When did Spice and Wolf get this good?
Spice and Wolf was always a B-list title for me, albeit an enjoyable one. I appreciated the fact that it was an unusual series in terms of the setting, characters and story but even so it lacked a certain spark; something that would take it above merely enjoyable and into something to really look forward to every week. Maybe the animation was lacklustre, the direction not firm enough or the plot itself didn’t set the world afire but whatever. I wanted to love it but in the end it never really made a lasting impression.
The second season has everything the first one did – namely a continuation of the two travelling companions making their way through a Middle Ages countryside with some medieval economics along the way – but somehow it’s much more impressive. Brains Base are handling the animation better than IMAGIN did and the Lawrence/Horo relationship is actually developing now; There’s certainly much more dramatic tension than I ever noticed in the first few episodes, which is also what makes the second season really outstanding.
I used to think the first season’s flaws lay at the feet of the director but since he, not to mention the soundtrack composer and other key staff, are all on board for another go suggests that we just got out of a slow introductory segment to the story. That and the fact that the character designs are slightly more appealing to me; it looks a bit prettier and slicker than I remember.
What comes hand-in-hand with this cranking up of the storyline and more polished visuals is a better blending of the characterisation and the economics. I was attracted to the series by the former and found the case studies of business practice to be a distraction but in the most recent episodes the two disparate elements intertwined. I didn’t exactly understand the details of the pyrite market (the stuff otherwise known as Fool’s Gold…haha!) but it felt like one cohesive story thread, and a really suspenseful one at that.
Ultimately the Lawrence/Horo relationship is what makes Spice and Wolf special for me but the boring trader talk helped move that relationship along a bit; a development the story (and the viewer, I’ll wager) had been crying out for. These two threads actually enhanced each other’s importance rather than feel like they belonged in two different shows: the chain of events was carried along by both simultaneously and the end result was much more enjoyable.
Lawrence is still a bit of a dolt – not that it matters when the character dynamic dictates that he is the foil for Horo anyway – but this arc reminded him that life isn’t all business. It was nice to see him engage in the act of thinking about his feelings for those around him; social situations shouldn’t just be in aid of another transaction. The fact that one of his trading partners said something along the lines of “So we’re friends now?” suggested that until recently Lawrence had a lot of business connections but few people he considered to be friends. It’s quite sad, really, when I think about his situation like that.
What the character-driven side of Spice and Wolf boils down to is that of two lonely individuals seeking comfort in each other’s company: if Lawrence is isolated because of his lifestyle, Horo’s loneliness is all that several times over. It was quite worrying actually to learn that Deanna (damn, what an awesome side-character she was!) shared a similar dilemma, and the end result isn’t encouraging for our two. What becomes of a god when he or she falls for a mortal who will never live as long? As Orion and Guff recently remarked, the OAV episode highlights Horo’s worries here: as much as she tries to put them to the back of her mind, they drift to the surface and sooner or later she’ll have to confront them.
It’s therefore not a case of a wavering heart in the sense that Horo isn’t sure how she feels about Lawrence; if anything she’s trying to not think about how special their bond is. I suspect Lawrence feels the same way, but he’s not the one who is facing a near-eternity of solitude. Horo’s position is a very painful one, and one that I’m not sure the story will be able to resolve easily.
What makes the dark cloud even worse, at least for me, is the fact that Horo is such an engaging character that the fate of their relationship is even more cruel. I love every minute of screentime they share because the verbal sparring between them is, with the exception of one or two series that I can’t recall off the top of my head, second to none. Even next to the welcome minority of anime that features grown-up characters, the back-and-forth banter and flirting between them is endlessly entertaining.
Lawrence isn’t completely stupid. At the very least he’s an adult, and Horo’s youthful appearance hides many centuries of life experience so what we’re seeing is a dynamic that’s in a different league to what we fans are used to. Their maturity has additional entertainment value in every blush and hidden meaning in what they say and do: when high school anime shows stuff like this I roll my eyes with a sigh of “oh, that again…” but here the fact that a grown man and a centuries-old goddess are getting all bashful like teenagers is really amusing to me, and quite touching too.
Lawrence and Horo deserve each other, and the question of “What am I to you?” requires more than one line to answer. Quite frankly I expected a bit of twist to the pyrite affair because their relationship is complicated, and Horo isn’t the sort of woman who’d stand idly by. She isn’t an impulsive adolescent, nor is she a passive moe girl who just follows the plot aimlessly: she’s sassy and she’s prideful so the last thing she’d do is let a man hundreds of years her junior dictate where her life is headed. I saw her personal intervention coming a mile off, but that didn’t make it any less satisfying when she walks right in after seeing through the ploys of the two pros. Who wouldn’t find amusing irony in that?
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They upped everything in the second season and made it even better than the first season :)
The suspense, the feeling of seperation, the tricks played in the shadows, everything is just great. And it keeps improving all the time.
It´s as simple as that. I was a bit worried in a couple of episodes but it all ended well.
I have a request that is of topic: Please remove the “Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin” as it throws the whole design of. At least for me.
Well, of course my answer to the question of the title would be that Spice & Wolf has always been good.
That said, I was a fan of the novels and the manga long before I was a fan of the anime. As a veteran fan of this particular story franchise, let me just say that I was a bit disappointed somewhat by the way the first season developed the characters. I felt that Lawrence and Horo weren’t given the same depth and breadth of character that they had in the novel or even manga. Of course they’re still miles ahead of the average anime character.
I talked about this problem briefly in one of my old Spice & Wolf posts – http://www.epicwin.org/2008/01/16/spice-and-wolf-2-not-as-good-as-the-original/
So did Lupus over at THAT Anime Blog – http://that.animeblogger.net/2008/01/13/spice-and-wolf-ep-1-im-a-furrycon-now/
All that said, the animation, music, and voice acting really add a lot to the story too, so I think there’s a place for all three different presentations of the story.
Personally, I think I would counter that Spice and Wolf *has* always been this good (better animation this second time around aside perhaps), and that this second season is simply well-placed to capitalise on the stirling efforts of the first batch of episodes to build up Horo and Lawrence’s relationship so magnificently. Rather than racing into the kind of “love at first sight” concept that we see so often in anime, here is a show that has really worked hard to build up a believable sense of a developing (and as you say, adult) relationship, and it’s all the better for that.
The dynamic of Lawrence and Horo and the way that it grows, adapts, changes and occasionally shows its fragility is almost painfully realistic, and I can’t really express how much I love the way their relationship has matured over time from that simple sense of mutual loneliness and what was a simple business arrangement into, slowly but surely, something built on trust and understanding. These things don’t happen in a day in real-life relationships, and my hat goes off to all involved in this series for it taking around twenty episodes to reach that state after a few trials and tribulations.
On top of that, both characters have grown as individuals as well – Horo has become notably less conceited, while Lawrence is starting to be quite the smooth talker now he understands Horo a little better.
As I’ve said before, this is a series where I’d happily see the two characters cooped up in an empty room together week in, week out – As long as they talk to one another, it’s almost a guaranteed top-notch viewing experience. All of this really makes me want to start reading the light novels when they get a translated release too…
I can only second to what Manga said. Except, I wasn’t worried a couple of episodes, but every one single is a pain to watch until you know everything’s going to end good.
Actually, I can’t imagine where Horo and Lawrence’s relationship is heading. Judging by what I have seen in other stories, Horo could become mortal to live just as long as Lawrence, or Lawrence could become immortal to live with her. Or the author(s) could think of something else. Only one thing is clear: I want the two to be together. Like hell.
I thought the first season was good, but this is even better. Holo and Lawrence’s relationship’s getting somewhere, and the suspense was definitely well-built on, unlike the last season’s.
The animation’s the same thing. While S1’s was… lackluster, to say the least, S2’s is quite good, to be honest. Gotta love Brains Base.
But really, what got me hooked on the series in general is Holo’s character, and the Holo-Lawrence dynamic. She’s spunky, sassy, and confident, but not a total megalomaniac. And because Lawrence knows how to play along, he does so, with very good effect. Every time they converse, you’ve got all these witty, playful remarks that I love to bits, and that I sorely miss in many other shows where moe is the norm. I mean, moe’s fine and good, but stuff like this is just as great, but much more scarce.
I really enjoy the series, although I haven’t kept up with the manga (don’t feel a need to given the slow scanlation pace and the novel/anime being there). I love how in the last arc Horo planned everything based on Lawrence running back to her; so, naturally, he did the exact opposite and declared all-out war on Amartie. That’ll show you for thinking by yourself, Lawrence.
Now I’m in the dark over the plot, given that they’ve apparently skipped volume 4 of the novels, which is as far as Baka-Tsuki goes for continuous chapters. I guess I don’t really blame them as long as it stays good, but the bear-stories and end ‘miracle’ part would have been nice to see.
I don’t know what’s been keeping me from watching Spice & Wolf II. I loved the first season and Brains Base hasn’t left me down yet. I suppose there’s always been a fear in the back of my mind such a winning combination could still end in disappointment but now I’m relieved to know my fears were baseless.
I love this story, setting, and Horo so much. She’s my favorite female lead in a romantic anime since Lafiel.
@manga: it seems to just take everything that made the first series fun and improve on it, yeah. Ep #7 is unbelievably cute! Plugin thingie removed too – it must’ve reset when I did an upgrade or something because I’d kinda forgotten about it!
@Orion: adaptations are tricky things – I can’t recall on instance where the anime is superior. That said, I feel the second series addresses the issues I too had with the characterisation, so I’m really happy with it so far. ^_^
@Hanners: the all-important character development thing…hmm, again, I can’t easily recall a story I’ve seen recently where that gradual change is done so well. It makes me even more curious about the ending, but yeah. Two votes for light novel translations!
@Gargron: I can come up with more than one resolution to this, but none of them seem quite right; they all feel like a deus ex machina or a general cop-out, so I hope the writers have something good up their sleeve.
@Zeroblade: I’m loving the dialogue more and more. Again, ep #7 has some wonderful one-liners and is so sweet and funny on that level, I can’t remember what the story was about!
@Nanaya: what I loved about the resolution to that was the fact that, had Lawrence truly trusted Horo’s judgement, he would’ve saved himself so much stress and legwork! I guess he learned an important lesson about their friendship there. I’d like to see the ‘bear stories’ though…they sound intriguing!
@tungwene: I don’t know either – do yourself a favour and watch it! I can’t see anything that would disappoint you since you enjoyed the first season. And I agree: Lafiel is another awesome character. There’s something wonderfully refreshining about a female lead who’s self-assured and intelligent. I’ll be blogging about the CotS light novels soon…
Would YOU have trusted the judgment of a girl who had just gone from the shock of her life to propositioning him to accusing him in under 30 seconds, then (by all appearances) ran off agreeing to marry some guy who treated her nicely?
I can see trust and faith and at least going to see her for her take on what was happening, but after that chain of events I think that would also have stuck to my own gambits…
That´s one way of doing it, and when the results are as good as this then I have no complains. Man I was terrified at what Horo went trough in some of the eps there.
But it all ended well thank God.
Heh.. I felt both of them were to blame. Lawrence for obvious reasons. But Horo started the whole thing by talking smack about Lawrence to Amarty for a piece of Pyrite and scarf. Plus, if Horo had just swallowed her pride long enough to be direct with Lawrence she could have stopped everything. Lawrence was clearly distraught, so why did she think a marriage certificate or feathers in her hat were a sure sign of emotional support? But anyway..
[...] For more on Spice & Wolf, check out DarkMirage’s review, or Martin’s excellent write-up. [...]
I agree with you, they deserve each other (the good and the bad). In fact I don’t think either of them could get along with anyone else. Of course Lawrence looks bad compared to Horo, but that’s by design. He’s just the slightly-above-average human, who sits next to Horo. People are always going to be willing to look the other way when Horo messes up and dump on Lawrence when he looks at her the wrong way :D
Another way to look at it is that Lawrence has been more or less alone traveling for 7 years, knowing nothing social other than merchant-related stuff. In just a couple of months of travel with Horo he’s come this far. I am honestly impressed by how quickly he’s grown (especially compared to her). If anyone can help her grow it will be Lawrence; she doesn’t seem to want to grow.
I liked the second season’s progress – it resisted the obvious temptation to become trite and speed things up unrealistically. Anything that makes me crave MORE so badly must be good.