[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Okami to Koshinryo 1 and 2: Wolf and Spice first impressions
It turns out that I’ve been subconsciously selecting my viewing in a yin-yang fashion all this time, with gritty and involved sci-fi on one hand and picturesque drama on the other. Joining the latter, which includes pieces of thought-provoking gorgeousness such as Kino, Mushishi and Haibane is the historical fantasy Wolf and Spice. although it doesn’t show any signs of being heavy-going and angsty in the same way, it has that marvellous combination of character-driven stuff played out in front of a fantastical rural backdrop - as light entertainment goes it’s already proving to be great fun and real feelgood television too.
There are a few similarities that Wolf and Spice shares with Mushishi and Kino, mainly in the countryside setting and the world-weary traveller premise. It’s also an historical road trip kind of show in that the two main characters are a travelling merchant and a homesick wolf-girl who share various adventures during their life on the road. The music is an appropriate assortment of folk-inspired tunes, bookended by some really sweet op/end sequences. The op theme begins as the syrupy ballad fare that I’ve grown apathetic to but it builds up into something that is powerful yet soothing, uplifting and melancholic, all at once. The duet vocals are a nice touch but overall it’s one of the most pleasant themes I’ve heard in a while. The end theme is all cute and whimsical but wins a bonus point for brilliant use of Engrish.
Visually I can’t say it’s anything spectacular but there are certain scenes that have awesome screencap potential, and overall it does look really…pretty is the best I can come up with. The setting appears to be like that of Europe in the middle ages in a rose-tinted idyllic kind of way but there are rumbles of something more important under the surface. So far though it’s undemanding, funny and perfect to sit back and relax to, with one or two serious moments that keep things interesting and makes some minor, but no less truthful, points about human nature.
For whatever reason, the main characters clicked with me right away. The male lead, Lawrence, is allegedly somewhere in his 20s, although his greyish hair makes him look a bit older (with the life expectancy at this point in history, anyone over the age of 40 would have been considered old I suppose). He has a streetwise and reserved air that you’d expect from a guy in his line of work; refreshingly his age doesn’t provide any excuse for the lame anime staple of blush -> gasp -> nosebleed that comes along with teenage male protagonists when confronted with female ones. There’s little background to him at this stage but he’s engaging enough and an early scene featuring a girl he knows from Horo’s village says a lot about how he approaches life.
Horo is even more of a mould-breaker in terms of character archetypes - I’m sure those with a furry fetish will be in their element here (in which case I’ll point you in the direction of Utawarerumono) but she’s actually very different from most anime girls I’ve seen recently. Initially I thought she was a kitsune, but despite her foxy foxlike appearance she’s actually some sort of wolf creature who has taken on a human form, complete with wolf ears and a tail. Being the best part of two and a half centuries old, Horo is a very self-assured and worldly-wise individual who is more than an intellectual match for Lawrence. Scenes in which the average anime girl would blush or stumble in an annoyingly moe way are instead opportunities for Horo to demonstrate her flirtatious wit and keen judge of character, with some really sharp and insightful exchanges of dialogue between the two of them. She’s an *interesting* female character who is hawt without being moe! Great stuff.
I was initially suspicious of this show for being a fanservice effort because Horo spends considerable time, well, naked. I don’t want to spend more than one paragraph on this issue since there’s so much more to the two opening eps than this but it seems to be a talked-about thing. I won’t deny that Horo is frequently shown with no kit on, but I think it’s excusable since clothing is exclusively a human tradition (Horo on the other hand is not strictly speaking human) and the situation does demand it sometimes (how else is a girl to dry her dress off after a rainstorm?). Even if it is just fanservice, it feels like a natural part of the story as a whole, rather than something shoehorned in to get the fanboys drooling - I have to congratulate the writers taking this attractively restrained approach. As much as anime often suggests otherwise, women in real life don’t have riduculously huge boobs without surgical assistance; kudos to the animators for making Horo, um, realistically proportioned. Granted, she’s slimmer than most but that’s what a diet of wholegrain wheat and country air does for you. ^_^
The first two episodes are really just getting us acquainted with Horo and Lawrence, so there are only the beginnings of the medieval economics and wider issues that are supposed to crop up later on. A point raised over at Epic Win, whose esteemed writers have had the benefit of reading the original light novels, pointed out how the initial setup between the two of them was somewhat left out at this stage. Lawrence has friends he sees occasionally but works alone; Horo has lived three human lifetimes already but has been on her own in the uninhabited fields surrounding a remote village for who knows how long. That is to say both of them are on their own through circumstance rather than choice so while I sensed the portrayal of mutual loneliness they share, it was only vaguely implied and under-emphasised - like Guff and Orion, I’m hoping the importance of one another’s company, plus the other extra bits, are addressed in the later episodes.
The dynamic between them is my favourite aspect since the romantic side of things is kept on the back burner and the focus shifted instead towards their relationship as two travelling companions getting to know each other as people. It’s worth remembering though that, if you ever meet a wolf-girl socially, asking “How many humans have you eaten?” isn’t a particularly good way to break the ice…
Joking aside, I was really impressed with how Wolf and Sauce Spice has started off and I can see twelve episodes being scarcely enough to do it justice. The music’s pleasant, the visuals are even more so and the two leads are the most engaging that I’ve seen in quite some time - this could prove to be a surprise hit for me actually.
Posted on January 18th, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
Suprise hit indeed. The omens are good, and we’ll see what happens. You’re right that it works well as light entertainment, though this causes me problems when I actually want to think about the show as I’m watching it.
Posted on January 18th, 2008 @ 8:13 pm
Ahhh IKnight, ever the intellectual…
Sometimes a show that knows how to be deep and philosophical in an undemanding way is nice, too. It makes for good light entertainment when you’re tired after a long work day, but also won’t insult your intelligence.
One thing I love about Mushishi is the way you can really engage with it if you have the energy…but it never forces its message on you in a heavyhanded way. I can enjoy it just as much when I’m feeling a bit world-weary myself and just need something soothing and inspiring.
Spice & Wolf is even more in the lighthearted direction, but that doesn’t mean there’s no “meat n’ potatoes” to it (episodes 1 & 2, respectively). Of course, the story’s still just getting started, so we may see more of the deeper stuff in episodes to come.
Also, if I’m not mistaken Lawrence is supposed to be 30 years old, and while Horo’s exact age is unknown, she’s described as being “hundreds of years old”.
Posted on January 19th, 2008 @ 12:11 am
“that’s what a diet of wholegrain wheat and country air does for you”
I just had to read that sentence while a Shredded Wheat advert was playing on the TV, lol
Posted on January 19th, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
@IKnight: it’s hard to say how it’ll pan out but the two leads offer entertainment on their own - Horo and Lawrence are the kinds of people I could watch for hours. There may be some more economics and medieval social commentary but even if it doesn’t I won’t be overly disappointed.
@Orion: ‘deep and philosophical in an undemanding way’ is pretty much what I thought too. I also though that scene featuring the potatoes and goats’ cheese was fantastic, although I can’t put my finger on exactly why! It was just really fun to watch I suppose.
@Necromancer: ah, comic timing! Presumably such a diet gives a long and healthy life, although that may only apply to uber-cute wolf girls…
Posted on January 20th, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
I watched the first episode and was pretty lukewarm about the whole thing. Then again, I’m also getting the ’surprise hit’ vibe Iknight’s talking about. I just can’t shake a certain fondness for the characters. You’re definitely right in saying Horo and Lawrence break the typical anime archetypes. That was the highlight of the first episode, I suppose, I was expecting Dragonaut-esque tits to be bouncing everywhere, cute little wolf gods and what not.
Posted on January 20th, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
@Xerox: I found Horo and Lawrence to be such a refreshing change that their banter alone made this show worthwhile for me. The opening episode was a bit uneventful for such a short series but depending on how it progresses, a second season might not be such a bad prospect. I’d like to read the light novels and/or manga actually.
Posted on January 20th, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
Well it seems, after reading your post, I’ve been convinced to try out Wolf & Spice. I’ve been resisting the urge for some time due to the fact that it APPEARED to be a bit too fanservicey, which is not usually a good sign of substance.
Posted on January 20th, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
“As much as anime often suggests otherwise, women in real life don’t have riduculously huge boobs without surgical assistance”
-that statement has left me in despair
but seriously i can’t help but agree to most of the other comments. the show has the potential to touch on what it means to be human.
hopefully it will do so more like mushishi, and less like the last 6 or 7 episodes of neon genesis evangelion