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Shelf Life - Sugar and Spice

Picture a Venn diagram with three circles. One circle is "furries," another is "people who like tsundere" and the third circle is "armchair economists". Spice and Wolf sits at the intersection of these three circles.

I am just...blown away by that collection. The size doesn't really impress me, a lot of people have large collections, but the fact that you bought several copies of the same box just to make those beautiful mosaics really has my jaw dropping

Stick to the anime you know you love, it will be less stressful, you will have more time and money.

As much as I want a collection that big, I don't see myself getting married in my future if it gets like that.

To me, the term moe implies a kind of stupid, sweet innocence, which means that naturally someone has to protect said female. I think what you meant by "moe" might just mean Horo's vulnerability at times, a vulnerability which rarely surfaces, and for that reason makes her more appealing. But, unlike a "tsundere," she isn't a "bitch" (I never saw her as bitchy, but then I'm female so I guess guys would see it differently) in self-defense, or to hide her own vulnerability or insecurities. She messes with Lawrence at first because it's entertaining (I mean, she's been living in a grain of wheat for how long?) and then because she likes him.

So anyway, her broad appeal comes from drawing from both those tropes in really likable ways--she's a strong female lead with lots of resourcefulness, she's got a temper but it's not out of control, and she's cute and clever and vulnerable (at times). Maybe I'm vindictive because I really enjoy the way she teases Lawrence (and by season two he's quipping right back). But if you don't like her, chances are you're not going to like the show.

Sorry to nitpick but the writer doesn't say Holo is a tsundere. The show might appeal to "people who like tsundere". Which is quite different and also absolutely fair. I think some people barely read these articles before going on a rant.

And my god, laserdiscs? I've never seen one of those before in my life, they used to print anime on those things?

So while I haven't seen the series to judge if Holo is a tsundere by anyone's definition, from all art I've seen of her, she definitely isn't a furry characters. At best she has ears and a tail; the furry fandom is into fully anthropomorphic animals, like you'd find in Redwall or Sonic the Hedgehog. I mean, I can run an image of her by my friend who actually writes "furry" stories (not the pornographic type) and see what he thinks, but she's more in synch with the nekomimi model than a full furry.

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Picture a Venn diagram with three circles. One circle is "furries," another is "people who like tsundere" and the third circle is "armchair economists". Spice and Wolf sits at the intersection of these three circles.

And I'm none of those. What about fans who simply enjoy fleshed-out fantasy settings or the realistic progression of a relationship between dynamic characters? THAT'S what drew me to Spice and Wolf, not any bizarre fetish.

You make it sound like the show is some sort of pander-fest, which it really isn't. I could tell that real thought, effort and - dare I say it - heart went into this series and it drew me in like no other show has in a long time. It felt genuine to me.

I hate to complain, because I know a lot of nerd-rage is coming, but I can't help but feel that this falls squarely in the "judging a book by its cover" camp. And it's a pity, really.