Wolf Girl & Black Prince

Episode 6

Where's Erika's glass of water when she needs it? All sadism, all-the-time Kyoya is back in Wolf Girl & Black Prince episode 6, and Erika puts up with a lot of verbal abuse. Ever the masochist, Erika tolerates a lot before she finally cracks, fighting back with common sense and then finally crying. Things are getting uncomfortably one-sided in this relationship.

It's Valentine's Day, but for once the focus isn't on one-upping Aki and Marin. Erika genuinely wants to enjoy Valentine's Day by making something for the object of her affection. In true tsundere style, Kyoya is a grump about the holiday yet again, but gives Erika hope that he'll accept her handmade gift. He definitely plans to at first—but becomes more possessive than ever when he witnesses Erika befriending Kusakabe, her extremely shy and handsome classmate. (Strangely, Kyoya never considered Takeru a threat, so he must see something in the Erika-Kusakabe relationship that sets off warning bells.) Instead of being cool with his pseudo-girlfriend developing friendships outside of their relationship, he's immediately hostile. Anyone who's been around the shōjo block a time or two knows Kyoya has the wrong idea.

It's worse than that. Kyoya refuses to accept Erika's gift because she gave the same one to Kusakabe, and he won't even hear her explanation. At one point, Erika even wonders whether to blame herself for Kyoya's harsh rejection of her Valentine's Day efforts. That's a red flag, a step too far over the line into full-on abuse territory. Thankfully, the much-missed Takeru makes a brief appearance to tell Kyoya what a jerk he's being. Kusakabe does the same shortly thereafter. Maybe if enough people tell Kyoya that, he'll get the message.

Kyoya is at his worst here, and Erika is less willing masochist and more victim, so that will make some viewers uncomfortable. That issue aside, this episode is more entertaining than last week's because the S&M dynamic is fully in play again. The addition of Kusakabe, while not quite to series-wrecking Cousin Oliver proportions, doesn't play as smoothly as intended. Erika does deserve a kinder boyfriend, and Kusakabe could be that eventually. (Still, we all know Erika won't wind up with anyone but Kyoya in the end, so it doesn't matter.)

Unfortunately, Kusakabe comes across as too emotionally stunted to offer a much healthier alternative. Plus, he goes from brand new character to serious rival far too fast. They could have had Erika showing him small kindnesses over several episodes to get a feel for their friendship beforehand. Instead, Kusakabe falls madly in love with the first girl to ever talk to him. He could become an obsessive boyfriend too, one who falls to pieces if Erika ever breaks up with him. Whatever else he might bring to the table in future episodes remains to be seen.

If you love screaming, "You jerk!" at the screen, Wolf Girl & Black Prince episode 6 will entertain in a twisted way. It rushes an important new character introduction, but the character of Kusakabe at least allows for more drama to test the Kyoya-Erika relationship. After this episode, things aren't looking good for the fans who've been holding out for a consensual perverse romance. Kyoya is long overdue for some character growth, but he's at least showing subtle signs of cracking at the edges this time.

Rating: B

Wolf Girl & Black Prince is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for nearly two decades.