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Also known as Murenase! Seton Gakuen
Seton Academy: Join the Pack! is a Japanese manga series by Bungo Yamashita. It was serialized online via Cygames' Cycomi manga app and website from May 2016 to May 2021 and has been collected in fifteen tankōbon volumes by Kodansha (former) and Shogakukan (current). An anime television series adaptation by Studio Gokumi aired from January 7 to March 24, 2020.
Article
Seton Academy: Join the Pack! (Japanese: 群れなせ！シートン学園, Hepburn: Murenase! Shīton Gakuen) is a Japanese manga series by Bungo Yamashita. It was serialized online via Cygames' Cycomi manga app and website from May 2016 to May 2021 and has been collected in fifteen tankōbon volumes by Kodansha (former) and Shogakukan (current). An anime television series adaptation by Studio Gokumi aired from January 7 to March 24, 2020.
Contents
Synopsis
Seton Academy: Join the Pack takes place in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist. Female animals resemble moe girls with animal features such as kemonomimi, tails and horns, while males resemble their original species. Due to a population decline, humanoid animals now outnumber humans. The story follows Jin Mazama, a teenage human boy who attends Seton Academy as one of only two human students. Jin hates animals, but as luck would have it, he gains the attention of Ranka Ookami, a female Hokkaido wolf who dreams of forming her own pack. Jin also develops feelings for Hitomi Hino, a teenage girl and the only other human student at Seton Academy. As the story progresses, Jin must come to terms with his relationships with Ranka, Hitomi, and his thoughts on animals in general.
Characters
Seton Academy
Seton Academy is the main setting of the series. All the students at Seton Academy are terrestrial (land-dwelling) animals, and the faculty is made up of extinct animals such as dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. The main cast is part of the academy's Cooking Club, which was started by Jin Mazama and Hitomi Hino as a way to eat properly since their school cafeteria only catered to animals. It also researches and tests recipes designed for the palates and diets of animals.
Jin Mazama (間様 人, Mazama Jin)
Voiced by: Haruki Ishiya
A human boy, and one of only two humans attending Seton Academy. Jin hates animals, due to a childhood incident in which he was beaten up by three bear cubs while defending another animal (which turned out to be Ranka Ōkami). As such, he develops an intense crush on Hitomi Hino, the only other human attending his school. Early on in the series, he reunites with Ranka, who quickly becomes attached to him due to him standing up for her. Though he initially despises Ranka, even going to extreme lengths to avoid interacting with her, he eventually admits to having strong feelings for her. Despite his hate of animals in general, Jin is very knowledgeable in zoology. He also has a stubborn personality, helping Ranka and his schoolmates despite his dislike of their antics. Despite having the chance to enroll in a human school with Hitomi, Jin realizes that he is not used to being around other humans. They also miss Ranka and the other animals, resulting in them returning to Seton Academy shortly after. Jin's feelings for Ranka eventually run so deep, he opts to time-travel (over 145 times) just to ensure that Ranka stays alive, when he is stampeded by a herd of elephants in mush and Ranka dies while waiting for him to recover.
Ranka Ōkami (大狼 ランカ, Ōkami Ranka)
Voiced by: Hina Kino
A pink female Hokkaido wolf. While she considers herself a pack leader, she is its only member which often times makes her feel lonely. She is in love with Jin, treating him as the alpha male and becoming possessive and jealous when he is approached by other females. Initially, she sees Hitomi as a rival wanting to take Jin away from her, but throughout the series, they become good friends. After overhearing Jin's confession to Hitomi, Ranka opts to become the next student council president as a means to escape. Accepting Jin's unexpected opposition in the election, she and Jin challenged each other through the school tower but Jin steps down when privately admitting he is slightly attracted to her. Jin became such an important figure in Ranka's life that she would neglect her health for the sake of being with Jin, often much to his annoyance.
Sea Academy
Seton Academy's sister school, which is located on the coastline. Most of the students there are aquatic animals, and take their classes entirely or partially in the ocean.
Kana Shiraumi (白海 カナ, Shiraumi Kana)
Voiced by: Miho Okasaki
A female beluga whale who wants to perform in the seaside school show. She becomes a friend to Ranka and her pack.
Ruka Bando (板東 ルカ, Bando Ruka)
Voiced by: Rika Kinugawa
A female bottlenose dolphin who is the captain of the synchronized Swimming Club.
Nia Ooba (大場 ニア, Ōba Nia)
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda
A male Opabinia is a headmaster of Sea Academy.
Darwin Academy
A rival school of Seton Academy. Most of its students and faculty are animals that are critically endangered or extinct.
Anne Anetani (姉谷 アン, Anetani An)
Voiced by: Sumire Uesaka
A female Neanderthal who eats very large amounts of meat as her species have twice that of modern humans' appetite. Because she has no obvious animal traits, the other characters mistake her for a human. Anne is part of Team EX that is rebellious against humans. While visiting Seton Academy, Jin mistakes her advances towards him as romance and "turns her down," to her disgrace. Anne means to interfere with Ranka's pack. After learning humans inherit 2% of neanderthal genomes, Anne makes peace with the Cooking Club and even reveals to be in love with Hitomi, much to Jin and Ranka's shock.
Man Koorimoto (氷下 マン, Kōrimoto Man)
Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda
A female woolly mammoth. She's the boss of Team EX. Her friendship with Anne was promptly by the fact they are extinct species (because of humans theoretically). In the anime, Man's stern behavior towards humans got out of hand when she brutally beats up Ranka in a boxing match that Anne threatens to end their pact if not resolve otherwise. She and other Darwin students later have supper with the Cooking Club.
A male Steller sea cow that is a member of Team EX.
Babari Atlas (芭張 アトラス, Babari Atorasu)
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda
A male Barbary lion that is a member of Team EX.
Media
Manga
The series is written and illustrated by Bungo Yamashita. It began serialization in Cygames's Cycomi website in May 2016.
Anime
On October 4, 2019, an anime television series adaptation was announced by Cygames. The series was animated by Studio Gokumi and directed by Hiroshi Ikehata, with Shigeru Murakoshi handling series composition, and Masakatsu Sasaki designing the characters. Yōsuke Yamashita, Yusuke Katō, and Tomoya Kawasaki composed the series' music. It aired from January 7 to March 24, 2020, on Tokyo MX, SUN, KBS, BS11, and Animax. Crunchyroll streamed the series outside Asian territories. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, Medialink streamed the series on its Ani-One YouTube channel. It ran for 12 episodes, with an unaired episode to be bundled with the series' third Blu-ray volume. The series' opening theme is Gakuen Sōkan Zoo (学園壮観Zoo) by Hina Kino, Haruki Ishiya, Yume Miyamoto, Misaki Kuno, Konomi Kohara, and Sora Tokui as their respective characters, and the ending theme is "Ōkami Blues" (オオカミブルース) by Kino under her character name Ranka Ōkami.
Reception
Both the manga and the anime received mixed reviews from critics, with the writing, lore and characterizations receiving criticism.
Article from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), where it is maintained by volunteer editors.
Hitomi Hino (牝野 瞳, Hino Hitomi)
Voiced by: Yume Miyamoto
A human girl who became friends with Jin as the few other humans at Seton. She enjoys cooking and decided to start a cooking club. Although she genuinely cares for Jin, she appears to be oblivious to his crush on her most of the time, and it isn't clear whether or not she reciprocates his feelings. She is easily embarrassed when watching Jin dealing with the animal habits of other girls. She also becomes good friends with Ranka as she genuinely cares for her too, despite their first encounter. In the future, Hitomi became a nurse tending for a patient Jin, although this is unconfirmed if it's really her personal career path once Jin's impending fate has been altered. She is implied to be bisexual, as she is seen to have feelings for both male and female students.
Yukari Komori (子守 ユカリ, Komori Yukari)
Voiced by: Misaki Kuno
A female koala who has grown tired of only eating eucalyptus and joined the Cooking Club to expand her diet. She later meets a pig who is soon to be her boyfriend. In the future, Yukari opened her p**p café company that is franchise worldwide.
Miyubi Shisho (獣生 ミユビ, Shisho Miyubi)
Voiced by: Konomi Kohara
A female three-toed sloth. Like a sloth, she moves extremely slowly and will pass out and die if she exerts herself. She has also been known to pass out (or "die") after taking a bath, eating unfamiliar foods, or walking more quickly than normal for more than a few yards. She has expressed an interest in identifying any sport she could take part in without dying and joined the Cooking Club in order to make friends. In the future, Miyubi became a vague scientist that really confuses Jin of her big vocabulary and professionalism.
Kurumi Nekomai (猫米 クルミ, Nekomai Kurumi)
Voiced by: Sora Tokui
A female cat who can elicit different feelings in others by altering the frequency of her purring. She joined the Cooking Club to make friends but is too proud to admit it. She is referred to as the club's "ghost member" as she rarely takes part in club activities but is sometimes seen around the club room and was instrumental in acquiring a steady supply of vegetables from the Gardening Club. In the future, Kurumi is suited to being a model.
Mei Mei (苺苺)
Voiced by: Yu Serizawa
A female panda who has the popularity of a celebrity. She is quite a spoiled brat who's often self-centered, haughty, and lazy. However, during her visit to the academy, she stumbled on the Cooking Club where Jin and the rest of the members were making panda dumplings. Mei Mei then snatched every piece and ate them, sparking an interest in joining the club, but of course, Jin didn't make it easy for her because of her unruly behavior. She only became a member when Kurumi gave her approval in a way that a cat does and from then on Mei Mei slowly became more cooperative, nice, but a masochist. In the future, Mei-Mei is a producer of an idol agency.
Chii Suimori (吸森 チイ, Suimori Chii)
The only vampire bat at Seton Academy who enrolled when the second-year began. Opposed to her nature, she is too scared to suck the blood out of livestock. She comes to the Cooking Club as there is salty or sour food that can satisfy her thirst, to Ranka's delight. Chii develops a natural attraction to Jin due to his unusual kindness to her. In the future, Chii runs her own drink bar compose of different types of blood. While only starring in the manga, she makes a cameo in the 11th episode of the anime.
Hana
A female Rhinograde that originally came to Seton Academy but Jin unwittingly gave her amnesia. Since her species is supposed to have existed only in fiction she lacks any sense of odor that Ranka couldn't pick up; Miyubi calls it a miracle. Nicknamed Hana, she relies on Ranka's pack to care for her. During a soccer match, Hana and her brethren of the Southern island nearly disappear from the existence that Jin predicted, but Ranka and the female cast lick her entire body to stabilize her existence. Her real name is Hoji-Hoji. In the future, Hana found her talent of being a novelist.
Rimu Urie (ウリエ リム, Urie Rimu)
A female woolly spider monkey. She acts as an advisor for the Cooking Club.
Gigasu Terano (寺野 ギガス, Terano Gigasu)
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda
A male Tyrannosaurus teacher. During the Cretaceous period, when Gigasu was a student at Mesozoic Academy, he had a budding romance with a young Sameno but does not reciprocate them.
Karorisu Amano (天野 カロリス, Amano Karorisu)
Voiced by: Naoki Tatsuta
A male Anomalocaris is the headmaster of Seton Academy.
Chloe Mashima (馬縞 クロエ, Mashima Kuroe)
Voiced by: Yoshino Aoyama
A female Grévy's zebra mare who insists she is a noble species of horse and becomes embarrassed at any suggestion she is related to the donkey species. Her hobby is playing trading card games. After Ranka won the Field race, Chloe is given free space in the Cooking Club room and warms up to the others. A quagga once smitten Chloe to beat her in a game tournament until Jin exposed him.
King Shishino (獅子野 キング, Shinsino Kingu)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita
A male African lion with a large harem of female lions. Despite being surrounded by females of his own species he is in love with Shiho, a female impala. As a supporter of inter-species relationships, he gets along with Jin and the members of the cooking club. A running gag includes his once impressive mane falling out whenever something goes wrong with his relationship with Shiho. King and Shiho will apparently mate and breed cubs ten years later.
Miki Hadano (肌野 ミキ, Hadano Miki)
Voiced by: Yukari Tamura
A female Naked mole-rat and Student Council President. She has an army of male naked mole-rats she considers her friends and who treat her as their queen. As a rule, she prefers being naked or partially clothed and considers having to be fully clothed at school deeply embarrassing. She is against the idea of mixed-species romance and considers it her duty to keep the students, particularly Jin, from dating outside their own species. With her presidential position expired she primarily resort to nudism again only to have gotten used to not being too revealing in public. Ten years later, Miki is the acting principal of Seton Academy.
Shiho Ihara (伊原 シホ, Ihara Shiho)
Voiced by: Marika Kōno
A female impala. She was initially unaware that King had a crush on her but after he confessed she agreed to be his friend, at least until she begins her reproductive cycle and could decide if she is romantically attracted to him.
Iena Madaraba (斑刃 イエナ, Madaraba Iena)
Voiced by: Minami Tsuda
A female spotted hyena that thinks she's a male. Even after her real gender is proven, Hitomi reassures Iena to just be the tomboyish she wants. It is hinted on multiple occasions that Iena and Hitomi have mutual feelings for each other. In the future, Iena is a martial artist.
Ferrill Ōkami (大狼 フェリル, Ōkami Feriru)
Voiced by: Asami Tano
A female Hokkaido wolf. Ferrill is Ranka's older sister and the boss of her own pack. She is 14 feet tall in size due to enduring cold climates throughout her life in the mountains.
Wolf Kuromori (黒森 ウルフ, Kuromori Urufu)
Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita
A male Eastern wolf who is a member of Ferrill's pack.
Teru Anamitsu (穴蜜 テル, Anamitsu Teru)
Voiced by: Mariko Honda
A female honey badger that tries to fight Ranka & wants to join with Ferrill. Her thick skin makes her almost invulnerable and Ferrill is one of the only characters strong enough to inflict pain on her.
Manako Kagami (鏡 マナコ, Kagami Manako)
Voiced by: Ayane Sakura
A female tarsier. Even a small amount of stress can be enough to compel her to bang her head on a hard surface in an attempt at suicide. Mei Mei makes friends with Manako.
Don Noma (野間 ドン, Noma Don)
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda
A male African lion is King's rival and he's a leader of his pride.
Kuwano (桑野)
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda
A male Iguanodon school doctor.
Ando Andrew (安藤 アンドリュー, Ando Andoryū)
Voiced by: Taiten Kusunoki
A male Andrewsarchus that is a member of Team EX.
Yangyang (揚揚, Yanyan)
Voiced by: Satomi Arai
A female Chinese river dolphin that is a member of Team EX.
Sameno Tosako (鮫野 敏子, Tosako Sameno)
A female Carcharodontosaurus teacher. For millions of years, Sameno was hopelessly waiting for Gigasu would admit his love to her. That is until Ferrill transfers and professes this in front of Sameno to her embarrassment.
