Publisher: Funimation (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles.
Length: 13 episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
In a European-like post middle ages world, man in his mid 20’s, Lawrence Kraft wanders the countryside trading whatever he can get his hands on. His peddling has again brought him to the village of Pasloe. The village has an ancient legend where a giant wolf named Holo once made a deal with the villagers to look after its annual wheat crops. In the passing decades and with evolving agriculture techniques and the growing influence of the church and waning interest in paganism, Holo’s promise is no longer relevant to the villagers in terms of actual harvesting. However they still celebrate the story of the promise with a festival at the end of the harvest which treats Holo as a myth, a story. After trading for some wheat, Lawrence leaves town. Late at night at his campsite, Lawrence discovers a young naked women sleeping in his cart. She claims to be the human form of the legendary wolf Holo. Lawrence disbelieves the story and asks her to prove it. Holo accepts the challenge and using a piece of the wheat, begins the transformation. Lawrence is horrified at this and quickly returns to Pasloe. There he visits Chloe, a peddler in training he knows quite well. She asks if they can be partners in business, but he declines say she is too young. Lawrence again leaves town and again meets the human form of Holo. Holo wants to leave the town and return to her homeland in the north, Yoitsu. She convinces him to take her on his journeys.
This series follows the pair as they traverse the countryside making deals, sometimes good ones, sometimes disastrous ones and meeting a number of people, including representatives of the church who don’t take kindly to pagan gods such as Holo. This anime is based upon the highly popular light novel series written by Isuna Hasekura and contains the very distinctive illustrations done by Ju Ayakura. Initially thought the series was set in post dark ages Europe, but this is not the case. It’s a fantasy novel series, but instead of focusing on the usual tropes in the genre, it’s focus is on trade and business. With a hot wolf girl of course. Holo in part seems much like Kuu from “Our Home's Fox Deity (Wagaya no Oinari-sama)”, except she’s much more savvy and knowledgeable about humankind. She’s also much more relaxed and comfortable with herself. Unlike Kuu, Holo can’t hide her long tail or her prominent ears in human form; therefore she hides them in nun like habit which Lawrence has to explain away with a story that she is indeed a nun. For the most part, Holo adapts well to human culture, though her instincts regarding food are weighted a bit on the animal side. For the most part the series is quite interesting, however over the 13 episodes, it does seem to get into a familiar pattern; Holo and Lawrence journey and make a risky deal, they are betrayed and in dire straits and then the problem is solved. Admittedly this structure is probably due to the fact it’s been adapted from the first two light novels, with six or so episodes each corresponding to one book. The final arc however was pretty damn good and made up for a lot of the show’s shortcomings. The animation was pretty disappointing and looked rather cheap (especially after watching “Dennou Coil”). A lot of animation is also repeated during the show. Certainly the first half of the first season is pretty good. I felt the second half of the show did mirror the first in terms of actual basic story ideas and this felt a bit repetitive. However the final few episodes and the two main characters more than made up for many of the show’s short comings. 7.5 out of 10
“Spice and Wolf II”
Publisher: Funimation (USA)Format: Region 1 and 4 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles. Region A and B Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles.
Length: 13 episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2009
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
As Lawrence and Holo bid farewell to a friend they’ve helped out, Holo finds herself being drawn closer to Lawrence. At time she’s almost as giddy as a school girl (in her private thoughts of course), but at other times she’s a bit wary of how attached she is becoming to him. As they continue on their journey and visit the next town, Lawrence meet a fellow trader’s guild member, Amati. He is quite a young trader and immediately takes an interest in Holo. While Lawrence looks for clues as to the exact whereabouts of Yoitsu, he decides to distract Holo by letting Amati show her around the town. Unfortunately this backfires on Lawrence spectacularly. Holo spins a story to Amati that she is forced to travel with Lawrence because she raked up a debt of a thousand silver coins. This horrifies Amati who is now more or less in love with Holo, so he challenges Lawrence that he can come up with the money and free her. If does so he will propose to Holo. Though not exactly having romantic feelings for Holo, Lawrence accepts and attempts to come up a with a large amount of money so he can win the challenge. He really fears he will lose Holo. The money maker in this town is Fool’s Gold (pyrite) which local soothsayers say it holds special properties. However the supply of the pyrite is limited and it is extremely popular with the townsfolk. Lawrence plans to buy up as much pyrite he can lay his hands on, and then sell it all at once to devalue the market as much as he can. Therefore Amati’s stock will be effectively worthless. However Lawrence’s main problem is finding the pyrite.
The second series brings a change of animation studios. Because of this there is an immediate improvement in the animation. It looks significantly better than the first 13 episodes. The other really noticeable change in this series is Holo’s increasing attachment to Lawrence. The first few episodes show hints of her confusion and anxiety brought on by her friendship with him and also the fact she spent so much time with him and in the human world after spending such a long time being alone. There’s also her increasing anxiety that when she finally returns to Yoitsu, she believes no one will be left to great her. These episodes really humanise Holo who has been portrayed as a somewhat gluttonous, alcohol loving but sharp and cunning wolf girl. At the same time there is this attempt by the makers of the show the animal side of her. Certainly she’s portrayed as being more playful and even a bit more impulsive, and her tail is much more expressive here. It clearly gives away what she is thinking and shows her feelings. I really felt as a lot of these inclusions were deliberately included to soften Holo’s character, to make her girly and less intimidating. For the most part I didn’t mind there changes so much as they were mostly not distracting, however I thought it was a bit disappointing that they felt the need to do this. Holo is a fantastic character that didn’t need to be changed.
After the first arc of the show, Lawrence and Holo become a bit uh, lovey-dovey, or more correctly very, very chummy. I didn’t really like the character dynamic between them from this point on. The final arc for me certainly wasn’t as exciting as the first. I felt the show ended a bit weakly compared to how it started out. The plans that Lawrence and fellow traders hatch out together are bit convoluted and perhaps a bit implausible I think. However most of the dramas surrounding these schemes are reasonably exciting, though a bit subdued and not as dramatic as I hoped they would be portrayed. Funimation have thankfully included the two shorts from the Japanese releases. In particular, “Stretching with Holo, Yoitz Style”, is a strange but somehow suitable fun little extra. Overall I think the first half of the show was pretty good. The second half had a good set up but seemed to peter out a bit in the second half. The tension of the dissolution of Lawrence and Holo’s relationship disappears at the end of the first arc, so the events of the second arc not as dramatic as they should have been. Bit of a shame really. There’s also the problem that this anime is based upon an ongoing light novel series. The final scene feels really open ended. It really feels a like a third series should be created to give some real closure. Despite the problems with the show, I can still give it a 7.5 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: 27 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
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