"It's About the Journey, not the
Destination"
Spice and Wolf, 2008 TV Series
Studio: Imagin, Director-Takeo
Takahashi
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Well, February ends with a review on
another series I like: Spice and Wolf. I watched this back in college
when it first came out. Around Christmas 2010, I got some money to
spend and after going to FYE, bought the whole first season on DVD.
Unfortunately, I have yet to get the second season mainly due to it
being only available on Bluray/DVD combo. So this review will focus
on the first season.
Anyway, Spice and Wolf tells the
journey of Kraft Lawrence, a traveling merchant in a world not much
different from Medieval Europe. One day, while at a village, he runs
into Holo, a wolf goddess who can take human form. She yearns to go
back home to the northern lands, as the villagers have grown tired of
the old pagan ways and are moving towards the all-powerful Church.
So, Holo enlists Lawrence in joining her on the journey as she needs
a companion after being lonely so long.
Now, based on that premise, one would
swordplay and fast adventure in a fantasy world, would you not? Not
really, as the focus of this series is on ECONOMICS, ECONOMICS,
ECONOMICS!! Mostly it involves characters talking about and doing
economic activities, including trade deals and doing networking with
other people. Thus, the main drive of the series comes from dialogue
and characters' interactions, as opposed to action which when that
occurs, it is sweet and succinct. Of course, there is nothing wrong
with this, as the attention to detail with regards to historical
detail makes the world of Spice and Wolf rather believable.
This leads to the other draw that this
show has for me: the characters, mainly Kraft Lawrence and Holo.
Kraft Lawrence is a very complex character. Being at times confident
and brave to being angry and defeated. But, the highlight character
for me is Holo, who practically steals the show every scene she is
in, which is most of them anyway. She's feisty, sarcastic, energetic
and prideful on the surface, but there's also a lingering sad
softness underneath. I like that. The supporting cast are mostly
one-off characters that are a bit one-note, with a few exceptions
(Nora the shepherdess for instance).
In terms of production, it is very
solid across the board. Animation is very nice-looking, with some
quite lovely backgrounds and consistent character designs. Music is
traditional Medieval music, mostly strings and percussion. Not too
different from what one would hear from a Ren. Fair. I especially
like the ending song, which is a jolly energetic and all-engrish
music. The english dub is done by Funimation, who do a very job with
it, as usual. J Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia, as Lawrence and
Holo respectively, are the knockout V.A.s for the dub. The rest of
the dub is filled with Funimation regulars which upon hearing some of
them you will recognize at an instant.
So, all in all, Spice and Wolf is a
very good fantasy series. I highly recommend it.
Next time is well, back to Saturdays.
March 2nd is the next
review, I am keeping it a surprise. See you then!
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