Three races exist in this world, perpetually balanced on the knife’s edge between coexistence and conflict: the beastkin who can appear as beasts or humans, the humans who can hear beastkin but are distrusted equally as much by hunters, and the hunters who cannot understand beastkin or many of the morals surrounding human life. This makes the decision of the hunter Wulf “The Red Hood” to take in seemingly orphaned Mani, a wolf beastkin (and possibly the last of her kind) an even stranger situation than it first appears.
But something greater may be brewing in the background, something that could threaten all three races.
I would love to know some of the behind-the-scenes discussions that landed Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice in the odd state it currently exists in. Volume 3 isn’t the “end” of the story per-say, but it’s also not currently being continued by Sayaka Mogi. As explained in an author’s note at the end she switched to publishing the story on her own and is jumping back in time to work on a prequel of sorts (featuring other wolfkin). The story will then end up merging with Wul and Mani’s story in the “present day” later on (which I suppose confirms that Mani isn’t truly the last wolfkin?).
Quite honestly, this kind of out of order switcheroo is something I expect out of webcomics, not manga. That makes me a bit nervous; one thing I’ve noticed over the years is that when a webcomic creator gets this interested in telling another story they’re about to drop whatever they’re currently working on and I can’t figure out why Mogi felt like she needed to tell another “part” of the story to move this one further along.
And I would like a continuation of what Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice had going on! While I do have my doubts about just how fast Mani’s presence was able to change essentially Wul’s entire outlook on life, their domestic life together is cute and those quieter segments reminded me of other fantasy slice of life series I’ve enjoyed like Somali and the Forest Spirit. Honestly, while Mogi’s fight scenes get a little repetitive (just about every two-page spread in these three volumes has been Wul using a “finisher attack”) she has a great talent for detailed, domestic scenes and should lean into that more; it was certainly one of the highlights and draws for me. It’d be much easier to sell this series as a “fantasy found family/unlikely parental substitute” than as another loosely fairy-tale inspired action-fantasy. I also wish that these digital editions showed the full-color pages in, well, full-color since the covers have such an intriguing and vibrant shading style that I’d love to see more.
And of course, speaking of reasons why I would like to see this storyline continue is the matter of Mani and Wul’s shared cold open scene from the very first volume, one you could possibly argue did end up happening in volume 3 — but if that was the case then I was sorely disappointed. The “villains in the shadows” who show up in volumes 2 and 3 remained so mysterious to the end that they weren’t satisfying antagonists in any sense of the word. The pied piper-esque plot in volume 2 was much more interesting, original, and thematically appropriate (again focused on the bonds of family) to boot. I would be completely fine if Mogi mixed in more body horror; with the concept that every person has a “spell” that’s a blueprint for their selves is ripe for tension and meddling, and of course her better-known series was the body horror Pupa, so those few body horror moments we do see were clearly not an accident.
So, where does that leave this series then? One with lovely-looking art, fun world building, and the bones for an earth-shaking story? I don’t know. Sayaka Mogi announced in January that she’s preparing to publish an English version of the spin-off. But as far as I can tell you can only buy a Japanese-language edition from their digital store and Kodansha Comics has not made any announcements about picking it up (which would be a bit strange, given that their very company name makes their licensing restrictions clear).
I would certainly like to read it, as one of the wolfkin children seems to be wearing some of Mani’s clothes so I’m curious about the connection there. However I’m skeptical if that chance, or the chance to read any more of this story, will come anytime soon.
