Wolf Girl & Black Prince: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Wolf Girl & Black Prince: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Wolf Girl & Black Prince is a kinky romance-anime comedy. Created by Ayuko Hatta, Wolf Girl & Black Prince sets itself apart from some romantic anime productions by being a sweet natured series with an element of kink tossed in to the equation. The series features animation produced by TYO Animations (Samurai Warriors, Terraformars Revenge). Produced by Akinori Omata, Fumihiko Kimura, Hiroyuki Okino, Shuichi Kitada, Shunsuke Nara, and Yūji Kikukawa, Wolf Girl & Black Prince brings kinky fun forward.

Erika Shinohara (Kanae Itō) doesn’t have the best luck with guys and she isn’t in a relationship. In order to try and impress some of her girl friends, Erika decides o make up a story about a super cool fake boyfriend in order to seem way smarter and suaver than her other classmates. Yet she points out a particular guy in a photo who turns out to also be attending her school. Things turn unexpectedly when Erika ends up becoming more than a mere stranger to that particular male student: Kyōya Sata (Takahiro Sakurai).

As a story is invented on the fly about BDSM play, Erika and Kyōya end up going from a fake boyfriend-girlfriend relationship to being together. Now Kyōya wants her on his leash as his own personal servant: making her crawl, fetch, and listen to his every command. Though Erika wasn’t expecting someone like this – after all, he seemed like such a sweet guy – things turn out to be more intense than expected. Is this more than just puppy love?

The characters are essential to the success of the production. One of the things that makes this an interesting anime is that is explores kinky relationships (something many people consider to be as taboo) and makes it less of a taboo by focusing on the other qualities of these characters – that the characters are more than just their kinks, their kinks are just a part of who they are. This is one of the interesting things about the characterizations. Erika Shinohara and Kyōya Sata might not seem like the type of characters who would gravitate towards kinks – and this is part of the point of the story and the characterization given to these central characters.

The animation is one of the best components of the series. The animation is ushered in under the art direction of Hisaharu Iijima (The Good Witch of the West, Maria Holic Alive). The animation is quite impressive and one of the best qualities the series has to offer. This is also due (in part) to the wonderful production effort under chief animation director Maki Fujioka (Angelique: Shiroi Tsubasa no Memoir, La Corda D'Oro - primo passo) and Takahiro Yasuda (Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom: Wild Dance of Kyoto, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku). The art style is compelling and there is a lot worth appreciating about the animation style. The animation style has a crisp and colorful aesthetic and it manages to provide a good backdrop to the storytelling.

The character designs by Maki Fujioka (Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom, Neo Angelique Abyss) are another compelling element of the Wolf Girl & Black Prince production. The designs by Fujioka are creative and make a good impression. The designs certainly seem distinct and the art blends in well with the other qualities of the animation. The results are terrific.

The cinematography by Shinya Katō (Tsuredure Children, Vividred Operation) is another effective aspect of the production. The cinematographic style is colorful and unlike what one might expect for a series exploring (in any capacity) the world of kinks. The bright and colorful animation is a fun aspect of the series. The animation is certainly highlighted well by the cinematography – the use of lighting is well explored.

The score composed by Go Sakabe (Chronicles of the Going Home Club, World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman) is a worthwhile element of the production. The score certainly provides some quality elements to the storytelling. Sakabe does a good job handling the score and the music provides a nice backdrop to the romantic-drama elements at play. The music has a light and airy quality to it that is surprisingly appropriate for the series.

Wolf Girl & Black Prince is written by Sawako Hirabayashi (Arashi no Yoru ni: Himitsu no Tomodachi, Meow Meow Japanese History). The scripting for the series is good and the characters have well written dialogue. The screenwriting handles the balance between the romantic element and the comedic aspect of the series. This is one of the strengths of the storytelling. There is a good emphasis on comedy but at the heart of the series it is predominately a romance and it has a kinky side to the storytelling. This is a good enough reason for the series to stand out from other anime productions.

Directed by Kenichi Kasai (Honey and Clover, Sweet Blue Flowers), Wolf Girl & Black Prince is interesting as a romantic-drama. Kasai is a talented director and does a good job exploring the story and the main themes of the series concept. Kasai showcases a romantic element that is essential to the story and for audiences seeking a compelling anime series with a romantic style, Wolf Girl & Black Prince is the type of series that audiences are looking to find. Wolf Girl & Black Prince sets itself apart from many other romantic genre anime series with its balance of romance with kink.

Wolf Girl & Black Prince: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Wolf Girl & Black Prince is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation on the Blu-ray release is worthwhile. The high-definition visuals are impressive and look wonderful. This is not simply a upscaled presentation and the animation looks a lot better than it could have with a less robust production aesthetic. The colorful animation is well reproduced (with the color being well showcased through the encoding).

The encoding handles the aesthetic well and the encode appears nicely detailed – crisp and engaging. Line art is well reproduced on the release. The release also benefits from the encoding in other respects: one of the best things about the Blu-ray format compared to streaming video services is how the presentation quality remains consistently high with better bit-rates (and no worry of the encoding dipping below a certain threshold, either).

Wolf Girl & Black Prince: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless audio encoding on the release sounds excellent. Dialogue on the release is well reproduced. Dialogue remains crisp and clear during the audio presentation. The score sounds engaging and the audio track emphasizes the music in a compelling way. The English subtitles provided for the release are excellent and are free from any significant spelling or grammatical errors. The only potential drawback to the audio component of the release is the lack of an English dub track. Fans of English dub options might consider this to be a disappointing element of the release and it would have been nice for distributor Sentai Filmworks to produce a new English dub option. Unfortunately, a new English dubbed presentation was not provided for the release. At least the original Japanese language audio track has a wonderful sound quality and the voice acting is impressive nonetheless.

Wolf Girl & Black Prince: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The supplemental package on the release is unfortunately almost barebones. There are only a handful of extras included on the release. The set doesn't provide any more expansive extras (such as audio commentaries or behind the scenes material).

On disc extras are as follows:

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1:32)

Clean Closing Animation (HD, 1:32)

Wolf Girl & Black Prince: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wolf Girl & Black Prince is a romantic-comedy drama exploring a kinky relationship and the world of kink plays a big role in the series. The kinky element of the anime helps it to stand apart from many other romantic anime series. This is one of the main reasons why someone may wish to explore this anime production.

The Blu-ray release features a worthwhile video and audio presentation. The encoding on the release is excellent. The lossless audio is especially noteworthy – even though the release only provides the series original Japanese language audio (with English subtitles). An English dubbed option was not provided for the release and this is one of the only potential drawbacks. The set has a small supplemental package – it only provides clean opening and closing animations. Despite some elements of the set being a little underwhelming, fans of Wolf Girl & Black Prince may wish to indulge and add it to their collection. Recommended.