In volume 3, we saw Aki confess both her feelings and her concerns about their ability to make a relationship work to Momo, and Momo saying it was her problem to deal with convincing her family and the world. So they are now officially in a relationship! Even if no one can know… but those close to them can probably guess.
In Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, volume 4, we have Momo sneaking in affection for Aki in every spare moment, and a bit more on Aki’s back story. Kiku overhears Sakaki discussing their past, and that Sakaki might like her? Momo and Aki go to a book signing of Momo’s favourite author, who looks a bit familiar? Finally, a new recruit making friends with Aki sparks jealousy in Momo.
We finally get a bit more on Aki’s past, although it’s still somewhat vague – she ‘lost everything’, but we don’t really learn much more than that. We also see her first romance, and how it failed because Aki couldn’t communicate her feelings well. I actually appreciate that both of the leads have experienced love and loss of that love before, though in different ways, which informs their current attitudes towards their relationship. Ruminating on how her passiveness and inactivity ruined her previous relationship, it spurs Aki on to be more proactive in this one, albeit you can still tell it’s difficult for her. That said, she’s still not good with saying her feelings directly – something that will be addressed next volume, given the ending.
The foray into Sakaki and Kiku’s back story was nice to have, and honestly fits them both pretty well. It was actually interesting to see the difference between the rural discrimination versus the non-issue her white fur (possibly albino) is in the capital, where there are all sorts of animals and it doesn’t stand out. It felt a little simplistic that one person’s acceptance means more acceptance in a small community, but maybe it can be that simple? I don’t know, honestly.
I’m not a fan of jealousy plotlines, but I guess they had to have some sort of cliffhanger (more of a mild bump in the road really, this will have nothing but a happy ending and possibly something like a wedding judging by the Volume 5 cover). It’ll be solved with a conversation I’m sure, which will be in the next one: the fifth volume will be the last one, and it’s coming out in a month or so, so not long to wait. Then fluff. All the fluff. Possibly some fluffy sex.
Ratings:
Art: 8 – fluffy as always!
Story: 5 – plot? What plot? All fluff.
Service: 1
Yuri: 10 – yuritopia ahoy
Overall: 7
As usual, enjoyable, pleasant, pretty unremarkable. Given the start of the series and Momo’s comments, I’m guessing the service quotient on Volume 5 may way go up.