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First Impressions: That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! by Yoko Nogiri

That Wolf-Boy is Mine!, adapted from Watashi no Ookami-kun, is a four volume shoujo manga by Yoko Nogiri that ran in Aria manga magazine from August 2014 to March 2016. The series is being published in North America by Kodansha USA and the first volume came out in August 2016.

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The Gist: Kusonoki Komugi lives with her mother in Tokyo and can’t get along with classmates. Because of her mother’s business trip, she has to stay with her father in Hokkaido for a year. She thinks she will have opportunities to make new friends. She got to sit next to Ookami Yuu, a popular boy who tells her she smells good. One day, she discovers his secret…

The Review: This series caught my attention when it debuted in Japan. Just the first chapter was enough for me to want to read more. Since I bought the first three volumes in Japanese, I have already read the majority of the story. You can imagine how excited I was to hear that the series was getting an English license. The purpose of this review is to discuss the English adaptation.

For the English adaptation, I was hoping that there would be a more drama-like synopsis of the story. Kodansha had to stick with the Japanese text, though, so the synopsis on the volume itself comes across as a comedy. Granted, there are some funny scenes in the manga, but the message of the story itself is more of a serious nature. So that might be misleading for people who pick up the volume, read the synopsis, and think it’s going to be funny. It’s cute, but it’s still a high school love drama.

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The story itself is endearing and sweet. Komugi accidentally discovers the secret of several of her male classmates, and they can’t fix the problem so they bring her into their circle. While they seem pretty experienced socially, they are actually still adapting to being in school. My favorite element of the story is the boys’ real identities. I explained to someone on twitter that I felt the story had an element of Fruits Basket to it because the boys are able to switch back and forth between animal and human. That, and the girl Komugi has just moved and is feeling very displaced. She becomes the confidant of the boys and the target of more than one of their affections. It also reminds me of Wolf-Children, by Mamoru Hosada, since the main male protagonist, Yuu, has some of the same predicaments as the characters in that movie.

The translation by Aletha and Athena Nibly is well adapted to English and highly enjoyable. It was such a pleasure to read the series in English after working through the Japanese. The lettering actually caught my attention, which is not a good thing. Some of the text looks like it was done in a non-comic type font, so it looks too generic for the lettering. But that’s the graphic designer in me. Maybe the rest of you won’t notice it at all.

The Art: I love the art in this series. The drawings have a wispy feel to them. The character designs are distinctive enough that you can tell the boys apart easily. The boys look too cute when they have tails and ears! There are some nice two page spreads as well.

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The Audience: This series is appropriate for teens and tweens. Those who enjoy supernatural shoujo will enjoy this as well. If you like Fruits Basket then I recommend this series.

The Media: That Wolf-Boy is Mine! is a 4 volume series from Kodansha. The first volume is available now with the second coming out in October.

Heart of Manga Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

A supernatural love drama with delicate art and transforming bishies, That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! is not to be missed!

 

 

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