Spice and Wolf: the complete first season
March 3, 2010
Spice & Wolf’s first season was released by Funimation in an efficient solid package. Personally this is the way I like to buy anime DVDs. I get the whole season collected together in a space-saving package; I don’t want the tchotkes (hairbands and what not), or the special boxes. I don’t mind getting only minimal extras, as I really came for the show, not the interview with the guy who mastered the discs. I also really appreciated that the discs were solidly set in the 2-disc packaging, as opening up a new purchase only to find it scratched to hell is utterly dispiriting.
The show itself is rather unusual. I guess I am not alone in having avoided the title at first because it looked like a silly show about a guy who ends up with a magical girlfriend whose charm point is her animal ears. Eventually I started noticing online comments that it was mostly people rambling on about economics. Wha? This show is quite interesting because it doesn’t fit easy genre classifications. The relationship between the main characters plays an important but secondary part in generating the tension. Physical violence is rarely brought to the fore, but when it does, it actually seems like a credible threat. And, yes, a fair amount of time is spent discussing currency exchange rates and other elements of commerce.
On the whole I found this a very enjoyable watch. The ending was fairly satisfying as is, and a second season has aired in Japan. It was really nice to see a show that was about somebody who had a job to do for a change (other than “save the world”). I thought the relationship between Holo and Lawrence was very well handled; unlike most shows with romantic elements the characters actually seemed to spend time getting to know each other, rather than instantly realizing their undying love (but spending 24 episodes agonizing whether they should admit it).
I am very happy with my purchase of this show, and would recommend it to others, especially those who have enjoyed a game of Settlers of Catan, and won’t mind a little fantasy and a little romance mixed in.
Abandoned Factory Anime Review 
March 4, 2010 at 12:49 am
Good review of the DVD set. This is definitely an excellent show.
I really wished they released all animes in these condensed season sets. I bought all the special editions of Haruhi and realized that:
a.) I could’ve gotten the season set for less than the price of 1 special edition DVD
b.) Now I have empty Haruhi “special edition” boxes that’s just taking space, but are too nice to throw out.
March 5, 2010 at 12:51 pm
LOL I had the same experience as you with the Haruhi special edition sets. The boxes look so nice, but man did I ever pay out the ass for them. Yikes.
Spice and Wolf is indeed a good series. The economics stuff is kind of overwhelming at times, but the story still flows pretty well despite that.
March 4, 2010 at 10:10 am
Yeah, I hope the American distributors give up on releasing incomplete seasons as the normal course in anime. I always felt like I was getting ripped off when buying individual “volumes” of a show. Who wants to pick up episodes 8, 9, and 10 on a separate disc?
I don’t think it even worked well for the retailers because I never wanted to start a show at some random place in the series, and even if the first volume was available, I was worried that one key volume would be missing when it was time to watch it. Besides, they have shelf space issues too.
Those Haruhi special editions were ENORMOUS. I waited until the “Complete Collection” was released (which is still 4x the width of Spice&Wolf, despite having only one more episode). I would’ve bought it right away, but had to wait months because they only released individual volumes first.
March 6, 2010 at 1:52 am
Yeah, that’s a good point. I never buy shows until it’s all been released. The last thing I want is an incomplete set. Or have to wait years to complete the collection.