Is She the Wolf Review: Originally released on June 11, 2023, in Japan, the Japanese dating reality Series (オオカミちゃんには騙されない) premiered on September 3, 2023, on Netflix for international audiences. Based on ABEMA’s series Who is the Wolf?, the Netflix reality TV series stars 5 men and 5 women, i.e. a total of 10 contestants – Sakurako Okubo, Who-ya, Julie (Ju!ie), Taiju Shiratori, Gabby, Masaki Nakao, Mikako, Robin Furuya, Honoka Nishimura and Tomoki Yonemura. With all these cast members being between the ages of 22 and 32, they emerge from various professional fronts like acting, modelling, photography, athletics and more.

The show is hosted by Natsuko Yokosawa, Karen Takizawa, Riku and Nako Yabuki, who offer their emotionally charged commentaries on the dramatic happenings. The Netflix series has 12 episodes, with their runtime ranging between 35-58 minutes, and it also features a few songs by the K-pop septet BTS – Film Out, Lights Out, Your Eyes Tell and Fake Love (Japanese Version). English subtitles and dubbed audio are also available for international viewers.

Is She the Wolf Japanese Series Review Contains Mild Spoilers

Is She the Wolf Review: Discussion

Much like many dating shows out there, this one also pushes for the idea of attractive singles to find their “perfect match” through individual dates and other group projects, but the one twist that makes it different is that despite pushing for the love agenda, the show also builds itself up by breaking down some of these relationships developed during the course of the it. How does it do that? By introducing certain female participants as “lying wolves” who have to play the role of a deceptive character who can neither fall in love with anyone nor accept anyone’s love confession, while also keeping their true identity a well-hidden secret until the very end.

As always, it doesn’t take long for the audience to warm up to the participants of the show, and again, you’re likely to start rooting for someone or the other quite early on. The cast, though stagnantly pulling off the heteronormative status quo, is well balanced out in terms of everyone’s personalities. While some come up as outgoing and outspoken people who directly cut to the chase, others take it steady to finally open up, but when they do, they easily take the lead as warm fan-favourites.

Since all are adults here, they’re also caught up in their separate professional pursuits outside of the show, and it’s refreshing to see them take off from now and then for their work instead of being holed up at a deserted location where the outside world stops existing. As far as their dynamics with each other go, you see a content of rivalry brewing up as love triangles or squares form, while they also have to deal with the fearsome ordeal of possibly opening their heart to a “lying wolf”.

The basic pillars of the show are founded on cliches and stereotypes again, but it’s still a rather calmer watch when compared to many Western counterparts of the genre that are primarily concerned with their usual upfront vulgar and sex-obsessed approach. In this Japanese show, conversations happen and when minor instances of skin-ship unfold, they appear to be genuine and heartfelt and not fickle additions that have been worked in as clickbait otherwise.

Having pointed out the positives, now let’s get down to the negatives. The show presents only its female cast counterparts as “wolves” in disguise, and so their entire game hinges on the idea of them dragging each other down and apart. Which then brings you to the question – Why isn’t any of the male participants made out to be a “predatory” wolf character? The answer is never delivered.

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The same problematic aspect later becomes a cause for trouble among the women as the elimination fear creeps in, with the men having to vote out their guesses of supposed wolves in their midst. And again, that leads you to wondering as to what they have done to earn that higher safe ground, while women have to carry the emotional baggage of playing the ostensibly antagonistic part in the group, while having to tread lightly and calculating every move of theirs – quite literally pushing the stereotypical archetype that has caged women in for so many years.

Also, it’s really a shame that the contestants never get a chance to bond with every single member present in the cast, which is the biggest missed opportunity of all. It’s obvious that people tend to set their eyes on one or two people at the most, and then stick with their high first impressions of others to choose their supposed love interests, but it should be up to the show’s concept and events to allow for them to be pushed into conversations with every contestant present so that they can actually find the real deal, but that rarely ever happens as everyone chooses their partner soon enough, leaving no room for shuffling in the latter episodes.

Moreover, after a point, it gets frustrating to hear the same song over and over again. BTS’ Fake Love is one of my ultimate favourite songs, but even then it became unbearable to hear the song’s usage being reduced to the never ending saga of shallow dramatisation. It’s obvious how the show creators are trying to spice it up and sprinkle in melodramatic elements as much as they’d like, but hearing some of the best songs of the group on a loop for a frivolous affair like this wore me out quickly.

However, another bit that I really liked about the show is how the wolf (Spoiler – one of them) is revealed at the end of the first episode itself. This prevents these characters responsible for turning the show around from being portrayed as vicious villains, and it rather offers us an insight into the mind of the “wolfy” contestant. Focussing on their own painful conflict and struggle about wilfully breaking someone’s heart despite their strings getting attached in the process too. The series allows us to see that this sadistic ordeal is equally agonising for these “wolves”.

Is She the Wolf Netflix Show: Final Thoughts

If you’re into watching a more grounded approach flesh out a reality dating series, then this Japanese show is a great pick for you to binge on. Although the concept mostly comes up as some sort of fan-fiction content, but by the end of it, you really start feeling for the “Wolf” characters, which adds a humane touch to everything despite the overall sadistic foundation of the series.

Moreover, the last episode really packs in a lot of emotion, and your gasps and sighs will be relatably shared with the MCs of the show. The “reality” image of the series often delves deep into dramatic theatrics, but considering all the bad content that is out there, this one can get you easily hooked on to its warm sensibility.

Is She the Wolf? is now streaming on Netflix.

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