Steve Reviews: The Ringing Bell (Chirin's Bell)
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- Опубліковано 4 тра 2019
- This time Steve Reviews The Ringing Bell, a film that has been highly requested for some time now. It follows the tragic tale of a little lamb named Chirin, and despite being targeted towards kids, has a very dark story line, with some intense scenes of violence.
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Ok I'm seeing a lot of comments theorising what the film's moral could be and whether it even intended to have one. After seeing a couple of comments below and doing some research online, it appears that in the original book Chirin ends up ambushing the wolf, and admits that he had always intended to kill him someday in order to seek revenge. But after killing the wolf, Chirin realises that getting his revenge did not bring him happiness, and admits that he actually loved the wolf as a teacher and a father figure.
THIS would actually fit the moral that it is wrong to become consumed with revenge, but I guess the film thought that would have been too dark for Chirin's character, and so made out that he only killed the wolf to protect the other sheep. Which unfortunately ends up clouding the message of the story. So yeah, mystery solved team!
The beginning of the story explains how when someone or something is first born, they are still developing, I think the way the sounds become more synced and less playful as the film progresses, indicates that development to adulthood. Where once accepted and loved by all as a kid, is now cause for suspicion and fear by all as an adult.
Thanks for the review man, have yo ever heard about Watership Down: The Animated series? I woul'd like to see yours review on this. Many thanks!
Hey, could you maybe review the movie Jin-roh?
It is an animated japanese movie from 1999 that could really fit in one of your videos.
It is one of my favourite movies of all time and i got it on blue-ray.
I dont want to spoil anything so I will leave my commend like this ._.
Steve Reviews I remember a story like this, but it was not about a lamb... Hmm...
Watch a movie called The Last Unicorn and it's an animated movie, cause I use to watch it on DVD when I was little.
Shirin's adult design where he's tall and has crazy horns isn't so he would look like a sheep. It was a design choice to show that he's bascially become a monster which is why his anatomy is not of any real life animal.
Exactly it shows the fact that he’s changed so much he is no longer that innocent little sheep he once was. Innocence gone and he has become a different character entirely
Yes he's become the very thing he wanted to kill.
I mean, that makes sense to me.
It's pretty much symbolism in that sense.
Is that why his horns are pointed forward? Yeah, he looks more like a demon than an animal with horns. Which is ironic because animals that have horns are prey animals, yet horns are what a demon is usually given.
@@Nameless82284 in the west demons usually have horns because of medieval/early modern depictions of the devil as resembling Pan or Baphomet, basically a mix of a goat and a man (sometimes with female parts as well actually) and possibly drawing from various pagan cultures that had existed in the lands conquered by Christians during the spread of late western civilization.
I think the morale was: you can become strong but don't let yourself be consumed by it. Chirin spent almost his whole life becoming strong, he was basically obsessed with it, so much so, that he almost murdered an entire flock, only stopping when he remembered his mother.
With almost everything, if you let yourself be consumed by something it'll eventually twist and become corrupted, no matter how good of intentions you have. A lesson about not becoming obsessed with something maybe?
I’m almost certain that this movie is actually a metaphor for Japan and imperialism. I left a longer comment on this on this video, but basically Chirin represents Japan, his mother is China, the wolf is the West/imperialism, and the other sheep are the Asian countries Japan occupied and devastated during its imperialist period. It helps better explain why the plot plays out the way it does, though the climax of the film would be even darker if it stayed closer to the history it was inspired by.
Every anime in a nutshell.
That's a pretty lofty message for kids, especially since they usually forget about and move on from things within a day. I honestly think this movie is better for teens and adults. Kids generally don't have nearly the amount of maturity to understand themes like these
You die as a hero or live long enough to become the villain.
This movie in a nutshell
@@LT17402 true but the message was about becoming obsessed with something thats bad and remembering what exactly happened to somone you personally know and that your gonna do it to some other peoples or somone else and realizing you cant do it because its horrible
The wolf didn't kill him because baby mobs don't drop mutton
Underrated
Ark refference?
@@user-tk2lf1dv3s Minecraft.
@@user-tk2lf1dv3s do you are have the stupid?
@@RobertMcBride-is-cool *finally, i have found the singe braincell this hellbent earth runs on*
Woe wasn't training Chirin to be a wolf, he was ultimately training him to be a killer. Ironically, what the sheep asked for. Woe lives alone in the mountains with literally nothing. No pack, no mates, no pups. He's actually a tortured soul. Although not originally intended, he ultimately ends up training Chirin to murder him as he can't deal with that kind of life anymore as he gets older. The wolf even pushes Chirin over the edge at the end, knowing his actions would have a reaction. He doesn't care anymore, he just wants out.
Chirin gets what he wants in the end. However, he ultimately replaces his lost father-figure. In the end, I think a part of him realizes what had happened and what he became as he stays far away from anything and everything
putting it that way yeah, it almost becomes a story of generational trauma
I do feel like the wolf in some ways did use Chirin. In the end he craft Chirin to become a powerful and destructive creature to kill. He was proud of how Chirin had turned out like him, and it was his desire to be killed by someone stronger
He knew chirin would eventually kill him and it was his belief that the strongest survive. He took Chirin because he knew Chirin would probably flip or be fine tuned to his new ways.
The wolf was proud and I think he stood there as Chirin killed him. He left Chirin with his dark philosophy and left him empty and alone rejected and Chirin became what he wanted to kill.
Yeah, the movie doesn't address it (maybe the book did), but a lone wolf is a sad and tragic figure (contrary to how society often tends to paint the archetype in fiction). Wolves are social creatures (just like sheep), and without a pack Woe was essentially the wildlife equivalent to a criminal or a vagrant...Hell, his name is "Woe"; literally a synonym for "grief", and in the end Chirin knows exactly what motivated his mother's killer to kill.
I think the message is “If you lose sight of your mission, you’ll become the very thing you tried to stop.”
Aka the anakin skywalker path
Nicr
SecretBlue02 coincidence seeing your comment I think not
I think it is a much more bleak and simple "Life isn't fair". No matter how you choose to live your life and what actions you take, eventually you will grow to see you will either be the victim or the villain to somebody around you. If Chirin had stayed in the meadow, eventually he would have been killed by the wolf, making him an innocent victim. By living his life in anger and killing the guard dogs and the wolf he had become the villain in the eyes of his old peers, seeing that even though he tried to protect them in doing so he had become a murderer and therefore no better than the wolf. Chirin becomes an outcast, even though he was expecting to be welcomed back a hero.
@Michelle Hughes
Good Point.
His horns grow forwards because he goes from being prey to being a predator
Taking artistic license with biology, then. Where the themes take priority over realism.
The opressed turning into an opressor?
From defense to offense
oh uhh you've never seen the terror skyrim horses give, right?
Julian Baxter i was thinking the same, perhaps anthelop horn would have been better
Not gonna lie, grown up Chirin looks like a really cool Pokémon. Woe too, why not.
Funny you say that, because a few years ago I actually saw a Ringing Bell/Pokémon fanart that had a regular Absol and a tiny cute one (with bells around their necks), with writing saying "The world I live in is a Hell". Popped back into my head just now and thought I'd tell ya about it
It could be a Dark type version of Dubwool.
I've named my Scolipede "Chirin" in Pokemon Go.
@@sportsguy1989 You know what? You're actually right. He DOES kinda look like Scolipede.
Lol
Wolf: “good night chirin, sleep well, I’ll likely kill you in the morning”.
Adult chirin narration: for 3 years he’d say that.
Lol
Maybe the moral is, "Either die a hero. Or live long enough's to see yourself become the villian." Idk
I'd say the moral is "learn the consequences of power" Chirin start powerless to protect his mother, but he has the power to kill the snake while the consequence is destroying the eggs. By the end, he refuse to kill the sheeps, but the consequence is to loose his friend AND his kind. One to survive need to kill (in nature) but need to be prepared to face loss and death; kindness being a privilege of the powerfull.
Bruh...Chirin Is SPAWN!!
:O
“The quest for revenge will leave you cold in your grave.”
im just confused how theres no rule 34 of the ringing bell, but after this post, someone will stop sparing this anime & do the deed, and it aint gona be me
But it’s like everything he did was pretty valid I’m confuuuuusedddd
Well actually he tried to kill a herd of sheep so like 😐
It's official if you're a mom in an animated movie that follows your child you're going to die in some brutal fashion you can't avoid it
Well that sucks
only thing the mom sheep lacked was the "anime mom hairstyle of death"
Except Barefoot Gen.
In Tangled it was only the false mom who died. The real mom got to reunite with her daughter.
Not necessary. It depends if this comedy, drama or tragedy.
As one who’s raised both sheep and goats, I can with 100% confidence... sheep ARE jerks!! Goats are surprisingly smart and very loyal to their family units within a herd. I’ve had nanny’s sleep surrounded by not on their kids, but their grown kids and THEIR kids (moms, daughters and grandkids, all in one sleeping area).
From what I've heard, sheep are also massively STUPID.
I think the moral is that even an innocent lamb will turn into a murderer if they experience enough trauma. Basically it’s saying the world sucks and turns good people bad
Basically how I sum up Drago Bludvist from How To Train Your Dragon 2 in a nutshell. Too bad the plot didn't care about his side of the story....
they reject him because he became something everyone fears. The moral of this story is, don't hold resentment or rage inside because you will become a monster
Yes, it is so obvious, this review was so frustating.
“You have allowed this dark wolf to twist your mind until now, you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.”
I want to like this, but it has the perfect number of likes...!
Yup
But he wasn't resentful for most of the movie
You killed my mother! Teach me your ways!
I mean he was strong enough to kill his mother... he must be really strong!
Stewie
I think the idea was to have the wolf train him enough to kill the wolf (notice the wolf is not surprised) but grew attached.
years later chirin kill the wolfs mother
aguiaia1 I wouldn’t surprised if he killed his own mother.
Even disregarding the book's intention for the moral, there's an anti-revenge sentiment within the movie as well: "If you pursue vengeance, you run the risk of turning into the thing you sought to eradicate." Sure, he grows up to admit the wolf's a father figure to him and claims that vengeance is no longer on his mind, but that's because he's been transformed into a wolf by that point, so to speak. That was part of the outcome, but not the whole consequence. As a consequence for living his life as a wolf, he cannot be accepted as a sheep. That's why he's turned away even after defending them. As a consequence for becoming a wolf, he now has to live a solitary existence up on the mountain as Woe did before him, and more than likely die like Woe did as well.
My headcanon is that Chirin lives up on the mountain where Woe once lived, protecting the herd by driving away other predators, but being feared by the herd as well.
It's only when a rather bullheaded and headstrong ewe goes astray that he gets to meet someone who will listen to his tale... but not stay with him longer than a night or two, because she doesn't want to leave the herd, she just thought she could tell him to leave because she didn't understand what Chirin was doing.
The wolf was happy to die. He knew his lifestyle would lead to death. He was “honored” to have been killed by the lamb. The fascinating part is the lamb actually got exactly what he wanted, even though he felt bad afterward: to kill the wolf who murdered his mom. However, after achieving this, the lamb realizes he now has nobody to love. His old flock won’t accept him, and the wolf is dead; inevitably this was bound to happen simply because the lamb chose to become as his enemy. Even the wolf said he knew his lifestyle would lead to death- and if not for the lamb, he would have also lived his life in solitude. This begs the question: should the lamb have gone after and then become friends with the wolf in the first place? Had he stayed with his flock, he would have always had somebody to love. Then again, had he not “become a wolf” so to speak, he would not have been the warrior it took to kill the wolf in the end and save his old flock. But who can blame his old flock for not re-accepting him after he attacked them, and who can blame the lamb for killing his “father” the wolf? The film ended the way it should have: the lamb roaming in solitude. This was the path he chose, his “price” for becoming what it took to defeat his enemy. What an accurate depiction of life: for many of us, it seems our life experiences have been pre-determined from the start. Whether we remain with our flocks or become the enemy itself, both negative and positive things will derive either way. Either more sheep will be killed by this particular wolf with nobody there to stop it, OR a traumatized little lamb will cross over to the “dark side”, so to speak, and end up living his life in wandering solitude. The flock should be grateful for the lamb having left to join the wolf, even though I’m sure they talked bad about him behind his back. The lamb truly is a hero in this story, and it can be viewed as though he essentially sold at least a part of his soul to the ways of darkness in order to save his old flock from death. They’ll never appreciate what he did, but at least he did the right thing, in regards to saving his old flock. Even though he’s now a homeless vagabond with nobody to love, at least he did the right thing. He got what he set out to do, yet necessarily by becoming a “wolf” himself, when it come time to kill the real wolf, it was as though the lamb killed a part of himself in the process. Now the lamb lives, we can sometimes hear his bell in the distance; he’s alone, and badly scarred, but he did the right thing, so he lives. 🙏
Everything you said explains the film’s creator’s experience as a soldier during WW2. To be a soldier, you have to kill people, sometimes brutally. Killing people is traumatic, and living with the stress of being killed or watching fellow men die can warp and scar a soldier mentally. And if a soldier lives to see the war end and returns home, they are not the same person. They have done horrible things to protect the ones they love. If their loved ones saw for themselves the things their veterans did, they would probably react the same way the sheep did in the film. Unfortunately, this is where many veterans end up: isolated and having to live with what they’ve become. Like Chiron on the mountain.
@@hannahpense9973 that makes alot of sense, soilders do start out innocent like Chirin. They are taught there is good and evil in the world. It’s black and white. Then they go to world and come back and they are like Chirin, they have changed so much that people can not understand how the cruel experience changes them. It matches Chirin exactly and his situation.
Which is sad because he realizes life is cruel and yet the path of revenge isn’t always fulfilling or exciting like the movies. There’s no guarantee revenge will solve anything
Adding onto this: wolves are social animals, so a lone wolf at Woe’s age is a sad sight, and most struggle to survive because of how dangerous hunting is, it wasnt necessarily the life of a wolf that led to death, but the life of a *lone wolf* that does
I think the reason that his horns are frontward facing is a creative choice, giving Chirin a more demonic look to show his change from the innocent lamb, to the now wolf-like ram. I always liked the design, mostly because I think it's pretty badass :3
Pretty sure it's an intentional choice by the designers. Chirin didn't lead the life of a sheep, he led the life of a wolf, and his life shaped his form into one fit for predation. The horns are what really gives it away. The normal horns of a ram are curled and meant more for fighting other males over females. Chirin's horns are sharp as daggers and face forward. They're weapons used for stabbing and eviscerating prey, not self-defense or mating rituals. Chirin will just plain shank you.
Astute Anansi It was the same thing with Yanase’s illustrations. In my opinion, it makes him look like armored version of Starkiller or even Darth Vader himself.
Me in class: *laughing*
Teacher: what are you laughing at
Me: nothing
My brain: Bambo
I laughed at the little foot picture the most, it was too golden
For some reason when I said bamboo in my head I started giggling XD
You’re fucking stupid
@@thepretender3814 ᴅᴀᴍɴ, ᴄʜɪʟʟ ᴏᴜᴛ.
@@thepretender3814 Someone pissed in your cereal or something?
Brings a whole new meaning to "Woe is me."
The wolf liked Chirin because he's brave compared to the other sheep
I think the horns were to symbolize that he had become a demon. A monster considering no animal can have horns like that
Edit: this is probably the most likes I've ever gotten! And just to be clear I wrote this while I was half asleep. I wrote this and a video I was using for sleep aid so sorry about the comment sounding stupid
Agreed
Dem facts tho
Actually deer get antlers like that! Before they develop tines some of them have the frontward curved antlers.... but I still agree that his horns were meant to look threatening and frightening. Kind of like sharp "teeth" for a sheep.
@@bethanytaylor554 that's actually kinda cool
Bethany Taylor
While ones so absurdly perfect would be one in a billion, forward leaning, relatively straight horned varieties do occur.
"I'm not sure what it's supposed to teach."
I mean, it's clear as daylight: don't become what you hate the most on the journey to defeat it.
His punishment for "falling to the dark side" is that he's now an outcast, forever doomed to be alone.
Its like the short film “alley cats”
The bad guy kills a parental figure, the main character gets angry and becomes more powerful to defeat it, when he does he realises he becomes what he has feared, then runs away
“You know nothing of the power of the dark side”
Exactly. I agree
Bruce Wayne is having a crisis now.
Chirin Skywalker
As the old saying goes, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Maybe that was what the makers of this film were thinking what they came up with the main character but this is very emotionally touching
This is my interpretation of the moral of the book and movie.
Book: It's nice and simple, don't let revenge consume you.
Movie: I'd say it's more of a Pacifism vs. Violence thing, and how one should try and strike a balance of the two, and the consequences of if you go fully into one or the other, using Chirin's transformation from lamb to wolf as an example. Be too passive, and you'll be like a lamb. Weak, complacent and ultimately doomed to die a meaningless death. Be too violent, and you'll become a wolf. Strong, but consumed by anger and doomed to die a sad death.
"also how did the bell stay around his neck as he grew bigger"
NOW WE'RE ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS
Ember Studios ,'3 Elastic Material
r/woooooosh
The bell obviously has soulbound
I've seen dogs who've been neglected when they were a puppy and their skin would grow around their collar and it would be so bad and infected that they would need surgery to get it off.
poor lamb
The darkside of the force is a path to many abilities some considered to be unnatural
Puberty had definitely a huge effect on Chirin. He looks hella badass at the end.
“He has become a very great threat.” -Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He's also voiced by Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star himself: Akira Kamiya
And the wolf? Seizo Kato (Also known for voicing Megatron in the G1 Japanese dub)
I'm pretty sure he turned into a pokemon. Because there is no real animal that looks like that
We think momma chirin liked herself some highland cattle sausage.
@@RiderNexus He sounded pretty familiar, to me... now I know why
This might have already been mentioned here, but I'd like to point something out about the bell. It's an old animal husbandry (ranching) custom in some areas of the world to designate a young male from the herd or flock as the "bellwether." The bellwether is castrated and specially conditioned to be the most responsive to the rancher's calls, while simultaneously being the one member of the herd/flock to which other members tend to follow or gather around, for the purposes of easier herding and field rotation.
Hence, the poignant, if subtle, cosmic irony: Chirin was meant to lead his flock, but instead lost himself to the monstrosity which stole his mother's life and his innocence. It's poetic when you think about how he was supposed to live a life of contentment and companionship...only to be left abandoned to a cruel fate of solitude, all because he could not accept his grief and make peace with himself.
My theory of the horns are : if Chirin kept smashing his head towards things, his horns would end up breaking and deforming to this
W H E R E ' S T H E L A M B S A U C E ? !
In Chirin's arm...
In my ass
ITS FUCKING RAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!!
The real question that gets brought up when you’re watching this movie.
*"WOT AH YOOO!"*
"An idiot sandwich."
*"IDIOT SANDWICH,* _*WOT!?*"_
"An idiot sandwich, Chef Ramsay."
There’s a bull that’s actually has those straight horns BUT...it’s a dangerous breed in Italy and Mexico
Maybe... Chirin's dad was actually a bull?
@@uwuplzendme6200 wait WHAT
JustynPlays ;)
Lonely Pluto ;)
Im into tenctacles whoopsies-
"I always knew I would end up dying a miserable death. But I'm glad you're the one who killed me. I'm grateful..."
...Well how the hell am I supposed to feel about that?!
We are all going to die slowly in some apartment in a bed. Some people want to go out with a bang.
That’s sad :(
Japanese culture has a thing about dying with your honor intact.
Woe dying by his students hands in battle (an honorable death) instead of either old age or hunger (a dishonorable death) would make him proud (as weird as it sounds)
Sheep and goat horns are malleable at young ages, and can grow in all kinds of shapes and directions if the "buds" are manipulated or damaged. This was used in real life by a circus performer to physically merge the horns to create goats with a single horn, which he passed off as unicorn ponies (true story, you can find the surgical diagram for how to do it even). But you don't need a scalpel to change how they'll be. A few good smashes with a hammer (that don't kill the creature) will radically alter how they turn out when the buds "take root" and start becoming bone. Chirin's childhood of smashing his head into stuff could have easily caused his horns to grow forwards instead of curving. It could have just as easily had them grow into his own skull and kill him tho...
*It was time for Thomas to leave.*
*He had seen everything.*
Thomas had never seen such bullshit before.
*Thomas couldn’t do it anymore.*
*_The deed was done._*
*_Thomas questions reality_*
*It was time for Thomas the Thermonuclear Bomb to leave.*
*He had destroyed everything.*
"I want to be strong like you!"
Classic anime.
No
what a fascinating story. Chirin wants to become more than what he is. Lambs are pretty much destined for slaughter. Either by me, wolves or very strong hawks. Chirin figured out the only way to defy his fate is to learn from the very animal that killed his mother. The wolf is the brutal side of nature - a carnivore and the strongest thing chirin has ever witnessed. Learning from the wolf unlocks his full potential. He is something new and different, which is why the horns are shaped as such. The potential he's unlocked comes with a price. He is feared by the other sheep. He kills his master as all sith must do, and is a unique oddity in nature. Neither sheep nor wolf.
This implies that you personally go out and slaughter lambs lol
@@ShubaSayori only once a year lol
4:15 Actually, the better translation explains that Chirin has far more energy 'than all the lambs in the plaster put together', meaning he probably gets lost/wanders off more often.
Every time you recall the "heaven" scene, I can't help but think he got a game over but respawned at his last checkpoint.
Kinda reminds me of when you'd die or desync in Assassin's Creed and were left just kind of running through a void as the game loaded the last checkpoint.
“You- you’re finally awake. You tried to cross the border, right?”
"No, no, no. That's not what happened. Let me begin again."
I thought it représente his birth.. He is happy in a paradise and then came to real life..
Chirin: seems to die multiple times
Wolf: HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!?
*Homershrugging.gif*
Chirin: FOOL! THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM!
the wolf decided to train him to test his undestructability (?)
He obviously has shounen protagonist plot armor.
Here's a fun fact: In the English dub Chirin is voiced by the same actress who voiced Rita Repulsa in the English dub of the Power Rangers.
I like to think of each of those moments with Chirin walking around in the dream-like fog as a loading screen. Like, it's reloading the game after a supposed death
“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster . . . when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Pretty sure that's the whole premise of the film. Really got me in the feels when I saw it.
I agree.
I think the moral of The Ringing Bell is as Nietzche put it - *""He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.""* even if Chirin gave up trying to kill Woe, along the way he became just as ruthless, bloodthirsty and violent.
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword?
Thats what I was thinking too. He became the very thing his mother warned him about.
@keoni gamer DOOMSLAYER screaming "RIP AND TEAR" can be heard in the distance.
I think the sheep was in continuous fall from the innocence he once bore, literally and figuratively, to seeing his maternal figure being killed, losing his maternal spirit, only to kill the impossible paternal figure and ultimately became the outcast - a lamb lost his mother, being taught by the wolf who killed his mother, whom he killed in defending the sheeps, to only become the ultimate outcast. Both for dealing with his own, inner demons (through regret and not fulfilling the killing of the sheeps and killing his, impossible paternal figure) and defying the natural ways of nature.
Chirin borne the demon the day he saw his mother being killed and that demon is the vengeful approach, imbued in the figure of the wolf. He wanted to be taught the power of the wolf, the power of the demon that which killed his mother, his maternal figure and spirit. This is against his genuine nature - you cannot teach a lamb to become a wolf. Even if the impossible was done, which it did, and Chirin viewing the wolf as his paternal figure, that just furthers the idea of it being unnatural and impossible, he could not make himself slay the very same thing that he is; he cannot kill himself. If he did, he would definitely have gone too far. Up to this point, he had already shown the sheeps what he is capable of. So, when he defended against his paternal figure and killed him, he killed the paternal spirit as well. The impossible, paternal spirit despite that the wolf taught him that nature takes and gives and taught Chirin his ways, it was still against nature. So, when he defended against his impossible teacher, whom he viewed as a paternal figure, he further just alienated himself indefinitely. He couldn't let go of the vengeful spirit that led him to seek out the wolf to kill him, he couldn't resist against the temptation of being taught of such power and he couldn't fulfill his teachings, which was against his own nature - his innocence, his purity continuously declined to insurmountable depths. It climaxed when he killed his paternal father figure. Even his father figure was grateful that it happened - perhaps for multiple reasons; the sheep gave up on the unnatural way and being killed by his own pupil (which isn't unlikely in Japanese history). Chirin was then the ultimate, unnatural outcast who became the embodiment of loneliness heard from afar as a myth or legend through the vague sound of the bell - the only thing that gave the sound of his former innocence.
Inuk Larsen why did I read all of that and why is it so correct??
That ending always gets me...😥
Also about Chirin asking the wolf to teach him to be stronger. I figured Chirin realized he couldn't fight the wolf himself so figured that in order to kill the wolf, he must become strong like one himself. I also believe the wolf took him in eventually was because he saw Chirin's potential due to his stubborn determination.
Fun fact: domesticated sheep do not lose their wool naturally like wild sheep, hence shearing is needed to help keep them from growing wool uncontrollably. Look at photos of sheep that haven't been shorn, you'll see what I mean. How in the hell Chihiro went years without having is wool shorn and can still stand without collapsing under the weight of his wool is beyond me *Homer Simpson shrug*
In order to kill the wolf, he had to become a wolf. This is why the sheep abandoned him at the end. They no longer see him as a sheep but as the very thing that preys on them.
You either die a sheep or live long enough to see yourself become the wolf
In real life is like you started out as an civilian as an child and end up serving as an soldier in an army as an adult and the adult version is nothing like his younger version.
except he did not become the wolf. He bacame something that is neither wolf nor sheep, who is doomed to be alone and not belong anywhere
@@bqgin in short an monster
@@andrewgan557 And then the civilians spit on you and call you "babykiller" for following generals who had to accept a war started/exacerbated by incompetent politicians.
Steve reviews subscribers be like:
We like being sad.
@pkslider725 I didn't realize my comment got highlighted shit. i was right clearly
More like "Please review this f up thing!"
Too right!
I actually do enjoy feeling sad sometimes. Which is why I adore this f-ed up movie so much ;v;
Yup
this one is actually one of my favorites. I think that the theme / moral is about facing life's hardships. you have to be determined to grow stronger from your suffering, but if you define yourself from that, your entire existence becomes nothing but suffering, either inflicted on yourself or on others
I think when the wolf told Chirin that one thing must die for another to live that some of that got lost in translation. I think the real translation goes along more like some things are meant to die while others live, and the hard truth of that. So when the wolf saw that Chirin didn't die from the fall, whirlpool, etc. , he knew that he was meant to live, and later tried to force him to kill the sheep because he believed they were meant to die. So maybe just more about having a predisposition on nature and the duality of how it can be both cruel and beautiful.
I think the idea was this: he *wanted* to be strong so he could kill the wolf. But the wolf trained him to be a killer and a fighter. He eventually straight up forgot about his revenge. Now when he needed to prove his worth, he couldn’t do it. Sorta like with the Force Unleashed where he was trained in the dark arts and to be a killer, but some memories come up and he realized he became the thing he swore to destroy. Now he’s in this middle ground, he’s not good, but he’s not bad either. He just is a lost soul. That’s my take on it anyway
i think you mean revenge of the sith
Honestly I felt like the wolf SET him up. He knew Chirin wanted him DEAD, the wolf knew survival of the fittest and soon he too would be dead. He was proud that he trained someone to kill him and used Chirin as a means to give himself a death he wanted.
He left Chirin with no closure and only more grief. I watched the wolf and he seemed to let Chirin kill him. That was messed up and wrong and even though Chirin got his revenge the wolf got an “honorable” death in his twisted mind.
Ahhh
So morally gray
@@luciannelson5887 no it's the force unleashed
A game
@@captainfordo5055 there was a quote in revenge of the sith, i think thats what theyre talkinh about
The wolf: *kills Chirin’s mother*
Chirin: I want to learn from the wolf so I can kill him!
Everyone: You became the one thing you swore to destroy!
This reminds me of the force unleashed
So. . . Vinland Saga.
How many copies
Anthony Ramirez Star Wars: Force Unleashed?
@@prehistoricfanboy101 how starkiller is trained by Vader and eventually ends up beating the shit out of him
In regards to how the sheep act, I think it's a matter of them being consigned to their fate; they live their lives as comfortable as they can while accepting they'll be eaten someday (kinda like the rabbits from the warren of the shiny wire in Watership Down). By training under the wolf, Chirin rejected his complacent nature, which is reflected in how his appearance changes into an unnatural animal near the end. Even though he saves the sheep they reject him because for all intents and purposes he's no longer one of them and their nature is to fear anything unlike them.
“Unfortunately the wolf has no interest in Chirin” unfortunately??
To be fair, Sanrio also produced the awesome Aggretsuko series with a death metal screaming red panda protagonist.
Which is freakin adorable
Let's not forget Unico which is utterly depressing
There's also one Hello Kitty Episode, with a murderous witch-goat grandma that's - kinda scary, especially in a Hello Kitty context
Protein
SHITTY BOSS!
The moral of the film is simple and clear:
Those who wish to follow the path of the strong, must prepare for a lonely life, void of comfort and happiness, where every day is a fight to survive.
yep
That and sheeps are assholes.
Well it seems like being strong sucks in this movie
Not at ALL the weak also fight to survive every day in this movie, and mostly die alone. There's no distinction between the two.
Its simply just Japanese culture pushing the narrative that love is a dangerous emotion that causes you to become a sith lord so to speak. Its REALLY outdated.
@@ThatLazyL1zard that's why they are so depressive
Mixing some cartoony gags in serious stories was a common thing in japanese manga and animation of that time, the best example would Osamu Tezuka's stories.
The moral of the story is that you have to stick to your decissions: if he didn't abandon his inital revenge purpose he wouldn't have felt remorse when he killed the Wolf, if he decided to help the Wolf to kill the sheep he would have kept his father figure. Due to his half assed decissions he lost everything.
My theory is that the Wolf killed both his mother an him, the sheep don't confort him because he was a ghost, it explains why the Wolf didn't kill him when they met again, why he could survive those falls, why the collar grew with him and why he grew so strong and with those strange horns, he became a demon, the scene where he grows up looks quite demonic, it also would explain whey the other sheep were scared of him, they didn't see another sheep but a demon.
“Oh my god its scar fa- I MEAN the bad wolf!”
*farthing wood flashbacks intensify*
I've watched this movie before, but watching this video helped me see what the underlying story is of this film.
It's a symbolic story of a child victim of war who decides to become a soldier after their mother is killed by a soldier.
The sheep being gentle civilians, which Chirin throws away to become a wolf (soldier). The sheep reject Chirin even after defeating the enemy, because he's a terrifying veteran, like how society puts up a wall to its veterans, fearful of what their nature may now be.
At least, that's what I see now
Yep. Someone strong enough to kill, disable, or defeat a monster/enemy soldier is just as scary to the vulnerable as the monster itself.
When I look at chirins design when he's grown up, I see traces of the wolf. Like its representing how his demeanor changed while he was raised by the wolf.
The Bell was probably because he was either a wandering sheep compared to the rest of the herd, which is the biggest reason a sheep is fitted with a bell. Or because he was the only ram. When rams get older they can sneak up and hurt their herders with their horns, so they're marked with bells.
The plot had a very asian, dark-style, gangster manga story arc...Where a child's parent is kid by a gangster boss or a hit man in front of them, and that child seeks vengeance. Often in the manga I've read with similar setups, when the child realizes they're not strong enough to defeat the killer, they seek their knowledge and ask to become a student in their ways to defeat them. Because the killer is either self loathing and wants to die on some level, or they feel guilt for taking the child's parent, or they don't want to exist past a certain age as the dark member of society that they are; they eventually grant the kid's request...maybe it's a twisted honor thing? Anyway, the story arcs always proceed pretty similar in the manga to this cartoon. The killer starts out ignoring the kid, then when a 2nd dark moment happens in to the kid in the killers presence they agree to take them as an apprentice (usually that moment is announced with a single dark quote where they share their "wisdom of natural order"), the kid grows up strong and well trained, the kid comes to love with the killer either as a guardian figure or a lover, and inevitable the kid is forced to kill the killer, and the story ends with them taking on the killers lone wolf identity.
I think the lesson is a circle of life perspective; where we're all capable of becoming the evil we fear and hate the most, if our means of overcoming and defeating is by imitating it. After all, you can't fight fire with fire...that just fuels it and enables it to continue burning.
well, i think:
The movie is trying to say "if you let your path be consumed by revenge, you will eventually get lost, and by the time you realise it, you will have lost what was important for you in the beginning"
This is long and i'm sorry about my english, it's not my first language:
- Chirin lost his mother and was consumed by sadness, revenge and the feeling of something was missing with him.
- Chirin wanted to kill the wolf having all those feelings not sorted out, so he got "lost" on his tracks of revenge, and the feeling of "something missing" appeared as a "parent figure".
- So by seeking revenge on such a fragile state of mind, Chirin became a wolf, something that he wanted to destroy as lamb.
- He became what a sheep most feared, and by the time he realises it, it was too late.
- He kills his "parent figure" because he saw "what was important for him in the beginning": the love of his mother, her protecting him against evil, and now he was the evil.
- "and by the time you realise it, you will have lost what was important", Chirin portrayed himself for the sheeps as a wolf. For the sheeps, all they see is a wolf.
- His "family" does not want him because they have seen the wolf that he has turned into. (for humans, normally families does not want to associate themselves with the "black sheep" of the family, and its a stain that stays).
- So now Chirin sees himself alone because of the poor choices that he made when he was young. And in the end he misses wolf because, even if he now remembers that the wolf is a evil figure, he still filled the part of "something missing".
Oh the fragile minds of our children, this movie is good to show how kids can easily have their minds disturbed, emotions not being taken care of, bad and good parenting.
But of course, that's a lot of what to compare with real life situations, but i'll not write an essay here.
It’s a largely known plot technique where a child is put under the wing of their parents killer who eventually becomes a paternal figure to them. Mostly in anime and manga. Like a latest example would be Vinland saga
Piccolo training Gohan right after Piccolo killed Goku
@@danmajid5401 At this point, does goku even "dies" anymore?
@@alexisXcore93 Nobody said anything about 'this' point. It was significant when it happened at 'that' point.
@@danmajid5401 still better parenting than goku
@@bondrewdthelordofdawn3744 Right because throwing an untrained toddler to into a mountain is such good parenting
he becomes like the wolf, just as he wanted. he just didnt know what that really meant. living alone, learning the cold truths. thats the only real 'moral' i gathered from the end.
the anime explicitly states he didn't become a wolf, he became something neither sheep or wolf. he rejected both lifestyles and now he doesn't fit in anywhere. the moral of the story is that he should've not been a pussy and instead gone all the way, murdering the shit out of that little kid and lived happily ever after with his owo daddy
Sad
Chirin was forced to grow up and realize life was just about how cruel it was and how some just stand by and watch.
Also when killing Woe, he thought that will make sheep accept him back but then he realized they didn't care for him anymore and he just slayed the only being to whom he mattered anything. He just continued the cycle of suffering his father figure beared, as he probably was thrown out of his pack too and thus lived alone with no real desire to live. Maybe him too, were just too blinded with desire to hold all the power and decided to leave and train himself to be a powerful fighter. Probably it would end the same when Woe would die from old age anyway, as he was his only friend and sheep wouldn't accept him back. Just without the even more sadder consciousness that he is the reason of his death and they could live their lives together for a longer time if he didn't betray him.
And by becoming something strong enough to kill the wolf, he became frightening to the defenseless sheep who could not and would not protect themselves, and instead relied on the dogs/farmers who often failed the herd.
You hear the same kind of "You're too scary, go away!" arguments against arming the populace at times.
Adult Chirin looks badass and scary.
And btw his horns are straight, just to give him more demonic look.
Regarding only Chirin having a bell; the answer is simple: he's a ram. Only ram's have bells. It's a bit odd that he'd be given one so young, but it's possibly to mark him as a ram that the shepherd is going to keep. As with most animal husbandry, it's the males that are raised for meat, and the females for wool, milk, and more sheep. Being given a bell means that Chirin will become a "bell weather" when he grows up-- a "weather" being a castrated adult ram. His job would be to guard and monitor the ewes like a less-bitey sheep dog. His DNA would not go back into the herd, but he would be kept on so the ladies felt safe.
Regarding horns: While I've never head of any ungulates having front-facing horns, there are a LOT of sheep out there that look farm more like goats. Both males and females can have horns. As an example, the Hog Island sheep is one of the rare surviving heirloom breeds of sheep that can be traced to the 18th c. They have goat-like horns and their wool is rather short and straight, adding to their goat-like appearance. As sheep go, they're comparatively smart and are much more hardy than breeds that were bred to be fluffy rather to withstand the elements.
PS: Being head-butted by an adult ram (who can be north of 200lbs) is not unlike getting hit by a car. Admittedly a sheep maxes out at about 25mph, but it's still gonna hurt.
3:18
So I guess you can say that you were unnerved by...
...the silence of the lambs
Kyle Rush *plays the footage of peter rubbing the bridge of his nose while groaning*
Get out
Insert bad joke drum sound effect.
Wah-wah-wahhhhhhhhh...
BOOOOO, YOU STINK!
To be strong like a wolf. Not weak
like a sheep. To choose our own
destiny or wait to die a boring
death. We can all decide our
fate with strength or weakness.
Buts it's that strength and
weakness that makes us who
we are. Sheep or Wolf. Strong or
weak. Demon or Angel. Good or evil.
That’s kind of a thing though he went against his nature to find strength but in the process of coping with his loss his mind ceased to default into thinking like a sheep. Yet he never ceased to be a sheep but he became something that the society he was brought up in could not accept thus he was doomed by luck
You can say that everyone has a choice whether we want to be good or bad in our life. We are the masters of our own fate
15:00 To be fair to the other sheep, he did kill all the guard dogs, which probably makes him pretty disagreeable in their eyes.
Caracter: is horrified
Thomas the tank engine:
“Oh my god it’s Scarface I mean he evil wolf”
Best. Quote. Ever.
Your profile pic gave me cancer
*me and my friends silently laugh in the corner*
'Get in pussy, we're gonna find those Farthing creatures!'
Mary Graphman why does his profile pic give you cancer?
I agree, it is.
I've got to be honest: Considering that Chirin *_ALMOST MURDERED_* those sheep, I for one can't blame them for locking him out.
I mean, yes, it's good that he had a change of heart and killed the wolf who'd come after them in the past- but that doesn't change the fact that he was ready to kill them all. If some guy broke into my house and tried to kill me, but stopped himself at the end and left... well, my thanks to him for the merciful change of mind, but I'm still going to call the cops on him.
Granted, it was cold of the other sheep to just leave Chirin in grief over his dead mother in the beginning, never bothering to help or anything, but still: their choice at the end makes sense. Chirin brought that on himself.
Sad and cruel... But true and realistic
That reminds me of a certain exchange.
Chirin: YOU TURNED AGAINST ME?!
Other sheep: You have done that yourself!!
Chirin: YOU WILL NOT TURN YOUR BACKS ON ME!!
Other sheep: Your anger and your lust for power have already done that.
Don't white knight or
You'll pull an Igp
I think the sheep just froze up at those intense moments, as sheep often do irl.
*Cough* veterans being rejected/feared by former friends and their former community.
“I decided to go with you to Hell.” Now THAT is bad @$$ and edgy at the same time! I love it!
"I'm Shirino Montoya, you killed my mother, prepare to be my mentor!"
The Thomas face and the simpsons memes make this video twice as great
That name mad this comment great.
Ikr XD
„You’ve become the very thing you swore to destroy“
-anakin Skywalker
16 people aren't true star wars fans. Kenobi said that line bub :)
@Demiclea Execute this exact order *right NOW*
@Demiclea holy crap, 137 people now
Knobi said that line not anakin
@That Random Dude now it’s 175, damn boi!
the alternative moral of this could potentially be 'if you leave home, you will change and find that, when you return to your birthplace, you won't fit in anymore.' it's a warning against leaving home, as you'll be alienated by the people of your birthplace/childhood home
Kid: *Mommy can we get Shaun the Sheep?*
Mom: *We have Shaun the Sheep at home.*
Shaun the Sheep At Home:
In regards to his horns in adult form, its clearly an artistic choice to make him look less like a ram and more like a preditor (actully looks more like a deer in the end in regards to the body shape and proportions). The closest IRL example of his horm type is a black wildabeast, but even then simple horn deformity would fit better with the type of animal that he is and the placment on the head. This can come about randomly in a gene pool of sheep or by the sheep breeding with those that are to close to them genetically. He could also be a hybrid, if a diffeent sheep type or even goat got into the pasture they would want to make sure any produced from the union were culled, hence why he had the bell, to make him for observation of any genetic deformaties under suspision of being a hybrid.
.......that went allot deeper then i intended.
I think it’s kind of utilizing Christian symbolism a bit.
In Christianity lambs are seen as innocent and good, and those horns Chirin gets resemble demon horns often depicted on art.
Cassidy Whitfield
*black wildebeests enters*
*preditor*
@LaumiRez Agree with you
the "jacobs sheep" has FOUR horns two of which loosely match chirin's, the other two look like a normal sheep, so chirin technically had that genetic potential.
0:50 that owl says it all.
I think the moral is that violence only leads to further violence, not heroism. That’s actually pretty relevant to real life, where unjust violence drives young people to become just as destructive.
Like blm antifa and SJW groups
@@gorgeousfreeman4836 Like white supremacists killing innocent people with guns because they represent what they hate
@@SuperBlackcesar yeah and how does antifa going around beating up random people stop mentally ill and white supremacist people? If anything it creates more extremism
@king, I can see where you get this, but peace will usually lead to thought of as weak. You still have to stand your ground, however peace is good if something like, your roommate eats all your twinkies. Good reason to kill a man in my opinion,nah jk, that’s a non-violence theme. If somebody is constantly stealing, hitting, you know what, just over all bullying you then you gotta fight back so you don’t go down without a fight and become a easy target in the eyes of others.
@@alexthompson8977 Implying that you are not bad because somebody else is, it's not a defense. It's called deflection and it is a very boring and lazy way to debate. Typical of people that don't have valid arguments
Maybe the moral of the story is that anger and revenge can really turn someone's life from happy to miserable.
Possibly. Chirin was after revenge, yes, but (at least in the dub) he was also aiming to "become a wolf" because he wanted to get stronger. He hated how the other sheep were weaklings who, despite living in a large group, couldn't even stand up to a single wolf. Chirin wanted to be stronger, both to kill the Wolf and to protect himself so as to not meet the same fate as the weak sheep who were helpless to predators.
In the end, I doubt it was worth it.
Like Anakin Skywalker?
Chirin's arc reminds me of O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill. As a child she witnessed the brutal killing of her parents at the hands of a murderous Yakuza boss, and swore revenge. She kills the Yakuza boss and several of his henchmen, then grows up and goes on to become... a murderous Yakuza boss.
In regards to the moral, you have to understand that sheep are used in this narrative for a very specific reason, they are sheep. Sheep do not fight back, they do not try to get stronger, they do not face adversity. The fact that Chirin does, makes it so they see him as a threat, because he just isn't a sheep anymore. He is a wolf, and so they treat him like one, despite the fact he saved their lives. It is a mirror of human behaviors, with very similar outcomes.
Me: *sees momma sheep cuddling her baby*
Bambi trauma: long time no see
+Poker Freak Come on. Those scenes are really sad :(
Bambo will fight back
@@Spookythereaper3 i cried very hard when bambi lost his mother 😭😭
Lyrical Fawn We all did. I read the book, and they changed it to bambi's mum getting lost, when she was supposed to be dead 😔
@@caguioajargozle5393 bambo
the horns remind me of the red bull's horns from "The last Unicorn. "
Mr. S Don’t mention that name
At first I thought you meant from the energy drink logo, which they do.
There is some sheeps that can have those horns. Its useually a effect in the horns.
That was an... interesting movie
That’s exactly what I thought, but I couldn’t remember what movie it was from
16:48 remember, this is an old Japanese anime movie, and what happened here as he described is just an anime cliche that holds even to this day.
I think the moral is pretty straightforward: Revenge/Grudges are toxic. It may feel satisfying to uphold or feed a grudge, to deliver karmic punishment with your fists or to obsess over getting your enemies destroyed, but the more your obsession consumes your life, the less of a tolerable person you become and it is hard to love someone always consumed by rage. Chirin like someone consumed by a grudge often loses sight of what really they are fighting for in their pursuit for payback and thats why I think the wolf goes from enemy to ally. It could also be a good allegory for child abuse and trauma. When a child experiences some kind of abuse from parent figures or is raised say in times of war, their innocence gets destroyed and one way they learn to survive or cope is to become hardened and often take out their bitterness on the weak of the next generation, or to bully kids (sheep)at school or civilians in the street to make them seem tough and unfeeling in control.
As a side note, the Chirin is an actual mythical beast of China/Japan. I think it’s a deer-like dragon, or something like that.
Chinese Unicorn. It appears every One Thousand years or only in the presense of a new sage. They say it is powerful, dutiful and just while remaining peaceful.
Its desire to do no harm is so great, it is said to glide over even grassblades as to not disturb them or the creatures that walk among them.
It has the horn of a unicorn, the face of a camel, and the neck of a Giraffe...........or something like that.
Tentegen And Chirin in the movie is like a warped version of the Kirin. Neat.
@@Vicieron Monster Hunter
I've gotten severe emotional whiplash watching this film!
The sheep never let Chirin back in the flock is because, despite killing off the wolf, he's still seen as a threat. The wolf was happy to be killed off, because now he has a heir to take his place. Chirin has turned into the predator, fueled by his motivation of getting back at the wolf for killing his mother. But he ended up forgetting his mission, which still would have been a fruitless mission regardless. Now he is forever seen as a violent threat by all. And his bell is the only bit of innocence he has left, but is heard as an alarm.
The moral is: To not be consumed by anger or you'll end up being just as bad, if not worse than the one who hurt you.
The moral is that when bad things happen, you can harden your heart and try to become something you're not, but you will ultimately end up alone. This is what happens when you don't properly process grief.
You could view the moral of the story as a lesson on the dark side of chivalry. Using evil to fight evil will save peace, but at the cost of peace now treating you as evil and the only thing you will have is your self satisfaction. There's a couple of other little potential lessons, such as if stooping to the level of your enemy it's easy to lose your way or fighting with fire just leads to burns. Definitely a rough one for kids tho lmao
Highland cattle and Black Wildebeest have their horns facing forward.
I think the reasons Chirin's horns are facing forward is because
1. That was his design in the book
2. It's like that so that it's easier for him to kill his enemies by impaling them
3. It's meant to compliment his dark design, make him more dangerous and demonic looking.
but those are just my theories...
I knew about wildebeests but highland cattle are ADORABLE! So fluffy!
"Demonic-looking" my thoughts exactly. He looked cool honestly. More like some weird dragon not a sheelol
2:42
The reason it sounds eerie is because it's in a minor key. Because the song sounds like it's supposed to be happy, it sounds strange to hear it in a let that's usually associated with sad music.
thats how I feel about quite a few christmas songs
YAY E MINOR!!!
Y'kno, i never could understand the significance of the major-minor keys...
Care to do a quick music theory lesson with me here? Much appreciated!
"You have a habit of requesting really dark and weird stuff." I feel so seen.
Chirin lived to see himself become the villain.
I saw this at age six and loved it immediately. I always thought the moral is pretty clear: we become what destroyed us. We unconsciously seek to overcome trauma by becoming the trauma. It’s a vicious circle. The sheep represent regular people and later reject Charin alluding to the stigmatization abused and traumatized people suffer. They truly have no home because they become monsters to be kept out.
I completely agree with this and I'm glad you said it but I'm worried about how that's the moral you got when you were six.
Maybe the horns were a result of what I like to call "Controlled Development", where you break something that you know grows back until you get the desired result
This story is ultimately a tragedy, one that can be seen as the loss and corruption and innocence, the consequences of revenge, and the dangers of obsession. But I also saw it as a dark take on what it can mean to truly grow up, and the nature of finding a way to live you feel comfortable with.
Throughout the story, all the animals live their own way of life, whether it be the sheep in the barn, the wolf, or the other animals. Some lazily eat off the pasture, others hunt for prey, that is their nature, their way of life. When Chirin loses his mother, he's shocked out of the way of life he's lived as a sheep. As he tells the Wolf, he did not want to live on the barn too scared to leave, he did not want to die without doing anything. Chirin wants revenge, and he wants to find a new way of life for himself to give meaning to the loss of his mother as well as to properly avenge her. However, he's a child, a grieving and lonely child. The sheep did nothing to comfort him, and with no one to care for him, he can only walk a scary path alone.
He sees the wolf's skills and prowess, and wishes to gain such ability himself. Impressing the wolf through his determination, he gets his wish. He learns under the wolf, promising his new teacher he will kill him once he has eclipsed the master. The wolf has no problem with this because by his own philosophy, he is fated to grow old and die, so having a student to pass on his legacy, and eventually surpass and kill him, is a fitting end, and so earnestly teaches him. Chirin, at many points, had opportunities to kill him, but never took them, because at heart, he's still a child.
The wolf's teaching and caring over Chirin made the lamb gravitate to him, he finally had something to replace the loss of his mother, he didn't need revenge on the wolf anymore, because now he had a family, a more worthwhile reason to live. He sees the wolf as his father, and believes that they are destined to be the top predators now. The strength he's gained following the wolf's path has made it so that he would no longer be victimized as he was when he was but a lamb. But that is the wolf's path, not his own. He's a student following a master, a son fighting alongside his father, but he hasn't bothered truly contemplating what he believes in his heart.
The wolf, possibly aware of this, tells Chirin to murder the sheep in the barn he used to live in. Chirin easily dispatched the dogs, but he upon seeing another mother sheep protect her young, he can't do it. He's still the child he was back then, he hasn't completely thrown away who he was, and it was in conflict with who he is now. The problem is, they both can't coexist, Chirin needs to choose who he really is, who he truly wants. When the wolf forced his hand, Chirin chose to avenge his mother, but it isn't a triumphant moment of victory, its a terrified child trying to stop his world from crashing down again. The wolf is happy with his death, as it was what he wanted from Chirin in the end, and he's happy and grateful. Chirin isn't however, and neither is the sheep. The ways of the sheep don't permit the sort of violence and power CHirin possesses now, and they reject him. As the story said, Chirin had become neither wolf nor ram, and it frightened them.
When Chirin returned to the mountain and mourns the wolf, he admits the wolf taught him the ways of wolf and the final lesson, that even the strong die in the end. Apologizing for not being able to be a wolf, Chirin can only wonder what he should even do now as he mourns the only living parent he had left, because that was what he was, a child mourning his dead parents, needing one to be there, and ultimately loses himself in the process. Chirin needed to find his own path in life, one that he could accept and find strength in, one that would give him purpose and meaning. He needed to find who he wanted to be deep down, neither sheep, nor wolf, that was the only way he could grow up and survive the cruel world. The problem was that he didn't have anyone to properly be there for him, he could only walk the path alone.
He wanted to fill the void that was left by the loss of his mother, and once he had that, didn't care about anything else until it was too late. Chirin could have chosen to stay a sheep, or he could have chosen to be a wolf, or he could have been something else entirely, but Chirin didn't have the strength to find that out because he was a grieving child who wanted and needed a family, and without them, didn't know what he was, dooming him to become a ghost because he kept chasing after what was dead, leading to his tragic end.
Ringing Bell is a very interesting and intriguing story to me because it doesn't have a moral answer, ultimately what to gain from the film depends on the viewer. It depicts a cold world where everyone follows their own path that makes them the winner and loser in different ways, with every single path being one that would lead to death, What mattered is the path you chose before then, one that gave yourself purpose and meaning. Is Chirin's story a warning of revenge, like the book it adapted, was it the strong win and the weak die, was it a harrowing tale of grief, loss, and isolation. That's up for you to see, and I think that's what makes it so rewarding.
0:09
*PETA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT*