Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

My thoughts on this series (rlly minor spoilers):

The story may seem unrealistic, but I think it makes sense with the personalities of the characters. A popular and sadistic guy, Kyoya, agrees to act as the fake boyfriend for a bubbly and airheaded girl, Erika, just because he is bored out of his mind and finds the situation amusing. A normal guy would never agree to that, but he honestly has nothing to lose, and she's so ditzy and desperate that she'd be willing to ask something as absurd as that, so I have no complaints in that regard.

What doesn't make sense to me is how they manage to enter a real relationship and remain together. Kyoya shows barely any affection for her and is verbally abusive to an extent that any reasonable person wouldn't be able to stand. While he does get better over time, and watching that growth is the thing I enjoyed the most about this series, he still says so little and acts so cold that I don't understand how Erika could endure it. I also hate seeing her worship him and having to watch her go from being reasonably upset with him to completely in love with him after he gives her the slightest bit of attention. I can't believe someone wouldn't get tired of being treated like a pastime instead of a lover for so long.

The rivals that appear are actually all good in my opinion, but there were so many! Usually there's like two, but I think Kusakabe, Kasai, Terapon, and Rena can all be considered rivals. It was interesting to see the main couple manage meeting others who seemed better suited for them, and I liked the way things worked out. The members of the main couple's friend group are all well-developed and interesting, even though some (like Kamiya) were really annoying.

What I did appreciate was the fact that there wasn't an insanely heartbreaking or heart-wrenching series of events. In many mangas, like Ao Haru Ride or Kimi ni Todoke, a member of the "main couple" starts dating someone else seriously and then realizes they loved the one they were originally with. Reading the chapters where the couple you've read about for so long is separated is literal torture, but I was glad to see that something like that did not happen in this series.

The art was really pretty and consistent, and I adored the post-high school ending.

In all, I feel like I kept reading the story just to see Kyoya's short moments of vulnerability and affection, and I was pretty satisfied with what I saw. It's a cute story about a very unlikely high school relationship and the struggle of growing up; not bad!

**WARNING THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS THROUGHOUT**

I started reading this manga because of a post MangaFox made about it on their FB page. In the comments, tons of people were criticizing the manga, particularly the characters and story. Generally, I don't like to take people's opinions towards a manga or anime as law. Anime and manga tastes are extremely subjective, and just because someone says a particular series sucks does not mean that you will share that same view point. So I decided to read the manga, rather than watch the anime, to see if it really was that bad. Now that I am fully caught up I can confirm that this is one of my favourite shoujo mangas *cue gasps*.

~Story~ 10
I gave the story a 10 because this is one of the few shoujo mangas I have read, in which every arc is interesting and relevant to the overall plot. A funny thing shoujo mangas like to do is throw in these random arcs that are over within 2 chapters and do absolutely nothing to progress the plot or develop the characters. I hate that (looking at you Koukou Debut >.>). It's understandable that once the hero and heroine inevitably end up together you have to throw in a random character or two to spice things up, but it's important for these characters or plot twists to have some kind of impact! An excellent example of a brilliant arc Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji introduced involved having Erika (the heroine) unexpectedly run into her childhood friend, Terapon, at her new workplace. As mentioned before, introducing new, potential love interests is a shoujo classic. However, why I've specifically mentioned Terapon is because of how his character was portrayed; unlike being a completely one-dimensional character like Kusakabe, a darker side of Terapon's character is revealed later on in the arc, making his impact much more relevant than it would have been, and allowing Sata to be portrayed as a knight in shining armour (come on, I know that gave you chills ^^). Good arcs = good story.

~Art~ 8
I'm not an art fanatic, so I can't say much. All I will say is that Sata is hot as hell, and this is why I've given the manga an 8. All the other characters were drawn okay (special shoutout to Kamiya), but it was Sata who rocked my world in almost every panel. His EYES. Okay, enough about that.

~Character~ 9
I'll talk about the two mains to shorten this.

First of all, we have Sata, the hero, and probably the most disliked character by everyone who has read/watched this. Sata is definitely an acquired taste and I can understand why people would be revolted by his behaviour, but I also have to argue that not every hero can be Prince fucking Charming. That's an overdone archetype. Bring in the badasses, the assholes, the too-cool-for-school types. That's what we need, and this is my personal opinion, of course. I like Sata because he's different. He's mean and a jerk most times, but I think that just makes the moments when he's genuinely nice even sweeter. In addition, he's the one person who'll call out everyone's bullshit, and literally not give a fuck when other characters over exaggerate situations. For instance, when he accidentally kissed Sanda, and Erika started overreacting, he just did not care. LOL. I fell in love with him even more then, because I hate it when the heroine turns little problems into big problems, and I was glad to finally have a hero who didn't let her get away with that. Besides, despite all his pride, at the end of the day he has a weak spot for Erika and his friends, and if you're not awed by that then please sit down (jk).

Then we have the heroine, Erika. I'm not sure what to say about her. She's not that different from most of the other heroines I've seen in other shoujo mangas. I guess the main difference is that she somehow fell in love with the rudest guy ever, lol. She's likeable really, and adorable at times too. Some people may find her pathetic for allowing herself to be treated badly by Sata, but everyone has a type, and you can't judge Erika for falling in love with Sata's type. Girls like her do exist, and surprise surprise, the guys do change. I applaud Erika for sticking with Sata until the end, she's a deary.

~Overall~ 9
So, what more can I say? Just read the manga. I'll reassert my earlier point; you can't trust other people's opinions. Who cares what anyone says about this manga? Heck, who cares about what I say? Read it for yourself and make your own judgement. I thought I would hate it because a lot of other people did, but I ended up loving it.

Yet another manga I read because I wanted to know how the anime's romance turned out. I'm gonna say straight off that the art is pretty standard for manga of this type. It's not that it's bad, in fact it looks very nice, it just isn't anything too special.

Okay, so let's get into the good stuff. The characters, I think, are good example of how you can take cliche characters and make them just different enough that they don't feel dull. For example, I'd say the main male character is a cookie-cutter type of bad boy. However, his actual personality is way more sadistic than your average bad boy's would be. It's little improvements like that that kept me interested in the characters and how they were relating to one another.

I'm gonna explain now why the story didn't really do it for me as much as it could've. The biggest pitfall that romances have are that *everything* that comes up in the plot circles back around to the romance element, and that's how this manga was. There wasn't a single plot point that didn't end up tying into the main romance in some way. Having an independent storyline separate from the romance-- for example, a personal conflict with a main character or whatever-- would've given the story some body and it would've really helped to bring the characters to life.

That being said, the romance part of the story was done well enough that it makes up for a few of those issues. It isn't the most groundbreaking romance because, as I said, the basic plot is pretty cliche, but the romantic elements combined with the characters made for some very touching and intense scenes. I enjoyed that this manga was more about figuring out how to be in a healthy relationship rather than the usual "we've been in love this whole time, but we only admitted it two chapters from the end, and we didn't get together until the epilogue" stuff.

It isn't the most serious of stories. Like, it isn't gonna be like Host Club where you're gonna sit up at night thinking about it because it was so amazing, but it is a nice read. It's a story that will make you happy when the characters are happy and make you sad when they're sad. It does what it should do, and if nothing else, I'm glad I know how these two ended up, for better or worse.

So, from what I've seen, most people that read this manga fall into one of two categories:
COMPLETELY, UTTERLY HATE IT or LOVE IT.

I am part of the latter.

I normally don't write reviews, but for this manga, I feel like I had to. Maybe to justify why I like it so much?

But anyhow, this is a shoujo manga. Typical school setting, with a kind of ditzy girl as the MC (Erika Shinohara). She just wants to be loved, so she fakes having a boyfriend to her two "friends". However, scared that they're getting suspicious, she takes a picture of a good looking guy on the streets, but...guess what? He goes to her school! And he's a popular "prince"-like figure!

So, while this may seem like a typical shoujo setup (though, I'll say it's the first time I've seen this particular plot device used), there are a lot of elements of it that make it so...for lack of better words...good.

The art, for one. It's nothing swoonworthy, for sure, but I have no complaints. Also, I can't explain why a couple of solid lines that imitates a human being is so attractive but he is, so moving on, meaning that the mangaka has done her job well.

Secondly, the plotline & character development. It is slice of a life and features school life. But at the same time, while the beginning can be very cringeworthy, and even "disgusting" (Sata Kyouya did not exactly endear himself to me at first), I found that as the manga went on, it addressed a lot of issues close to my heart. Nothing tragic, but there was definitely character development, something you might not expect to see from a shoujo like this. But Erika definitely became an admirable character (one might argue from her relationship with Sata-kun). There are definitely arcs and scenarios that are typical shoujo plots, but they didn't read like something cliche.

Third, the ending. I won't say much more, but I feel like if nothing else, the mangaka did the ending, very, very, very well. A lot of loose ends were tied up, we find out what happens to all of the characters, and we even get to see...not just a sneak peek of the future...but THREE WHOLE CHAPTERS! Beauty! I've never seen such beauty since reading Last Game!

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
NOW, HERE'S THE CAVEAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR:
I'm sure critics might read my review and go "Disgusting! You condone this kind of relationship?" Some have even drawn parallels to 50 Shades of Grey.

No. I don't. I was raised in a physically and mentally abusive household and I would never, ever, ever condone an abusive relationship in any way, shape, or form. And reading this manga, Sata Kyouya comes off as...well...not a "sadist" or "tsundere", but just plain ol' mean. But that's just the beginning. Many critics didn't get further than the first 20 or so chapters, from what I've seen from reviews. But Sata Kyouya does start to change and learn his lesson about being such a douche. And I think that's probably why I really liked this manga. The mangaka didn't actually make an excuse for Sata -- he even says in the beginning that he has no childhood trauma or anything...it's just the way he is. And he's bad with people.

But. He. Changes. That, in my opinion, is the important part.

Now, would I put myself in such a position? Perhaps not. I hope not.

NOTE: >> There is a moment towards the end of the manga that I absolutely couldn't deal with, however. Sata gets extremely possessive and gives Erika an ultimatum when she decides to go to a school in Kyoto to pursue her passion: either him, or her passions. If she chose her passions, they would break up. I couldn't stand that. A guy who gets in the way of her girlfriend's dreams? No way, no how. That would be a dealbreaker for me, in more than one way. <<

I'm actually writing my first manga review ever because I loved this series *that* much, and I'd really like more people to give it a chance.

**light spoilers throughout?**

The story is a bit different than your typical shoujo manga. Our main hero, Kyouya is an asshole and if you haven't noticed, is purposely portrayed this way. Most negative reviewers are incredibly disgusted by his behavior in the beginning and (apparently) refuse to overlook it the entire series. I personally had no problem dealing with it because this is a manga, my dudes, not a documentary into a real person's life. But I can see how Kyouya's behavior can be triggering to others. If anything, Erika is a bit triggering to me because she starts off as such a typical shoujo manga heroine with nothing special about her at all and it made me wonder why she's even the MC at all. Regardless, it's almost a given that Kyouya will not stay that way forever... otherwise there would be no story, right?

Moving along, Erika and Kyouya do become a real couple and the story follows along their high school days together. What I REALLY like about the series is that all the chapters and arcs are very real scenarios. Nothing extravagant, nothing unnatural - just real, relatable events that can easily happen to anyone in their high school days. For me, it was a really refreshing break from isekais, superheroes, or even other shoujo manga where some freak coincidences happen that just make you wonder if this is really meant to be a shoujo at all.

What I also loved about the series is Kyouya's character development. And I think that's also the most important thing about this series to anyone who criticizes and hates on it solely because of his behavior in the first dozen chapters. He CHANGES for Erika. And not only that, his character development is so well paced, I actually went back and reread the series just to take in all the little details of change. You can clearly see it in the progression in how they spend their holidays and birthdays together. Each year, Kyouya tries harder and harder for her. And you can't help but smile when you see his reluctant but earnest way of showing love.

What almost singlehandedly made the series for me, though, was the ending and the epilogue. It's not often that shoujo manga end with epilogues in the first place, but holy crap, this one was so thorough and so well written/drawn. Arriving at the end of the story with everything tied together in a neat little bow was such a pleasant surprise. It actually touched my heart to have seen their (literally) happy ever after. Especially Kyouya's reactions and reflection in the entire last chapter -- I don't think I've ever felt so moved by a fictional character in any other series. And the feeling is magnified because of how drastic his change in his personality is from the beginning. You wouldn't even think Kyouya from chapter 1 is the same Kyouya in chapter 67. From the bottom of my heart, I actually felt so happy for him. It's amazing.

Overall, everyone's taste in manga is different and I realize that this manga may not be for everyone... but I think it's definitely worth a read regardless. Anyone who is too stubborn to get over the rough beginning really just needs to get over themselves first (sorrynotsorry). Honestly, when I first started the series, I didn't even think I would like this series that much either, yet here I am writing my very first manga review and giving it a 10/10. I truly loved the story, and will probably always come back to it when I need to read a wholesome shoujo ending to warm my heart.

it's the second time I've read this manga. (Also reviewed the anime because I find it very funny)
What do I like most about this manga?
It follows the story of the characters, from high school to adulthood.
We can also see the personal growth of the main characters, Erika and Kyouya and their relationship.

I like Erika very much - she is not the typical naive main character, despite being submissive to Kyouya, she always has the courage to speak her feelings and she's determined. (I was very surprised by her attitude towards Kyouya advances 0.0') small detail: I also love that Erika has different hairstyles and clothes.

I'm not a fan of Kyouya's personality. There was a moment when I almost cheered for the other guy but we can see how Kyouya really loves Erika: he's just really bad at showing it. In the last chapters we see that he really changed and he is kinder to erika, even so I think this change should have happened earlier.

Like almost all school shoujos, the story is very cliché and I confess that it has some more tedious chapters, but we can see erika's relationship with Kyouya deepen and grow through different phases (it also shows some secondary character relationships). In addition, the comedy is very good and the drama is very light.

"A secret no one can say, a true nature that can't be shown, everyone has an 'underside'!" --cover page of Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

Welcome to Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, a mouthful to say and tiresome to remember but it's worth the trouble. OStKO, for convience's sake, is your standard shoujo. There's the main lead who wants a boyfriend and the male lead who wants anything but. However, what readers think they may be led to a road for disaster finds themselves spiralling on a jounery of tears and laugher, as well as the universal meaning of things being not exactly how they seem and the hardship people have to deal in order to find that.

"Generally a high school life is all decided in the first two months." --Erika

The start of OStKO begins with a simple premise; the male lead, Kyouya, is forced to play boyfriend for Erika after she accidently claims him to be her boyfriend in attempt to fit in with her so-called friends. People may say it's superficial of the main lead to want to find a boy for just that reason or even badmouth the friends for being friends for just that but think for a moment. It's not uncommon to find high school students tell lies just to fit in, just to avoid bullying or isolation. That's how we find Erika in a struggle to stay in her friendship circle. Hey, at least we don't have a heroine who bitches about being friendless while she's not doing anything about it. So it's the simple plotline of Erika trying to fit in that starts the beginning of the relationshipe between her and Kyouya.

"...I really love dogs. They're pure. If you say 'wait' then they'll keep waiting like an idiot, no matter how hungry they get or how bad you treat them, following their master's order witht hose bleary pitch black eyes...that's so cute it gives me the chills..." --Kyouya

Kyouya really strikes different from the standard main male role. He initially is percieved as the goody-good with princely charms and looks that kill but right after our fellow heroine gets to know the true him, readers are in for a huge surprise. This person is unafraid to voice his most cynical views. Heck, if he sees an old lady struggling to walk across the road, he may as well be that person to send her to her doom. The refreshing part of his personality is that he shows no signs of other persnalities. He's just being himself. It may get over the top at times but it's interesting but poor Erika has to put up with that. She knows this as well and tries her best to cope with it. Considering all this, we may suspect the usual master-servant plotline, the 'master' usually growing softer as the story goes on. For the most part, that is what we're seeing but we do see Erika stand her ground couple of times. It's admirable how she's not willing to take shit from Kyouya whereas your standard shoujo lead will just cry for help. This girl uses her fists and words in a way anyone with common sense can use. It's the wonderful footstep forward for females in the world of manga and makes the chemistry between Kyouya and Erika lovelier than it will be if Erika was a spineless twit.

It doesn't come as a surprise that other characters are not as unique as Kyouya or Erika. The friends of Erika feels static and one of them, even after a whole chapter dedicated to them, feels as if they haven't changed from her superficial thinking at all. But from Kyouya's side, one of them turns to be more interesting to read than how I thought he'd be. He's chirpy and friendly, a striking opposite of Kyouya, but is equally enjoyable, making me hope to read more of him.

"Did I make the right choice in relying on this guy?" --Erika

Well, I don't know about that. Kyouya's good looking but he acts jerky and he has his nice moments. What I do know is that I made the right choice in reading all of the avaliable chapters of this manga. The artwork are nicely drawn, not mind-blowing but enough to get the storyline/characters conveyed. After all, if the artwork wasn't at least decent, how will Kyouya be such a yummy eyecandy? Putting superficial preferences aside, its characters and plotline are top-notch. You've got to love Kyouya's cynicism and Erika's struggle to deal with that. But, what fun will anything be without a little dose sadism?

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji ~ Wolf Girl & Black Prince what a perfect couple isn't it? This story is very sweet, good natured slice of life romantic comedy. I actually really enjoyed ready this manga. I highly recommend to read this :)

This story is about a Wolf Girl main character (Shinohara, Erika) who is being bully or you could say it blackmail by Black Prince main character
(Sata, Kyouya). It is begin when Wolf Girl explain it to the Black Prince about being a faking as lovers. However, after being told by the Wolf Girl about it, the Black Prince agree about that. But, there one condition being a faking as lovers, the Wolf Girl must be a dog for him. So that why (Shinohara, Erika) being call as Wolf Girl and (Sata, Kyouya) is being call as Black Prince. Basically,
(Sata, Kyouya) turns out to be a black prince and used her. A little, little by little they fall in love with each other :)

Ookami Shojo to Kuro Ouji~~~~ May I start off with the fact that the Idea plot of the story is not too original, But even so the art and characters are very enjoyable! The diversity of the characters with their speech is very heartwarming
The art quality is very good. You are able to see a nice clear picture of characters from different angles!

Personally I like this manga enough to keep checking for updates on the chapters!


~SkittlesMomoDesi

To start off with my review I would just love to say:
This manga is stupid.

First of all, I've watched the anime and read all the published chapters and I must comment how disgusting this anime/manga is. When I started watching the anime I never really liked the couple 'Kyouya x Erika'. A lot of people did but I just couldn't get myself to like them.

It starts off with Erika trying to fit in with the cool kids in school (both anime and manga). Shows how much peer pressured she is. She lies to them about her non-existent boyfriend and goes in detail what happens when they are doing 'it' (Using chains, handcuffs etc). Her so-called friends basically liked her because of how she described her boyfriend. Secondly, this is how she finds Kyouya (taking a random picture of him which this is illegal since it is stalking) showing it to her friends which is magically in the same school as them (such coincidence right? well we are talking about manga here anything can happen)

As the story unfolds, you see how pathetic Erika can get through every episode and every chapter. I honestly couldn't believe someone would actually enjoy this messed up anime/manga. Kyouya treats her like an animal, well not even like an animal because not even a freakin animal deserves to be treated like how he treats Erika. He treats her like a piece of poop and dirt which surprisingly enough this turns on Erika. As one can see, she is one hell of a masochist. This literally had shown how she didn't even give a bit of importance to his character but only his looks.

Moving on to Kyouya, this guy literally disgusts me. He treats Erika like dirt and then goes all "i love you" “you’re the one for me” “no one can take your place”. Like, what in the actual eff? For those who haven't opened their eyes wide enough to notice this, this IS AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP. YOU PEOPLE WAKE UP. Imagine, you meet someone like him in real life and he treats you like dirt and you are basically his pet just to have fun with and make fun of and doesn't give a damn about you. Is that even considered a relationship? People, don't deny it, this is an abusive relationship and I really can't cope with the fact that this manga is encouraging this type of relationship.

In the manga, you'll meet with two guys who’d fall in love with Erika and also confess their love to her. But guess what? SHE DOESN'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM. WANNA KNOW WHY? BECAUSE KYOUYA IS HER EVERYTHING. She is brainwashed by his abusive character. He literally hurt her mentally.

****READING BELOW THIS LINE MAY CONTAIN A TINY LITTLE SPOILER BUT YOU SHOULD READ IT ANYWAY BECAUSE THE SUPERHERO OF THE DAY COMES ALONG****

Okay, so one of the two guys that confess their love to her is named Terapon which I must say is my favourite character in the whole manga. He was her childhood friend and which they encounter each other again when Erika starts working at a DVD rental shop. She had known him as this chubby kid from school but he has now lost weight just so he can be attractive (he tried his best to impress Erika) He confesses her love when Erika and Kyouya were going through a rough time (obviously she falls back into Kyouya's arms) He tells her to think it about it carefully. Later on, they decide to meet up so she can tell him how she really feels. BUT OMG GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT? she said no because and I quote "If you take Kyouya-kun away from me, I'll become empty. My feelings for Kyouya-kun are very important to me." Erm masochist cracka lacka protagonist say what? This literally just set off the *ALERT ALERT ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP MASOCHIST ON THE LOOSE* bomb. BUT WHAT I REALLY LOVED ABOUT THIS CHAPTER IS that terapon actually freakin slapped her for being so dumb. And this is when I applaud Terapon for being the most badass and the only one who isn’t brainwashed in whole manga.

*A LOT MORE HAPPENED AND I SERIOUSLY COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES WHILE READING SO I RECOMMEND READING CHAPTER 43 TO SEE WHY I UTTERLY FIND THIS MANGA DISGUSTING*

I know a lot of people like this manga and enjoy reading it but I just can't get myself to like it. I cringe every time I turn a page. (And I honestly wanted to shoot myself after reading chapter 43)

Good bye and have a nice day.