I enjoyed watching the anime and so I’m glad I was able to get ahold of the manga as well. Sometimes girls just get tired of hearing about what others have and have to make stories up to make themselves feel better. I love how this backfires for our main girl. I can’t wait to read the next volume.

This is such a cute manga! Great for high school and beyond. As an adult, I enjoyed the humor and silliness of the book. Can't wait for book 2!

I really enjoyed Wolf Girl and Black Prince volume 1 and can't wait to read the next volume to see what happens with Erika and Kyoya!
When Kyoya asks Erika to be his dog in exchange for fake dating her I couldn't believe his character could redeem himself after his demeaning request, but as the story went on he grows into a likeable character as we get to know him more and what he actually means by 'being his dog' and the ideas around loyalty and affection. I loved the illustration style, it was full of movement and gives you a clear sense of what each character is feeling too.

Thank you so much for the reading copy, I'm really looking forward to reading more Wolf Girl and Black Prince Volumes!

Looking at the success of “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” up to the English publication of the manga, from sales to anime and live-action adaptation, there is just reason to be excited about the shojo series finally making its way to print. Yet, the inaugural release Ayuko Hatta's “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” leaves a lot to be desired, its success slightly baffling when considering how uninspiring the inaugural release is.

The ‘slave under contract' set-up in romance is not a new concept in the genre and requires value beyond the initial shock to push the series forward. Unfortunately, “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” embraces a lot of undesirable attitudes in this ‘contractual' situation including manipulation, gaslighting, and bullying. Again, these elements are not new but are often countered by strong or admirable personas on either side that help push through the questionable behavior with a tease of ‘what could be' if the two figured out their differences. However, the lead character Erika is dull and uninspired and Kyoya is a narcissist with few redeeming qualities at this junction. The supporting cast equally lacks depth and there is not even a ‘best friend' that compliments the main characters.

The comedy, what little there is, seldom lands and the dramatic elements become awash in the monotony of the story focused around unlikable characters. For an inaugural release, especially in the shojo genre, it is a rarity to not feel an attachment to any character, main or side. Near the volume's conclusion, readers will get a hint at the potential romance between Erika and Kyoya. Still, by that point, the utter indifference built towards the couple's courting challenges the appeal of this instance.

The art of Ayuko Hatta is serviceable to the genre, and the mangaka has a knack for interjecting a lot of personality into her characters through expression. At the same time, there is no one instance that really cements the visual prowess of Hatta as a storyteller and no sequences or single panels that will give readers a reason to pause. Unfortunately, this further sours the experience given that, in shojo stories, often takes precedence over the visual presentation, and faults in the latter can be overlooked if the narrative is engaging.

The inaugural release of “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” will challenge the reader's patience, only leaving them with the hope that the series improve in subsequent volumes–one has to trust the popularity of the series garnered in Japan. However, with the plethora of competent and engaging shojo readily available, it is hard to see a reason to push through based on such an underwhelming intro.

It's funny, kind of cute but not different from the genre. It really is just your average shoujo story, with some deprecation sprinkled in to keep it interesting. Had a few laughs though!

Aw this really was super cute! I like that the characters are flawed in a way I don't usually see in Shoujo manga. It's an interesting concept without being creepy.

I love a classic cold and warm pairing. After months of lying about having a boyfriend, Erika snaps a pic of a cute guy at the mall. Buuut he turns out to be an upperclassman at her school. Of course he agrees to be her pretend boyfriend if she'll be his dog (at his beck and call). Cute.

Well that was not was I was expecting. This was a DNF for me only a few pages in. Based on the synopsis I had high hopes for this but I was just too weirded out when he wanted her to be his dog

Wolf Girl and Black Prince tells the story of a girl trying to impress her friends with a nonexistent boyfriend.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince Volume One
Written by: Ayuko Hatta
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: May 9, 2023

The story opens with a high school girl named Erika Shinohara being friends with two of the popular girls in her class and always talking with them about her boyfriend. Except, there’s a problem… she really doesn’t have one. Erika doesn’t want to admit this to her friends, though, because she knows they’ll abandon her if they find out the truth.

However, her friends start suspecting she’s lying because she never shows a picture of her supposed boyfriend. Erika decides to take a picture of a random guy to use as a picture of her “boyfriend,” and she assumes the guy she took a picture of is just some random nobody. But it turns out that he’s actually a popular boy at her school named Kyoya Sata.

When Kyoya finds out what the situation is, it seems like he’s going to be a nice guy and help her out. But then he reveals that he has a dark side to him, and he starts treating Erika like a dog. When she objects, he tells her that he’s going to reveal her secret to her friends if she doesn’t do what he asks. He puts on the nice guy act around her friends, but we see that Kyoya tends to act coldly around Erika when they’re alone.

One day, when some of Kyoya’s fangirls pester Erika for dating him, she is rescued by a boy named Kimura. He acts like he’s interested in Erika and asks her out, and Kyoya forbids her to see him. However, Erika decides to defy him and see him anyway. Just as Erika seems to fall for Kimura, she learns that he’s not being honest with her. While Kyoya does come to Erika’s rescue, I’m not entirely happy with the fact that he slaps her during this portion of the story. However, after it’s all over, Kyoya does something that seems to be an effort to comfort her, but he insists that’s not what’s going on.

After this incident, though, it seems as if Erika is beginning to fall for Kyoya, even if she denies it to herself. Other incidents happen in the volume where Kyoya seems to act like his usual self, but then does something that seems surprisingly nice. When Kyoya is sick and is out of school for a few days, Erika takes it on herself to look after him. Kyoya keeps trying to push her away, thinking she’s just trying to be nice for her own selfish reasons, but after he realizes that’s not the case, he actually thanks her.

Near the end of the volume, the expressions we see on Kyoya’s face seem to suggest that maybe he might be starting to fall for Erika. However, this isn’t as blatant as when Erika starts to think that perhaps she might actually like Kyoya.

Kyoya does come off as a jerk for a lot of this volume, but with this being a shojo manga series, I suspect that there’s more to him and his attitude than what we see on the surface. We do start getting a hint of this when Erika learns a little bit about Kyoya’s family while she’s taking care of him, but I think there could be more behind his attitude than just this. Hopefully future volumes of the series will flesh Kyoya out more as a character. As he’s portrayed in most of Volume One, though, Kyoya can come across as a toxic character, which does make it hard for me to want him and Erika to truly get together as a couple.

Erika’s motivations in this story make her feel like a shallow character at the start, but they are realistic for a teenager. Belonging and fitting in is important to many teens, and Erika is obviously not an exception. Kyoya points out this shallowness in various points of Volume One, and Hatta uses this to show the “mean” side of his interactions with Erika.

I remember hearing the title Wolf Girl and Black Prince when it came out as an anime in 2014, so I was surprised to see that VIZ Media just now licensed this manga title and began releasing it in 2023. It turns out that this is an earlier work of the mangaka behind the Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love manga series, which VIZ Media is also releasing. Realizing this fact, it hit me that while the art style between these two series is similar, there are obvious differences. When I compare the art of both series, it feels as if Hatta is using a more “minimalistic” look for the characters and backgrounds of Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love. When I look at Wolf Girl and Black Prince, it feels like Hatta was using a little more detail in her art in this earlier series.

When it comes to Wolf Girl and Black Prince, I found that the story was kind of interesting, but I felt that Kyoya could be a little too toxic for my tastes at times. Yes, he begins to soften a little by the end of Volume One, but to me, this doesn’t help excuse his earlier behavior. I’m a little afraid that by the end of the series, Kyoya’s toxic traits will be swept under the rug and all will be easily forgiven. I hope I’m wrong on that, though.

I admit that I’m not in the target audience for Wolf Girl and Black Prince, so I may be looking at it more from an adult’s perspective. I have a feeling that the teenage girls that the series is being aimed at will have a stronger appreciation for it than I do, but I hope they don’t believe that some of the things that Kyoya does in this volume are acceptable or healthy.

Thank you NetGalley and Viz Media for the ARC! High Schooler Erika fears being an outcast, so she feigns having a boyfriend to fit in. When her friends start to doubt her, Erika takes a photo of a handsome boy. The only problem? The handsome boy turns out to be school mate and school prince, Kyoya. Erika begs Kyoya to help her but she must be his "dog." She agrees and what follows is a hillarious, fake dating romp!

I watched this anime several years ago, and I have to say they did an excellent job adapting it. I don't know why I enjoy it so much -- the love interest is incredibly toxic, and the main character is a total mess, yet I find myself rooting for them anyway.

I haven't read Manga for a while, but I have enjoyed a lot of what I read. This one seemed cute and fast-paced. I don't think I will read the rest of the series, but not because it's bad, it's just not my kind of story!

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I thought this book was kind of funny. Basically this girl tries to get along with another group of popular girls by pretending she has a boyfriend. Only, she gets caught in the lie and asks the dubbed prince of their school to help her out. In return for pretending to be her boyfriend, she has to be at his call when he needs anything and his reasoning is he "likes dogs".

This was kind of a funny book. It really was just setting up the story. Of course because it is a shojo you have the tropes of him "playing his part" a little too well. I would be interested to see how this story develops and how the main character grows.

Desperate to be seen as cool, Erica has been fooling her friends with a made up relationship. When her trivial lies are about to get her into trouble, Erica strikes a deal with her classmate Kyoya Sato. He agrees to be her boyfriend and save her reputation for a price. In exchange, she'll be his "dog" at his every beck and call. But is Kyoya as blackhearted as he makes out to be?

This looks like a slow burning enemies to lovers romantic comedy. Attractively drawn characters, plenty of laughs, and our main character has gotten herself into quite the pickle. Or so she thinks. I'm excited to see where this one goes.

Apparently this is a reprint of this title in English. After reading this book I went looking for book 2 and discovered there are 9 books total in this series and that it was also made into a tv show. I loved this book to the point that I am tempted to find and buy the old version of this series. The main character is the only one of her friends without a boyfriend so makes one up which of course comes back to bite her. One of the boys in her school gets drawn into her mess and agrees to be her fake boyfriend as long as she will do anything he says. (Get him a soda, give him her food, like that). Even in book one we have seen character growth between the two and you can tell that this fake relationship just might be going somewhere. I can't wait to see what happens next!! I received and e-arc of this title from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Erika makes up a story about a fake boyfriend to appease her friends. When she takes a picture of a random guy to prove his existence, she accidentally photographs a classmate who then agrees to be her fake boyfriend if she becomes his dog. What follows is an unhealthy relationship based on lies.

While I understand the fake dating trope and the pressure to fit in with your peers, this book missed the mark for me. The girls that Erika is trying to appease are frenemies and she doesn't listen to her one true friend Sen. Kyoya's so disassociated with his peers that he has no real friends and thus no social skills beyond how to interact with a pet? It's all a mass of confusion really. As always, your mileage may vary.

5/5

Did I read this when I was in high school? Yes.
Did I watch the anime when it came out? Yes.
Am I reading it again because it’s being rereleased? Yes of course.
And every time this story comes across my life I am always happy and get a warm nostalgic feeling now.

I’ve always loved this silly little rom-com and I always will. I’ve always thought that Erika’s and Kyoya’s character were so compelling. I think that this manga is a blueprint for so many that have come after. A classic is a classic and it still holds up.

Yes the art is outdated now but it still has a very clean concise style that can be appreciated. I also love the more diverse range of facial expressions that you don’t always get in rom-com mangas.

If you haven’t already consumed this story in some way (where have you been btw? It’s been 12 years already!) then now’s the time! I hope that I will be able to continue reading this rerelease. Can’t wait!

A big thanks to NetGalley and Viz Media for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A new shojo manga that will have you head over heels.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince by Ayuko Hatta is a shojo manga that follows Erika Shinohara and her many lies. Fed up with her friends love lives, she decides to make up a boyfriend, in hopes of making them jealous. But at the end of the day, they want to meet him and she has nothing to help her. Until Kyoya Sata agrees to be her fictional boyfriend, with the terms of her being at his beck and call. Lest he slip up and let her secret out.

This is just an adorable shojo, and I can't wait to read volume two. It reminded a lot of the Webtoons series, True Beauty.

Fans of infuriating bad boys rejoice! Kyoya is deliciously wicked. Erika has been fibbing to her seat mates in class so they don’t think she is weird for not having a boyfriend. Things got out of hand and now these frenemies think she is lying. When she snaps a pic of a random hot boy on the street to show them a pic of her “boyfriend”, Erika didn’t realize he went to their school. Kyoya decides to play a long for a price. Erika has to be his dog. Don’t worry it isn’t all that bad. He teases her relentlessly but Erika is thankful he is helping her ruse.

When Erika gets into a spot with another boy, Kyoya is there is save her. Even with his difficult attitude he is a good friend to Erika. Fans of Skip Beat, Wallflower, Boys over Flowers and other shojo manga will love Wolf Girl and Black Prince.

It is damning this with faint praise to say that the good news is that Kyoya doesn't try anything physical with fake girlfriend Erika. This is one of those books where it's hard to find anything to like about either protagonist - Erika is poisoned by shoujo manga and believes she needs romance (and her crummy friends don't help) while Kyoya is incredibly cynical. Both clearly have their reasons for this - nothing in Kyoya's life has indicated that women are trustworthy - but it's exhausting reading about them. It's got the blandness of <i>Ima Koi</i> without the fluffy charm.