"Wolf Girl and Black Prince" (Ōkami Shōjo to Kuro Ōji) is a Japanese shōjo manga series written by Ayuko Hatta. A drama CD version of the series was released in 2013. In 2014, the May issue of Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret magazine announced that an anime television series had been approved. The anime aired from October 5 to December 21, 2014. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series for distribution.
Plot
Erika Shinohara is a high school student who wants to belong to a group of friends to avoid feeling lonely. Her group includes girls who each have boyfriends, so Erika begins telling lies about having a boyfriend too. To make her stories seem real, she takes a photo of a man she sees on the street. The man, Kyoya Sata, is the most popular boy at their school. Erika asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend, and he agrees, but only if she acts as his "Wolf Girl" by behaving like a pet.
Erika later learns that Kyoya is not kind or gentle, as he appears to others. He often says mean comments and has a negative view of the world. Despite this, Erika grows to like him and eventually falls in love. Kyoya also begins to care for her, which becomes clear when Erika stops being the Wolf Girl after a misunderstanding. Kyoya then officially asks her to be his girlfriend.
Throughout high school, Erika and Kyoya face many problems, such as competing love interests, misunderstandings, and jealousy. They learn to support and change for each other. They also become friends with three others: Ayumi Sanda, Erika's independent best friend; Takeru Hibiya, Kyoya's energetic best friend; and Nozomi Kamiya, a colorful classmate who joins them in their second year. Later, Erika must move to Kyoto to attend a vocational school for glass making, which creates challenges for their relationship. They decide to work through the difficulties together.
Seven years after graduating from high school, Erika and Kyoya have each achieved their career goals. Erika becomes a glassmaker, and she and Kyoya are married with a daughter named Yuina.
Media
The manga Wolf Girl and Black Prince, written and illustrated by Ayuko Hatta, was published in parts in Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret magazine from October 25, 2011, to May 13, 2016. The chapters were collected into sixteen book volumes.
At New York Comic Con 2022, Viz Media announced that they would publish the series in English.
An anime television series adaptation of the manga aired in Japan from October 5, 2014, to December 21, 2014. The series was produced by Shueisha, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, VAP, TYO Animations, and Yomiuri-TV Enterprise. It was directed by Ken'ichi Kasai, with Sawako Hirabayashi responsible for the story structure, Maki Fujioka designing the characters, and Gō Sakabe composing the music. The opening theme was "LOVE GOOD TIME" by SpecialThanks, and the ending theme was "Wolf Heart" (オオカミハート) by Oresama. The series included 12 episodes.
Crunchyroll streamed the anime, and Sentai Filmworks obtained the rights to publish it. After Sony Pictures Television acquired Crunchyroll, Wolf Girl and Black Prince, along with other Sentai Filmworks titles, was removed from Crunchyroll on March 31, 2022.
A live-action film version of the story, directed by Ryūichi Hiroki, was shown in Japanese theaters on May 28, 2016. The movie earned US$10,639,039 at the box office in Japan.
Reception
The manga has sold more than 2.4 million copies by April 2014. The 7th volume of the manga reached number four on the Oricon weekly manga chart during the week of September 23–29, 2013. It sold 102,872 copies during that week.