This is a list of the major characters featured in Wolf's Rain, a 30 episode anime series and four episode OVA created by writer and story editor Keiko Nobumoto and BONES and directed by Tensai Okamura. It was later adapted into a short 2 tankōbon manga series with illustrations by Toshitsugu Iida.

Wolves

The wolves in Wolf's Rain use illusions to give themselves a human appearance, enabling them to blend into the human world and escape detection. The wolves always retain their true nature, neither thinking nor acting as the true humans in the world do. Toboe is a red wolf and the fourth wolf to be introduced. He is the youngest of the group, often acting more like a puppy than a wolf. Toboe was raised as a pet by "Granny", an elderly woman, who he accidentally killed in an unrestrained act of playfulness. The silver bracelets are all he has left of her. Toboe maintains an affection for humans that none of the other wolves can understand (with the exception of Blue). On one occasion, Toboe saves Quent from freezing to death in the snow by sharing his body warmth with him, and is later grateful to discover that Quent has survived despite the fact that Quent immediately tries to shoot him. Toboe looks up to Tsume and usually follows him when the group splits up. He also seems to have the best hearing out of all of them. He often is more shy than bold, although when the pack is in dire threat his rage exceeds beyond his timid nature, propelling him ravenously into battle. An example of Toboe's courage is when the pack comes under attack by a large walrus, the last of his kind. As the others attack the large animal, Toboe stands frozen with fear until something 'snaps' and he lunges at the walrus's eye, refusing to let go until the beast throws itself into an iceberg, killing it. The walrus, dying, then offers its body to the wolves as food; and Toboe is rewarded by Kiba to eat first. Near the end of the anime, he is captured by Jagura's forces and imprisoned in her fortress along with Tsume, but Cheza's song empowers them to fight back and break free. By the end, he escapes along with his friends as the city collapses and joins them as they walk towards an uncertain yet hopeful future. In the OVA, Toboe unsuccessfully attempts to protect Quent from Darcia and both he and Quent are mortally wounded. Realizing that it was Toboe who saved him previously, Quent finally understands that wolves are not evil and comforts the dying wolf as his own life ebbs away. As he dies, Toboe has a vision of Paradise in which he is reunited with Granny and able to run and play as a pup. Later Tsume spends some time alone with Toboe's body and drops his tough façade to weep for his friend, even confessing the truth about his scar. After Earth's regeneration in the end of the OVA, Toboe is seen in a city in his human form holding an abandoned kitten. Hiroki Shimowada, who voices the character, felt that though Toboe was "young and inexperienced", he also acted as the go between for the other three, giving them a buffer or a bond as needed. He suggests that the other wolves keep him around because they view him as a kind son.

Nobles

The third generation of the Darcia family of Nobles, who were said to be cursed after Darcia the First disappeared into "Paradise". Due to his grandfather's curse, Darcia is now plagued with the eye of a wolf. He seeks to use Cheza to somehow revive his lover Hamona, who has been stricken with "Paradise sickness", in which her soul is "taken by Paradise", causing her to fall into a coma. But Hamona's death changes that plan, with Darcia mysteriously disappearing after the destruction of his keep until he resurfaces at Jaguara's city, discovering that she (being Hamona's older sister) caused her death out of jealousy so she could have him to herself. Despite being poisoned by Jaguara, he still manages to slay her. He then goes deeper into the Black City as it collapses and presumably dies. In the OVA, Darcia instead escapes and his poisoning is never mentioned. After avenging Hamona's death, he discards his love for her, saying that "she is nowhere now", and assumes the form of a giant, dark-furred wolf. In this continuity, Darcia claims to descended from a clan of wolves that chose to become completely human. He viciously kills off all the members of Kiba's pack one by one. He shoots Quent while still in human form, and in wolf form defeats and kills Blue, Hige, and Tsume, as none of them are a match for him in his wolf form. After eliminating Kiba's pack and grievously wounding Kiba, he ends up being poisoned by Cheza's blood from biting her and walks towards what he believes to be the entrance to Paradise only to incinerated, leaving his wolf's eye behind to taint the new world. Darcia serves as the main antagonist of the OVA. Part of one of the three feuding Noble Families, Jaguara fell in love with Darcia to the point of obsession but was rejected by him for her younger twin sister, something which she never forgave Hamona for. She began to set up an ancient spell used by Lord Darcia the First to create a 'Noble's Paradise' to please and lure Darcia to her, abducting Cheza from Darcia's Keep. In the process, she ordered the murder of Hamona and soon struck out to eliminate the wolves, who were heading to her domain. But her plan ended in failure when her plans were thwarted by the wolves. She was slain by Darcia while her city fell into chaos. There's a possibility that Jaguara and Hamona are identical twins since Jaguara bears a striking resemblance to her sister when she's not wearing her armor. She serves as the main antagonist of the anime.

Humans

Cheza is the Flower Maiden (花の娘), a girl who was artificially created from a Lunar Flower by the noble Darcia the First using the lost art of alchemy. She is the key to opening Paradise. First appearing in a state of suspended animation within a scientific research lab, she was awakened by the smell of wolf's blood spilled in the brief fight between Tsume and Kiba. After the wolves steal her away, she is pursued by various other characters, forcing the pack to protect her constantly. She shares a special bond with the wolves, especially Kiba, showing the ability to heal their wounds or sing them to sleep, and suffering when they are injured. Her eyes are pink with dark red sclera, and she is implied to be blind during a scene in which she almost walks over the edge of a cliff but regains her footing apparently by touch. As a flower, Cheza becomes weak when deprived of water and sunlight. In the OVA, her blood is poisonous when ingested (which leads to Darcia's downfall after he bites her in the OVA). At the gates of Paradise in the OVA, she 'blooms' into an elongated, tree-like form before dissolving into thousands of spherical seeds which begin sprouting more Lunar Flowers. After Earth's reincarnation, a Lunar Flower is seen sitting in an alleyway and it is implied to be Cheza. In both the anime and the OVA, she often refers to herself in third-person, as she calls herself "this one". Hubb Lebowski is a police detective and ex-husband of Cher Degré. He is still very much in love with Cher and seeks to protect her, often half-jokingly asking if they still have a chance together. After Quent shot Kiba, he was detained and questioned by the police, including Hubb, at which point Quent said that the animal he had shot was no mere dog, but a wolf. After hearing this Hubb begins to obsess over the matter. He finds a copy of the banned Book of the Moon in Cher's apartment after she leaves to hunt Cheza with a commander of the army employed by Lord Orkam. Reading through the book, Hubb becomes completely and utterly enthralled with wolves and teams up with Quent as he continues his search for Cher. He reunites with Cher and helps her get Cheza out of Jagura's keep at the end of the anime and together they leave towards an unknown future. His death occurs in the OVA when he commits suicide while climbing up a cliff in the next to last episode. A violent earthquake loosens his hold and, rather than have anyone risk themselves to save him, he lets go. In his final moments he is seen placing a cigar in his mouth and inhaling the scent of Cher from her scarf. Cher Degré is a scientist involved in studying Cheza. She is fascinated by Cheza and desires to understand her and her purpose. She and Hubb were once married, but divorced after her work with Cheza became more important than their marriage. She spends time for a while with Lord Darcia who divulges in her the history of his family and his motives surrounding Cheza. It's unknown exactly why Darcia chooses to open up to her. She is reunited later on with Hubb who had spent the first part of the series searching for her, where after it is implied she still loves him. Together, they help the wolves rescue Cheza from Jagura's keep in the end of the anime and escape in the way of a new future. In the first episode of the OVA, Cher dies when the car she was riding in flips over and then plummets down a cliff. Snowflakes fall as Hubb holds her dead body and weeps before laying her to rest in the freezing waters. Quent Yaiden is an ex-sheriff from the town of Kyrios. The destruction of his village and the killing of his wife and son Russe by what he thought was a pack of wolves led to his deep and abiding hatred for wolves, which is rivaled only by his perpetual desire for a stiff drink. He lives a life on the go with only his dog, Blue, to keep him company and aid him in his pursuit of wolves to kill. Along the way, he grows disillusioned at seeing the world in its polluted state and even admits to the world being bad when his family was still around. Quent's suspicions of the existence of wolves is always scoffed at by those who believe wolves are extinct, but when he meets Toboe for the first time in Freeze City, his purpose is refueled. After Blue discovers her relations to the wolves, Quent struggles between his hatred for wolves and the newfound knowledge that they weren't responsible for the death of his family. He decides that Blue should not be his dog anymore, that she should be free. In the final episode of the anime, he reunites with Blue who reveals who she is by calling him "Pops" (the nickname everyone in his home often referred to him as) as the truth is known to them and they escape the collapsing city together to presumably meet up with the others as they proceed towards the new future. During a confrontation with Darcia in the OVA, Quent accidentally shoots and kills Toboe before being shot by Darcia. In his dying moments, he apologetically strokes Toboe, realizing that Toboe was the one to keep him from freezing to death earlier in the series. He dies with his arm around Toboe.

Others

Leara is a Freeze Town girl who sees Toboe in his wolf form and feeds him a piece of sausage. Her past isn't shown in the series and she rarely appears after the recap episode 16. Toboe was seen to like her because of her hospitality and later sought her out in human form. However she discovers he is a wolf after he accidentally kills her pet falcon and reveals his true form by howling as he grieves. Gehl is one of the members of Tsume's group in Freeze City. He is a shy boy who attempts to be brave when Tsume told him to stand by in the second mission. Unfortunately in the group's last mission, Gehl falls off a bridge running from a rain of bullets. Tsume runs to catch him but the pain of being bitten dissolves Tsume's human illusion, and Gehl's scream causes Tsume to release his hold, letting Gehl fall to his death. Later his body is shown to Hubb Lebowski to be examined, and he appears again in the recap episodes. Lady Harmona is Lady Jaguara's beautiful and gentle younger sister, whom Darcia fell deeply in love. Jaguara has hated Harmona ever since, because Jaguara loved Darcia too. Harmona eventually fell victim to "Paradise Sickness", where her soul began slipping into Paradise, leaving her in a comatose state. She became Darcia's motivation behind creating Cheza, hoping to use her to bring Harmona back to him. She is eventually killed by Jaguara's forces during their assault on Darcia's keep, leaving Darcia broken. Mew is a caracal who Kiba meets at the Garden of Eternity in and they become good friends in Episode 19. She cannot remember who or where she is and cannot leave the Garden due to having been there so long. Later, when Kiba's spirit returns to the pack without her, they joke about Kiba meeting Mew, as Tsume says that "I thought you seemed less uptight" though Toboe doesn't know what they mean by that.

Reception

The characters of Wolf's Rain have received praise and criticism from several publications for anime, manga, and other media. Sci Fi Weekly's Tasha Robinson initially found the interactions between the wolves to be tiresome and repetitive. However, they praised the series for having the wolves clearly act as wolves, noting that "lot of the series' most interesting dynamics come from wolves behaving like wolves in human environments —breaking up into packs (complete with obvious hierarchies), challenging each other for dominance, only incidental respect towards humans, fighting to defend their turf and so forth."