Although Tsukina always tries her best to fit in, she still feels like an outsider. It isn’t until she meets a man in a similar situation to her that she finally begins feeling like she belongs. Now she has to find balance between the girl she used to be, and the woman she wants to become.
Before we start the review…
Who wrote this manga?
This manga was written by Yuki Kodama.
Info about the volumes (ongoing)
- There are currently 7 volumes out in Japanese.
- There are currently 2 volumes out in English.
You can check out Volume One of this series for yourself below.
What’s this series about?
Tsukina is a high school student who desperately wants to fit in. No matter how hard she tries, she understands there’s a difference between her and her classmates, but she’s not exactly sure why. One of the major differences is her strength—her legs are so strong that she can basically soar through the air with no problems. She understands this is a strange ability for a teenage girl though, so she never utilizes her full potential.
It isn’t until one day, where she meets a strange man who claims to really like her smell, that she learn the truth about herself—she’s a werewolf. As she was adopted it’s clear that her parents are both regular humans, so the only link Tsukina has to her supernatural abilities is this strange man, Hayate.
Hayate, claiming to not be able to bear seeing a wolf all by her lonesome, invites Tsukina to his family home. It’s there that she can meet a large werewolf pack, and finally learn some things about herself. She goes with him, and is able to successfully transform into a wolf for the first time in her life, confirming that she is indeed a werewolf. There’s a problem though—she’s a grey wolf. The only wolves that live in the area are black, and white wolves are known to be not the kindest to outsiders. So, where exactly did Tsukina come from?
My thoughts on this volume (spoilers!)
I had very high hopes for this series, but I was somewhat let down by this volume. I had assumed it would be a coming of age story, with Tsukina discovering herself as the story went on.
I did enjoy learning about Tsukina’s family life, and her mom being deathly afraid to give her any independence was a rather nice touch. As Tsukina is at the age where she’ll soon go off to college, it makes sense that her mom doesn’t want to let her go. I found her relationship with her parents to be the most touching part of this volume.
It’s when Hayate is introduce that things start to go sideways for me. He’s 6 years older than Tsukina, and a complete stranger. While Tsukina is technically old enough to go out on her own and do as she pleases, I didn’t love the fact that she was so ready to hang out with this strange man as soon as she met him. He teaches her about herself, and then quickly convinces her to let him bring her to his family home. Again, she hasn’t known him for long at all by the time she’s going to his family home. His being a wolf is all the confirmation she needs that he can be trusted, it seems.
Once we meet his family, I was able to enjoy the story a little more. It’s here that Tsukina clearly is able to be “free” for the first time, not having to hold back any of her strength in fear that someone may see. It really started to feel like she found a second family within Hayate’s family, and even though there was a little bit of prejudice from his mom, Tsukina was eventually accepted. I am still unsure of how I feel about the added “white wolf vs black wolf” drama. As Tsukina is a grey wolf—a sign that there can be peace between the two—she is still kind of an outsider, even within the wolf community.
If the story had just been about the fact that she’s an outsider in both the human and werewolf communities, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. There is a lot that can be said about a girl having to discover herself , and the comparison to the struggles that biracial people face could have been made. I would have loved to see the story focus on this! Instead, the 6 years older, brotherly figure Hayate is turned into a love interest. Why oh why is he turned into a love interest? One in a triangle, at that. He could have been such a good mentor for her, and he could have helped her navigate this new world she’s found herself living in. I feel like the added romantic subplot between them almost cheepens their relationship, sadly.
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