Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji Ep. 7: I wish I knew how to quit you!

What’s a better way to cap off my weekend than with another episode of this wonderful anime?

The good…

– Uh, the screenshot above was unintentionally kind of funny.

…the bad…

– Hearing what Kyouya had said to Yuu, Erika decides to “break up” with the Black Prince. They were never really together in the first place, but still, you might wonder why is this in the bad category. It’s because her decision won’t last. She’ll come crawling back to him by the end of episode anyway. I know it, you know it, we all know it.

– Afterwards, she cries and calls herself stupid. After all, she had wasted so much time with Kyouya. Meh, she’s a teenager. Teenagers can afford to waste time. I would love to see a show where the shoujo actually has a realistic love life. In other words, she dates maybe three or four guys over the course of her high school career, and even though there were plenty of good times with each of them, those relationships eventually ended one way or another because few people ever meet their SOs in high school. Along the way, she matures, she changes, she discovers herself, she realizes what she wants, so on and so forth. What would be wrong with this story? It’s not depressing. It’s life, man. You form connections, you get to know a lot of people, you learn about them, you love them, and then you go your separate ways because the two of you are ultimately not compatible. And that’s okay. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just life. For God’s sakes, live it. Embrace it. Life is supposed to be a journey.

– I’m not telling anyone to go and dump their SOs right now so they can go flirt with a bunch of people. But at the same time, our stories don’t always have to be like this. Hell, most of our personal stories are not like this. I’ve been with the same girl for years now, and I’m not giving her up for anything. But even then, I’ve dated others before her. I’ve had painful breakups before her. No, I’m not saying that anime has to emulate my love life, but right now, it seems like they’re only emulating the same story over and over anyway. So y’know, it wouldn’t hurt to change things up a bit.

– There are so many coming-of-age stories in anime where heroes or heroines go on adventures, screw up, and learn from their mistakes. But they almost never, ever make a mistake about love. If anime characters fall in love with someone, it’s usually for life and this is so goddamn silly. Love should be one of those coming-of-age things where you do screw up, and you do learn from your mistakes. But you know right from the get-go that our Wolf Girl and the Black Prince will be together forever. So the only mistake here is Erika even “breaking up” with Kyouya in the first place. See, she’s sad about wasting time, but if their fates are intrinsically intertwined anyway, she’s only wasting time by leaving him in the first place! And that’s just sad.

– According to Erika’s “friends,” she downgraded by moving from Kyouya to Yuu. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not rooting for Yuu. Timid people like him personally annoy me. But I do acknowledge one thing: he actually respects Erika. That doesn’t mean she owes him her love or anything like that. She can love whoever she wants, and if she doesn’t feel it for Yuu, then so be it. But let’s assume for a moment that our heroine and Yuu are dating. The only way Erika would be downgrading is if — and this might sound crazy! — is if she is unhappier with Yuu than she was with Kyouya. Shocking, I know. It’s almost as if our boyfriends and girlfriends are actual people and not trophies to be lorded over our peers.

– Oh no! Kyouya’s vibe has totally changed recently! Is that because he actually cares about Erika, or is his ego just hurt because she dumped him?

– Yuu tries to ask Erika out on a date, but he’s not direct about it. As a result, she invites her actual friend to come along with them. Buddy… she’s just not into you. Besides, even if she was, I’d still tell him to give her some space. Real boyfriend or not, she just broke up with someone. It’s kind of weird to just swoop in and try to date the girl, no? C’mon, you never want to be the rebound.

– So we get to watch these characters do mundane things like play ping pong. Every damn anime couple does these same, boring activities every time they go on a date or a date-like event. Is that literally all you guys can do? Play the claw crane?

– Emboldened by their fun day, Yuu now tries to ask Erika out for realsies, especially since White Day is coming up. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s like this… on Valentine’s Day, the girls give candy and treats to the guys. One month later, the guys return the favor. I think it’s kind of cool. In the West, it’s usually just assumed that the guys have to be the romantic aggressors all the time. Anyway, Erika agrees to the date for now, but…

– …her real friend knows what she’s really like. And Erika’s been trying to hide her true feelings by being over-the-top happy all day long. This is why you’re supposed to give people space after a break-up, real or not. Because the truth is, Yuu probably isn’t the right guy for her. He’s nice, but… he’s boring too. Ah well! We only have a season to get this shitty story over with, so Erika doesn’t get the luxury of time!

– Erika: “Kusakabe is a good person. He really cares about me.” Yeah, but we all know that’s not enough for love. Our friends are usually good people too. And they really care about us too. We still don’t date them.

– So the truth comes out: “Right now I’m at the stage where I’d really like to fall for him some day. And Kusakabe said he’d wait patiently, too.” This has disaster written all over it. Luckily, there won’t be a disaster, because we know Erika’s truly in love with the Black Prince. As such, she won’t even get the chance to string Yuu along until she realizes she can’t love him. She’ll be wearing Kyouya’s collar before she knows it.

– As usual, Ayumi is the only mature and level-headed person on this show: “You know very well how much it hurts, waiting that long in anticipation, right?” In other words, don’t pretend as though you can just fall in love with someone you never had any chemistry with.

– Please, stop… you’re making me want to throw up.

– Of fucking course… Yuu ultimately decides to take Erika to the aquarium. According to anime, aquariums are the most romantic places in the goddamn world. If you’re in an anime relationship, you just gotta go to one! It’s the law!

– But we all know where Erika’s heart lies. Even though Yuu is talking about their upcoming date all excitedly, she literally stops dead in her tracks to watch Kyouya turn down a girl in the distance. Then somehow, she trips and scratches up one of her knees in the process. Okay then.

– Yuu goes to fetch the nurse, so this gives Kyouya an opportunity to drop by and check up on his former pet. Uguu, he totally cares:

Oops. Guess not.

– There’s nothing to talk about here. Kyouya questions whether or not she can really love Yuu, so the girl doubles down and insists that she can. Whatever. It’s just filler, because the episode isn’t ready to be over yet. It’s filler because nothing Erika says here will matter by the end of the episode.

– Oh boy, exciting aquarium action follows. There’s barely even any dialogue, so you know they put a lot of effort into this.

– Elsewhere, Takeru is hanging out with his bros on White Day. What’s with the impossibly tall dude behind them? Is he an NFL linebacker on vacation or something? Anyway, Takeru sees Erika on a date, and immediately feels compelled to ring Kyouya up and tell him all about it. Hilarious.

– At the end of the night, Erika thanks Yuu for the fun date. Naturally, he’s the type of guy who turns around and thanks her as well. This makes Erika feel all guilty, because she knows she can’t ever love him. So on their way home, she immediately tells the guy that she can’t be with him. RIP, Yuu x Erika (2014-2014)

– What’s even worse is what Erika ends up confessing: “It seems I’m still obstinately in love with [Kyouya].” What a shocker. In the end, she comes crawling back to Kyouya anyway. She doesn’t literally crawl her way back to him, but mentally, she was doing it the entire time she was on this date. Not only that, she’s still a compulsive liar. She still tried to lie about her true feelings not only to Yuu but herself as well. There are few if any positives to take away from this anime.

– Yuu basically tells her that the grass is greener where you water it. She’s not even trying to forget Kyouya. Her reply? “I think that deep in my heart, I want to be in love with Kyouya.” Ah well. Yuu tried!

– So how does Erika end this difficult conversation? By bidding each other farewell, right? Nah: “I’ll work so hard! To make him love me! No matter how many years it takes!” Yeah, what jilted guy wouldn’t want to hear that…? Oh, you rejected me after only a date, but you’ll take all the time in the world to make that asshole fall in love with you? Well gee, I’m so happy to hear that!

– Then right on cue, Kyouya shows up, grabs one of Erika’s wrist, and literally jerks her away from Yuu. All Erika can do is blush like a fucking idiot.

Uguu, I get to be his dog again!

– Barf.

– The ending is dumb. Kyouya reluctantly tells her that he loves her, then they kiss a couple times. Pfft. There’s still a month’s worth of episodes left, so let’s see how he breaks her heart next.