Ayuko Hatta

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 16, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

It’s graduation time, and Erika reflects on how she’s spent the last few years. She heads to Kyoto to pursue her passion for glassblowing.

Yeah, them moving in together turned out how I’d expected. I get it, Kyoya has an attitude, but Erika is a fucking SAINT for putting up with this guy long enough to get their happily ever after. I dunno, I think she can do better, but sometimes he seems like he finally accepted how to be happy without being a dick.

But that’s only SOMETIMES.

I guess I’m happy if they’re happy? 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 15, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Wanting to pursue glass blowing, Erika is trapped between her mother’s insistence on studying it in Kyoto and Kyoya’s ultimatum to stay in Tokyo or break up with him.

Yeah, I’d expect Kyoya to be a dick about this. There are plenty of characters who can balance cool, aloof jerk with a soft spot but Kyoya comes off as overly cruel then has to walk it back so the story can keep the couple together. The best part of this was someone giving him a good smack and putting him in his place because he keeps acting like a walking red flag to a girl who clearly cares for him and doesn’t deserve his abuse. 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 14, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

As graduation looms, Erika is unsure what she wants for her future. Also, Kyoya’s birthday is coming, and while Erika is excited to do something nice for him, Kyoya is indifferent to the whole thing.

Erika goes to her aunt Eiko, who makes glass art, and since she’s so excited about it, she’s considering doing it as a career. Meanwhile, this volume tries to get me to like Kyoya again as he learns to enjoy his birthday, and he encourages Erika to come to college with him, but I didn’t forget what happened in volume 12. In my mind, he hasn’t redeemed himself, and that temper is consistent throughout the whole series. It wasn’t just one bad day. Maybe college is the chance for Erika to get away from him for a while. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 13, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Despite Kyoya’s warnings, Erika tries to play matchmaker. After the trip, Erika’s parents want Kyoya to come over to formally meet him, and he takes Erika out for her birthday. There is also a side story where Takeru tries to tell Kyoya he shouldn’t be so blunt.
Takeru is a decent guy, and it’s nice to see someone be a friend to Kyoya. Overall, the bungled birthday date was the most amusing part. Kyoya was really trying to put forth some effort with the date and meeting her parents was off the rails; it gave me emotional whiplash, which was NOT appreciated given I haven’t forgotten what happened last volume there, kiddo. You’re still an asshole. 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 12, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Kyoya happens to run into Erika while she’s venting to Terasaki, who confesses his feelings for her.

Okay… I’m gonna spoil things. Fuck it. Even if Erika wasn’t taking Kyoya’s concerns seriously, he was WAY over the line with how he behaved.

And Terasaki? He can fuck all the way off. “I’m trying to save you. I got carried away.” If I ever think, “Ugh, that’s something my ex-husband used to say.” throw the whole ass man out. Or BOY in this case. The both of them are red flags and for Erika to blame herself? What the actual fuck.

Ma’am, you said no, HE HIT YOU and refused to take no for an answer. Then the whiplash of going into the school trip and I’m back to not wanting Erika to bother with Kyoya anymore. That shit pissed me off. 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 11, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

This time Erika falls ill and Kyoya takes care of her. After this, it’s time to plan for the senior trip and since Kyoya is on the committee, Erika gets a job to save up some money for it. But with Kyoya and Erika busy, it’s hard for them to have time for each other.

We also have the trope Erika getting jealous of a girl Kyoya is working with on the school trip which may be a standard YA type of deal and she’s a teenager, Kyoya is a lot of things but a cheater isn’t one of them. I’ve clocked a bunch of red flag behavior with him but not this so, I wasn’t that invested in that side of things. It was nice to see Kyoya continue to be a better person/boyfriend but we’ll see if Kyoya can keep that up since we’ve got some rivals: Kyoya has that girl helping with the class trip and Erika has a childhood friend who has confessed his feelings before. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 10, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Erika and Kyoya are on their first trip to a hot spring together and as usual, Erika is much more excited than her boyfriend. Both of them are nervous due to how much their friends talk about what could potentially happen when they’re alone overnight. After this, Erika struggles with what she wants to do after she graduates.

They’re in their senior year now which is why Erika is freaking out. All her friends seem to know what they want and when paired with the couple’s first overnight together, I like how in both cases it’s okay to progress exactly as comfortably as you want. Just because it’s your first night together doesn’t mean you have to have sex and just because you’re graduating, you don’t have to have your whole life mapped out in front of you. Since I’m not fully on board with green flag Kyoya, I am glad the story decided to take the route of being okay with not being ready. These are decent messages for teenagers who may be reading this and it’s not overly preachy about it. 3.4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 9, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Erika’s friend, San, is being stalked by some creep at her job who is convinced she’s in love with him. After this, Kyoya offers Erika a date to an amusement park and is shocked when she turns him down, leading him to wonder if Erika is seeing someone behind his back.

Aside for those two things, there’s a side story about Erika gaining weight. Here, Asshole Kyoya returns and his “help” is exactly what a person doesn’t need to hear when they feel down about themselves. Putting the story of Kyoya getting obsessed with taking care of a dog was likely a good idea since seeing him be a dick to Erika over her weight put a sour taste in my mouth but the attempt to soften me to him by showing how he adores this dog was not completely successful. I know he’s got no filter but geez, what a jerk. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 8, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Lena is dead set on confessing her feelings to Kyoya, no matter how Erika feels. After that, the focus shifts to the upcoming holidays and how Kyoya will spend Christmas with Erika.

When it came to Lena, we got to see the old, nasty Kyoya but it didn’t look like this middle schooler was gonna back off. It felt like obnoxious met obnoxious in this case because it’s skeevy to go after your cousin’s boyfriend like that and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I guess Kyoya’s nasty attitude was helpful in this case. The Christmas thing was nice and the story about Kyoya’s horrifically bad eyesight and him softening a bit because of Erika was a middling affair. It’s just okay and I stand by my initial assessment that it’s Erika’s happiness that keeps my interest in this series. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Wolf Girl and Black Prince” Vol. 7, by Ayuko Hatta

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Kyoya ends up tutoring Lena, Erika’s younger cousin and between her brattiness and Kyoya’s attitude, they naturally clash but when Kyoya rescues Lena from a guy who just won’t take no for an answer, Lena develops feelings for him.

It’s interesting that in this case, Kyoya doesn’t use is acerbic personality to outright reject Lena because he clearly knows exactly what’s going on. I know Erika asked him to be nicer but he never listened before so, good on him for this slight character development. I am slowly peeling away my intense dislike for him considering how this series started. 3.7 out of 5.

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