Wolf Girl and Black Prince Blu-ray Review

3 star entertaining but disturbing anime.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince is a 2014 Japanese romantic comedy anime series based on the shōjo manga series written by Ayuko Hatta. It is adapted to anime by Studio TYO Animations.

It is available to own now in the UK on Blu-ray from 21st October 2024, courtesy of MVM Films.

“That was a close call. If he made a big deal out of my taking a sneaky photo, I’d be labelled a criminal! But now I’ll be just fine.”

Erika Shinohara (Kanae Itô – Touhou Spell Carnival) is a young girl just starting at Morigaya High School. To her dismay, she has been placed in a different class to her best friend Sanda (Ai Kayano – Guilty Crown). She soon realises that most of her class are already part of a clique. There are two girls in her class that aren’t, Marin (Mariya Ise – Delicious in Dungeon) and Tezuka (Ajin, The Garden of Words), however they both have boyfriends.

In order to try and fit in, Erika pretends that she has one too and takes a photo of a good looking boy in the street to prove it. Unfortunately, that boy turns out to be Kyoya Sata (Takahiro Sakurai – Sound! Euphonium), who attends the same school as her. With the cat about to be let out of the bag, there is an unexpected turn of events. Kyoya agrees to go along with her scheme, provided she agrees to be his pet dog. He insists on her waiting on him, discards her as he pleases and speaks to her like dirt.

As she finds herself slowly falling for him, despite his appalling treatment of her, she begins to realise that winning the heart of this arrogant, aloof and self centred boy might be more difficult than she had imagined.

“What’s with the stupid look on your face? Don’t tell me you think I’d help with this bunch of bull for free. If you want me to play along with your stupid farce, you’re gonna have to be my dog.”

Wolf Girl and Black Prince is an enjoyable anime, strangely compelling and it most certainly drags you in. Despite the comedy elements, the level of cruelty displayed by some of the characters makes for pretty uncomfortable viewing at times.

The character interactions are quite often confrontational and I could easily imagine this triggering anyone who has been the victim of bullying, so it may not be to everyone’s taste. I found it a little off putting at first, but it’s worth persevering to find out where it all goes.

That being said, in the end I thoroughly enjoyed it, well worth adding to your collection.

“Now, should I pimp you? Or should I use you as a punching bag to deal with my stress? Better yet, you could amuse me in naughty ways.”