Shinohara Erika is a bit different from the usual shoujo main character. She's simple-minded and dense, true, but she also has an enormous yearning to fit in with her peers. Additionally, she's not afraid to tell a lie to do so. Erika wants to be accepted and loved so much that she is quick to fall head over heels for anyone who shows even the slightest bit of kindness to her. She's very gullible and very eager to please. That actually makes her a somewhat well-rounded protagonist; at least she's well-developed enough that she is believable and even understandable. I'm sure we all know someone who is a little (or a lot) like Erika in some ways. What is a bit less believable is her single-minded, almost self-destructive thirst to be accepted, but hey, there are people like that, too.
Sata Kyouya, on the other hand, adopts the persona of a “kindhearted prince”, when in reality he's a cold, sadistic individual. Calculating and observant, he's the sort that likes to know he has complete control of himself and his surroundings. He doesn't really understand emotions or romance, mainly because, as a child, a particular event caused him to become extremely closed off and reproachful of anyone who tried to get close to him. While it doesn't excuse his actions in any way, shape, or form, it definitely helps one understand his actions. There's almost nothing sadder than a home that lacks a mother, and that lack of presence is felt. Over the course of the anime, he becomes less of a cold bastard and more simply a reserved, introverted individual. In that regard, he's a bit original, even though he does display some tsundere traits.
So, what brings this unlikely duo together? During the first day of high school, Erika meets two girls in her class. Desperate for friends, she nearly trips over her own two feet to integrate herself into their group. This entails being “just like them” and having a boyfriend of her own. A few months into the semester, though, her newfound “friends” are already beginning to smell her lie – especially since Erika doesn't have a single picture of her boyfriend to show them. One day, Erika sees a cute guy on the street and decides to take a picture of him, playing him off as her boyfriend. Only problem is that the guy she takes a picture of happens to be the “prince” of her school, Kyouya, and her friends recognize him almost immediately. This leaves her no choice but to ask Kyouya to pretend to be her boyfriend. He agrees, but for a price: she has to be his “dog”.
I ought to be shaking my fist, right? I ought to loathe this anime along with the likes of Itazura na Kiss, Diabolik Lovers, and Mitsu x Mitsu Drops, right? Problem is, I don't. It takes a particular person to laugh at the jokes and humour in Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, and a particular viewpoint, and if you fit neither, it's safe to say you'll hate this anime. However, this anime is a lot more tolerable than those of the same ilk – for one thing, Kyouya isn't a psychopath like Irie Naoki of ItaKiss. He's not doing the things he does because he genuinely wants to hurt her, he genuinely has no understanding of the fact that she's affected to the extent that she is. In fact, by the end of the anime, it's made pretty clear that he's trying his damned hardest to break down his own inner walls and inhibitions and be more affectionate to Erika. He just doesn't know how, darn it. I'm not the greatest at showing my emotions, either. I can hardly blame the guy. I'm betting he's an INTJ. We INTJs always have problems with those flimsy, abstract things.
Now, I'm not excusing his actions, and if I were Erika's friend, I'd tell her to break it off with Kyouya. But Erika herself doesn't seem to want to. She's given multiple opportunities to break it off with him, and never takes them. Even when she's been separated from him for days, she still decides, of her own volition, to go back to him, because she still likes him no matter what he does. As she herself states, she likes him because of who he is, and changing even a single part of him wouldn't make him the same person anymore. If he makes her genuinely happy and he isn't forcing her to be with him, then who I am to judge? I certainly can't go about forcing my ideals on others.
Plus, let's face it: not everyone's perfect, and not everyone is going to know exactly what's right and wrong to do in a relationship. The anime is basically the beginning of their adventure with something called “dating”, and forgive them if they don't know how to swim in deep water right away. Also, believe me: Kyouya's behaviour toward Erika gets a million times better in the manga, especially when you compare him to the first couple episodes of the anime.
If you don't have a sensitive skin and aren't the type to go social justice on everything, even the moments where Kyouya “scolds” Erika can actually be fairly amusing. At least, I found myself chuckling a few times upon my rewatch of the anime. In any case, there are times everyone has disagreements, and our main characters are no exception. Of interesting note is the fact that the anime brings up morals and conduct quite a bit, and really likes to pose the question of what is or isn't all right to do. Of course, one's mileage may vary, and the point of the matter is that there are different ways to approach love and romance, and making mistakes is fine so long as you realize what you're doing wrong and try to fix it. Neither Kyouya nor Erika are innocent in this regard. Erika, for her part, has a highly rose-coloured view of love, and Kyouya has a fairly negative impression of it. And Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji is what you get when those extremes clash.
Since this is only a twelve episode anime, we don't have that many side characters. They are mainly Sanda Ayumi, Erika's best friend; Marin and Tezuka, the two girls Erika meets in her class; and Takeru, Kyouya's friend from the middle school era. Of course, there are other characters as well, but they hardly get enough screen time or development to be considered truly important. A couple are only introduced for one episode and then forgotten. That being said, that doesn't mean the other characters develop at all. They're static. Marin and Tezuka are introduced as two girls who constantly talk about their boyfriends, and that's who they are in the end. Sanda relentlessly offers Erika advice and informs her that she is a masochist for putting up with Kyouya's behaviour – that doesn't change, either. Takeru is introduced as a guy full of a manly sense of justice, and he doesn't change one bit. That doesn't meant they're bad characters, though, since the majority of the character development comes from Erika and Kyouya. Mostly Kyouya.
The opening theme is a vaguely catchy number by SpecialThanks, called LOVE GOOD TIME. The vocalist has a somewhat slurry, “rock and roll princess” sort of accent that immediately reminds me of Full Moon wo Sagashite's openings (both of which are by THE*SCANTY). The song itself is rather upbeat, but not necessarily memorable, apart from the singer's voice. The ending is Ookami Heart, sung by Oresama. It's pretty average stuff as well. The whole soundtrack is just quite mediocre; while I didn't notice any overly obvious usage of repeated tracks, there were several moments where I found myself thinking, “oh, this sounds just like a theme I heard in ___”. In short, while the music isn't extravagant, it does its job just fine. The Japanese voice actors are pretty good. They really fit with the characters they were meant to represent.
The art is nice and clean. Typical shoujo fare, really. The guys are good-looking and the girls are cute. Sparkles and bubbles abound. When the animation isn't focused on those, it's pretty fluid. TYO Animations does a pretty good job! Thankfully, there isn't a surplus of chibi/super-deformed segments, which jives just right with me, since I'm not usually overly fond of those. One interesting thing to note is that Ookami Shoujo tends to animate talking heads over backgrounds during extended character interaction scenes. By that I mean, if two characters are sitting at a table and talking, often, the “camera” will display a wide, blurry shot of the scene, and the busts of the characters will be added over top. Something similar is done with extended walking or travel scenes; just the legs of the character in question are shown while the scenery changes. Just something I noticed.
Overall, while Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji definitely can provide entertainment, laughs, and “the feels”, it's definitely not for everyone. Kyouya's initial behaviour most certainly comes across as overly brusque at first. Take it from someone who was agonizing for hours over why she thought Ookami Shoujo was all right, though: he does get better, a lot better. As does the anime. Episode 8 and up ought to be pretty easy to get through, in fact, especially episode 10, which is probably my favourite, and really recommended if you want to see how tolerable the anime gets as a whole.
TL;DR: Watch at your own risk and don't be afraid to leave your overly quick conclusions at the door.
