This thread is for those of you with questions about the Spice and Wolf anime or manga. There are many questions that don't need a whole thread to discuss them. A simple practical answer straight from the anime or manga without any speculation can solve these connundrums. If someone has such a question about Spice and Wolf which can be solved by answering with facts from an official source, then please ask that question here.

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Woohoo! First post! XD

Anyway, in case this doesn't get answered in the other thread, how old is Lawrence actually? Does the manga (or anime) ever actually say?

Somewhere it was said, he was 25. Don't remember where exactly.

This is inaccurate. She has the appearance of a 15 year old girl but her actual age? Perhaps a manga reader can tell us if this has been stated or implied.

Well she is a god so I'm guessing perhaps in the hundreds age wise.

Yup, I know a 18 year old woman who would easily pass as a 13 or 14 year old (she's half asian). And I guess this is not so rare in Japan as it is in Europe.

In medieval Europe, hard work normally took its toll upon a human's body quite quickly. People aged much faster than they do now and you were lucky to live past 40 years. I read somewhere that in WaS/SaW's universe no one, or very few, have lived past the age 75.

Yeah, look at Lawrence, he looks more like 30 then 25, :rolleyes:

Actually my wife (japanese extraction) was routinely carded for age at bars until she was 40ish. I suffered a lot of "how dare you be with such a tiny young thing" looks for several decades. Even now, I'll catch 20-somethings giving her the "look" (which makes it hilarious when they discover she's old enough to be their mom). But it isn't just asians... a couple of my son's best friends (age 17 of European extraction), each young lady could easily pass for 15, 20, even 25 (they carry themselves well). Its just not that easy to nail an age estimate.

From what I've read.. the "average lifespan of 40" had more to do with the massive number of newborns that usually died (some cultures didn't even count the kid as born until a week had passed after delivery --- there's a reason that christening isn't done right after birth) and then injury, infection... respiratory illness... so the mortality chart looks like an upside down bell curve with bumps throughout.

Joan of Arc was executed at age 19 after having led armies. Alexander the Great did 90% of his conquering before the age of 25 (died in his 30s). Live fast, die young....

Since Horo is a young goddess (only 600), she thinks of herself as a young woman and that's how she instantiates herself. Her talk and the look in her eyes belie much more age. Thinking a bit of Elda from the series Karin.

Which subbed version is best to follow? I like BBS's translations but they don't do the karaoke of the opening which is unfortunate for me because I enjoy learning the lyrics and singing along.:(

Omigosh Vex, you're right! Horo IS like Elda! o.o

BSS is the fastest. No one beats them in speed for SaW/WaS. As for actually saving a hard copy of the episode for archival purposes, I can't help 'ya. I don't archive. I watch and delete. My memory does the rest, and if I need to really see something again I'll just download whichever torrents have the most seeds.

According to AniDB, Ayako's translation is better, than BSS, but BSS has better video quality. Decisions, decisions...

Fitting comparison. I've always thought that the quiet demeanor that befalls older people comes from their perceived proximity to the grave as opposed to years already lived. You're only as old as you feel, and Horo seems to feel like she's 600 going on 16.

Ayako's isn't out yet. You can't download what hasn't been released. That's why I torrent BSS, because they're the fastest.

Woah, woah there. Please oh please read the first post of this thread.

Here, let me make it easy for you, read the following.
Asking for the best fansub version is pure subjective opinion so is totally outside the scope of this thread. In fact it is so much based on subjective opinion we do not normally allow threads of this nature at all. If you want to know, then download the different versions yourself and make your own choice based on you own personal criteria.

Any further questions or answers on this topic will be deleted :eyebrow:

Of course... having a properly self-repairing body helps a lot. I can feel 25 all I want and actually do... but slowly the body starts telling you to "stop doing that" (like today I've got a knee ligament whining and moaning FNAR and when I look in the mirror I see my dad instead of me... though with much longer hair).
I could easily go a few hundred years without being bored if the mechanics would keep working... but I find the psychology and the memory management speculations of fictional 'Methuseleh' types to be interesting.

I noted that Horo could remember the details of 'what' she learned but had trouble remembering the 'who' and 'when' of things from long ago.

Heck, I'm not even 20 and I have that problem. Forgetting is the brain's way of flushing itself of useless information (another quip the source of which escapes me), and where you learned something and from whom you learned it is often less important than what exactly you learned.

Oh ho, but will Horo forget Lawrence? She promised to remember his name, you know.

I don't think that will be percieved as useless information to be flushed out by the brain.

I don't understand the idea of wheat harvest being controlled by wolves. What does wolves got to do with wheat? Wolves are hunters so they shouldn't have anything to do with agriculture isn't it?

Why does Horo like apple so much? Wolves are carnivores aren't they?

Interesting show anyway, although i don't quite catch the trade mechanics.

Spirits of the land.... you pay homage to the top of the food chain because they are the chief nature spirits. The choice of wolf is a little unusual but then after all it was a giant wolf whom they asked to protect their harvest from the raw elements of nature. No point in over-analyzing it because each animist diety usually organically arrives at its place of honor.

Anyone know the associations with wolves from Japanese mysticism/folklore? Like how raccoons (tanuki) are related to slyness and foxes (kitsune) to various supernatural powers.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido_Wolf.

Will Horo die ?

Now if we knew that, we'd know the mind of the author since the manga and light novels are still in their early volumes.

My pure speculation: if the wheat were destroyed, she'd lose her physical presence temporarily and then 'respawn' the next season when the wheat returned. She's a kami in essence. Alternatively, she might actually be free of the wheat since she only bound herself to it in a pact with the village.... but she's not willing to risk testing that voluntarily.

Actually I've been wondering that for a while. Seeing as the light novels are still being written are we gonna get an anime only ending or is the show gonna end after the first major issue with the possibility of a second season? I wouldn't mind more lol (more Horo the better^^) but do the rest you think^^

I kind of hope thats the case, because I've become quite irritated by animes having their own ending instead of the original works ending. It never seems to turn out quite as good as the novel/manga original ending.

aye, I'd almost rather seem them "continue on their journey towards the north" after some encounter that reinforces their bonds rather than some turgid overwrought anime-only "C" grade writing. SHnY managed to accomplish it. Lovely*Complex could certainly do it. Mahoraba twisted manga reality somewhat but in such a way that it wouldn't impact a second season that finishes with the manga ending. It *can* be done.

Well as long as its a good quality alternate story I don't care. It's just I've seen a lot of animes try and do things differently but fail. If it can be pulled off with Spice and Wolf though I'm all for it.

that's the point, she doesn't have to remember, all she has to do is pass it on in her stories.

The meme will be retold by bards and wandering travellers and will be immortalized as long as the story is told.

just like the Norse & Greek myths.

she doesn't have to remember it. :)

I'm stunned speechless. I think I've just discovered the most probable source material for Hasekura's novels. And if I'm right, he couldn't have chosen from a richer source.

The Golden Bough, by Sir James George Frazer, first published in two volumes in 1890. The Wikipedia entry for this book, which supposedly laid the foundation for modern anthropology, particularly in the study of "pagan" myths and magic, can be found here.

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). It offered a modernist approach to discussing religion, treating it dispassionately as a cultural phenomenon rather than from a theological perspective.

So what's the big deal? Well, Sir Frazer was apparently the first anthropologist to notice this particular ritual that is supposedly shared by many farming communities around the world: the Corn Dolly. Take a read for yourself to see the origins of Horo, the Corn-Wolf. It's amazing! (Even if the theory is probably widely discredited by now...)

You do think too hard. Nice find. :rolleyes:

I believe TinyRedLeaf is entirely correct about the Corn Dolly analogy. The source material referenced may be Western versus Japanese. Remember this anime is supposedly set in medieval Europe. I am going to watch and see if Horo aligns more closely as a Shinto Kami or western pagan diety. Good catch!

What does spice signify within the context of the title? I can't figure out what it's referring to. Is it literally a spice? If so, how does a spice figure into the story? Or is this case of Engrish and the word spice should have been the slang adjective spicy indicating that Horo is a spicy wolf?

Traders carry and trade in spice - Lawrence is a trader. Though I can see why that might be confusing because spice hasn't been *specifically* mentioned in the anime yet. Marten fur pelts & Wolf just doesn't have the same ring to it.

The only thing lacking in this post is the complimentary :naughty: emoticon.... Hi LKK. :D

To be on the subject... hehe.. :heh: ... ahem... ahem.. right..

The official title reads 狼と香辛料 or Ookami to Koushinryou in romaji. Wolf and Spice is the immediate translation given when using a language tools such as Google. I presume it's an easy name to remember for any non-Japanese speaker... so go figure. Wolf and Spice it is.

I don't know how spice figures into the story, but trading is the dominant plot device used to tell this story. As we know from our history, spice was a huge thing in trade in Asia and Europe at that period of time, so perhaps that's how Spice figures into it? Anyway, I tried.

And for the heck of it one more showing of this emoticon... :naughty: