Spice and Wolf 01 – Cool and Spicy and Nekkid
Posted by 0rion on January 9th, 2008 - 2:00 am
Despite being a recent fan of the light novels this show is based on, I had a lot of reservations about the series going into it. After watching the first episode, however, I’ve been solidly convinced – this show is going to be epic. So sit back, cut yourself a slice of sunshine pie*, and I’ll tell you why.
* For those who haven’t seen the episode, I’ll explain that line in a bit. 
First a quick story synopsis. The only thing I hate more than writing episode summaries is reading them, so I’ll keep this brief. 
The story takes place in a fictional setting that feels like a cross between the late medieval period and feudal Japan. Our main character, Craft Lawrence, is a mild mannered but shrewd traveling salesman. He comes through the city of Pasroe during the very end of the wheat harvest and through discussion with the locals learns about their guardian wolf god, as well as how the city’s recent prosperity is causing people to depend less on the wolf god and more on new modern agricultural methods.
That evening who should he find sleeping in the back of his wagon but Horo, the aforementioned wolf god, who like all good female centuries-old magical beings, has the form of a hawt young girl. She ends up taking a liking to him and, feeling that she’s not needed in the village any more, asks to travel with him back to her birthplace in the north. Thus they begin their Random Traveling Adventures and Tales of Agriculture Tales of Economics.
End boring explanations.
This show really got my attention right off the bat with the amazing OP sequence, Tabi no Tochuu, with both a great song and awesome accompanying animation. As we discussed recently, this is another great example of an OP done right, exemplifying the character of the series and creating the perfect vibe to psyche you up for the show. Both the music and art are stellar; this is definitely the kind of OP I can see myself sitting through 26 times without getting tired of it.
And speaking the art, the character designs are also excellent, and both Horo and Lawrence have interesting multi-faceted personalities. Koshimizu Ami (Kallen from Code Geass, also Tenma Tsukamoto) is an excellent seiyuu with a great range of voices, and she certainly doesn’t disappoint in her role as Horo. She does a great job of exploring the different sides of Horo’s personality, at times playful and childish, at times cunning, and at other times cold and intimidating.
Horo also has a very oldschool way of speaking, formal sounding traditional Japanese, and Koshimizu does a great job of making her dialect sound cool but still understandable. Fukuyama Jun (Lelouch) as Lawrence also does an excellent job, making the back and forth banter between the two wonderfully enjoyable (and believe me, there is a lot of talking).
Mildly NSFW stuff behind the spoiler tags.
Click for the rest… show
That’s not to say that the show is solely fanservice, however. I’ve read a good portion of the first novel, and it seems like the series has a nice blend of comedy, drama, supernatural elements, and Tales of Economics. I haven’t read enough to know if this will be a major theme of the show, but it definitely has a lot of emphasis on business and trading. In addition, from what I can see both Horo and Lawrence are great dynamic characters with well-rounded personalities and interesting histories that hopefully will be explored over the course of this season. Horo especially is a very complex and realistic character, hardly what you would expect from what seems on the surface like a mere fanservice character.
Finally, I have to say, the ED song, Ringo Hiyori by ROCKY CHALK, is awesome. Normally bad Engrish singing just irritates me, but this time I found it pretty hilarious. The best line of the whole thing is definitely the part where she sings, “I cut myself a slice of sunshine pie.”
That funny imagery combined with the accent was just too entertaining.
Hhmm.. it looks another interesting anime to look at. The pics of Horo reminds me of Lucy from Elfen Lied. It must be the ears.
‘[C]omedy, drama, supernatural elements, and Tales of Economics’ sounds like a volatile cocktail – either delicious, as in the drinking kind of cocktail, or explosive, as in the Molotov kind. Still, you’ve piqued my interest.
Oddly enough, Horo reminds me of Hazuki from Moon Phase.
And you say the ED is in Engrish
I might just check it out
So… I expected a reason as to why she is a RL Furry.
I might have to watch this, It seems alright, I need something to check out.
Horo wishes she was as cool and spicy as Amu.
Downloaded it on a whim, and I also really liked it.
1st volume of the novel had a great story and ending. Looking foward to how story will unfold in anime. At the same time a little worried about how “economics” can be explained without boring the audience.
Hmm I tried reading the a couple of chapters that was released from Musashi and tried reading it. I liked the story so far and the art is really beautiful. But what’s neat is probably the way they somehow fit economics. It takes a while to understand but you get it at some point and it becomes really interesting without having to just narrowly follow some linear plot. It gives you something to think about in the background I guess.
I was hesitant in watching the show, but once I found this review, it seems I have higher hopes. Thanks for this ^^
I’d heard that the Engrish ED was pretty bad, but in this case, it’s the “so-bad-it’s-good” kinda bad.
Blogs have to either suck human blood or eat wheat before updating their themes, true story.
I wonder if Horo will start talking about all the great ways you can use wheat, similar to Bubba talking about shrimp in Forest Gump.
With any luck, it’ll be a bit of both I daresay.
I should think it would be obvious – she’s a wolf being who’s simply taking on a human form.
And anyway, everyone knows cat/wolf/whatever girls aren’t furries.
Amu wishes she was as nekkid as Horo.
I think it all depends on what you want to get out of the show. If you’re looking for lots of explosions and fighting, you’ll probably find this show terribly boring. I, on the other hand, happen to find the idea of a show about trading and merchant-y stuff quite awesome.
Glad you enjoyed it! Honestly I think this is the most exciting new show that I’ve seen in a while (Aria doesn’t really count as a “new” show).
Exactly! It actually makes the song quite fun in this case.
Well, everyone knows that “comments are the lifeblood of a blog”, so I guess that means I need to eat some of my commenters, yes?
ShrimpWheat is the fruit of thesealand. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. There’s, um, wheat kebabs, wheat creole, wheat gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried…I was sold on “Nekkid”
lulz @ nekkid
to me this was a strong first episode. you get what the show is about, and it had tastes of mystery, ecchi, and romance
hopefully this will turn into an episodic traveling anime…like a certain show called mushishi, but i havent read the manga or light novels or w/e
also does this look like a teenage ginko to anyone else?
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i34/bcby/vlcsnap-128376.png
Damn, the girl looks hot
/downloads
So far, SAW has been pretty good. I think the thing that makes it unique is the element of economics and trade. Folks that are familiar with the concept of arbitrage will immediately notice it in Lawrence’s strategies.