We’ve become accustomed to seeing anime/manga focused on building relationships between humans and animal-human hybrids. Haven’t you ever wondered though what it would be like to raise your own half-human and half-animal? How to Raise a Wolf Girl isn’t a simulation giving you the reigns of doing said raising but instead is a visual novel—VN for short—from famed publisher Sekai Project with development being helmed by Sweet & Tea. How to Raise a Wolf Girl seemed akin to Nekopara when we first saw it so our anticipation to journey into this VN was at an all-time high to say the least. Did How to Raise a Wolf Girl meet our needs and deliver a great and satisfying VN? We find out in our full review of How to Raise a Wolf Girl found by scrolling down below!

How to Raise a Wolf Girl is a visual novel with the focus of being a drama mixed with a romance/comedy. Our main character has stumbled upon a wolf girl and now must raise her to be able to function in the world of normal humans. Unfortunately, with a wolf girl, this task isn’t as easy as it looks. Follow alongside our new parent as he tries his best to juggle between his own life and that of being a parent to a wolf girl. Who would have guessed that raising a wolf girl could be so difficult but equally rewarding?

It seemed like just another ordinary day to Kousaka Shuuji and his friend Kana till they ran into a strange situation. Hidden in the mountains, the two find a girl trapped in a cage for no apparent reason. As the duo rescue her they quickly learn this isn’t an ordinary girl but a girl with wolf ears and a tail! Unable to find a place for her, Kousaka takes the wolf girl—named Iroha—into his home to help her relearn human concepts. As the two bond a love form between them and with that a cute story of raising a wolf girl begins. Can Kousaka help Iroha live life among normal humans and in turn learn what it takes to raise a wolf girl!?

Like most VNs, let’s be upfront and explain the key concepts of How to Raise a Wolf Girl. The main focus of How to Raise a Wolf Girl has players guiding Kousaka Shuuji as he takes care of a wolf girl named Iroha found in the mountains. With little memories of her how to act like a human, Shuuji must guide Iroha in regaining her human-like ways. Akin to most VNs, the brunt of How to Raise a Wolf Girl lies in making occasional choices to shape the story slightly and seeing the narrative play out before you. How to Raise a Wolf Girl is yet another seemingly simple VN, but we will tell you now, this works in its favor!

How to Raise a Wolf Girl exceeds where most vanilla VNs fail by having a truly gripping narrative with a nice amount of emotion. There are times where you will laugh out loud seeing Iroha make silly noises and act extremely cute—seriously she is the cutest wolf girl ever—and there are other times you’ll find tears flowing as you learn more about her hard past. How to Raise a Wolf Girl works wonderfully in keeping you immersed in a tale of bonding, love and comedy that never misses any genre along the way. You might only be making occasional choices to make narrative change in tow but that allows the story elements of How to Raise a Wolf Girl shine brightly. In our honest and professional opinion, How to Raise a Wolf Girl could work as a light novel, manga and/or anime thanks in large part to its great story and cast of characters.

Another strong element of How to Raise a Wolf Girl lies with the art/visuals. While there might not be a lot of moving characters in How to Raise a Wolf Girl, the slight movements and facial changes work wonders to keep scenes from feeling too stoic and uninteresting. Iroha’s character moves the most with her ears twitching when happy—or sad—and it makes you feel her character is truly on screen looking at you as you embody Shuuji. How to Raise a Wolf Girl is a gorgeous looking VN that keeps simple as the main focus of design but throws in a robust amount of incredible CGs and slightly moving sprites for that much needed visual flair.

Sound wise is where How to Raise a Wolf Girl hits near perfection. You’ll be hard pressed to hate anyone of the female/male voice actors as they perform wonderfully to make you feel every bit of text narration. Iroha steals the show though with the cutest voice actresses we’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. Add to this a great OST and you have the right key piece to make How to Raise a Wolf Girl incredible.

How to Raise a Wolf Girl isn’t a complex machination of VN, but that isn’t a problem. Thanks to clever writing, solid voice work and some truly impressive art, How to Raise a Wolf Girl appeals to us fans of VNs and will no doubt impress others as well. We did notice How to Raise a Wolf Girl is a bit short, but for the level of quality/polish we can overlook it. How to Raise a Wolf Girl is a VN you’ll pick up thinking you’ll only play for a few minutes but find hours pass as you just get lost in this world and characters. Is How to Raise a Wolf Girl the perfect VN? No, but it comes so close to being perfect that we can barely find faults with it in the long run. We whole heartedly recommended buying How to Raise a Wolf Girl as it is one of the better VNs we’ve played this year…and that’s saying something given how many VNs we’ve played.

Sekai Project and Sweet & Tea have outdone themselves with How to Raise a Wolf Girl. While we wished the story was a bit longer that doesn’t detract from how much heart clearly went into making How to Raise a Wolf Girl. We laughed, cried and smiled more times than we could count and that is rare from shorter visual novels. That’s why if you want a truly anime deserving VN, you’re going to want How to Raise a Wolf Girl! Are you planning on learning how it is to raise a wolf girl in How to Raise a Wolf Girl? Comment below to let us know! For even more video game reviews and all things anime keep stuck to our beautiful hive here at Honey’s Anime!