T he latest in the set of 4K Mamoru Hosoda rereleases might be his strongest work, a graceful and emotionally rich fable from 2012 that gathers in its arms themes of single motherhood, neighbourliness, ecological conservation and the meaning of adult independence. It’s indebted to My Neighbour Totoro in its setup: urbanite mum Hana (voiced by Aoi Miyazaki) brings her two werewolf children, Yuki (Momoka Ono as a child/Haru Kuroki as a teenager) and Ame (Amon Kabe/Yukito Nishii) to a beaten-up country house. While not quite matching the Miyazaki masterpiece’s complete storytelling economy, Hosoda achieves a rawer sense of wildness and elation by pitching his fantasy closer to young-adult realism.

Hana has to raise her two transmogrifying toddlers alone after her lycanthrope beau (Takao Osa

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