Ookami-heika no Hanayome

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I love this manga for the number of cliches it follows. It hits many of them that you expect, but I say that it makes for charming characters that you easily come to love.

I think this isn't a manga you particularly read for the plot. Many of the plot points are minor and don't have much significance within the manga. Rather, following the relationship between the King and Yuurin provides most of the enjoyment.
What's quite interesting is that for as cliched this manga is, there isn't a proper love triangle. I'm quite glad of this; not because I don't enjoy love triangles but ... because I think one would negatively disrupt the storyline.
The art is very clear and quite enjoyable. I really enjoy the representations of the different sides of the King and Yuurin as a rabbit. It's all very cute and helps to add to their characters.
The characters are fairly typical. You have the Yuurin, a consort with unknown (commoner) roots but is very headstrong and kind hearted then the King, strong but with a soft side. As you are introduced to the characters in the beginning, Rijun, the King's adviser, describes his Majesty's nature to be soft and puppy like and that he must put on the Wolf king demeanor to uphold a facade of strength to the public and to his officials. We quickly find out this isn't true, and both sides are very much him. Exploring this throughout the manga is interesting as Yuurin is not aware of this truth.
The politics and origins stories are woven in and do not become tiring as it often can do. Later in the manga comes a tipping point, and that's where I'd say the plot really starts to hit off. This is a brief but significant portion. Nothing in this manga feels particularly rushed; it maintains a steady pacing until that tipping point, but even there it is well paced.
I really can't describe in words how much I love this manga. For the most part, it is lighthearted without being grossly fluffy. And when it gets deep, it's a very interesting and well thought out plot. I truly love this manga. It's one of those mangas that you continue to think about days after you've completed it, and many mangas later. I wish I could wake up with amnesia just to read it for the first time again.
So I say give it a shot!

Hello there, are you feeling under the weather? Recovering from illness, perhaps? Or maybe you just need a smile? Then Ookami-heika no Hanayome is what you need!
This series is 80% fluff/20% plot, but it's very good fluff and the plot makes absolute sense in a court politics sense. It just takes very long to take off, so you're left with the quality fluff for about 40 chapters. But, hey, people that can't take 40 chapters of pure romance have no business reading shoujo manga.
The premise is a classic shoujo story-type, even if some of the characters are more modern (the tsundere prince is not that ... common of a character), the setting is a generic feudal east-asia type of country which is very slowly fleshed out and the stories aren't anything very original, but, goddess, they're sweet and entertaining. It gets progressively sweeter and more original, as time (and chapters) passes and then it hits you with the plot. But talking about that would be spoiling.
As for the characters, Yuurin (Yuu Lin?) is all I dislike about a lead: naive, hard-working, innocent, no idea what it means when you get the hots near a guy, even less idea of what it means to be a consort. Yet, somehow, her ways are endearing instead of ennerving. I root for her.
Reishou, the Wolf King, is a very special kind of romantic hero. He's a guy that keeps an incredibly complex facade going all the time, regardless of who is with him. A complex character, slightly dark, very intelligent and absolutely conscious of how much his relationship with Yuurin ("acting" or not) is a whole bunch of indulgence.
The art starts as regular shoujo fare, but gains genuine style after some 20 chapters. By chapter 40 the narrative is fluid enough you won't feel the pages turning. Also, the men are pretty, which is *required* for this kind of story.

Recommended for shoujo fans and people that need to smile. ^^

I feel like I need to give this manga a proper review. The reviews on here seem to paint this work as an adorable original story that is charming. While I will give the story the point that it is humorous it is not all that much fun to read, it definitely is very predicable and honestly makes me want to take back the couple hours I spent reading this. But since I like to give a fair review, I'll let you decide and cite reason for what I think.
From here on there will be some VERY minor spoilers:

The story:
The Good: Its in old Japan ... so that's a good start and the set up has good potential, a low class girl who plays the wife of the wolf like king for money and primarily to pay off debts, her adventures are humorous and slapstick, often ending in a comedic situation. That's where the good ends.
The bad: This plot, while original at the beginning quickly relies on troops. Its very clear to see that the story was meant to be a one-shot because the plot is wrapped up nicely in the first chapter. After that her emerging feelings mysteriously disappear until chapter 25 or so. The plot is watery with no real go in mind other than the fact that the author obviously wants the series to continue and makes her pay back debts that are a little too ridiculous. Like hanging around an extra 5 or so months because she put a small crack in the wall.

Art:
Don't really ned a good or bad here, I mean it looks like every other shoujo manga, and by every other shoujo mangas I mean works such as (but not limited to): Fruits Basket, Last Game, Horimiya, Taiyou no Ie, Arakure, Mixed Vegtables, Special A, and many many more. Definitely nothing special

Character:
The good: Well... there are some attractive guys I guess?
The bad: Look, maybe its not always bad but both characters resemble other characters so much its depressing. For example the wolf king bears a striking resemblance to Kyouya in Black Prince and Wolf Girl (sound familiar?), and Kyo from Fruits Basket, and Ikuto from Shugo Chara. The girl is so common its sad she is VERY similar to Misaki from Kaichou wa Maid-sama, Every main character from Io Sakisaka (ie Ao Haru Ride, and Strobe Edge), Hikari from Special A, and basically every "strong" "hope, optimism, and love" character written in shoujo manga in the last 50 years.

Enjoyment:
It keeps you entertained enough to keep reading I guess...

Overall:
Basically its a VERY timeworn formula that manga artists and authors like to use because I guess people like it. However, if you are going to get engaged in a long running slow moving story, do yourself a favor and read Skip Beat or maybe Ouke no Monshou if your okay with VERY old art and plot circles. Better yet, read Special A. As I've been hinting at through this summary, Special A has done everything this manga attempts to do and better only in a more modern setting with more characters and more comedy.

I'm not trying to hate on this manga, making a manga is hard work! But in the case of this one, its not all that fabulous. Furthermore, read it yourself and see what you think, perhaps this girl has been into shoujo manga too long and no longer appreciates a classically plotted story. Could be just me, but please do decide for yourself and keep ALL the comments in mind.