Wolf Prince Wants the White Deer Who Helped Raise Him
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series The White Deer Speaks for Love. 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 age gap, body commentary, gossiping, arranged marriage, pseudo-incest (raising my lover trope), excessive drinking, mentions of lookism, prejudice, and incest (brothers, in the context of a ruse), as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
This is the fourth entry in a series of interconnected stories sharing the same universe (the first is The Wolf Howls for Love, the second is The Wolf’s Fragrant Beauty, and the third is The Wolf’s Bride). While this is a self-contained narrative, it is encouraged to read the first three entries to get a full picture of the lore and world before proceeding to this one.
Saya is the son of the first marriage between a wolf prince and someone from a foreign kingdom. As a result, he has always been a little different. Even among his siblings, he is the only one who took after the foreign bride of the Wolf Kingdom, and so even among his immediate family, he is the outsider. But there has always been one thing that has made him a wolf like any other: his love of white deer. In reality, he is hopelessly in love with one white deer in particular.
His name is Yullur, and he was once intended to marry Saya’s father.
Thankfully, that never happened, but Saya knows that while Yullur and his father were never a match, Yullur did harbor an affection for his other father instead. Sure, Saya looks like his birth father, but he isn’t him. Still, he longs for Yullur, and as pressure to mate intensifies from his parents, he is willing to put it all out there and finally confess his feelings. But will Yullur see him as a man, or will he still be just a little kid in his eyes?
Review:
The art in this is great. You can really tell that Kana Riyuma has come into their own by this point, establishing an easily recognizable style. It isn’t for everyone, of course. It has a bit of a cartoony or antiquated quality, but it is unique, and I’ve grown to love it as I’ve watched it develop over the course of this series. There are imperfections, like with pretty much every art style out there, but if you’ve been following along as I have, I think you’ll probably fall in love with it, too.
As for the story, this is a bit of a return to form. Across four titles, this and the first (The Wolf Howls for Love) are the short-form ones, and unfortunately, The Wolf Howls for Love and this title are the weakest across the entire series. It’s fitting that their titles are similar. I’m not sure if this creator just doesn’t do well with short-form work or if I’m just biased because this is full of so many things I dislike, but either way, compared to the other, longer works, this is very, very weak. I hate that this is the last one in the series (at the time of writing this) because it is such a bad way to end a series that has built up such a strong world over all this time.
What makes it so weak, though? Well, first, let’s go over all the stuff I think might make me biased. First off, I am not a fan of the raising-my-lover trope. I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum, but it is just not my thing. Seeing flashbacks of Yullur kissing all over baby Saya’s face and then later seeing them fuck just doesn’t sit right with me. I am also not a fan of incest. Now, this one is a bit more forgiving since it is used as a ruse to make Yullur realize he doesn’t want to let Saya become anyone else’s mate, but I still dislike the whole blood brother longing for blood brother thing – ruse or not. It is presented as a real thing until right after Yullur and Saya reconcile their relationship, but that just feels like an afterthought. I am almost certain it was intended to be a real thing, and then the creator backed out at the last minute, but what do I really know? Also, this is almost entirely sexless until the after story, which, as a degenerate, makes me sad.
With all of those preference issues out of the way, let me get into what I think is objectively wrong with this title, and that is the pacing. This was an issue in the short stories, too, and that is no different here. Since this is a story featuring a couple within the raising-my-lover trope, their history spans multiple decades. Sure, while it isn’t my favorite trope, it does beg for more time to explore their histories with one another. It also doesn’t help that introducing new side characters, like Saya’s siblings, takes time. Now, that’s not to say this doesn’t have moments that just work. There is one particular moment when Yullur sees Saya being pursued by his brother, and Yullur flashes back to a time when he saw Saya’s birth father, whom he was attracted to, being similarly pursued. It was in this moment that he realized the jealousy he felt with Louie was nothing compared to what he now feels for Saya. It is a powerful moment, and I imagine we could’ve had many similar ones, but because this title is so short, we don’t get the time to see them. It is really unfortunate.
Results:
This very much gives “Jacob imprinting on Renesmee” from Twilight. If that was not your thing, then you will probably not be into this. This universe is much more enjoyable than that of Twilight, but that might actually make this all the more disappointing. This has been such a fun and interesting journey, but to end on this note is such a miss. I would still encourage people to check out this series because there are titles here worth a read, but this one, I imagine, is going to be very polarizing, and that is a sad way to close out this collection of stories.
Have you read The White Deer Speaks for Love? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
