spice and wolf, tail of blessing and wolf
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“Do you want me to say that I’m delicious?”
This is the seventh episode of Spice and Wolf, and it’s the DVD special. It bridges two arcs and explains how Horo got her outfit upgraded much like Freedom to Strike Freedom. Okay, maybe not. It’s a typical Spice and Wolf story.
A heartfelt discussion about apples and how to eat them. Conclusion: apple pies are delicious.
A trip to buy clothes that will blend in at the northern villages. Conclusion: triangular-shaped hates are not so delicious.
And Horo trying to hold hands with Lawrence. Conclusion: teasing wolves might be edible.
Market Report and Wolf
UP The Delicious Index… maybe it’s just me, but I think the world needs a “Delicious Index.” Basically, I’d love to see things like:
Anyway, in terms of being a tease, Horo is in the middle between Kyou and Chizuru. Kyou doesn’t tease enough and Chizuru… well… overload.
DOWN IMAGIN… now that this anime has finished, I’m a bit disappointed in how it turned out. (In fact, it has pole position for Most Disappointing of 2008.) I don’t have a problem with lightweight plot, but the sparseness of the animation was really distracting. I would really like to see my teasing wolf gods be better animated. Maybe we can get XEBEC to make an anime about a wolf god that enjoys teasing men… oh wait…
DOWN Triangular hat… when the storekeeper said it was a hat and dress for a servant at a noble’s house, I was thinking, uh, meido. I feel so robbed. What better way to hide her ears than to cosplay as a nekomimi meido?
UP Gas prices… $5 a gallon gas can’t be good for the US economy. Though there’s two ways to approach the problem: one is to complain about the high gas prices, the second is to see opportunity in the high gas prices. Gratz to everyone who were smart enough to hedge the high oil prices by buying oil futures. I’m sure Horo and Lawrence would have done the same.
UP That’s all I’m worth to you?!… I loved Horo’s stare at Lawrence when he purchased the cheap clothes. I don’t understand the logic as to why Lawrence would buy the cheap clothes before buying the more expensive ones… I mean… there’s a chance that the storekeeper would have jacked up the expensive clothes prices because he knew that the woman (Horo) would be angry if she didn’t get the nice clothes. It’s just supply and demand: if she demands it and you don’t supply it, you’ll be sleeping on the couch. Ouch… this item is hitting a bit too close to home.
UP Blessing of the wolf… what I had hoped for was a trading anime with some sexual tension between Horo and Lawrence. With regards to the trading anime, well, it turned out to be the weakest part. The economic landscape of the Spice and Wolf world is a bit too abstract and different from modern economics to really present an interesting story. The show also did not spend enough time explaining the economics of what happened. The better part of the show was the sexual tension and teasing between Horo and Lawrence, but at times it degraded into Lucky Star-type conversations. To tease and tease well is difficult, and that’s probably why not a lot of shows are successful in this regard. Spice and Wolf at least tries, which is more than I can say about a few other shows. Adios Horo and Lawrence; hope to you see you again in either a remake or a sequel from XEBEC.
14 Responses to “spice and wolf, tail of blessing and wolf”
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I’d argue there’s more a difference between teasing (which Kyou doesn’t really do, except in very mild ways, that Maria does in an almost perfect fashion, and which Chizuru fails to do because she exposes everything and leaves nothing to tantalize, with a main character who’s possibly gay).
Five dollars a gallon? Is that Imperial gallons? Even if it isn’t, that sounds pretty cheap regardless. I suppose you’d be screaming bloody murder if you had our prices… approaching 1.6 euros per liter I believe. (“You should be able to solve this.”)
Spice and Wolf? While in no way a bad show, the foremost feeling it leaves me with is “missed opportunity” – it could have been much more than it ended up being. I’m still rating it above average, as there’s lots of mediocre stuff out there that doesn’t deserve a second glance.
I find myself agreeing with you. Spice and Wolf was a.. decent show. The whole thing about economics was interseting enough to be Lawrence’s main drive through the anime, but the real interset was the dynamics between Horo and Lawrence. The economics turned into filler, and it was dissapointing that things don’t seem to resolve by the end of the series.
The wolves in Mononoke Hime were so much better and that was 11 years ago! Well I mean in the fighting parts. Obviously no Horo~~~~~~n~ goodness.
Mononoke Hime was a movie (more budget + you have all the time to do it) done by a BIG studio (Ghibli, arguably the most respected animation studio in Japan) and Spice and Wolf is a TV series (less budget + many deadlines) done by some tier studio (IMAGIN, a studio with a capital of 50,000$ or so)… I don’t think it’s fair to compare them…
>>I suppose you’d be screaming bloody murder if you had our prices… approaching 1.6 euros per liter I believe.
According to my (shoddy) math, that’s almost $9.50 a gallon. Yup… bloody murder-screaming would indeed occur.
Scotland had about five dollars a gallon in the summer of 2001. Though why we should make European prices at all disturbs me greatly when the income gained has not gone up by the same ratio.
> I’m sure Horo and Lawrence would have done the same.
Horo, sure.
Lawrence would have invested everything in the car that runs on water, based on a tip from some guy he just met on the way into town.
On one hand, I agree that Spice and Wolf was a bit disappointing.
On the other hand, I want more. And I’m not ashamed to say that if IMAGIN was called to make more, I would watch it. Horo is THAT good. Mmm… tail…
>>And I’m not ashamed to say that if IMAGIN was called to make more, I would watch it. Horo is THAT good.
This. Of course, we’d need another awesome OP/ED combo from Natsumi Kiyoura and Rocky Chack.
I wouldn’t have minded if there was no economics involved in this show and it was just Lawrence and Horo talking. And maybe some Nora for some extra fun. :P
I’ve to agree with the weakness parts you already pointed out here; it had good potential at some point, especially when they faced Lawrence’s rival (damn it, I already forget her name). After that, everything seemed so slow, Horo’s fanservice was the only thing that saved the show.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want some apples.
>>According to my (shoddy) math, that’s almost $9.50 a gallon. Yup… bloody murder-screaming would indeed occur.
We’re at around 1,7 euro’s a liter over here, so that’d be about 10 dollars a gallon I believe. ;)
As for Economics and Wolf, I liked it, you can rant about IMAGIN ofcourse, but at least they did 50x better then on pretty much everything else they’ve worked on.
I’ve often wondered how horo would react to her ears being rubbed.