Okay... I am going to receive hatred. I just know I will. But please, before sending me death threats, please read why I give this show such a relatively low score.
Spice and Wolf is a show I initially started when I was all new to anime, I didn't know much about what were the most beloved shows aside from those big shonens like SNK everyone talks about. Consequently I didn't know anything about Spice and Wolf. I found it very randomly and thought the opening was incredibly charming, which made me want to try it.
I really liked the first episode. I didn't find
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it to be amazing but it had a big charm and made me want to see the rest. Then I watched the second episode and was left a bit disappointed. Due to having other shows to watch, I put it on hold and forgot about it, that is until I came here and realized how much the anime fandom loves this show. It made me want to try it again, hoping the last episode I saw was just a weak one and that the rest would prove itself to be worthy of the hype.
I gave a chance for it to impress me episode after episode, until I reached the last one and finished it with a disappointed face. Spice and Wolf didn't impress me. Neither the story, nor the characters managed to reach me.
And I'll try to explain why.
Story : What can I even say about the story... Basically, it is about a merchant and a wolf goddess going on a road trip in order to help the wolf goddess go back to her homeland. Among the way, the two companions will sell things and talk about ecomomics. That's pretty much it.
I am certain that if you have an interest in economics, you will love this show no matter what because it is very good in that domain. But if you are like me, if you don't have any interest in that and don't even manage to understand what the characters are talking about, you might end up with a headache. And along with the headache, you will end up with a feeling of boredom, because the show is primarily about that. Economics. Aside from its wolf waifu's relationship with the merchant, this is supposed to be its main appeal. So if you're not into economics, don't expect a truly compelling story.
Art : The character designs aren't the best ones out there. They aren't ugly, but they don't stand out, with the exception of Holo's design that really fits her character, full of personality. The backgrounds are also very bland most of the time. The show is apparently supposed to take place in medieval Europe, which is a setting that really appeals to me, but except in the first episode, I didn't feel the charm that generally comes from it because in this show, it doesn't feel lively at all. There are background characters that allow the cities not to look empty, but they aren't often there and when they are, they don't do enough to make the place seem alive. When you think about a medieval city, you obviously think about markets, street artists, lively crowds, dark taverns, etc. Here, nothing. The streets, the buildings, the houses don't look ugly at all, but no life is deriving from them which, if you're sensitive to atmosphere, can be very distracting. The scenes taking place in the plains the forest are generally no better, with the exception of a few scenes taking place during the night where I found the atmosphere to be very charming.
As for the animation, it is quite average. It isn't bad but it isn't stunning either.
Sound : I watched it with the japanese dub and I have quite mixed feelings about it. Most of the characters don't have memorable voices though that's probably due to the characters themselves being forgettable ones to start with.
Lawrence, the main character, is voiced by Jun Fukuyama who is one of my favorite seiyuus, but in this show I didn't find his performance to be anything amazing, I didn't even recognize him at first due to how little his acting stands out compared to usual.
However, I have to say that I love Ami Koshimizu as Holo. She has a very wide range that she perfectly knows how to use in order to bring this peculiar character to life. I never found her performance to be lacking, which is saying something since this Holo seems to be quite a difficult one to play.
About the soundtrack, aside from one specific ost, I never found it to be memorable in the show, however listening to it outside of it made me realize that it is actually a great one. I don't know why I didn't notice it while watching, maybe I was too busy trying to understand the whole money thing.
Characters : First, I want to talk about the characters outside of Lawrence and Holo. Those characters are the very definition of one-dimensional and stereotypical. You won't find anything interesting in them. So don't even try to hope for something that could make them memorable, you won't have it. The only character I found to be a little bit interesting was a young sheperd the duo encounters in the last arc, but unfortunately her character has never been sufficiently developed. The show, through Holo, told me multiple times that this young girl isn't what she seems, but it really failed to show it.
Now about Lawrence. There is something interesting about him. It is unusual to have a merchant as a main, and even more unusual to have this merchant struggle the way real life people struggle with money. It makes for some interesting development that I really liked to see. However Lawrence himself isn't an actually compelling character because he is seriously lacking a real personality. Aside from his job, he doesn't much to him because even his discussions with Holo often have money as the main subject. Would I say that Lawrence is boring ? No I wouldn't go as far, but he isn't a memorable character.
And now, finally, I'll talk about Holo. Holo is THE reason so many people watch and love this show and she is the main reason I decided to give this show another chance. I wasn't very fond of her character in the first episodes (though it probably had something to do with her voice since I watched them in my country's dub), but I always found her intriguing and I really hoped she would grow on me. And she did, a lot actually. And at the beginning I really thought she would make it to my favorites by the end because she just seemed to be that great.
As you can probably tell, she didn't. Because in the first 6 or so episodes, I was waiting for that one scene that would make her truly memorable to me and gave her a chance because I knew I still had many episodes left. But the closer I got to the end, the more I came to understand that it wouldn't happen.
Unfortunately, Holo suffers from being way too often relegated to the role of the observant, she observes but doesn't do anything until she is certain she can do something. The thing is that those moments when she actually does something are very rare. More often than not, she is just sitting or standing next to Lawrence, listening to him negotiating, and she only discusses that with him once it is over. The issue is that it takes away a lot of chances for her to considerably develop. And maybe most people weren't bothered by it which is totally fine, but all those missed opportunities to make Holo shine really bothered me. I am not saying that she actually could've done something when she didn't, because as far as I could tell it wasn't the case, but that those scenes where she couldn't do anything were far too numerous.
It shows one of the other issues with this show actually : it doesn't balance economics and character development well.
But to go further with Holo, one of the things that frustrated me the most is how during the few moments where she shows a vulnerable side, this is where her character truly shines. Unfortunately, those moments don't last long because she very quickly reverts back to her usual self and what happened before is never mentionned again. I always feel like the show is restraining itself from going in depths and providing Holo that one scene that would make her absolutely amazing, and this is so frustrating.
It is even more frustrating since Holo symbolizes some very important themes such as loneliness. I wanted to see that being explored to its fullest, but it really left disappointed.
One last thing is how the show always reminds me how Holo is "the wise wolf". So Holo is supposed to be wise. But when I started truly paying attention, I came to understand that Holo isn't particularly wise, she is indeed smart, crafty, and very lucid when it comes to understand people's inner selves, but she didn't strike me as being wise which is a shame since it is supposed to be her main trait.
But for all my criticisms, Holo remains a very good character and I understand why people love her so much. I simply was expecting more from her, especially because she had the potential to be more. But she is still worth it and if you're planning to watch this show just for her, you'll still have a very good time even if you might regret her lack of screentime from time to time.
Overall : Spice and Wolf is a flawed show. It had a huge potential, it could've been amazing, but unfortunately it always felt like it was almost afraid to use said potential to its fullest. But it is still a good show that deserves to be seen. Between Holo's character, the beautiful soundtracks, the economics if you're interested in that, and the interactions between our two mains, I don't think you can even truly dislike this show. But don't raise your expectations too high, like this you'll be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be to your liking and you won't be disappointed if you're hoping to find a bit more in a show or if you don't know anything and don't care all that much aboit merchandising.
Jan 19, 2021
Ookami to Koushinryou
(Anime)
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Okay... I am going to receive hatred. I just know I will. But please, before sending me death threats, please read why I give this show such a relatively low score.
Spice and Wolf is a show I initially started when I was all new to anime, I didn't know much about what were the most beloved shows aside from those big shonens like SNK everyone talks about. Consequently I didn't know anything about Spice and Wolf. I found it very randomly and thought the opening was incredibly charming, which made me want to try it. I really liked the first episode. I didn't find ... |
