Spice and Wolf (2nd Season), Expectations and Speculation

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

Overall a very nice episode that contained plenty of great character interactions with Horo and Lawrence. I'm glad the animation isn't a huge leap in style from the first season, but there defenitely is some improvement which is a welcome change.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

Hmm...that had a really different feel compared to the first season. Not that it was necessarily bad at all, but I hope they'll stick closer to the feel of the first season for season two. Fun episode nonetheless though.

Different feel? Except from Horo being a little (very little) lolified and some surreal touches in her dreams (also quite minimal), it was pretty much in line with the atmosphere of the first season. Horo was always cute and playful, it's just that this time we really got to see partially this behaviour from her point of view.

And they slightly touched on an interesting point that'll have to come up eventually between them. Difference in life-span.[/QUOTE]

Agreed

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by neshru

You can say it was okay for the type of show, but the animation quality was mediocre at best.

Yeah IMAGIN aren't exactly house hold names and the lack of a budget showed, I was hoping the move to Brains Base would up the animation quality by a bit but that doesn't seem to be the case...

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

Different feel? Except from Horo being a little (very little) lolified and some surreal touches in her dreams (also quite minimal), it was pretty much in line with the atmosphere of the first season. Horo was always cute and playful, it's just that this time we really got to see partially this behaviour from her point of view.

When I mentioned different feel I was referring mainly to Horo. I don't know, they seemed to have made her act in ways that I wouldn't expect her to yet. Not that any of it was OOC, just that it seemed they made a jump in her feelings from last season.

[Xacual]

Well you have to remember in the OVA we're seeing Horo's side and feelings and some inner monologue from her. Usually we see everything from Lawrence's perspective or when the two of them are together, where Horo acts differently which you can see in the OVA too.

[Ryuou]

Even still, when they were together she still seemed a bit different. Her wanting to be pandered by Lawrence lacked its usual tease behind it. And I thought the thing with the jacket was kind of significant and I wasn't expecting Horo to do that.

I'm not complaining at all though. Horo was really cute in the OVA.

[Kaguya]

It was interesting that Horo was calling Lawrence by the name in her mind.
But it will be changed into "you" if she speaks it.
Is Horo Tsundere?

The serious scene of a dream is also interesting.
This is the scene which was not in a novel. (I think that only the author knows an end.)
Horo expected the episode which will happen from now on to be a sad thing, and is frightened with fear.

Spoiler for wolf and golden wheat:

However, the future Horo can recall the past with a smile.
I think that a future highlight is about how the author describes change of her mental state.

[Ryuou]

Yeah those two things were interesting.

I failed throughout my posts to mention how funny I found this episode to be. But since I noticed it has its own thread now, I'll save further comments for it there.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

When I mentioned different feel I was referring mainly to Horo. I don't know, they seemed to have made her act in ways that I wouldn't expect her to yet. Not that any of it was OOC, just that it seemed they made a jump in her feelings from last season.

Originally Posted by Xacual

Well you have to remember in the OVA we're seeing Horo's side and feelings and some inner monologue from her. Usually we see everything from Lawrence's perspective or when the two of them are together, where Horo acts differently which you can see in the OVA too.

Originally Posted by Ryuou

Even still, when they were together she still seemed a bit different. Her wanting to be pandered by Lawrence lacked its usual tease behind it. And I thought the thing with the jacket was kind of significant and I wasn't expecting Horo to do that.

I tend to agree with Xacual, during the 1st season we never really got to see how Horo was perceiving events and this is exactly what I appreciated in the dream sequences of the OVA, which would hopefully continue in the 2nd season.

Originally Posted by Ryuou

I'm not complaining at all though. Horo was really cute in the OVA. Yeah those two things were interesting.

I failed throughout my posts to mention how funny I found this episode to be. But since I noticed it has its own thread now, I'll save further comments for it there.

ha ... funny as in "look how ridiculous this is" or funny as in "reality has more to it than I originally thought of"

[Ryuou]

Hm? Funny as in enjoyable comedy. Some parts made me laugh. The blankets, Horo slamming her head against the top bunk, Lawrence throughout most of the OVA...

I understand what you two are trying to say and I'm not necessarily disagreeing with that aspect (i.e. what and how she was thinking about things). They just made her too cute at times.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

Hm? Funny as in enjoyable comedy. Some parts made me laugh. The blankets, Horo slamming her head against the top bunk, Lawrence throughout most of the OVA...

I understand what you two are trying to say and I'm not necessarily disagreeing with that aspect (i.e. what and how she was thinking about things). They just made her too cute at times.

OK, I am also inclined to agree that in the OVA Horo's personality got not only lolified, but also took a sharp turn to moe-blob Despite enjoying it, I get your perspective and agree that it was somewhat out-of-character or it was a side of her personality that she does not like to show Still though, Horo's cuteness aside, the atmosphere and surrealism (a bit overtoned, to my enjoyment) was in-line with what we got in the first season ... or you disagree?

[Ryuou]

No I agree. The bit about Horo was really the only thing that felt different from last season. That and the humor was a bit different too. But I still enjoyed both of them. The thing with how Horo acted though, is that I didn’t actually see it as OOC. It seemed a little off at this point in the timeline, but I could see her acting like that down the line.

You live in Hamburg, as in Hamburg, Germany?

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

No I agree. The bit about Horo was really the only thing that felt different from last season. That and the humor was a bit different too. But I still enjoyed both of them. The thing with how Horo acted though, is that I didn’t actually see it as OOC. It seemed a little off at this point in the timeline, but I could see her acting like that down the line.

You live in Hamburg, as in Hamburg, Germany?

Yeap, pretty much, more on my PM

By the way, since the OVA made my week, here is a small tribute to our lovely wolf

Take notice, as 99% of the links to my blog, it's not for the under-aged or puritans or whoever made these idiotic rules

[Blank-Mage]

I certainly don't mind Horo being adorable every now and then, as long as they can make it serious when it's called for. (And in volume 3, it WILL be called for.) Besides, having fun and happy moments serves to put those serious moments in sharper contrast, which is a good thing. I mean, Horo only broke down emotionally for about 8 minutes total in the entire last season, but when she did, you took notice, didn't you? In short, it's too soon to call them out one way or the other, as this series about focusing on Horos' development over time.

[FTGT]

Regarding the "Animation quality" of Spice&Wolf:

Compared to other modern anime like i.e. "Clannad" or "Eden of the East" which show an incredible amount of "attention to detail", S&W clearly lacks fine-tuning. Bur for me, the threedimensional characters and story are way more important and make up for the sometimes rather rough animation.

[MeoTwister5]

Was the OVA already animated by the new studio? I'm actually more concerned with the tone of the overall story from this point on. The ending of season 1 suggested darker things to come...

[Kaguya]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

Was the OVA already animated by the new studio? I'm actually more concerned with the tone of the overall story from this point on. The ending of season 1 suggested darker things to come...

OVA was already animated by new Animation Production Company (Brain's Base, MarvieJack).
Probably, the team of Akikan! undertook it.
The comment about S&W II by a new character designer (Toshimitsu Kobayashi) is as follows.

About the episode 0
As for this work, since we began it without a preparation period, there were directions of retaking repeatedly from a director.
But the direction after the episode 1 of a second season was decided by this episode, the heart-warming relation between Horo & Lawrence was expressed beautifully, and I think that it was completed as a new story.

About Horo
Without breaking the image of Horo with a devilish charm of a first season, I worked to bring out a more different charm from her.
But I am still suffering troubles.
I think that it will be a result of our persistence if you can also regard a second season's Horo as good.

About Lawrence
In the second season, I added the atmosphere of the "nice guy" to him consciously.
But since there is no conspicuous feature in his appearance, the illustrating team is suffering troubles about bringing out his individuality.
There is much illustrator who is sketching as eyes were opened widely. Lawrence with such big bright eyes attracts attention.

[Vexx]

Oddly, those comments from the character designer Kobayashi did not give me comfort :P

[Darknemo2000]

Originally Posted by Kaguya

It was interesting that Horo was calling Lawrence by the name in her mind.
But it will be changed into "you" if she speaks it.
Is Horo Tsundere?

I always pictured Horo as a special case of the tsundere, but yeah, I do believe she is a tsundere just very very not typical one. She has such splendid personality that it is hard to imagine that she could fit into rather overused term of Tsundere, but I always grouped her as part of other tsundere characters like Asuka (Evangelion) or the heroine from Kimagure Orange Road. Not revealing her true feelings, sometimes hiding behind the flirtatious talks etc.

Again tsundere is a term that is rather broad and fits in quite a few characters in it, but yeah I do count her as an atypical tsundere.

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

I think calling Horo tsundere sells the series and her character a little short. What strikes me most about Spice and Wolf is how adult it all seems. The love story here isn’t one of longing, silly mistakes and denial. Instead these two characters are developing an affection and dependence in the manner of two mature (to some extent) people.

Horo, while certainly prideful, doesn’t display the irrational sadism and self-denial that usually marks characters as tsundere.