A fun serial high school romance with all the requisite comedy, angst, miscommunications, and adolescent drama. Manga lovers will eat this series up!

I’m not sure what this says about me, but this type of story has so many of my favorite tropes and character types. Fake dating that seems a little enemies to lovers, a jerkish main character who is kinda sassy & and it had a female mc that I don’t dislike. I know the male mc kinda has the bully thing going for him, but I’m this situation I don’t dislike it - feels more like he’s being a jerk to hide his feelings.

This is the first series in a while that I want to binge.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #vizmedia for an E-copy of #WolfGirlandBlackPrinceVol1 by Ayuko Hatta to read and review.

I was given an ARC through NetGally.

The artwork was the typical fun Manga style artwork with a story that I'm sure resonates with teen girls.

I had a hard time with this book. I understand the cattiness of the friends extends beyond borders, but I have a hard time believing that having Marin and Tezuka would have stuck with Erika or, more importantly, that she truly would have been willing to go through what she did just to keep them as friends. I was also a bit disturbed by 7th graders (13-14 year olds) going on about bondage during sex on the first few pages of the book.

My feelings towards this work are complicated. On the one hand, our fake boyfriend doesn't put up with a lot of fake feelings and niceties, forcing others around him to also be their truer selves which is very interesting in a high school relationship dramady. One the other hand, if this was an actual man, I'd say something like, GIRL RUN! A lot of his behavior towards her set off my alarm bells, but they both have room to grow past this first volume, and I want to see that. Very interesting read, honestly.

It's sort of a cute read, but very much of its time. I think there's fine line between emotionally abusive partners and a well done bad boy, and this book doesn't quite stick the landing.

How does one sum up thoughts on this one?

In a Mean Girls, or any mid-2000s secondary school, way, girls like to show off. If you don't have something to show off about, you lie and pretend that you do. As such, Erika finds herself lying about an amazing-in-every-way boyfriend so she can compete with her vapid friends.

Clearly, this was never going to end well.

When they start insisting that they see a photograph of this Adonis, Erika snaps the first good-looking guy she sees, not realising that he actually attends her school. In a desperate attempt to save face, she gets him to pretend (more lies) to be dating her in exchange for meeting his demand that she be his dog.

The dog bit is weird; we're all agreed.

Honestly, after the bumpy middle, it isn't that bad.

Kyouya is possibly the most hot-and-cold character ever written as he slips 'soft' remarks into the conversation before returning to gazing out of the window because this is the only acceptable action for the angsty love interest. Erika then sits and analyses his words in minute detail, which is decently accurate for teenagers but mind-numbingly obsessive to the rest of us.

Erika's friends are insanely self-centred and rude. Any moment in which they are the main focus is a rollercoaster of emotions, opinions and mess.

Is this, then, a perfect depiction of the highs and lows journey through adolescence? Or is it simply a hodgepodge of ideas mushed together like a child's drawing presented to an adult with a 'ta-dah'?

Also, too many of the male characters look alike. Each new introduction brings in another blonde, sweeping-fringe teenager, making it difficult at points to follow the narrative.

The dog idea is only periodically mentioned- in this volume anyway- for which we can all be eternally grateful.

This is the English translation of the first volume of a shojo series from some years ago.

When a lie becomes true and backfires. She pretends to have a boyfriend to be liked by her "friends". He finds out and manipulates her. Every once in a while he seems like he may have a redeeming something....but nope.

I have been in the mood for some shojo manga, and this one was freely available on Netgalley. I thought this was a popular series, as I recognized the title. Unfortunately, that was all I knew about it. If I took two seconds to read the synopsis, I think I would've skipped this. It follows a high school girl who likes to brag about her boyfriend to her classmates. She doesn't actually have a boyfriend though, so when asked to bring proof, she takes a random picture of a random hot guy who turns out to go to her school. Before it gets too messy, she drags the guy aside and asks for him to pretend to be her boyfriend. He agrees in exchange for her pretending to be his dog. That's right. HIS DOG.

I finished reading it, because I took the time to ask for a review copy. It's more my fault than the manga. But seriously, why is stuff like this still written!? No one should suffer abuse, even if they are unlikeable characters!

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Erika has been lying to her friends about something important: having a boyfriend. When her friends start suspecting the lie, she does something drastic and takes a picture of a random attractive boy on the street. Unfortunately, it turns out he also goes to her school and now Erika and Kyoya are in a fake relationship.

There are some weird lines crossed in this first volume of Wolf Girl and Black Prince. First, the whole plotline of "be my dog and I won't sus you out" seems a little dated. Second, the idea is kind of . . . demeaning more than funny? This is a translation of a manga published several years ago, so I can see where the early 2010 vibes are coming from. Also, why is the main character's name Erika of all things? Is that her name in the original or did the publisher decide to change it during the translation? I would be interested to know.

The art is cute and kind of nostalgic looking. Overall this was a solid first volume of what promises to be a convoluted shojo manga. If you are looking for story depth or a strong female lead, I don't think this quite reaches the mark, but it's a pretty good first shojo manga as it very much give Shojo Beat vibes.

Really not a fan of the relationship dynamic portrayed in this. The description promises a fake-dating plot in which the main character must be at the love interest's "beck and call" in exchange for him pretending to be her boyfriend. What I actually found in this manga is a dynamic in which the love interest calls the main character names, puts her down constantly, and even destroys her phone for talking to another boy.

I'm just not interested in yet another narrative aimed at teenage girls treating a clearly abusive relationship as romantic, and for that reason cannot recommend this title.

"Wolf Girl and Black Prince" is about a high school girl named Erika who lies about having a boyfriend in order to keep up with her social standing in school. Her lies start to catch up to her so she illegally tries to take a candid photo of a cute guy to show her friends to convince them of her lie. The guy, Kyoya, catches her in the act and ends up being a student at her school as well. He offers to help her with her lie by pretending to be her boyfriend, but she has to do everything he says in return.

To get to the nitty gritty, I really dislike her friends from her class. They are really fake and are blatantly mean/petty to her at times. I also highly dislike that one of them is dating a adult, which unfortunately seems to be a way too common occurrence in shojo manga. Unfortunately this hampered my overall enjoyment of the story. I probably would have liked it more otherwise.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince by Ayuko Hatta follows Erika Shinohara, an insecure high school girl with no dating experience, as she gets wrapped up in a fake dating scheme with Kyoya Sata, the snarky and sly so-called prince of their high school. Wolf Girl and Black Prince is a fun series, but the main characters' hot-and-cold dynamic may not be for everyone. Diana Taylor's translation captures the free-spirited nature of high schoolers well, and Aidan Clarke's lettering and sound effects are fun and dynamic. Alice Lewis' title treatment is also very cute and fits the series.

Story and Art: Ayuko Hatta
Translation: Diana Taylor
Touch-Up Art and Lettering: Aidan Clarke
Design: Alice Lewis
Editor: Karla Clark