with red lights and generating a high-pitched noise, flies overhead.  The bandits make their way back to the nearest domed city.

** Opening sequence. **

Inside the dark, domed city, we are first introduced to Quent Yaiden and his dog Blue.  Quent is an older gentleman with greying hair, and is dressed in a tan trenchcoat and hat. He enters a bar carrying a suitcase, leaving Blue, a large black dog with pricked ears and striking blue eyes, tied up just outside.  Quent orders a drink and makes small talk to the bartender. In his conversation about how cold and miserable it is outside, casually mentions the wolf.  The bartender tells Quent of the legend that when the world ends, paradise will appear, a place that only the wolves will know where to find. Quent immediately becomes offended, claiming that wolves are messengers of death.  The bartender informs him that wolves have been extinct for over 200 years, and that he shouldn't be so concerned with fairy-tales.  But Quent seems to know better.

Blue, still tied up outside as her master drinks, watches as the bandits pass by the alley opening.  Among them is Tsume, to whom she immediately reacts by heatedly barking and growling when he pauses to look at her.  Hearing the sound of Blue barking, Quent leaves the bar, his gun in hand.  The gang is long gone by then, but he spots wolf tracks in the snow.

Tsume runs through they alleyways, his gang struggling to keep up.  They pause briefly when the other men complain about his speed.  He informs them that they are going to raid again tomorrow, much to their chagrin.  One can assume here that Tsume is the leader of this gang, by the way that he gives the orders, and how the other humans will follow him without much opposition.  It is obvious, however, that he is using them, and to what degree they know this or even care is not evident at this point.

The following morning, the gang is gathered around a large tree, staring at something in a hollow at its base.  There are two men crouched next to the opening of the hollow, and they believe the thing to be a large dead dog.  Tsume knows better, however.  As one of the two men reaches in to grab the dog and drag it out, it regains consciousness, leaps out of the hollow, and kills one of the men instantly with a bite to the throat.  Dodging crossbow fire from the other man, the white wolf lunges for his throat, killing him as well.  The wolf then stares straight at Gehl, the young boy, who is so frightened he cannot move.  Tsume knocks Gehl out of the way, saving his life yet again, and confronts the wolf.  Tsume runs off, encouraging the wolf to follow, which he does.  Gehl gathers his nerves and decides to follow the pair.

Separated from the group a good distance away, Tsume pauses and turns to confront the wolf, knife in hand.  For the first time here, we see that Tsume is a wolf as well, a grey wolf.  They start to talk; the white wolf defending his own actions as Tsume chastises him.  Kiba's overwhelming pride shines through in this first conversation, and it is clear that from the start these two very dominating personalities will clash.  After arguing briefly, they fight physically.  Blood is spilt.

Next scene, we see a young girl, dressed in a tight form-fitting body suit, tied up in some sort of green fluid-filled tank.  Her eyes open slightly, which doesn't go unnoticed by two laboratory workers.

Back to the wolves.  They continue to fight, and Gehl follows the sounds of growling and chuffing to their location, and is startled when he sees two wolves, one grey and one white, fighting on the roof of the building.  He blinks and shakes his head, and once again Tsume appears to be human.  In a sudden spurt of bravery, Gehl rushes in between Tsume and the white wolf, swinging his mallet.  He doesn't make contact and hardly intimidates the wolf, but nevertheless the wolf backs off and runs away, leaving an aggravated Tsume behind.  He takes out his aggravation on the boy, whose only intention was to return a favor for saving his life, not once but twice. Gehl also tells him how grateful he was, considering his previous actions contradicted the rumors that Tsume never would help his companions even if they were in danger.  Tsume answers his gratitude by insisting that he is not his friend and walks off, leaving the bewildered boy behind.

Back to the girl in the tank.  The two lab assistants bring on the doctor, Cher, who analyze the girl's actions. We learn that the girl, named Cheza, will respond to the scent of wolf's blood.  We also learn that Cheza is known as the Flower Maiden.

A wounded Kiba makes his way slowly through the outskirts of the city.  He is badly injured, as evidenced by his pronounced limp and blood-soaked fur.  People look on in disbelief, probably thinking it was just some big dog.  Unfortunately for Kiba, Quent has spotted him, and he is armed with a rifle.  Blue charges at the wolf, and Quent opens fire when he has an opening, seemingly killing the wolf.

Quent, it seems, had been taken into custody.  He is questioned by the police back at the station, presumably for opening fire in a city.  It is learned that Quent was a sheriff from another town.  Hubb Lebowski is the one doing the questioning.  He wants to know what Quent is doing in their city, especially with such a powerful firearm.  Quent answers Hubb's questions with one of his own.  He wants to know what happened to the wolf he shot, which had been confiscated by the police.  Hubb tells him it is dead, but Quent insists it is not, because he knew he didn't make a killing shot.  Hubb doensn't believe Quent's rantings, and we learn here that not only have the wolves been extinct for over 200 years, but in this time the forests have been burnt down as well, so we can assume that the rest of nature is virtually destroyed in this time period.

Meanwhile, Kiba is being held captive, although unconscious, in a large metal-barred cage somewhere in the police station. 

Cheza is reacting quite a bit this time, sending out ultrasonic waves that are undetectable by humans, but causing water in a glass to ripple.

Kiba awakens to see a large, brown wolf standing in front of his cage, while Quent and Blue reluctantly leave the police station.

Tsume and his gang, having since rejoined, drive in their jeeps to their next hit.

Hubb and Cher, together, go into the holding room where Kiba is incarcerated.  It is obvious from their speech that they were once together as a couple.  They walk in and see Hige, who was the large brown wolf, standing in front of the cage.  Claiming he is a lost janitor, Hige makes an excuse to leave the room.  Looking at Kiba, Cher makes the comment that she hasn't a clue if he was a real wolf, as she had not seen one before, but she can assume he is based on Chezas' reactions.  Hubb just gets depressed, claiming that it was Cheza that broke them up.  We can assume then that Cher was too involved in her work and did not have enough time for a relationship.

Back to Tsume and his gang's newest raid.  It is at a facility where cargo is brought in on trucks and unloaded.  They wait in the shadows of pillars for nightfall.

Now that Cher and Hubb have left, Hige returns to speak to the white wolf.  Hige, with his happy-go-lucky attitude, almost teasingly asks him why he is locked up, telling him also that he could smell his scent, which led him inside the station.  Kiba seems confused as to why Hige stays in his human form.  Hige informs him that wolves are feared, and that it is easier to "hide" in human form, to live among the humans without fear, and to survive.  This answer angers Kiba, who feels taking human form as a type of betrayal, and that one must keep one's pride above all else.  But it was Kiba's pride that got him caught.

Alarms sound.  The raid had taken place, and Tsume and his gang are being fired upon by the security guards.  They flee across high-beam like pipes, several stories above the ground below.  Amidst all the confusion, Kiba manages to escape the cage, and leaves the police station with Hige, and for the first time we see Kiba in his human form. As they walk out, both of them cast wolf's shadows.  No one cares about two young boys walking casually out of the station, as everybody is concentrating on getting the raid under control.  Gehl, running with his arms full of loot, slips on one of the pipes.  Tsume runs back to save him, and grabs him with what looks like his hand, but what the boy sees is the grey wolf's jaws clamping down on his shoulder. Gehl screams from terror, and Tsume drops him accidentally.  The boy falls to his death.

Back in his home, Quent looks at an old picture of him, his wife, and their son, and Blue as a puppy.  At this point we do not know what happened to his family, but we can assume that they are either gone or dead.

The episode ends with Hige and Kiba sitting on the rooftop of a building, talking.  Kiba tells Hige the reason he came to this city was because he smelled the scent of the Lunar Flower.  The decide to stick together, and Kiba tells him that he plans to find Paradise.

** Ending Sequence. **