Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Spice and Wolf: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

The Incredible Journey.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 21, 2011

In the immortal words of Simon and Garfunkel:

Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last.

(Yes, I know it’s actually written only by Simon, but let’s not get too anal—that defeats the message of “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”, don’t you think?). In this high speed, broadband world where everything whizzes by at the speed of fiber optic light, sometimes it’s good just to take a deep breath and smell the anime. Well, you get the idea, right? Unfortunately, a lot of anime is also insanely fast paced, and let’s face it, a lot of anime is just flat out insane. Which brings us to Spice and Wolf. This undeniably odd but just as undeniably endearing series is a sort of “road movie” taking place in the Middle Ages between an itinerant peddler named Lawrence and, oh, you know, the lonely Harvest Deity Goddess Holo, who in her natural form is a wolf, but who can morph into something approaching a human appearance. Just your average, everyday anime, nothing to get alarmed about, and you might also think “nothing to see here,” given the series’ incredibly slow pace and (no, this is not a joke) sometimes weird focus on the arcane ins and outs of medieval barter and economic theory. The first season of Spice and Wolf set up the relationship between Lawrence and Holo, positing this “oddest couple” (as I subtitled my first season review) as a sort of misfit bantering couple who nonetheless were learning to work and live together as Lawrence attempted to get Holo back to her native lands in the north. The two interacted with various townspeople as they made their way on their trek, but the main focus of the series remains resolutely on Lawrence and Holo, which is both this series’ strength and its weakness. Spice and Wolf takes its time, there can be no denying it, and it may drive some viewers raised on attention deficit disorder entertainments a bit batty as they expect something—anything—to happen, but the series is also oddly charming and disarming in its own very distinctive way. In fact as the first season wound down, I found myself simply letting go and letting the show work its peculiar magic, and that perhaps aided my appreciation of Spice and Wolf’s second season.

Spice and Wolf’s second season picks up more or less right where the first season left off, with Lawrence and Nola attempting to converse while Holo, not exactly the non-jealous type, isn’t quite able to suppress her dissatisfaction. This is a recurring issue throughout the series, as Holo’s tempestuous temperament keeps getting in the way of her best intentions, but this is also one of the reasons the character proves to be so interesting. Lawrence’s usually calm and measured approach is contrasted well with Holo’s more (apt) animalistic tendency toward instinct and rash behavior.

The series still requires a great deal of patience, but there’s a bit more intrigue in this second season than there was in the first, especially in the second half of the story, when a multi-episode arc brings Holo closer than ever to her long lost home but also brings Lawrence a temptation which may in fact lead to Holo’s demise or at the very least imprisonment. The recurring threat of organized religion not cottoning to a pagan deity continues to rear its ugly head throughout this season and helps to create a suitably tense atmosphere to several episodes.

Spice and Wolf is at its best in its interplay between Lawrence and Holo, and despite the series’ often langorous pace, there’s enough going on between these two disparate characters to maintain interest, if not outright excitement. This is a show which can take minutes for one character to finish a drink or even come out with a line of dialogue, and that has to be taken into account. But for those who don’t require slam bang, in your face whiz-bang fare one hundred percent of the time, there’s a charming story here that slowly but surely works its magic on the viewer and creates its own weird sort of allure along the way. It’s slow, yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s interminable or unenjoyable by any stretch.

The series does devolve perhaps once too often into melodramatic fare, especially as it attempts to wind up the story line with a convoluted scheme Lawrence agrees to, hoping to provide some much needed funds and to aid in Holo’s eventual ability to return to her homeland a free spirit. This gambit is especially strange when the series decides to kind of chuck it all aside and leave the finale open ended so that Lawrence and Holo might continue their journey even if Holo does reach her homeland. Getting there may be half the fun, as they say, but in Spice and Wolf it’s evidently the whole megillah, take it or leave it.

Spice and Wolf: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Spice and Wolf gets a bit more painterly, especially with regard to the backgrounds, in this second season, and so this AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 looks at least a little better, if not by much, than the first season. The problem with the series is that it's simply pretty predictable from a design standpoint, with nothing standing out very much. The best elements here are in fact those backgrounds, especially some lovely amber-lit interior sequences and several segments taking place in the snow, which look very good. Line detail is acceptably sharp if not overwhelmingly excellent and colors, while often muted due to the show's design aesthetic, are well saturated and true to the source elements.

Spice and Wolf: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's a definite trade off any listener has to make with regard to Spice and Wolf two lossless audio options. The original Japanese track is presented via Dolby TrueHD 2.0, while the English dub is offered in a surround Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. While the surround mix certainly does create a more immersive experience (albeit fairly fitfully and with virtually no discrete channelization), and better represents the series' charming underscore by Yuji Yoshino, the voicework is at least questionable at times. While Lawrence is well voiced (perhaps even better than his Japanese counterpart) by J. Michael Tatum, Brina Palencia's Holo really started to grate on my ears more and more (much more than in the first season, actually) as the show went on, and ultimately struck me as being simply too haughty and over-enunciated (final "t"'s are completely over the top most of the time), especially when compared to the original Japanese take on the character, which is softer and sweeter, albeit often feisty. Purists almost always like the original language tracks, anyway, so it may not be an issue, especially since surround activity isn't incredibly consistent or boisterous on the 5.1 track. Both tracks do offer sterling fidelity and good dynamic range.

Spice and Wolf: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• 'Studying' With Holo (1080i; 2:12) is a whimsical little extra with Holo giving brief lessons on such items as bread and wine.
• 'Stretching' With Holo Yoitz Style (1080i; 4:03) is actually another "study" short, focusing on Holo-style aerobics.
• Textless Opening Song (HD; 1:32)
• Textless Closing Song (HD; 1:32)
• Trailers for other FUNimation Releases

Spice and Wolf: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Spice and Wolf grew on me, that much can't be denied. By the time the series ended, I had become rather fond of both Lawrence and Holo and had started to really enjoy their incessant banter and gently bickering relationship. That said, is it a good thing that I had only started to enjoy a show as it reached the end of its second season? And that's the major issue with Spice and Wolf: it is such a slow and deliberate series that many in today's ADHD world are simply not going to have the patience to sit through umpteen episodes, when not a lot happens in any one of them. The second season is at least a little more vigorous in that regard, but that might be akin to saying a mortally wounded person is a little more vigorous than a corpse. But for those who value character over story, Spice and Wolf has a certain undeniable charm. Its magic may be decidedly small scale, but it's there nonetheless. If you're the type who likes to stop and smell the roses (and/or anime), Spice and Wolf is Recommended.