Marriage to the Wolf: An Interspecies Union Manga Volume 1 (Minor Spoilers)

Synopsis:

“We humbly request that you become betrothed to the eldest son of our family’s house.” Kaede of the Rabbit tribe feels more like a sacrifice than a soon-to-be bride. With his tribe struggling through poor harvests, he feels little other choice than to accept an arranged marriage to a prominent member of the Wolf tribe promising food for the Rabbits. When his new fiance Ren turns out to be rather moody and cold, will Kaede survive until his marriage day and beyond?

The Good:

The sex scenes in the book are drawn in creative ways to allow for what is likely required censorship, while encouraging readers to use their imaginations to fill in the blanks. I found this refreshing compared to some books that obscure art and panel composition with massive censor bars and blank white spaces. It would be easy to overlook how this makes the naughtier bits feel quite tame in comparison to other Boys’ Love manga, if not for how other storytelling decisions reinforce this volume’s stuffiness.

The Bad:

I don’t mean to judge a book by its cover. But with “An Interspecies Union” directly in the title, I expected that the differing species of the couple would add spice to what looked like a by-the-numbers arranged marriage story. So why does this book with a parental advisory for explicit content contain a less risque and compelling predator prey dynamic than the PG rated film Zootopia?

To be fair, a story with fully anthropomorphic animals should be more animalistic than one with kemonomimi characters. But the animal characteristics influence the story so minimally that I’m left wondering why they were included. Being in a gay arranged marriage is much tougher for Kaede to adjust to than integrating into an entirely different tribal culture. A tradition found in Ren’s family surrounding marriage is the closest thing to the Wolf and Rabbit tribes having any cultural differences at all. While the story sometimes shows sharp wolf teeth as scaring the little rabbit, their threat is absent throughout the majority of the book.

The Confusing:

There’s one exception to this that I found so puzzling it took me out of the story: a plot relevant feral sex scene. A manga review is not the place to discuss the Harkness Test or to debate the ethics of such scenes being depicted. Despite this, I found the way this provocative sex scene was included and executed to be puzzling.

No matter how restrained a feral sex scene may be, or how essential it is to the narrative, its mere presence will be enough to make some readers put the book down. So this scene being central to the story means it must have been something the author found compelling. Yet, I can’t imagine even those interested in feral art or kink dynamics would find this sex scene, which is so subdued it borders on self-censoring, remotely titillating.

The scene not only feels uncomfortable for one of the characters involved, but felt awkward for me to witness as the reader. That it was made such a prominent part of the story is a baffling decision.

As a reader, if such a bold inclusion is to be made I want it to be done boldly! If the idea was that having to do this was extremely awkward for our rabbit, that could have been leaned into even more, the self-sacrifice of that moment made more apparent. Perhaps it could cause lingering feelings of resentment that need to be worked through, or simply be a moment that will make things rocky for the couple in the future.

Or bolder still, perhaps our rabbit ends up liking it, setting up for conflicted feelings on their actual wedding night where he has to question how he might hide his new cravings for such an unusual encounter. As it stands, what should be an intense climax of the book, no pun intended, comes off as lackluster and doesn’t really leave much room to be built upon, despite it being such a pivotal moment of the story.

The Verdict:

While Marriage to the Wolf: An Interspecies Union has the ingredients for what could be a daring queer romance, it consistently opts to retreat to safe and familiar storytelling territory. The sole exception is a narrative choice that, to me, stands out negatively rather than positively. This results in an oddly restrained story for an animalistic boys’ love romance.

With the series being internationally licensed, translated, and having a second volume on the way, it’s clear to me that many readers have found something compelling here. While I can recognize the story may have appeal to others, I struggle to find what would motivate me to pick up its second volume.

If you liked Marriage to the Wolf: An Interspecies Union you might also like…

• EAT by Nagabe
• The Cat Proposed by Dentou Hayane
• Caressing the Nipples of My Hibernating Bear by Haruchika

Credits

Story & Art: Hana Inui
Translation: Amber Tamosaitis
Adaptation: Casper Kazor
Lettering: Karis Page
Cover Design: H. Qi
Copy Editor: Leighanna DeRouen
Proofreader: Joshua Hardy
Production Designer: Melina
Editor: McKenzie Carnahan
Published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment

Thank you to Seven Seas Entertainment for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.

Article edited by: Adam Wescott