Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
OP: [Tabi no Tochū (旅の途中)] by Natsumi Kiyoura
ED: [Ringo Hiyori (リンゴ日和)] by Rocky Chack
狼と香辛料 Official web site

The start of Spice and Wolf (I wonder why they reversed the title from Wolf and Spice…) was pretty damn good and one of the best I’ve seen so far from the Winter line-up. If this episode is any indication I think that this show will definitely end up being among the jewels of the Winter 2008 season.

Time for some economics!

I guess I’ll give a brief summary (even though I don’t really like those) as to what Spice and Wolf is about. The story focuses on Horo, a harvest god who happens to be a wolf, and Lawrence Craft, a traveling merchant. As Lawrence makes at the village of Pasroe, a place that is holding a harvest festival, he ends up unknowingly taking Horo along with him on his way out. Horo tells him that she is leaving the village because they no longer need her and that she wants to go to her birthplace in North. From there, the journey of the two begins with unknowns and challenges ahead of them.

Like I was saying before, this was a great start to the show. It left me feeling just as satisfied as I was when I started reading the manga adaptation a few months ago and I really enjoy both of them at the moment. Needless to say there are some differences between the two versions but both of them are based off of the light novels anyway so changes are bound to be present. One of the most notable changes was the introduction of the character Chloe, who is original to the anime. She’s a pretty cute girl and is the apprentice of Lawrence who, I think, has affections for him aside from admiration towards his knowledge and skills as a merchant.

The animation is pretty decent as are the character designs, especially Horo and Chloe’s. Yes, Horo was pretty much nipple-less but what did you expect? She’s the same way in the manga as well. Besides, this show isn’t about that kind of stuff. Though, that doesn’t mean she didn’t look seductive at times while without clothing.

The voices are done very well too. Koshimizu Ami pretty much portrays Horo in a manner I thought she would sound like in my mind. In short, she’s doing a wonderful job. Fukuyama Jun as Lawrence was a surprise to me before the show aired and still is after watching the episode. It was sort of strange to hear him in this kind of role though that may be because I subconsciously though of Lelouch during some of his lines. He is doing a fine job though. Nazuka Kaori is did a great job with Chloe as well though and I hope we get to see more of her later.

The soundtrack was pleasing to my ears and has a flavor I haven’t heard recently. Though, that flavor does make me feel like I’m in the Middle Ages and really set the atmosphere of the series rather quickly. I’m really loving the OP song, Tabi no Tochu, and I really have to grab a rip of that soon. The sequence itself had some rather interesting shots and I personally can’t wait to see if some of the imagery is expanded upon, especially the shots in the forest. The ED song was rather surprising as I wasn’t expecting an Engrish song from ROCKY CHACK. I believe the last thing I heard from them was in Zegapain so this light-hearted song took me off guard. Still though, it wasn’t hard to understand and I even found myself tapping my foot to it for a bit.

Overall, Spice and Wolf made a more than decent impact on me and remains as one of my most anticipated shows of the season. You can definitely look forward to me blogging this right to the end.