Kind of a Wolf Review
The flat is everything Shiroki wanted: spacious yet not expensive and close to the university campus where he works as a TA. Best of all, pets are allowed; it’s just right for him and his adorable grey cat Furball. So why is his next-door neighbour, student Hayato Oogami-kun, so unbearably noisy at night-time? Is he playing games?
©Machi Suehiro, Yen Press
The racket gets so bad that Shiroki eventually confronts his neighbour and tells him to tone it down. Quiet days and nights ensue… but then Shiroki learns from one of his colleagues that Hayato hasn’t been attending classes. Shiroki tries to put this from his mind but when he goes home that night, his cat manages to slip out onto the balcony and into Hayato’s flat. When Shiroki goes after his errant pet, he discovers that Hayato has grey furry ears and a bushy tail; the full moon has brought out the wolf spirit that possesses him. Not only that, he’s also in a state of sexual arousal and cries out to Shiroki, “Help me!” Only when they wake up in bed together next morning does Hayato realize that his secret must have been discovered, even though he can’t remember what happened the night before.
“I don’t wanna hurt anyone… but sometimes, I literally can’t control myself. So I figure I should just maybe give up on ever getting involved with anyone.” Hayato to Shiroki.
Horribly embarrassed, Hayato doesn’t know what to do and seeks out fellow student Akiha (possessed by a fox spirit) and his boyfriend Yukuri (Fox-Colored Jealousy) for advice. Hayato is certain that Shiroki must hate him but Akiha urges him to try talking to Shiroki first before leaping to conclusions. The two understand each other well, having recognized when they first met that they were both possessed by animal spirits (even if Hayato did try to dominate Akiha at first) so Hayato decides to take his advice. After a very awkward conversation with Shiroki, Hayato asks him if he saw his ears and tail and tells him upfront about the wolf spirit. Shiroki invites him to eat dinner and suggests that they put the incident behind them. But Hayato has noticed something unusual about Shiroki: he doesn’t have a distinctive scent. Since the wolf spirit took possession of him, his sense of smell has been overburdened – but when he’s with Shiroki, he can relax. Far from drawing a line beneath what happened between them, now he can’t stay away and keeps popping round to his neighbour with gifts of food. Could Hayato be falling for Shiroki?
In Fox-Colored Jealousy Machi Suehiro gave us a cute Boys’ Love romance about a young man possessed by a mischievous fox spirit that had ideas of its own about when it took over his body – and the ensuing consequences. Now in Kind of a Wolf we find out more about his classmate Hayato who’s possessed by a wolf spirit that only appears at the time of the full moon. So, if you liked Fox-Colored Jealousy, you’ll like Kind of a Wolf too; the mangaka’s drawings are good to look at and are showcased by Yen Press’s trade paperback format (with really good quality paper). Both stories are light and fluffy reads, although if you want to look for deeper meaning, the possession by animal spirits could maybe be read as a metaphor for letting one’s natural instincts overrule the restrictions imposed by societal conventions: letting raw, animalistic emotions take over. And the characters are sympathetic, so you’ll be rooting for Shiroki to get over his unwillingness to risk getting involved with anyone (after getting badly burned at high school) and Hayato to accept the wild, wolfish aspect of his personality.
The translation for Yen Press is again in the very capable hands of Leighann Harvey with lettering by Dietrich Premier, making for a smooth and enjoyable read. There is no colour page but, as mentioned before, the high quality of the paper and the printing also contributes to the reading experience (some recent manga volumes have suffered from the use of thinner paper). Even though this is Mature-rated and is sold shrink-wrapped, there’s not very much in the way of explicit scenes and the intimate moments feel earned.
Kind of a Wolf is just the kind of light, feelgood read to pick up if you’re looking for a lightly supernatural-flavoured kemonomimi BL read. It probably won’t linger in the mind too long but its heart is in the right place and the art is attractive.
Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
