Spice and Wolf, episode 9

They've managed to escape one city and are on their way through the wilderness again. Bumping into a shy little girl who claims to be able to control dogs/wolves, they hire her as a guide and have an uneventful trip through some infamous woods. Pretty much all the "action" of the episode is found in Horo's reaction to the shepherd girl and her relentlessly teasing Lawrence about it. Clearly something is being set up for yet another conflict with the church, likely revolving around the aforementioned shy shepherd.

My friends seem to have pretty much given up with the show at this point (or with episode 10 - which I'm somewhat dreading), having gotten fed up with the somewhat rough, unfocused nature of the show. Despite being surprisingly subtle for an anime and gifted with a unique premise, it never really seems to quite gel and reach the next level. It has it's fair share of tense moments, but has a habit of getting side-tracked with brief economic lessons or getting stuck in a comfortable rut.

That might be my biggest gripe with the show. The broad plot is a classic fantasy cycle of being chased by powerful bad guys and being forced to flee into the wilderness, but in the details that doesn't seem to quite carry through. After a narrow escape from the Church in the last arc, Horo and Lawrence are back up into a sturdy cart and trading, business as usual. They don't seem any more paranoid about being discovered again, nor is there a greater sense of urgency about reaching Horo's northern homelands. The characters have potential for incredible depth and emotional power, but if they (and the show itself) remain static, they will never realize it.

Either way, right now I'm still enjoying the show, though I have a suspicion that it'll end up as good, but disappointing as opposed to grrrreat!

based on 9 episodes : ANN : Wikipedia : YouTube

Spice and Wolf, episode 6

It may be moving a bit slowly and I might just be wanting to like it more than it really deserves (as a friend of mine thinks with this latest episode), but I'm still very much enjoying Spice and Wolf.

The premise is unique: Horo, a wolf-god of prosperity, enters into an agreement with Lawrence, a medieval merchant, to travel north to her ancient homeland. Things get complicated when a young merchant who clearly has complicated feelings for Lawrence shows up hunting Horo to turn over to the church and usher in a new era so her village no longer needs to rely on the god's whims for prosperity. The glue that holds the show together, though, is the interaction between Lawrence and Horo - it's surprisingly compelling and sublte for an anime.


Things have progressed rather slowly so far, though, and I suspect that's part of general sense of dissatisfaction. Most of the "action" has involved economics and manipulative trading and it's taken six episodes to resolve what seemed like a minor story about currency devaluation with a climactic revelation of Horo's "true" form - and for the leads to finally commit to each other. It's the team-building scene when constantly bickering travelers can finally admit that they really do want to travel with each other, no matter what pretense they insist on.

The animation isn't particularly impressive either. Horo's giant wolf form ripping through the catacombs was pretty nice, but mainly due to subtle touches like the wind of her passing or her wantonly tossing bodies around. With a better budget or tighter direction, that scene could have been positively bone-chilling.

Spice and Wolf remains a solid, well-written and original anime, however. At worst, it can feel like it's not living up to all it could be, but I think it's really still just trying to find it's feet. It's taken a bit, but I suspect it'll be worth it in the end.

Even if she looks more like a Firefox-tan cosplayer than a big, bad wolf.

ANN : Wikipedia