Shelf Life

Summer Kamp

You know, I learned a lot by reviewing Spice and Wolf season one. I learned never to use words like “furry” or “tsundere,” even if I think I know what those words mean. I learned that many readers consider “Rental Shelf” to be a pan (I disagree). I learned that anime fans love Spice and Wolf.

Fortunately, I liked season two a lot more than season one. Season one had a lot of dry talk about currency exchange and wolf-girl nudity. In season two Holo the Wise Wolf stays clothed most of the time and flirts with Craft Lawrence while he closes business deals. I enjoyed this season of Spice and Wolf largely because Craft and Holo's flirting was sexy and intelligent. It's a rare anime series where two intelligent characters flirt in a sophisticated fashion. You may remember that I was weirded out by the unequal power relationship in Chobits. Spice and Wolf is the opposite; Craft and Holo come to regard each other as equals. Holo may have godlike powers, but she's dependent on Craft to help her find her homeland, especially in this second season where it turns out Yoitsu may be difficult to find.

I still think it's weird to have a dramatic question like “Will Craft Lawrence lose his shirt on this deal?!” Halfway through, Craft may finally get the chance to open the store he's always dreamed of, but that would mean his journey with Holo would end, and Holo would be left alone to find Yoitsu. Both of their dreams are in direct conflict, and I think that's something a lot of couples can identify with. Sometimes one person has to sacrifice where they want to live for the sake of their spouse's career. It's a tough decision, and it's nice to see something so mature in anime.

In fact, between all of the business deals and mature adult decisions, I think Spice and Wolf is true “Adult Entertainment.” (Nothing untoward happens.) I'd also like to point out here that Holo drinks like a fish in this arc. (You can't show that on Cartoon Network.)

This deluxe set comes in an art box with space for season one. I've gotten used to Brina Palencia's bizarre affectation of Holo's formal speech by now. This is a fine dub, and I'm glad the dub screenwriting adapter managed to get in the flirty nuance. The adapted dub script is a lot smoother than the subtitle script, so much so that I preferred the dub.[TOP]

I've seen Twelve Kingdoms before, (I even read the first novel and reviewed it), but I always rented the show. I've always thought it was too expensive to buy, and this Blu-ray release seemed like a good opportunity to collect the series. I'm glad I picked this up, because re-watching it now I liked Twelve Kingdoms more than I did a few years ago.

In case you're not familiar, Yoko is a less-than-ordinary Japanese school girl. Although she's an incredibly nice person, she's a bit of a doormat, and her classmates and even her own parents suspect her of being a punk because of her naturally red hair. She is suddenly (and violently) transported to a crazy fantasy kingdom that resembles rural China (200 years ago) but filled with horrible monsters.

Twelve Kingdoms is more like Guin Saga or Moribito than say, Fushigi Yûgi or Inuyasha; in other words, it's pretty dark. I mean yes, a bishonen unicorn-man (kirin, same difference) swears his allegiance to Yoko right away, but then he's kidnapped for the rest of the season. There isn't much comic relief in this show. The (human) characters are all drawn realistically, and the colors are muted compared to other shows.

It turns out Twelve Kingdoms is about government. Sure, it's all swords and schoolgirls at first, but eventually it's about the rule of heaven and the power of kings. The lead characters also go through deep, personal inner struggles, and I appreciate that, but I've always liked the government plot more. (Thematically, Twelve Kingdoms is like Hero Tales.)

On my first watch-through I was annoyed with Yoko's continual crying, so I was glad the producers included the non-novel character Sugimoto. Sugimoto likes to read epic fantasy, and she's thrilled to be transported to sword-and-sorcery land. I'm not sure I like the ending Sugimoto's character comes to in this season, but I can understand why they went there.

The animation is quite good, particularly in episode one, where extra detail has gone into every frame. That level of almost feature-quality work couldn't continue, though, and by episode eleven, the budget has noticeably suffered. On Blu-ray you can see every brushstroke on the lovely painted backgrounds. As with other Blu-rays, I've noticed the character animation was better off at standard definitions.

I liked season two of Twelve Kingdoms better than season one, so I'm looking forward to re-watching part two. That said, if I were the one making these releases, I'd have put the re-cap, episode 14, on the beginning of the second set. Twelve Kingdoms has so much terminology that the re-cap episode is a great refresher.

The BD includes some very thoughtful translator's notes as an extra. The dub is just barely watchable (listen-able?). I can't take Midge Mayes as Yuko, she sounds like she's trying too hard to act. I'd only watch the dub if I was doing something else at the same time and wanted Twelve Kingdoms on in the background, but even then, it might get kind of annoying. At least there is a dub, I suppose.[TOP]