During my first day of the Thanksgiving break, I decided to catch up with Ookami-san. So far, it is a pretty enjoyable show, but it has plot holes in it. This primarily has to do with JC Staff’s adaption of the series since it feels rushed. (Original Image Source)
The first three episodes were enjoyable with parodies of fairytales and the big fight against the delinquents. Then, the focus is on Otohime in Episode 3 and lastly, Otsuu who ends up doing favors for Ryoshi saved her made it feel out of wrack. Of course, we get to see all the girls and guys in a maid outfit and to be honest, Ryouko looked pretty cute in it. As a result of the pacing, the supporting characters don’t get that much character development or it felt rushed.
On the other hand, Ryouko seems to have a lot of character development regarding her past. While Ryouko kind of resembles of an adult Taiga, she becomes a completely different and unique character in the later episodes. She used to be a really cute and a calm girl. However, a gentleman named Shirou manipulated and attempted to rape her. As a result she had to transfer schools and her personality changed drastically.
It always seems that all the really handsome gentleman student council presidents seems to be very manipulative and abuse their powers. Consider Kaichou wa Maid-sama when Igarashi tried to rape Misaki because he wanted to… They use their high position to abuse their powers to attempt activities that could be considered immoral such as rape. What bothers me more is the shoving the blame on the girl and doesn’t take a blame for the crime. In a way, I felt sorry for Ryouko for her reputation being tarnished by an incident filled with lies and gossip from Shirou…
It’s completely understandable why Ryouko eventually develops a tsundere personality after the incident at her old school. She perused a strategy of becoming stronger so she can seek revenge on Shirou. On the other hand, she lacked self-confidence. Consequently, she felt that she could never get a friend or even a boyfriend. This results in her violent reactions to cover up her insecurities.
Taming the tsundere has been done many times to get them to love the male lead or gain friendship with someone. Ringo, which is Ryouko’s roommate eventually does that by nursing her back to health, distract the men who are beating Ryouko up and understanding her feelings. This proves that Ryouko can gain a friend that won’t stab you in the back.
On the other hand, Ryoshi takes a significant part of changing Ryouko’s attitudes towards everyone. He protects Ryouko from harm’s way even though she doesn’t want the help. As time goes on, his love for Ryouko grows. This growth of Ryouko’s romantic feeling towards Ryoshi is shown when he tries to protect her even though he is weak. I think he genuinely cares about Ryouko since knows that she is a shy and an emotionally weak person despite her strength. Since Ryouko lack self-confidence, she is unable to express her love towards him and violently react towards him. Eventually Ryouko will recognize her feelings towards Ryoshi and regain the self-confidence to love him back.
In the end, Ookami-san is a rather enjoyable show with some major flaws. While it has an interesting premise with characters based on various myths and fairy tales, the execution is messy. After the second episode that involves Ookami-san, the focus is taken off her and instead focuses on the other characters. In my opinion, Ookami-san would have done better if it had 24 episodes. It had enough original source material (10 volumes of Light Novels) to adapt in those 24 episodes, so I don’t see why.
In the end, if you having some doubts about the show watch the show in a different perspective and view it as a light hearted story with some drama. I know some people had some doubts about the show. Don’t look, just dive in. I dived into the show without reading anyone’s thoughts about the show and it was rather enjoyable.
Midseason Potential. 8.25/10
Leave a Reply