Spice and Wolf - Q & A

[ROM]

Originally Posted by LKK

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?

Probably, the answer to the question will be revealed in the episode 5.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by LKK

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?

It would be "Ōkami no Kōshinryō" were it actually meant to be "Spicy Wolf".

[Vexx]

Aye.. its literally "Wolf and Spice" (ookami to koushinryou) .... however, there's a clear intention to play a bit with the words (see spicy-wolf.com) and perhaps even:

"SUGAR AND SPICE" from the old nursery rhyme... of course, that sugar has quite a bite.

The reason some people translate the title as "Spice and Wolf"... is purely from some title bits off of the official website (meaning japanese design, web, and graphic artists who aren't necessarily translation wizzes).

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Aye.. its literally "Wolf and Spice" (ookami to koushinryou) .... however, there's a clear intention to play a bit with the words (see spicy-wolf.com) and perhaps even:

"SUGAR AND SPICE" from the old nursery rhyme... of course, that sugar has quite a bite.

The reason some people translate the title as "Spice and Wolf"... is purely from some title bits off of the official website (meaning japanese design, web, and graphic artists who aren't necessarily translation wizzes).

And the logo in clear English at the start of the ending animation?

[Vexx]

<shrug> like I said, they can say it all they want but if the title is
"Ookami to Koushinryou" then,
"Ookami" == wolf
"to" == and
"Koushinryou" == spice.

Its not a functional difference but one that'd get you a "B" instead of an "A" on care in translation. The japanese like the *shapes* of english script. "Spice and Wolf" may look more appealing than "Wolf and Spice" to a graphic designer. The official website would hopefully follow the same elements that the anime would.

[Masanori Ota]

Originally Posted by Vexx

<shrug> like I said, they can say it all they want but if the title is
"Ookami to Koushinryou" then,
"Ookami" == wolf
"to" == and
"Koushinryou" == spice.

Its not a functional difference but one that'd get you a "B" instead of an "A" on care in translation. The japanese like the *shapes* of english script. "Spice and Wolf" may look more appealing than "Wolf and Spice" to a graphic designer. The official website would hopefully follow the same elements that the anime would.

When translating from Japanese to English, it is common to reverse the order of certain parts of sentences.

[Vexx]

aye.... E->J and J->E grammatical structures are often parsed back to front, but this is just a list .... and o hell I don't really care whatever

As long as no one claims ookami == spice.

[Ichihara Asako]

Something that's been bugging me a while, maybe a novel reader can spoil for me.

Is Horo actually a wolf? Because she looks very foxy. Almost all of the artwork (fan or official stuff from novels) makes her look more vulpine than lupine. I know she's supposed to be a wolf, and I'm happy to continue thinking of her as one, but it does kind of bug me a lot of fanart, and debate about her (and pictures of her) particularly from people who haven't seen the series, make her out to be a fox.

Could she be a fox pretending to be a wolf deity, as foxes are tricksters? I kind of figure no, because it's a European setting, and the trickster kitsune thing is Japanese superstition. But any enlightenment on the issue would be welcome. ^^;

[Sterling01]

She's a wolf and there's a Pic in the 1st Novel that shows what she looks like as a full wolf

[Ichihara Asako]

Originally Posted by Sterling01

She's a wolf and there's a Pic in the 1st Novel that shows what she looks like as a full wolf

But is it that simple? I'd like it if it is. But it still makes me curious why she looks so vulpine. The OP of the anime shows a huge wolf, and smaller wolves, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's one of them. >.> Or even if she can take their form... she is a deity afterall.

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

But is it that simple? I'd like it if it is. But it still makes me curious why she looks so vulpine. The OP of the anime shows a huge wolf, and smaller wolves, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's one of them. >.> Or even if she can take their form... she is a deity afterall.

Well Lawrence did see her true form in episode 1 so its obvious she can take the form. In the next episode you will see her wolf form so that should answer your questions. As for the OP they can be deceiving it could Horo or another one from her pack that she set out with.

[oompa loompa]

shes a wolf.. thats been pretty firmly established in the anime

does anyone know when the S&W episode airs in japan each week?

[Vexx]

See if you can find a picture of the now extinct Japanese wolf. They have a "foxy" sort of shape ... just a lot bigger.

[Ichihara Asako]

Originally Posted by oompa loompa

shes a wolf.. thats been pretty firmly established in the anime

does anyone know when the S&W episode airs in japan each week?

Well, seems to have been very firmly established in episode six, yeah.

The series airs on Wednesdays. Very early morning (in a little under 5 hours from the time of this post.)

[TinyRedLeaf]

I've been wondering about the actual geography of the world. By that, I'm referring to both physical and political geography. Does the novel give any details? I ask because, having read the manga, I noticed that the anime focuses more on the romance than on the socio-economics aspects of the story. I wouldn't be surprised if the novel carries much more information than the manga.

[Masanori Ota]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

I've been wondering about the actual geography of the world. By that, I'm referring to both physical and political geography. Does the novel give any details? I ask because, having read the manga, I noticed that the anime focuses more on the romance than on the socio-economics aspects of the story. I wouldn't be surprised if the novel carries much more information than the manga.

We've got a rudimentary map from the website, that's about all. Here it is: http://www.spicy-wolf.com/original/world.html

Click the links on the right numerated by Roman numerals to see more information on each area.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Nice! They even included descriptions of the four major currencies. Now I need translations.

One question begets another, but it's not strictly on-topic. I wonder why fantasy worlds based on Medieval Europe tend to end up on a north-south axis rather than on the real world east-west axis. Tolkien's Middle Earth is arranged north-south. D&D's Forgotten Realms (Faerun) is also north-south. Earthsea is an archipelago, but then again, Ursula Le Guin was inspired more by Native American culture rather than Medieval Europe when creating that world.

Europe's east-west axis has an important influence on its historical development. For one thing, it affects its climate, which is broadly similar across the same latitude. That affects agricultural development, which in turn affects cultural development, and so on.

But I'm probably thinking too much again.

[Masanori Ota]

You answered your own question. Personally, I think the reason why things are mostly arranged North-South is because of the difference in climate attributed to latitude. It gets colder as Horo and Lawrence approach the northlands. If Horo's home was to the east a bit, it wouldn't help drive the plot along or anything.

[Vexx]

For the folks with wolf questions, though the setting is Europe Medieval and wolves were common - there's a lot of connection to the Shinto and pre-Christian tales of the wolf and connection to the spiritual/agricultural beliefs. Lifted liberally from Wiki for those too lazy to click

The term "Japanese Wolf" (狼 or オオカミ, Ōkami?) refers to two extinct subspecies of the Gray Wolf. The subspecies that the name 'Japanese Wolf' usually describes is the Honshū Wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax (日本狼 or ニホンオオカミ, Nihon Ōkami?)), which occupied the islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū in Japan. The other is the Hokkaido Wolf. The Honshū Wolf is thought to have become extinct due to a combination of rabies, which was first reported in Kyūshū and Shikoku in 1732, and human eradication. The last known specimen died in 1905, in Nara Prefecture.

The gray wolf (Canis lupus), also known as the timber wolf or wolf, is a mammal of the order Carnivora. The gray wolf is the largest wild member of the Canidae family and an ice age survivor originating during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years ago.[2] Its shoulder height ranging from 0.6 to 0.9 meters (26–36 inches) and its weight varying between 32 and 68 kilograms (70–150 pounds).

There are no pictures of the japanese wolves ... but if you look at a Grey Wolf you've got the idea.

Interesting resources on the Japanese view of the Wolf:
http://www.wolfsongalaska.org/Wolves_Japan_on_extct.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=iDq...f4n4J4#PPA3,M1
http://www.heartofthewolf.org/WolfGames.htm (Okami, a PS2 game specifically about the Shinto connection to Amaterasu).
http://www.wolf.ties.k12.mn.us/Previ...nal/Japan.html

[mdauben]

BSS released their fansub of episode 6 a little while ago, and I see that AS has just put up the link for their sub of episode 8. So, what happened to episode 7? Did I miss something? There is no listing for ep 7 on AS (or any of the other usual places), and the BBS website is not very informative.