Spice and Wolf 01 and First Impressions

EPISODE 01: Wolf and Best Clothes
More Screencaps from "Spice and Wolf" Episode 01

Spice and Wolf is described as a fantasy anime without swords. I thought, what kind of fantasy is that? What I found out was intriguing.

Instead of the usual fare of swords and magic, this new fantasy series by Imagin studio deals with trade and economics, which I have to admit is not really my usual cup of tea, but I find myself nevertheless interested about this show so here are my impressions of the first episode.

The opening theme is called "Tabi no Tochuu" by Natsumi Kiyoura [Sample @ 4shared]. It's a soft ballad that echoes the historical fantasy setting of the series. The opening clip is the usual glimpse of the main and as-yet introduced characters as well as a pretty interesting hint of what might occur later on.

Craft Lawrence is a traveling merchant who goes from town to town peddling various stuffs. After having sold his wares and acquired fur and a stack of wheat, his next stop is Pasroe, a wheat-growing pagan village that worships a wolf-deity.

He arrives there in time to witness the villagers celebrate the festival held in honor of their wolf-deity of harvest, Holo.

According to legend, Holo is said to live in the harvested wheat and so the village has a tradition of "capturing" the mythical wolf by keeping the person with the last wheat stack in the barn.

This year, it is Chloe, Lawrence's friend and merchant apprentice, who "captures" Holo. Before she goes to the barn, she manages to make Lawrence promise to buy her a drink. But knowing that Chloe would be confined inside the barn for the duration of the week, according to tradition, Lawrence takes the promise lightly and leaves Pasroe that very evening.

Before he does so, he stops by at an inn where he hears about the Count who is helping Pasroe increase its harvest yield and how the village is progressing more and more to the day when the village-folk could brush elbows with the rich. Like a true merchant, Lawrence tells the innkeeper that when that day comes, he hopes to enjoy continued patronage and friendship with them.

Later that evening, in the outskirts of the village, Lawrence notices for the first time that a girl has managed to sneak inside his wagon while he wasn't looking. What's more, the girl appears to have wolf ears and fangs and howls at the moon.

This girl asks for sake and food. But since Lawrence is too stupefied to say anything, she just helps herself to the piece of meat jerky that Lawrence dropped. This finally seems to make Lawrence snap out of his shock and draw out his sword but the girl does not seem impressed by the threat and appears even insulted by it.

However, she remembers that Lawrence is not from Pasroe so she can't expect him to know anything about her. She then introduces herself as Holo, a wolf from the forest of Yoitsu in the North. She says that she was bound to the land of Pasroe because of an old promise she made with a young man. But now, since it seems that the people of Pasroe no longer needs her, she wishes Lawrence to take her back to her home.

Lawrence does not believe her at first, with good reason since the supposedly 250-year-old wolf-deity looks like a 15-year-old girl, albeit with wolf ears and tail. He asks for proof and Holo obligingly transforms her left arm back to its original form. The rest becomes a blur for Lawrence and by the time he comes to, Holo is gone.

Lawrence returns to Pasroe, deciding to stay there for the night. Not long afterwards, Chloe, wearing a Holo mask, knocks at his door. After his initial shock, Lawrence lets Chloe in and gives her the promised drink after all. Chloe has a trade proposal that could prove very lucrative and she wants Lawrence to be her partner. Lawrence, however, is not amenable to the idea, leading Chloe to point out that he might have noticed but while he was off somewhere peddling, she did a lot of growing up.

Later, as Lawrence walks Chloe back to the barn, he muses on what it would be like to have someone like Holo as partner. Chloe quickly tells him that Holo does not exist but this does not stop Lawrence from considering the prospect, however.

That night, while he is toying with the idea of a partnership with Holo, the subject of his musing appears. By way of explanation, Holo informs him that during the harvest season, she has to stay in a wheat stack. Because of this, she can't leave, unless someone else has a larger wheat stack lying around, which someone turns out to be Lawrence. So according to her, Lawrence is her savior.

The next morning, Lawrence leaves Pasroe village with Holo, who has taken his best clothes and worn it without his permission. To recompense him, she says that Lawrence's name is going to be in her Tales of Eternity. So they have working partnership with each other, on one condition: that Holo takes care of her own source of food.

The closing theme is called "Ringo Hiyori" by Rocky Chak [Sample @ 4shared]. It's like a nursery rhyme in Engrish. It's pretty cute in an weird kind of way. What I like about it is the closing clip that comes with it, featuring art from the light novel, methinks.

COMMENTS:

Right from the start, I like this anime. While the art style is not special in any way, it is still very attractively done. I also like that this fantasy is unusual for its focus on trade. I've said before that this might have some religious connotations mainly because Holo is a pagan deity in a predominantly Church-oriented medieval setting. So the background of the show is already pretty interesting. And I would like to find out how all those things play out.

I like the characters Lawrence and Holo right away. Lawrence is a likeable character even though he strikes me as the opportunistic type. Holo is also sympathetic and at the same time fun. A very interesting fact about Holo is that she speaks in a slightly different syntax than the other characters and I'm guessing it's because she is a 250-year-old wolf deity. Chloe is supposed to be nonexistent in the light novels, so I'm interested in what angle she is going to play out in the series.

All in all, it's a very good first episode and I'm anxiously waiting for the next episode.

MORE INFO:
Official Site (Japanese)
Anime News Network
Watch "Spice and Wolf" Trailer

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