Reviews

Spice and Wolf is a perfect example where I loved a series despite not grasping the telling of the tale of this fantasy, this historical fiction, and a simple story of growth and bond. I loved most of the first season. It's fair to say that I'm not in the minority about not understanding the economical side of the story. I'd go as far as saying that I expect 80% of the viewers were too young or not sharp enough to get the gist at first viewing. Despite not much happening in the first season, you cannot know for sure that something will not happen at some point. If this anime were a Japanese novel, it'd be stunning. I'd probably not be able to lay my hands on that imaginary book, and I'd not even be aware of it. Big thanks to the anime community for keeping on producing art that is risky, outlandish, solemn, daring, thoughtful, eager, wholesome, fantastic, and in the case of Spice and Wolf, humble and unpretentious.

The animation is gorgeous. Most animes, especially long running ones, tend to lower the absolute best bar of the background, so as to blend in the characters and the decor, landscape and the background. There's also the budget and the schedule to think of. Spice and Wolf foolhardily gives us some gorgeous and magical drawings of the scenery and boldly differs the animated characters from the world. This, is not a problem, as there is no gamble that paid off, since I'm sure the animators knew what they were doing. Considering that I've never seen such rendering in any other anime I can think of, I wonder why this is so. The standards of animation has followed the trajectory of any medium where drawing is involved - anime, manga, comics. These last few years have been a golden age for anime and I wish - en passant - that along with us, the hardworking animators would profit from it as much as us viewers do.

The strong points in favor of the high score eclipses the lapses in Spice and Wolf but we do feel the errors' pull. Humor is surprisingly near inexistent in most of the 13 episodes I've watched. The 'acting' of Lawrence in particular, is lacking in subtle and varied terms. This seems to be a direct result of the yoyoing playful but repetitive bond between Holo and Lawrence. Holo is the playful character and it's good that she doesn't joke really, but taunts and teases, but often with a punctuality coated with girlish charm. The routine that develops is that Holo keeps on yanking the chain of Lawrence and we expect Lawrence to retort but his reactions are the shrugs of a man prematurely old and fully knowing of his situation, and accepting it with stoic regularity.

I've forgotten most of the males' names and remember Nora Arendt's because the former are so many and interchangeable while women are at a premium in Spice and Wolf. The drawing style of the anime is not kiddy at all and Nora is the one that benefits most from it. I was quickly concerned about her well-being, and I don't know for sure who she is exactly. She seems shy, devout, humble, timid but trusting and fearless and loving towards her animals. She is important in providing a rival of sorts for Holo. Or at least, that's what they want you to believe. Talking about Spice and Wolf is rather difficult and I've done my best, and exceptionally, I count this review to be more writing than talking. Hope it has been useful to you!