Spice and Wolf (狼と香辛料, Ōkami to Kōshinryō, lit. Wolf and Spice) is a Japaneselight novel series written by Isuna Hasekura, with illustrations by Jū Ayakura. The Mainichi Shimbun reported that as of August 2007, over 500,000 copies of the novels have been sold.[1] The series has been called a "unique fantasy" by Mainichi Shimbun due to the plot focusing on economics, trade, and peddling rather than the typical staples of fantasy such as swords and magic.[2] A manga adaptation illustrated by Keito Kōme began serialization in the Japanese seinen magazine Dengeki Maoh on September 272007, published by MediaWorks. The obi strip on the fifth novel announced the anime adaptation which began airing on January 92008 and will contain twelve episodes, plus a single original video animation.[3][4] A visual novel based on the series for the Nintendo DS will be released on June 262008 by MediaWorks.
Plot
Spice and Wolf's story revolves around Craft Lawrence, a twenty-five-year-old peddler travelling from town to town selling and buying various things to make a living in a stylized historical setting with European influences.[5] His main goal in life is to gather enough money to start his own shop, and he already has been travelling for seven years while gaining experience in the trade. One night when stopped at the town of Pasroe, he finds in his wagon a pagan wolf-deity girl named Holo who is over 600-years-old. She appears to be that of a fifteen-year-old girl, except for a wolf's tail and ears. She introduces herself as the town's goddess of harvest who has kept it blessed with good harvests of wheat for many years. Despite having the responsibility to watch over the town, she wants to go back to her homeland in the north called Yoitsu; she believes the people have already forsaken her anyway and that she has kept her promise to maintain the good harvests. Holo wants also to travel to see how the world has changed while she has remained in one place for years. She manages to bargain her way out of the village by making a deal with Lawrence to take her with him. As they travel, her wisdom helps increase his profits, but at the same time, her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church.
Characters
Craft Lawrence (クラフト・ロレンス, Kurafuto Rorensu)
Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama
Craft Lawrence, who chiefly goes by his surname, is a twenty-five-year-old traveling peddler who goes from town to town buying and selling various things in order to make a living. When he was twelve, he became an apprentice to a merchant relative, and set out on his own at eighteen. His goal in life is to gather enough money to start his own shop, and he has already been traveling for seven years while gaining experience in the trade. He meets Holo one night and eventually agrees to her traveling with him. She helps him by providing her wisdom which helps to increase his profits and get him out of jams.
Holo (ホロ, Horo)
Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu
Holo[6][7] is a wolf harvest deity originally from a land in the north known as Yoitsu. She made a promise with men from a town called Pasroe where she would ensure the town would have good wheat harvests year after year. However, as time went on, the townspeople slowly started to forsake Holo and did not rely on her as they once did. As such, Holo escapes from town in Lawrence's wagon and started traveling with him to see how much the world has changed since she has been in Pasroe. Holo has chosen the form of a fifteen-year-old girl, though she still retains her large white-tipped wolf tail, and ears. Her true form is that of a very large wolf which many people revered and feared.File:Craft and Holo.jpgCraft Lawrence (left) and Holo (right).
She refers to herself as the "Wise Wolf of Yoitsu" (ヨイツの賢狼, Yoitsu no Kenrō). She is typically very haughty and self-sufficient, though due to her isolation for hundreds of years in Pasroe, she came to feel very lonely, and sometimes shows a more fragile side of her. She has a peculiar way of speaking, modeled after that of the oiran high-class courtesans. She is fond of delicious food and alcohol, though especially loves apples. She takes pride in her tail and takes special care of it, constantly combing and maintaining it.
Chloe (クロエ, Kuroe)
Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka
Chloe is an anime-original character. She is a villager of Pasroe and has known Lawrence for a long time. In fact, Lawrence taught her how to be a merchant. Despite still not knowing how she should feel about him, she respects him as her teacher and a good friend. They later break up their friendship when she allies with the church to capture and kill Holo.
Nola Arendt (ノーラ・アレント, Nōra Arento)
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
Nola makes her first appearance in volume two of the novels. She is a skilled shepherdess from a church-town named Rubinhaigen. Her companion in this profession is a well-trained sheep dog named Enekk. She entrusts Lawrence with a task after they meet.
Fermi Amati (フェルミ・アマーティ, Ferumi Amāti)
Fermi makes his first appearance in volume three of the novels. He is a young man who works as a fish broker.
Dian Rubens (ディアン・ルーベンス, Dian Rūbensu)
Dian, who first appears in volume three of the novels, is an alchemist. She is in the process of chronicling pagan tales and beliefs so as to print them in books. She carries information about Holo's birthplace Yoitsu.
Media
Light novel volume 1.
Light novels
Spice and Wolf began as a light novel series written by Isuna Hasekura, with illustrations by Jū Ayakura. Originally, Hasekura entered the first novel in the series into MediaWorks' twelfth Dengeki Novel Prize in 2005 and the novel won the Silver Prize.[8] Afterwards, MediaWorks published the first novel on February 102006, and as of February 102008, seven volumes have been published under MediaWorks' Dengeki Bunko label. The tagline for the novels is "Merchant meats spicy wolf.", an example of Engrish. The author of the novels has commented that what "meats" in the tagline really means is kept a secret, alluding to a possible intentional misspelling of "meets".[9]
An Internet radio show hosted by Animate called Ōkamikku Radio (オオカミックラジオ) began airing on December 72007.[11] One episode is broadcast every other week on Friday. The show is hosted by Jun Fukuyama who plays Craft Lawrence in the anime, and Ami Koshimizu who plays Holo.[12]
An anime adaptation produced by the animation studio Imagin first aired in Japan on January 92008 on the Chiba TV Japanese television network; twelve of the thirteen episodes will be broadcast, with episode seven a DVD exclusive.[13] The episodes will be released in six DVD compilation volumes; volume one will contain three episodes while the subsequent volumes will contain two episodes each.[4] The volumes will be released between April 22008 and August 292008 by Pony Canyon; volume three will contain an original video animation episode in addition to episode six of the television broadcast.[4] The series is directed by Takeo Takahashi, written by Naruhisa Arakawa, and character designs are provided by Kazuya Kuroda. Takahashi was quoted as being a big fan of the novels.[14] The opening theme is "Tabi no Tochū" (旅の途中) by Natsumi Kiyoura, and the ending theme is "Ringo Biyori" (リンゴ日和) by Rocky Chack; both maxi singles were released on February 62008.[15] The anime's original soundtrack was released on March 122008.
Visual novel
A dating and peddlersimulationvisual novel based on the series will be released on June 262008 under the title Spice and Wolf: Holo's and My One Year (狼と香辛料 ボクとホロの一年, Ōkami to Kōshinryō Boku to Horo no Ichinen). The game is made by MediaWorks playable on the Nintendo DS.[16] The player assumes the role of Craft Lawrence as he travels around with Holo for a period of one year in the game. The story will differ from that of the original novels or anime and is being presented as an additional Spice and Wolf world.[17]Ami Koshimizu provides the voice of Holo in the game.[16] The game will be released on the same day in limited and regular editions; the limited edition will be sold at a higher price, but comes with a life-sized poster of Holo.[16]
Reception
The Mainichi Shimbun reported that as of August 2007, over 500,000 copies of the novels have been sold.[1] The light novel series was ranked first in 2007 in Takarajimasha's light novel guidebook Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi published yearly, and in the same publication, Holo won Best Female Character.[18] In April 2008, the maid café Cafe with Cat in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan will host a specially themed event called Cafe with Wolf for a period of three days between April 4 and April 6.[19] The event will include three new items on the menu and will tie in with the sale of the first anime DVD volume which will go on sale on April 22008. People who buy the DVD from the Comic Toranoana Akihabara Honten store (which is one the first floor below Cafe with Cat) and bring the receipt with them into Cafe with Wolf will be entered into a lottery to win rare Spice and Wolf goods.[20]
MediaWorks
