Fox Man Prejudice Leads to Romance
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series Making My Little Fox Mine. While the manga may vary slightly from all other forms of media, it may have similar story elements and could be considered spoilers.
Content Warning: There may be references to prejudice, pregnancy (mpreg), dubcon/noncon, religion, animal injury, gun violence, hunting, death, mentions of dismemberment, attempted kidnapping, mentions of human trafficking, blood, murder, being orphaned, suicidal ideation, mentions of war, and shota-esque character design, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
San lives alone, though not necessarily by choice. He once lived with his mother, but she has long since passed away, and while he lives near a fox village, he is not welcome there. Unfortunately, San was born as a black fox. Black foxes are considered to be the harbingers of misfortune, so everyone has made it a point to exclude and avoid San his entire life. While this belief that they are bad luck is just that, a belief, even San believes it, as he blames himself for his mother’s death.
But no matter how much the majority of the fox population excludes him, and how hard San tries to isolate himself, there is one fox that disregards all of it: Kanae.
Kanae is a white fox, the pack leader, and is beloved by the masses of the fox village. So, it causes an uproar when, after San mistakenly encountered humans, a taboo in the village, Kanae offers to marry San to protect him. San is horrified, not because he doesn’t want to marry Kanae, but because Kanae is far too good for him. But no matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to get away from the persistent and touchy pack leader.
Review:
The art in this is cute, and there are actually a lot of beautiful panels. However, it isn’t perfect. The cover is a pretty good example of this, as Kanae on the cover looks a little weird to me. His super pointed nose alongside a super pointy chin just makes him look less attractive than he does for the majority of the story itself, and this happens a lot whenever the character’s profiles are shown. So, it is a bit inconsistent. I am pretty picky, though, so take that with a grain of salt, especially since the majority is quite beautiful. However, I do have an issue with San’s design. While he is an adult, he is drawn to appear very young, giving off shota vibes. If that’s your thing, cool beans, but it’s just not my preference. He’s beautiful, but it does make me uncomfortable.
I have to say, though, while the art isn’t my favorite, I’m a sucker for this type of story. Superstitions can be found throughout human history, and I love it when we see stories where a superstition, like the black foxes being bad luck, is turned on its head. There is a prayer that appears a few times among humans, where they say that making the “black fox weep” will bring them luck or at least answer their prayers. That, of course, brings negative connotations. We assume that means San must be tormented or hurt for good things to happen. However, on San’s wedding day to Kanae, when he wishes for rain, it’s then that the rain finally comes, ending the drought for the humans. The black fox’s happiness is what brings luck, and the prayer we’ve been hearing was incomplete. Is it revolutionary or a unique spin on this type of story? Not at all. Did I love it any less? Nope. It’s a tried and true storyline, and it gave me all the feels it usually does.
However, I was pretty disappointed at the mpreg in this. From the very beginning, we’re informed that black foxes have the ability to get pregnant, regardless of their gender. This ignited me. I was so excited to see a pregnancy and, in turn, some child-rearing. But, unfortunately, there is none. We know he does get pregnant, which is great, but we only know that because the very last bit of the very final chapter has a panel of Kanae and San holding hands with their children. Then it’s the end. Nothing hurts me more than the mention of mpreg with no visible mpreg. Add in children with zero child-rearing, and it’s rubbing salt in the wound.
This is, unfortunately, the curse of these short, single-volume titles. When the focus isn’t pregnancy, child-rearing, or even just domestic life to begin with, these elements usually just fall to the wayside. It’s hard to fault it when I know going in that these elements are usually just cherries on top of a different narrative cake, but it’s still disappointing all the same. Part of me wishes they hadn’t been mentioned at all to save myself the disappointment. Still, another side of me wants to keep seeing them appear because otherwise, other creators may not be inspired to create more work with more prevalent versions of these elements. At the end of the day, if you’re looking for domestic bliss, visual mpreg, and at least some children at the end, you might be disappointed here, but since this is on the rarer side in manga, it’s worth reading just to support those elements (and hopefully encourage more to come out).
Results:
This was kind of disappointing. As a fan of mpreg and child-rearing, having this topic brought up in chapter one really set me up for disappointment when neither appears within the work itself, but is instead implied in a final panel with children. Add in the inconsistent art and a shota-design bottom, and it left me wanting in the worst way. It has its moments where it’s powerful and very romantic, but I can’t get over all of the potential that was left on the cutting room floor. I personally wouldn’t recommend it, but for those desperate for more mpreg rep (like me), it might be worth getting just to encourage more of that in future licenses.
Have you read Making My Little Fox Mine? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
