Ranked #725

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji (Manga)

"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? read more

This is a standard shoujo manga at it's best,highly enjoyable with a good storyline and interesting characters.
Kyouya,the sadist prince,is an extremely interesting character and his twisted way of thinking is very refreshing and also funny.
Erika is a nice character and although she's not outstanding or anything,she has her good points,you'd expect her put up with everything at first but she actually doesn't,she has her boundaries and she stands up for her herself,which is very nice to see.
The art is great,I have no complaints about it (and Kyouya is pure eyecandy).
The story is not very original,but its still works.One great thing is that this manga doesn't drag things too much,things develop pretty quickly and everything happens at suitable time.

I higly recommend "Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji",it's a good read. read more