Story
The story is like your standard highschool romance comedy. But unlike most highschool romance comedies, there is an actual villain - Hitsujikai. His and Ookami Ryouko's past is what makes the show more interesting. Each episode has underlying fairy tale references which are interesting and well executed.
The story does have flaws too. Some of the episodes are quite strong. For example, my favourite episode - Episode 9 where Shirayuki-senpai and Akai Ringo's past is shown is one of the strong points in the story. It adds to Ringo's character and makes her more developed and takes away the impression that she is just Ookami Ryouko's sidekick.
While there are good episodes, there are some episodes that serve no purpose and are a waste of time. Episode 8 was probably one of the worst episodes in my opinion. The two characters - the butler and Chutaro Nezumi were annoying (Chutaro being your stereotypical rich brat and the butler with his weird and crass jokes -__- ) and the whole episode was pointless and I see it as wasted twenty minutes and money to make one dumb episode.
The ending in my opinion was rather unsatisfying. (No spoilers)
Art
The art was okay, not too shabby. I liked the character designs. If you have noticed, the show has references to fairy tales and Japanese folk tales. You can tell from the design of the character. However, I find Morino Ryoushi's design rather bland in comparison to crazier characters such as Majolica le Fay. The animation was consistent throughout.
Sound
The voice actors did a good job with the voicing of the characters and conveyed the emotions of the characters well. The background music consisted of the continuous re-use of the opening, this irritated me. The show is reliant on the narrator. Although it is good to have a narrator who could help make things clearer for the viewer and help them understand the story better, the narration is too much for me because they should give the viewers some space to think instead of having the narrator's voice going on and on.
Character
The main characters are reasonably well developed.
Ookami Ryouko is a strong, manly girl with a tsundere attitude. However, she goes beyond the one-sided tsundere. She has a hidden self that no one really knows and is much softer on the inside. Ookami seems real and I can somewhat reach out to her. I find her relateable, compared to other anime heroines.
The male lead, Morino Ryoushi was probably one of the more dynamic characters. From a quiet boy with a scopophobia (anxiety disorder that is characterized by the fear of being looked at), he transforms into a braver person who is able to stand up for his friends due to his crush on Ookami Ryouko. Both of them make a decent couple in my opinion.
Akai Ringo is Ookami Ryouko's best friend. She seems to be a happy-go-lucky loli character. However, she is not a typical loli and is rather tricky. Kudos to breaking the stereotype!
The supporting cast had a lot of people. Other than the ones part of the Otogi Bank such as Alice and Majolica, the side characters are less memorable and do not leave any impression on me. Some of the characters were plain awful such as the butler or the rich kid from Episode 8. I wished it cut down on fan-service and maybe reduce the number of side characters. As the saying goes, "Too many cooks spoil the broth".
Enjoyment
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi is not particularly memorable but I would gladly rewatch it just for the laughs. I like the animation and characters the most. Perhaps the show would be better if the plot was improved.
In conclusion, I'll give the show a 7/10. It is not too bad and I recommend it to teenagers. It is light-hearted and sadly, has untapped potential. Although I expected slightly more from the show, I enjoyed watching it overall.
I hope you find my first review useful and have a nice day.
