The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms (original Japanese title: Wizdoms no Kemono-tachi) is a short BL manga by Nagabe, creator of The Girl from the Other Side. It was serialized sporadically in the BL josei magazine Opera from 2015 to 2017, with its eight chapters being published in a single volume. The manga was licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment in 2019.
Long ago, the Wise Wizard Wizdom granted intelligence to certain animals, creating the race known as demi-humans. A number of these demi-humans attend a Wizarding School called Wizdoms, in honor of that wizard. There, these beasts learn magic as well as navigate romantic feelings for each other.
Each chapter is mostly unrelated, focusing on a different couple.
Tropes:
- Asleep in Class: Florio the wolf is introduced this way, being woken up and reprimanded by Professor Cromwell for falling asleep yet again during his lecture. He also frequently uses Nicol as a pillow when he falls asleep, which Nicol complains about but secretly doesn't mind that much.
- Author Appeal: Nagabe admits that he loves nonhuman characters, and he used this manga as an excuse to draw as many of them as possible.
- Boyish Shorts: Younger students at Wizdom's wear shorts with their uniforms instead of pants; given the Victorian look of the school, it seems to be a reference to the old idea of boys not wearing full-length pants until they're older.
- Clever Crows: Doug the crow is smarter and a lot more levelheaded than his friend Huey the peacock. He also dips into Creepy Crows territory when it's revealed that he actively sabotages Huey's efforts to get a girlfriend behind his back, just so he can have Huey all to himself.
- Cuddle Bug: Charles loves snuggling up to Mauchly's thick fur, and the two spend much of their respective chapter talking while cuddled up to one another.
- The Dividual: Allhoff and Carreras are never apart, and even look and dress alike. Some people even think they're twins, but they've just been friends for a really long time.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Florio the wolf's eyes are always obscured by his fur.
- Feather Fingers: Bird characters like Doug the crow and Huey the peacock are depicted with these.
- Flying Broomstick: Some students at Wizdoms are shown to travel to and from school via broomstick. Charles uses one as well.
- Furry Reminder:
- Marley, being a lizard, is cold-blooded and is thus very sluggish and lethargic during the winter. His roommate Collette (a deer) has to help him get up in the mornings when it's cold out since Marley can barely function when he's cold.
- Real vampire bats share the blood they drink with other vampire bats by regurgitating it. Allhoff and Carreras share their food the exact same way and wonder why other people are grossed out by it when their families do it all the time.
- Gayngst: Benjamin was shunned by the unicorn tribe for liking men when unicorns are supposed to be obsessed with beautiful young virgin women. He still feels the sting of it.
- Incompatible Orientation: Benjamin has a crush on Professor Cromwell, who seems to mostly be interested in women (and even tries to set up Benjamin with a female professor, Roy). And Doug is crazy about Huey, but he only has eyes for the ladies.
- Interspecies Romance: Most of the couples are different species from each other, with the most notable example being Mauchly the bear and Charles the human. The only exceptions are Emil and Fermat (who are both dragons) and Allhoff and Carreras (both vampire bats).
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Though the demihumans and humans live separately, they still exist in the same world, and the final story features Charles, a human, and Mauchly, a bear.
- Love Potion: Alan and Eddington's chapter revolves around Eddington slipping Alan a love potion which will make Alan do whatever he asks for a short period of time. He eventually confesses his feelings to Alan, thinking the love potion will make him forget, only for Alan to reveal the next day that he remembered everything and to chastise Eddington for using such a cowardly method. However, they make up when Alan reveals he returns Eddington's feelings.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: One unnamed student casually mentions to Benjamin that she has at least nine brothers and ten sisters. Justified since she's a mouse, which in real life are Explosive Breeders.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Both Emil and Fermat are dragons, and non-sentient dragons exist as well. They're mostly reptilian, but also have some mammalian traits like hair. They're also mentioned to be very long-lived, with Fermat saying that he's been studying mathematics for 600 years.
- Our Gryphons Are Different: Professor Cromwell is a griffin. While he doesn't have wings, he's still mostly birdlike but with noticeable ears.
- Proud Peacock: Huey the peacock is very vain and proud of his beautiful plumage. He's constantly on the hunt for a girlfriend since he's convinced that his DNA is so beautiful that it must be passed on to the next generation.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Charles and Mauchly, the couple of the final story, have a much more ambiguous relationship than the other couples. Though they've been friends for years and spend a lot of time cuddling, their chapter lacks the sexually charged imagery of other couples, implying either a pseudo-romantic friendship or perhaps a Chastity Couple due to their differing species. It's also left ambiguous how much of Charles's admiration of Mauchly is romantic in nature, and how much he wishes he could be as big and strong like his friend so he could stand up to his bullies.
- Puppy Love: Alhoff and Carerras aren't given specific ages, but are called out as "younger students." They have a budding relationship nonetheless.
- Stepford Smiler: Benjamin usually has a pleasant demeanor and a smile on his face, but deep down he's still deeply saddened by his family disowning him when they found out he was gay.
- Teacher/Student Romance: The relationship between Professor Fermat and Emil strongly hints at one. While they don't get together by the end of the chapter, it's clear that they're both developing feelings for each other.
- Token Human: Charles, who's the only named human character in the story. Most demi-humans don't think humans even exist, though it turns out that they're from a kingdom that's very far away.
- Tsundere: Nicol the goat is a Harsh type towards Florio the wolf. While Nicol constantly berates Florio for being such a Sleepyhead and using him as a pillow during class, it's still made clear that he's attracted to Florio and is secretly turned on whenever Florio bites him in his sleep.
- Unicorn: Benjamin, the school doctor, is a unicorn. In this world, unicorns pride themselves on their purity, which led his family to disown him after finding out he was gay. He also apparently has the ability to tell whether or not someone is a virgin.
- Uplifted Animal: The demi-human tribes were created when the Wize Wizard Wizdom granted human intelligence to regular animals. As a result, Funny Animals and regular non-sentient animals both exist in this world.
- Wizarding School: The stories largely take place at Wizdoms, a school for learning magic. Charles is implied to go to a similar school for humans as well.
- World of Funny Animals: The setting is mostly populated by anthropomorphic animals (as well as regular, non-sentient animals, which are referred to as "Lessers"). More fantastical creatures such as dragons, unicorns and griffons are also anthropomorphized. However, it turns out that humans do exist in this world, though they live in a different kingdom very far away.
- Yandere: Doug is actively sabotaging his best friend Huey's attempts to get a girlfriend because he doesn't want anyone else to see how "special" Huey is.
- Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Alhoff and Carerras share food with one another by regurgitating it directly into one another's mouths, a practice that other students are implied to find weird or disgusting, yet which they consider perfectly normal. Vampire bats do share food with one another this way in real life. Perhaps because of this, they have no concept of romantic kissing and are shocked yet intrigued when they discover it for the first time.
