Man is Arranged to Marry a Prince as a Woman
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series The Wolf's Bride. 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 arranged and forced marriage, prejudice, misgendering, classism, extortion, war, gossiping, lookism, sexism, harems, child abuse, child neglect, confinement, drugging, sexual assault (including of a child), self-deprecation, PTSD, blood, violence, incest (not between the main couple), victim-blaming, dehumanization, terminal illness, statutory rape, animal death, death, homomisia, being outed, mentions of religion, implied torture, imprisonment, strained familial relationships, disordered eating, male pregnancy, and permanent injury (resulting in vision loss), as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
This is the third entry in a series of interconnected stories sharing the same universe (the first is The Wolf Howls for Love, and the second is The Wolf’s Fragrant Beauty). While this is a self-contained narrative, it is encouraged to read the first two entries to get a full picture of the lore and world before proceeding to this one.
Louie Fridda is a prince. He is the youngest prince, son of a lowly concubine, which already puts his position in peril. However, he has been locked away and hidden from the world due to his body, which is blamed on his mother’s lower class and her greedy seduction of the king. Louie is actually intersex, and though he has lived his life as a man, he is now being forced to take on a female identity. Louie’s country has been in a contentious relationship with the neighboring Wolf Kingdom for a long time, but between the Wolf Kingdom’s war with the north and Louie’s country’s need to trade with the far east, it is better for both to set aside their differences and form an alliance through an arranged marriage.
But Louie’s father is not willing to give up one of his beautiful daughters to what he calls the “savage kingdom,” where people live among wolves.
So, he tasks Louie with taking on the identity of a fake princess. Louie, having been hidden and isolated for much of his life, is terrified, but he has no choice. Not only is his father commanding it, but he is threatening Louie with his mother’s safety. Louie’s mother is the only person close to him, and he is willing to do anything to keep her safe. So, he travels to the Wolf Kingdom and is faced by people who want nothing to do with him. He is, once again, an outsider, mostly because of his hair color, which is neither white nor black, unlike that of everyone in the Wolf Kingdom. However, his inability to communicate with wolves certainly doesn’t help.
Louie is intended to marry Prince Zeth, who makes it clear that he has no trust or interest in his new bride. Still, he will do his duty for his country, and, unfortunately for Louie, that includes physical marital duties. Sure, he can hide his Adam’s apple and pretend to be a woman, but his body will reveal the truth the moment they get into their bedchamber. He has to make sure this marriage succeeds for his mother’s sake, but can he overcome not only his own fears about his physical constitution but also his new husband’s possible disgust? Or is this the start of a war neither side can stop?
Review:
This title really establishes the modern Kana Riyuma style I recognize from their other work. It isn’t a perfect rendition, but it is the closest, most consistent, and cleanest version in this series so far, so if you have been following along, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much growth has happened throughout to get to this point. One of the key things that I liked to see is how much more distinctive each character design has become. While I wouldn’t say they were identical before, it is much easier to distinguish characters with similar features this time around, which is definitely necessary in a society where everyone has the same core features (hair color, eye color, etc.). The style is a bit more cartoon-y, especially in characters like Louie, but it is generally clean, which I like.
Now, while this is technically the third entry in the entire wolf-verse series, this is noted as being considered the main story, which makes some sense to me. While the prior titles do introduce the universe well for their narratives, this one, from the point of view of an outsider to the Wolf Kingdom, makes it easier for us to relate to Louie. He is forced to move to a country he knows nothing about. He can’t speak to the wolves. Everyone around him distrusts him, and he has to scrape together any information or connections he can.
But it goes beyond that. He has no idea how his own home country even functions. Because he was entirely isolated from court life and the outside world, he is an outsider to the world, much like we are. So we are equally as bought into Louie’s terror and desperation. It makes for a powerful setup that really integrates us into the narrative, which I found very compelling. I do still think you should read the prior entries in this series, but if you choose to skip the weaker ones and move right into this one, it doesn’t have as high a barrier to entry to get into the story and understand the lore as one would think for a third entry.
However, as much praise as I have for this title, there are some very important points I need to bring up for those interested in it. As mentioned in the synopsis, Louie is intersex. Unfortunately, because of that, there is a lot of discussion about him being both male and female, though he seems to exclusively identify as male. I think this makes sense for the setting, but I can imagine people might be bothered by it coming up over and over. There are also very intense moments where Louie is sexually assaulted as a child because his siblings are curious about his body, and his elder brother even attempts to rape him to get revenge because Louie’s mother was his lover, but their father stole her. This is a very dark title and explores a lot of sensitive things in a very explicit way. This was a major tonal shift from the prior two entries, which still had dark elements, but weren’t as explicit in their depictions. So, if you are reading these in order, be mindful of the shift in tone and explicitness.
Results:
Of the entire series, this is certainly the most compelling. I do think I like the storyline of The Wolf’s Fragrant Beauty better, but I can totally see why this title is considered the main story. This is a major tonal shift overall, so those who have been following the series the entire time might be thrown off, but those who were desperate for more political intrigue and darker, more explicit narrative beats will probably be pleased. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t necessarily a favorite, but it was still a good time.
Have you read The Wolf's Bride? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
