Arashi no Yoru ni



Arashi no Yoru ni, a 1994 Japanese children's book and 2005 Japanese animated film about the deeply romantic friendship (or relationship, depending on whom you ask) between a goat named Mei and a wolf named Gabu.

A CG-animated TV series began airing on April 4, 2012 subtitled Himitsu no Tomodachi (Secret Friends). It is noteworthy for Gender Flipping Mei.

God help you if you confuse this with Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.

There is no official English title, but when a translation is needed, fans usually call it One Stormy Night.

Tropes:

 * Ambiguous Gender/Ambiguously Gay: More like deliberately ambiguous in presentation, but not in conception. Since the children's books since 1994 didn't establish Mei's gender, everyone at the time assumed it was a boy-meets-girl love story, and the story was well established as a romance for over a decade. But the 2005 film firmly established Mei as male, and the creator revealed that Mei was always intended to be male, but that ultimately his gender was not relevant to the story.
 * Berserk Button: Gabu is a pretty friendly and nonviolent wolf for the most parts, but upon realizing
 * All CGI Cartoon: The anime series.
 * Beast and Beauty: Mei is the "beauty", but more in that the bestial Gabu finds him irresistable to eat.
 * Break the Cutie:
 * Carnivore Confusion: Gabu loves goat meat. Gabu loves Mei. Mei loves Gabu.
 * Conspicuous CG: Some of the terrain stands out juuuuuust a bit. Not that it's any uglier for it.
 * Death Mountain:
 * Disney Death:
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Feuding Families: Wolves eat goats. Goats flee from wolves. They can never be friends.
 * Family Unfriendly Violence: Not in Japan where the film was originally made and marketed. In the United States, it's probable parents might be uncomfortable letting their children see a movie where a goat rips off a wolf's ear with her teeth barely minutes in.
 * Fan Vid: Arashi no Yoru ni is very popular for making anime music videos, especially of the Fan Yay variety. Here, try some video links.
 * And we watch the moonrise on the hilltop, you and I~
 * Fear of Thunder: Mei and Gabu both.
 * Flash Back: Gabu's memories of his childhood with his mother and the other wolves.
 * A Friend in Need:
 * Furry Fandom: Dubbed by Australian fandom members
 * General Ripper:
 * Gender Flip: The TV show apparently portays Mei as a girl instead of a boy like in the film. The English dub even changes the spelling of the name to May.
 * Ghibli Hills: The idyllic Pleasant Mountain where Mei and his goat kin live.
 * The Glomp
 * Go Karting With Bowser:
 * Green Hill Zone: For the goats, every place away from Pleasant Mountain. It's beautiful, there's lots of food, and goats can be killed in broad daylight.
 * Happily Ever After: In the film. Averted in the original novels where.
 * Have You Tried Not Being A Monster?: Gabu does, and
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Homoerotic Subtext: Lots of it. This is a very gay film. But it's also for children, so there are no explicit sexual overtones that aren't wrapped heavily in symbolism (such as Carnivore Confusion).
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Guy: Look at them! Just look at them!
 * Identity Amnesia:
 * If Its You Its Okay:
 * Imagine Spot: Mei and Gabu finding out where each other lives and imagining what it must be like to be there.
 * Interspecies Romance: Mei and Gabu.
 * It Was a Dark And Stormy Night: Gee... you think? (Only in this case it's less horrorific.)
 * Knight in Shining Armor:
 * The Lost Woods:
 * Love Hurts: Boy, does it.
 * Make Up or Break Up:
 * Meaningful Name: "Mei" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the noise a goat makes and "gabu" is the one for biting.
 * Meadow Run:
 * Mistaken Identity: When Mei and Gabu first meet in the old barn, they can neither see each other nor smell each other, but they can talk to each other, and they become friends there. Only later does Mei realize that Gabu is a wolf (not another goat) and Gabu realizes that Mei is a goat (not another wolf). By this time, they have decided to be friends and they stay true to it.
 * Mordor: Gabu's home, Chomping Hills. At least if you're a goat.
 * The Mourning After:
 * No Accounting for Taste: Mei looks very upset when he catches Gabu sneaking back after yet another night of catching and eating mice.
 * No Export for You: The film has been localized in Taiwan and Russia, but not the United States or other Western countries except for Italy. The fact that it's a children's story about a romance between two adult male characters probably doesn't help its marketing prospects in lots of locales.
 * Meanwhile, it can be watched in multiple parts on YouTube with English subtitles. Parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. There's also an unofficial English dub. At first it was a professional-quality unofficial fan dub, but became the de-facto quasi-official dub when the original production company opted not to localize it and gave permission for the fan dub to remain publicly on YouTube.
 * Only the first two books have been localized outside of Japan.
 * Parental Abandonment: Mei and Gabu's mothers have both already died. Gabu's father is mentioned once, but otherwise fathers are nowhere to be seen. Averted in the books, where Giro is Gabu's father.
 * Parental Substitute: Mei was raised by his grandmother after his mother died.
 * Partially Civilized Animal: The goats and wolves.
 * Pink Girl Blue Boy: In the series Mei has pink eyes (and fur) while Gabu has Blue Eyes.
 * Poor Communication Kills: Subverted at Mei and Gabu's first meeting; it's because the pair aren't specific about what they mean by "food" that they can get along... at first.
 * Queer Romance: Please, like it wasn't obvious? One of the best examples of how it is not inherently family-unfriendly. And for kids.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: The goat elder.
 * The Reveal: When Mei and Gabu meet for the second time, they see each other for the first time and realize they are different species. Eye-widening Body Language follows.
 * Romantic Comedy: Especially their first date and picnic.
 * Rule of Romantic.
 * Say My Name: Through the course of the movie, Mei and Gabu speak/yell the other's name in times of peril and/or uncertainty.
 * Scenery Porn: The scenery, not the characters. Not that that doesn't exist.
 * Secret Relationship: Gabu and Mei conceal their association from both their kin.
 * Star Crossed Lovers:
 * Suicidal Gotcha:
 * Take a Third Option.
 * Take My Hand:
 * Talking to Himself: The unofficial English dub has Tustin Gilmer Macafee voice Gabu and Mei. This means that he talks to himself for 99% of the movie. He also voices most of the wolves and goats, too.
 * Tender Tears
 * They Have the Scent: They always do. Everyone knows what goats smell like and what wolves smell like, unless they come down with the sniffles, that is. The wolves also know Gabu's unique scent.
 * Title Drop: Repeatedly, though understandably. Though at times it almost seems to come close to being their safe-word...
 * Was It All a Lie:
 * X Meets Y: Its Brokeback Mountain meets Disney!
 * You Can't Go Home Again: