Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

HMMMMMMMMMMM

Let's go about this review through the different categories.

Story: The story started out promising (I enjoy these types of cliche shoujo plots) but it turned out to be quite disappointing when the story and the characters turned out to be pretty one dimensional, without depth. It was getting better by about halfway through the series (the part where the childhood friend comes in) because it was getting interesting, but after that it was a bit of a let down. I kept waiting for something more to happen, something more meaningful, but was not given it.

Art: I enjoyed the art, it's definitely the type of style I look for when picking out a manga to read. I also really appreciated the fact that the hair lengths changed to signify the years going by– although this is only true for the female lead (Erika), it's still appreciated.

Character: Okay, here's where I have mixed feelings, and it had to do with the male lead.
I don't mind a controlling male lead (depending on the type of control, of course) but I had a problem with Kyouya. FIRST, the way he was portrayed in the beginning, aka the first few chapters, was so different from after those few chapters. He ended up being more recluse than what was originally implicated. SECOND, he was controlling and he was MEAN. He sincerely never gave Erika any inclination of how he felt about her and didn't show it enough. He was emotionally abusive and Erika was a very weak female lead. Avoiding spoilers here; when choosing universities, thank god for San-chan because if it had continued in that way that would have just truly thrown me off and I would've regretted reading so far with just a few chapters away from finishing.

I did finish this manga. Disappointed in the male lead and also not satisfied with the ending. But it is what it is. Great art, decent story, poor leads, and unsatisfactory ending.

The manga starts with a very clear topic. A girl who lies -to be liked by some new friends in her clasroom- about having a boyfriend. Of course, she wants to be popular. She then, becomes the 'dog' of a very atractive guy, begging him to act like his boyfriend.
At the beggining is funny and interesting. You want to see how the relationship between them becomes better, or evolves, or something.

Normally the guy would turn be authoritarian, but, i don't know, sweet too? You can be authoritarian and sexy, but also caring... he's not. He just doesn't care.

But then, when the male prota could start to be a decent human being, when stuff could start to become romantic and nice... it becomes very very hateful. It becomes WORST in his treat! and hurts the female protagonist, he makes her feel insecure, he treats her bad, he calls her names, he domains her and give a total fuck about what she wants, and makes her feel guilty about bothering him. You can see her cry a lot! And you feel pity for her but very deeply is very sad because you know that's the story of a lot of people! People who are in love and don't know how to handle or how to scape from abuse!

It bothers me so much that they don't show the relationship like it is: abuse. And the fact that is presented like something cool just because she has a couple and she loves him. That's it. Because there's no love story, just a story about a girl who loves the guy who makes her cry.

And wow. Is he a hero for not punching her or for not cheating? That's almost what he's good about, being loyal. Ok. That's the only good thing about him. Oh, and that he's hot.

I didn't wanted to finish it. Maybe at the end the guy realizes he loves Erika and don't treat her like shit anymore, but if after 30 episodes the relationship is abuse and it doesn't look like anything else... I'm sorry. I think is not worth reading 30 episodes more to find out how abuse can be justified.

I like this manga. End of story.

For everyone who is complaining about this manga is needs to chill the fuck out.. this manga is more realistic than most shoujo manga
and if you don't like it go back to the kiddy, fantasy, play house mangas that you like reading..

Granted this manga does have some typical romance clichés the manga does well in portraying real life situations beyond - cheating, stealing peoples gf/bf, and relationship insecurities.

It shows stuff like...the struggles a couple goes through at the end of high school during the time they need to chose what they want for there lives, and the feeling of loving a person so much that you don't want them to leave but you don't want to hold them back either, dealing with each others pasts, parents/siblings not liking your bf/gf, or that guys aren't perfect and they sometimes treat girls like shit but girls are so stupidly in love she doesn't care even if it hurts her, lying to your friends because you want them to think your cool, or guys having trouble expressing there feeling...and you no what else - finally having a main male character not giving into the temptations of cheating...

Long story short if you can get past the ditsy clichés of the first few chapters this manga gets very good and you will become attached to the characters and grow to like and understand them all.

Don't let peoples ridiculous views, keep you from checking this manga out. Because its really enjoyable and you might just like it.

p.s. - the comedy is pretty on point to haha

The protagonist. Oh the protagonist. Erika, can she recognize a hopeless jerk when she sees one? Can she recognize when a person cannot return love and is only going to hurt her? Especially a person as cold as him with sadistic inclinations?

Nope. Or maybe she does, but she relentlessly stays with him anyway. Even when she really does know better.

Basically the whole manga up until chapter 13, which is the point I've stopped reading at, is just him treating her like dirt, and a dog(literally) and her continuing to run back to him, putting up with all his abuse, holding onto a hope that he will love her back some day.

And throughout the manga the side characters are just encouraging this relationship. Her friend San repeatedly telling her she's a masochist, Kyouya's friend trying so hard to get them together, the potential good boyfriend with a passive personality giving his blessing, and they all know how he treats her!

Good grapes this manga is messed up. It's that same mentality as that darned 50 shades trilogy. 'Oh, if I'm kind enough, If I'm patient enough, if I'm submissive enough, he'll love me!'

Love doesn't work that way, and neither does that type of relationship. For one thing, if Kyouya is so interested in the D/s lifestyle and treating his partner like a dog, he should find an informed and consenting partner that is actually into that stuff! Erika is only going along with it in her desperation to be loved.

and when they finally got back together, the manga wasn't convincing at all that he actually liked her back. Considering that he puts a charming face on around everyone else, is manipulative, and shows his true colors towards her, he honestly feels like a sociopath, but Oh, this is a shoujo manga! After everything hes done to her, he is surely going to change in the end! Right? Because people never break up for long in shoujo manga. They never get their senses together and move onto another, healthier life. They just stay, and keep working at it, like this girl here, until the guy magically turns around by the power of faith, hope, and pixie dust, and sometimes he doesn't even do that.

Don't read this manga, unless you want source material on how to write an abusive relationship. It certainly isn't a good for anything else.

SHORT REVIEW:
A fun shoujo manga about a Sadist prince and Masochist wolf-girl. The story doesn't drag out and it hits all the minor cliches in an interesting way. A prime example of romantic storytelling. If you are looking for a game-changer manga, this is not really it; If you are looking for a great example of shoujo manga that is an enjoyable read, this will scratch that itch.
LONG REVIEW:
Sadio-masochism plays a major role in the relationship between the two main protagonists and those who hate the idea of S&M play will likely hate this manga. They will complain that the ML doesn't evolve enough through the manga but that is his actual personality. I think that is a childish opinion to assume he would magically change after falling in love because the whole point was that Erika gets to the "real" side of him. I kind of hate that in a genre filled to the brim with female Tsunderes and Kuuderes, Kyouya(ML) gets so much grief.
I myself am a Sadist who hates traditionally "cute" relationship things with very little exception and enjoys the pain of others (schadenfreude). People generally have S or M characteristics but since this is fiction they are played up to a high degree. The ML or FL doesn't need to change, they are naturally that way and this is the story of their relationship. Both of them do soften and harden up respectively by the end.
Let me clarify and state there is NO BDSM, just the emotional side of it.
The side characters' stories are solid and they get just enough time to establish their plots without it feeling like too much filler. I thought all the major characters were likable and hateable at different points meaning they were probably good characters. I thought the art was good but more than that the artist knew what to draw to make the scenes come to life.
Objectively this is 8/10 but my personal score would be 10/10, I can't see fans of romance hating this story.

It was like a fever dream when I first read and watched Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji back in 2015 or so. It was at that time that I was in a phase of reading and watching shoujo anime, mainly Nana and Itazura na Kiss. All three of them hold a special place in my heart. But after finally catching up the last chapters that weren’t available to me back in 2015 for Wolf Girl and Black Prince, it really makes me wonder what was so charming to it. It probably was due to the “freshness” that I was exposed to. I was never a huge fan of romance/Shoujo, so these few series that I read and watched ended up being my first exposure to the genre, and I think this novelty of discovering something new made me hooked onto each of these series; Looking back, especially at Wolf Girl and Black Prince, and reading these last few chapters, those were rose colored days. The conclusion was just what I expected: come on, it’s a shoujo romance manga. It wasn’t anything unique, but it served as a closure to a series I had come to like.

Now, I don’t particularly think that judging this manga for the concluding chapters is very fair, when the bulk of the story and charm is from the beginning chapters. I can’t help but look back on the series with some nostalgia. There have been a lot more different romance shows and shoujo that I have read and watched, but none of it comes close to the feelings that I had when reading this particular series. Something about it makes it a lot more special than other series. It doesn’t have a super unique plot and characters, but it has it’s polish that few shoujo have. I think it could have been just the fact that the execution of events seemed a lot more natural than any other series I read, and as a result, I felt more invested in the characters. Being exposed to the female lead’s feelings and how the story panned out made me want to cheer her on. I was hoping she would get what she wanted, after all the setbacks that she went through, and that was something that I hadn’t experienced in other shoujo works before. There’s some unnecessary drama, but that’s all part of the shoujo experience in the first place. It’s a classic romance formula done well.

It makes me really sad to see so many people trashing this manga because of somewhat off-putting start. It is true that the first arc of the series is one of the weakest as hey, who would like a MC girl falling head over heels to a sadistic douchey MC? They're so many other guy out there that are much much better and perfect for the main girl right??? right???.... Wrong! I dare to say that Kyouya is the perfect lead guy for Erika. Fight me.

While this manga pretty much shows a typical shoujo setups/cliche, the overall structure of the story is pretty good & enjoyable. Some of the good elements that make this outstanding include, good character development, right pacing and compelling conflict.

Character wise, the author miraculously was able to develop it so well. Just try to compare chapter 1 vs chapter 58 and you'll see for yourself. On the other hand, conflicts aren't really used as a cliche plot device (except for the 1st arc) and instead pushes the two MC to mature and look beyond surface-level relationship.

Can I also say that this has one of the most satisfying ending ever?

Overall, this manga is one of those which you will hate or love. There's no in between. And I belong to the latter part.

Doki Doki rate: 8.5/10

I can't believe I actually ENJOYED this manga the first time I read it.

Story: 1/10
What kind of girl would accept such a condition to such a lame situation?!

Art: 6/10
Not so dreadul taht would make your eyes bleed but not flawless either. It was fine and the boys look good.

Character:1/10
First of all, the main "couple" is awful. The guy (Sata) treats the girl (Erika) as less than a human being. And she accepts it, because:

1) She's so desperate to have friends and a social life at highschool that she created an alter ego with a perfect love life (what she says about herself goes way beyond just lying) and she has to endure the guy bullying her in order to keep her lies safe.

2) The girl FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE GUY despite all the horrible things he says to her in a daily basis, 'cause for her this is "true love".

The times when a better guy confessed to her (I wonder why 'cause seriously, a toast has more personality and determination than this girl) she would say no to them because she loves the main guy. The worst case of this scenario happened around chapter 43 or 44 (I don't remember, I don't really care either way) *SPOILERS* when her middle school friend told this girl that he always loved her nad told her to dump the main guy and be happy with him. He even tells her off and slaps her to wake her up (the slap part was scary by how the mangaka drawed it, and he wasn't that good pf a guy cuz he remained kinda obsessed with her), and this PIECE OF ROCK tells him that "*inserts main guy's name* is my everything, he's almost the only thing I can think of and if you take him out of my life I'll feel empty". LIKE, SERIOUSLY?!

And main guy, OMFG. He was a very bad, bad character, with no development at all through the entire series, and he was a bully and psichologically abusive towards the girl. He's a manipulative, selfish and unsensitive person, and besides his looks (ya he's kinda good-looking) I can't figure out why the girls at school worship him. And what's the author's reason for the boy being such an asshole? *SPOILERS* His parents divorced when he was little. That's it.

And as for the supporting cast... Well, they were... There.
-The girl's best friend: tried to warn main girl about main guy, but failed and gave up on doing so cuz SHE GOT TIRED OF IT. She kinda dissapears at some point so uh huh.
-Main girl's school friends: They just talked about their boyfriends and that's that.
-Girl's rivals: too annoying and just exist for plot reasons.
-Main guy's only friend: Felt sorry for him. He's stupid enough to "help" main girl make the guy fall in love with her instead of warning her about his friend' awful personality.
-Guy's rivals: also annoying and were there just for plot and filler reasons.

Enjoyment: 1/10
I hated it and I refuse to read it again.
This wouldn't be such a terrible shoujo manga if the autor pictured it as what it is (an abusive relationship) instead of painting it as a cute and quirky highschool romance.

Overall: 1/10
When I read it complete for the second time (the first time I just read some chapters I thought were cute), I realized the mistake I made for giving Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji a chance.

I am amazed that this series has such a high average (currently ~7.8), considering it is one of the worst shoujo manga I have read. But, if you're like me, you'll read the series to the end because you're running out of lengthy shoujo and you keep hoping that it will improve.

It does improve a little...somewhere in the 30's. Up to that point I was astonished that a series could so blatantly promote blind, unwarranted devotion from a naive girl towards an abusive, sadistic guy. I read some of the fan's comments throughout the later chapters, and I was surprised to read that they perceived Kyouya (male lead, sadist) to be really improving. It's true, he softens up considerably in the last quarter of the series, but what a let down! Because he is so cold and reserved the whole series, the reader has to cling to every morsel of a compliment or expression of happiness that he dares to let drop. Maybe that is exciting for some people, but for me I couldn't help thinking like so many of Erika's (female lead) friends, "What are you doing?! Get out of there! He doesn't deserve you!"

As I mentioned, fans of the series will argue that Kyouya was not as undeserving as he seems on a surface level, and they will also defend his rotten attitude by attributing it to his "rough childhood" stemming from his parents divorce. The heck?! Okay, that kind of reaction is supportable only from the standpoint of "he's not quite so despicable now. May he continue to improve." But from the perspective of being the primary love interest...absolutely unacceptable! It is exactly this kind of twisted mindset that causes girls to stay in abusive relationships. The more accurate end to the series would be Erika crying her eyes out saying that she's made the biggest mistake of her life by holding on to such a careless man. While the manga tries to spin it as Erika being selfish and impulsive, Kyouya is actually, brazenly, the more selfish and impulsive character. He's mad? Tell her to get lost. He's regretting it? Go grab her by the arm and tell her she belongs to him.

It's disgusting. Even when I consider the improvement towards the end, I still cannot recommend this series based on the type of relationship it promotes. You are worth more!

A lot of people were saying to read it until the end. Well I did. My sister also did. She has been telling me that she didn’t like this manga but I still continued to read, hoping that I’ll get to enjoy it later. There were little things that ticked me off but I let it pass. What really got me was when Kyouya was treating the dog better than his girlfriend. I don’t care about his issues and I may never understand it my whole life but that is no way to treat a girl, most especially a girl you love. No girl should think that it’s okay to be treated like this. Erika is lucky that Kyouya improved but that’s not mostly the case in real life.