There have been a lot of romantic comedy shows that follow a similar template lately. There’s a guy and a girl, and the girl almost always has a quirk of sorts that makes her unique. It’s a pretty simple concept that’s fairly popular. Uzaki-chan from Uzaki-chan wa asobitai is constantly teasing our main character, Nagatoro from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is flat out bullying her senpai, Aharen san from Aharen-san wa Hakarenai speaks at an extremely low volume and Komi from Komi-san can’t communicate has a communication disorder that makes it so she can’t speak and gets social anxiety.
Now I won’t argue that any of these shows is better than the others. I have my opinions on this, but I also feel like a lot of it depends on your personal preferences. I know that Nagatoro is very popular and well received but I couldn’t stand watching the show at all. I’ve also heard some reviewers say that Komi-san gets boring quickly which I would disagree with. But seeing as that’s the show we’re talking about today I figure that doesn’t come as a surprise to you.
It’s a very strange feeling to have, doing something perfectly normal but worrying that you somehow did something wrong.
Komi Shoko is a beautiful high school student that everyone looks up to. Her presence changes the entire atmosphere in a room. She’s so impressive that she doesn’t even have to speak up for people to understand what she’s trying to say. Well, it’s of course not as simple as it seems. Komi-san can’t speak because of her communication disorder. It’s kind of similar to a form of social anxiety which makes it so that she can’t speak at all and gets anxiety when spoken to. There are many disorders in this vein and it’s a different experience for every person, but I think for those of us who have struggled with social contacts in the past, Komi can be very relatable.
The story follows Tadano-kun, Komi’s classmate who is the first one to really figure out what Komi is struggling with. Komi really wants to make friends in high school, at least a hundred, and Tadano-kun is her first friend. Not only that, he’s completely committed to helping her make even more friends. They quickly add more people to the group which include the hyper social Najimi-kun, the sociopathic popular girl Yamai Ren and the masochistic girl Akari. From there on out their high school life continues and they start adding more and more people to their friend group. The school they’re a part of only allows interesting students, whatever that means. Most of the students we meet during this show are quirky at the least and insane at the most. There’s a guy who’s just a ninja, there’s a girl that wants to compete with everything and as the story progresses we also meet Katai-kun who is very intimidating looking even though he’s super shy on the inside and looks up to Komi as a paragon of social skills. Yeah, the show has it’s fair share of misunderstandings, but in my opinion it never gets overdone to the point where it becomes annoying.
The driving forces that make this anime shine, at least in my opinion, are the relationship that slowly develops between Tadano and Komi, as well as the depictions of the situations that Komi struggles with. I want to dive into one of the scenes the anime covered because as someone with social anxiety that one hit a little bit too close to home.
This is not okay, and you know it.
As many of you who read my blog regularly know, I’m autistic and social skills didn’t come naturally to me. I’d like to think I’m reasonable at them now, I’m teaching high school so I need to at least have the basics down right? In this particular scene, Komi is going to the library to pick up a book. She’s however unsure about the procedure for checking out the book and taking it with her. So instead she just kind of wanders around while thinking up a plan, unsuccessfully. I legitimately felt my heart sink during that scene, since I’ve been in the exact same situation when I was younger. Wandering around a place gathering up the courage to talk to someone or deal with a situation is one of the most relatable experiences I can think of when it comes to my social anxiety and I just feel like Komi-san nailed this feeling. I’d like to think the author themselves has experienced some form of this social anxiety because I’d find it very impressive for someone who’s never gone through these kinds of feelings to write something that feels so real and accurate.
There was no need to call me out like that, okay?
Unfortunately, not everything about this anime is great. I mentioned the sociopathic popular girl Yamai Ren earlier during the review. She’s very much obsessed with Komi and for me the character definitely crosses the line several times. To give an example, early on during the series she kidnaps Tadano to keep him away from Komi. There’s more she gets up to, but I just find her extremely creepy, annoying and it kind of takes away from the otherwise fun and relatable vibe that the show has going for it. Even though it deals with anxiety, I find it very calming to watch this show most of the time. If you’re like me and you have a history of social anxiety, I highly recommend Komi-san can’t communicate. With its second season being well underway and in my opinion going strong and being even better than the first season at times I think now is a good time to get into this series.
We all did, Tadano, we all did.
But let me know what you think in the comments down below. Maybe you don’t like Komi-san at all and find it very unrelatable, or maybe you even feel uncomfortable watching a story about a subject like this. I’m very curious to hear your opinions. And as always, thanks for reading.
I feel like every time I start a new volume of this novel series I start by saying that this is the last novel that has story elements I recognize from the anime. Maybe with the exception of volume 4. Now that we’re in volume 5, I found even more characters I remember. I really need to rewatch the anime before the new season is released. I suppose the creators of the anime didn’t expect a third season to ever happen so they just skipped the parts of the novels they found less interesting. I’ll stop talking about the anime. Volume 5 follows Holo and Lawrence as they travel further north to the city of Lenos where they try to find out more about Holo’s past, the story of Yoitsu and whatever else they can find out. Let’s dive into it.
Lenos is a northern town and in the universe of Spice & Wolf that means that it’s closer to the pagan lands. The church has less power here, but that also means it’s more romanticized here. Lenos is currently encountering a bit of a problem though. There’s normally a big military operation each year that goes through the area and makes for lots of commerce. Unfortunately it has been canceled for this year which means a lot of the items that are normally sold with ease are now stuck. The council of fifty, a council of the influential people in Lenos, are currently deciding what to do about the fur trade. While they’re having his discussion, the merchants are lined up on the outskirts of town with their wares. Lawrence is there for other reasons of course, mainly to find out more about Yoitsu, but his merchant ways might get him sucked into trouble again.
In the local inn, Lawrence meets fellow traveling merchant Eve Bolan, who is a woman and a merchant which is quite rare apparently. The innkeeper there was also once a part of the same merchant guild as Lawrence and they got a room there to stay for a while. First thing Lawrence needed to do was find a way to talk to the guy in charge of the history books. The problem with that was that the chronicler is also a member of the council of fifty. It’s going to be difficult to get a hold of him. Unless it wasn’t a big problem and Lawrence was about to find an in. Eve Bolan knows Rigolo, the town chronicler and is willing to introduce Lawrence to him. Glad to have a way in, he visits quickly so he can get the information he needs as well as the books he needs.
Rigolo has a cool house. He has a garden hidden behind a glass wall that’s hard to see from the outside. The vibe I got from it was kind of like a sunroom. I remember a friend had this room that was just all windows in their house when we were growing up and in early summer it was great to just sit there. We played pokemon on our nintendo DS/game boys back in the day, looking out at the grass behind his house. Good times. Regardless, Lawrence points out that here the books are stored below ground as well, guarded by stone in case a fire happens. Probably smart, I cleaned my books recently and there were the little insects called silverfish on some of my books. In my defense, I have a lot of books so taking all of them off the shelf and properly cleaning them takes a very long time, but I suppose I do have to clean them more often than I do.
After talking Lawrence goes back to talk to a barmaid he met the other day. I neglected to talk about her, but I knew we’d get to her. According to the internet her name is Helena in the anime but I don’t believe we ever get her name in the novels. I also thought of her as older than she’s listed in the anime, where she is around 16 to 18. She sounds more mature, but a lot of manga and light novel writers struggle to write believable younger characters. Looking at you, your lie in april. Those are not 10 year old kids. Either way, she reveals to him that the discussion is coming to an end and that the city has decided to buy and sell furs, but only in real money and not in medieval IOUs.
Back at the inn, Lawrence, Eve and Arold hatch a plan to make a lot of money. Holo is going to be sold off as a noble’s daughter and the money they can make through that will be invested. Then with the profit they’re going to buy Holo back and live happily ever after. Holo doesn’t see much problem with this because, well, she’s Holo, even if she does get taken by slavers she’ll just turn into a wolf and murder them all. But the slavers don’t know that. The book pretty quickly lets us know that the slaves are unlikelable. Most people decide on if slavery is good or bad and Spice & Wolf has decided it’s bad (looking at you, Shield Hero). That’s actually something I’ve been thinking about a lot and why my Necromancer’s Daughter series is on hiatus for so long. I think slavery can make for very interesting plot points but I also think it’s a very difficult topic to get right. I don’t want to romanticize it or make it seem like it’s not an evil thing and the people involved in it aren’t terrible people. It’s one of those things where even saying it’s a product of the time isn’t a good defense. Either way, let’s move on and talk about the conclusion of this volume.
Holo realizes that there are some problems with her growing relationship with Lawrence. She’s an ancient wolf god and he’s a merchant in his twenties. Even if they stay together for a while, their paths have to divide at some point, right? After this deal they’ll probably go their own way. Except that’s obviously not going to happen since there’s another dozen or so volumes after this and I know some of those contain side stories but I doubt all of them do. And sure enough, Lawrence and Holo visit Rigolo one more time while the man isn’t home. The nun lets them in and allows Holo to look through the books in the basement again while Lawrence once again looks at Rigolo’s marvelous garden. Here he looks at the statues Eve has been selling and notices an oddity. Either way, he decides to continue with the deal, knowing Eve has been smuggling in rock salt.
After selling off Holo and going back to the inn he finds Eve there. This is where she finally shows her true colors and betrays Lawrence. They have a scuffle, both physically and with words, and Lawrence ends up with the short end of the stick. What’s really good about this scene is how Eve makes Lawrence realize what is more important to him. After you make all that money and you get so rich, what’s the end goal? More money? And then what? Lawrence is slowly realizing happiness can’t be bought and I like the direction the story is taking. After being betrayed by Eve, she does leave him with the deed to the inn which, luckily, is worth as much as Holo was sold for. So Lawrence goes to get his traveling companion back, and the two are reunited again, and they’re not quite ready to stop journeying together.
This volume’s review turned out a bit long compared to the others, but that’s okay from time to time. I’ll try to keep the next one shorter and sweet. Emphasis on try. Thanks for reading.
Whenever I’m in my room after dinner, playing games, writing, reading or doing something else, I’ll often go downstairs to get a coffee and chat with my dad for a bit. He’s sitting there alone most evenings, since my parents are divorced. Obviously he doesn’t mind, he’s got his snacks, his bejeweled knock-off games and most importantly, his soccer matches. Now he doesn’t only watch soccer. I’ve seen him watch many different sports from darts to volleyball to tennis and many more. But it is often soccer. I’m the polar opposite. I don’t really like watching sports that much and I think out of all the sports available, soccer is definitely one of the least interesting ones to me. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. A while ago I tried watching the soccer anime Days and I just wasn’t impressed by it either. Until recently I figured I’d do perfectly well in life without ever watching another soccer anime. But this season sees the soccer focused anime Ao Ashi and after the latest episode I’m very happy about having picked it up. Let’s talk about the episode, what works so well about it and what it did to hit all the right emotional points in the story. Spoilers ahead for Ao Ashi episodes one through five, but none of the spoilers are anything major.
In case you haven’t seen anything about Ao Ashi yet, which is fair, it’s very good but I wouldn’t call it a standout anime by any means, let’s give a quick rundown of the show’s plot. Aoi Ashito (hence the name) is a young soccer player. He’s just having fun playing with his school friends. He’s very good but a pretty selfish player. Never seen that before in an anime, have we? He’s not a dick though, his teammates all like him, it’s just that his playstyle is very selfish. When a coach from a Tokyo youth team is in town by coincidence, he sees Aoi play and is impressed. He then invites the young lad to a tryout event where he spends the next episodes training and showing off his skills. His brother paid for the trip there since he’s from a poor family that does their best to provide but can’t afford trips like this. The episode starts from him reading his acceptance letter to the club.
I actually can’t believe how many emotions her face went through in this short scene, really enhanced the moment for me.
I don’t believe we know where Aoi’s dad is in the story, but his mom is the one raising him and she’s obviously very protective of her son and worries this will create distance. I feel like this is a logical reaction but there’s also definitely a sense of pride there. The episode begins with Hana being adorable. She’s made a meal plan for Aoi that she’s included in the letter that he was sent. His brother even comments on how thorough it is and how impressed he is with it. I love these dorky kids already, they just seem like great kids and that’s what I want from a show like this. Haikyuu gives me similar vibes, where the kids behave like actual dumb kids. I love kuroko no basket with all my heart but those kids take themselves way too seriously sometimes. Aoi and his brother talk a little bit with Hana about their mom, and she overhears part of the conversation, but pretends she didn’t. She hears Aoi confess that one of the reasons he wants to go pro is to make his mom’s life easier. I’m too emotional lately because just rewatching this scene is making me tear up again. His mom interrupts him before he says much more and then yells at Hana a bunch. Poor Hana. She still diligently answers any questions that Aoi’s mom has and at some point she drops the very important foreshadowing line.
Those bastards knew exactly what they were doing
It’s not a particularly new plot point, but it is a good one. His mom is too poor to buy him new cleats. He’s been bullied because of it and he’s definitely self conscious about it. It’s portrayed in the story that this question isn’t a big deal and Aoi certainly doesn’t notice it, but to the viewer it’s a great indication of what’s about to come their way. Aoi has other things in mind so we cut him some slack here. I do think that it’s very “anime” of his mom to completely avoid talking properly with her son. I’m not a parent, so maybe this is more realistic than I give it credit, but who knows. We cut to Aoi and his teacher informing his class that Aoi’s leaving for Tokyo. His class is shocked as he didn’t warn them at all and Aoi is pretending to be a big boy, like any kid moving to the big city would. He then says a quick goodbye to them and leaves for the station with his brother.
Obviously his friends wouldn’t just let him leave like that. I believe Ace of Diamond had a similar send off scene but it’s late right now and I don’t want to go back and check. Forgive me if I’m wrong. Sawamura was definitely a small town boy as well though. We quickly cut back to the teacher telling the soccer club boys to go follow him like any good teacher should. Some of his other friends join in and they all rush to the station to get there first. Somehow Ashito manages to stay strong through all of this and he takes pictures with all his friends before leaving on the train. Then his brother hands him a gift package from his mother which contains a letter and a box. He’s told to open it on the train to Tokyo. I love how he’s kind of worried because his mother is normally the very direct type. At least in his perception she is, most adults are more complicated (in some ways) than they seem to kids. It’s hard to see someone’s inner thoughts from the outside. He opens and reads the letter.
The letter is nice on its own and contains some cash. There’s an apology from his mother for not seeing him off and not properly talking to him. She admits to being selfish but aren’t we all? She’s working hard to pay for his life in Tokyo. Man I’m tearing up again, she’s giving him her savings to follow his dream. This is parenting done right, I love her so much. She also admits to overhearing Ashito’s conversation with Hana on the phone.
Stray strong, don’t cry.Pull yourself together, you’re a grown man, you’re not crying at this.nah, today is a crying kind of day, we’ll be adults tomorrow. (maybe)
I’m a sucker for well crafted emotional beats in a story. I wasn’t when I was younger, but at some point I unlocked the ability to empathize with fictional characters. It’s honestly still a mystery to me, I used to be so dead inside, what went wrong? Now whenever I watch a scene like this, especially when my own mood is already not amazing, I just cry my eyes out. But I love it so much. There’s a reason Arlong Park is still the best One Piece arc. Nothing makes me resonate more with a story than when it makes me cry. This could be for a sad moment, a happy moment, or even just a profound moment. The music, the scenery, the send-off from his teammates. Everything just works so well together as we watch Ashito leave his hometown. The letter is amazing and whoever wrote these scenes should be damn proud of themselves. And everyone who worked in adapting it so well should share in that pride. Maybe I’m overreacting, but in a season that has such amazing anime airing I think it’s important to also acknowledge the amazing moments taking place in the other shows this season. Ao Ashi gets full marks for this one.
It’s that time of the season again. Spring is in the air. Okay, it may have rained here in the morning and I stayed in bed until it stopped. But that’s part of the spring experience, is it not? You know what’s also a part of the spring experience? A brand new season full of anime. With Ousama Ranking, Shaman King, Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer all in the past, what will be the new hotness? Will it be one of the sequels airing like Komi-san, Kaguya-Sama or Bookworm? Or will it be a new show? I don’t know, and I’m once again not watching everything that’s going on, but here’s six shows from this season that I think everyone should consider. Let’s dive in.
Deaimon
I recommend not messing with her.
This show reminds me of a show that used to be my favorite show for a while; Barakamon. It has the same slow vibes that I want out of a slice of life show like this. Nagomu gets a letter from his family saying that his father has been hospitalized. He comes back home from Tokyo to take over the family business but upon getting there finds that they have their eye on someone else. Instead he’s asked to help care for Itsuka, a young girl that’s working there. Itsuka has lost her mother and was abandoned by her father, so she has some serious baggage. The two get off on the wrong foot but Nagomu’s carefree personality helps him get along with almost anyone.
This all looks and sounds great, but I don’t have any clue what it actually tastes like. I don’t have enough money to buy Japanese Snacks, are you crazy? I can barely afford uni.
I don’t even have to watch this show in its entirety to tell you where it’s going. Nagomu is probably going to become more and more of a father figure for Itsuka as the two start getting along more. Both have a passion for sweets after all, so they have some common ground. I wouldn’t be surprised if her real father shows up somewhere during the season and we get some drama out of that. Even assuming that I know which direction this show is going to head, I’ll still gladly tag along for the ride because if I’m right this show will do everything I want it to do, and if I’m wrong it might surprise me in a good way. If you like drama and slice of life I recommend it. So far it feels similar to Barakamon, so if you like that you’ll like this.
Heroines run the show
That’s like 15 bucks an hour for a part-time job while still in high school?? I once made like 5 bucks an hour at that age and I thought I’d made it big in life. Then again, I didn’t last very long in that job because of panic attacks, but you can’t win them all.
I don’t know a lot about idols. I’ve watched an idol show here and there, but they were generally ones that didn’t focus on real world idols (Kageki Shoujo) or more fantastical (Revue Starlight). From what I’ve understood, LIPxLIP, the idols from this show, are actual idols? I’m way out of my depth when it comes to this stuff I’m afraid. But it seems like I don’t need to know too much about idols to watch this show. It follows Hiyori (not Hiyoko, get it right manager) who loves track and field, but needs money to stay afloat in Tokyo. While searching for a part time job she comes across the job of assistant manager for an idol duo. These two idols happen to be her classmates as well. The reason she got the job over all the other applicants? She doesn’t really care much about idols. She didn’t even know about LIPxLIP when she applied for the job, and the CEO and manager thought this would benefit her in the work. It wouldn’t work having someone who is constantly fangirling be in charge of helping these guys. Both idols have some personality issues and it’s up to Hiyori to help them overcome those, whether they like it or not. The story so far follows them through both school life and professional life and makes for great content. Hiyori is voiced by Inori Minase (Rem, Hestia, Jeanne from Vanitas), and she has the perfect voice for this character which really adds to the experience. We’ll talk more about perfect voice castings later on, but for now I can highly recommend this show if you like drama shows that give you that feelgood feeling.
Love after world domination
Who holds hands during a third date? That’s way too lewd. You tell him, Desumi!
It’s a tale as old as time, isn’t it? Romeo and Juliett. A forbidden love that cannot be. The red power ranger fell in love with the evil villain and now they’re secretly dating. Fudo is part of the Gelato Five, who are basically the power rangers. Desumi is the Reaper Princess of the villain organization Gekko. When the rest of their respective organizations are fighting, they try to slip out and find a quiet place to have a nice date. This show is just nice. That’s the best compliment I can give it. The jokes are pleasant, the characters are fun, the art is colorful and it’s just nice to sit down and watch them mess around trying not to get caught. From Desumi being lonely while her fellow villains interpret it as her being angry and they’re scared of her for it to Fudo planning the perfect date which includes going to the gym and eating a protein bar. They’re both massive dorks and perfect for each other and I’m a big fan of romance shows where the characters are actually dating. Too often do we spend 12 episodes on will they won’t they and then the show ends. Screw that noise, I want my romance shows to have actual romance in it, and this show gives me that. It’s not going to be up everyone’s alley, but personally I recommend it.
Aoashi
Do you like sports anime? Do you like soccer? If your answer to at least one of these two questions is “yes” then you should probably give this show a go. If your answer to both is no, then you should probably skip Aoashi. It’s a sports anime about soccer.
Optimistic kid? check. Kid with crazy hairstyle? check. Yup, I’m confident this is in fact a sports anime.
Ashita Aoi is from a small town but has a passion for soccer. He’s a very selfish player though, but he does at least have the skills to somewhat back up his bravado. And he’s not a bad kid. When the manager of a successful youth team comes across him, he’s invited to tryouts in Tokyo. This looks just like most other sports anime. There’s a team with quirky players, there will probably be senpais that are on their last season, the coaching staff looks to be at least a little bit insane and the rest is history. I don’t have much to say about this except that it’s got the basics down and has so far been enjoyable to watch.
Ya Boy Kongming (Paripi Koumei)
I’m inserting this one after I’d already finished the post because as of writing the rest of this, I hadn’t seen this show yet.
This man has more swagger in his hat than I have in my entire wardrobe. What an absolute legend.
I’ve seen too many Isekai shows lately. I love the genre, but I’m also deeply aware that a lot of them feel bland and uninteresting to me. From overpowered demon lords to underpowered boring characters, there’s a lot of bad things to say about the genre. But with Ya Boy Kongming I’m not even quite sure if this can be called an Isekai. Depends on how pedantic you want to be, I suppose, but it does follow a character who’s put into a world that’s completely strange and new to them. The show follows Kongming, a brilliant strategist from the Three Kingdoms era, who wanted to be reincarnated into a more peaceful time. Having his wish granted, he wakes up in modern day Shibuya, several decades younger and completely out of place. Well, it’s Halloween, so he actually fits in quite well. Kongming thinks he’s in hell for a short time, but pretty quickly figures out that he was just sent to the future. With his wit being by far his strongest asset, he decides to help out a young woman named Eiko, whose singing deeply touches him. How hard will it be to become a famous singer if your manager is one of history’s most brilliant strategists? We’ll find out.
Her design is amazing, I’m instantly in love. It’s also nice to have a show that follows characters that are a bit older as opposed to high school characters.
I, like others in my friend group, didn’t give this anime much attention when I first saw the synopsis. It looked uninteresting to me, and I’ve been getting bored of watching mediocre shows. What convinced me to eventually watch it anyway, was when I was sent the opening theme. It absolutely slaps. This eurobeat track with simplistic vocals just does the perfect job of getting you hyped. And to back up the opening theme is not only a great ending theme, but also a very good show in between the two. That’s right, although the premise sounds silly, I found myself hooked after one episode. This is why I should give more shows a shot. Some sound dumb but end up amazing after only one episode. As of writing this I’ve only seen the first three episodes of Ya Boy Kongming, but it’s already competing for best in season with Spy x Family. And speaking of Spy x Family;
Spy x Family
As I like to do, I’ve saved the best for last. Spy x Family has been on my radar for quite a while now. It was near the top of my list of new manga to buy, but I eventually decided against it since my backlog of books and novels is already too large. When I heard it was getting an anime I figured I’d at the very least watch it first before deciding if I then wanted to buy the manga. We’re three episodes in and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this story for so long.
Anya is in shock when she realizes tripping over a bucket does not really constitute as helping. It reminds me of an old theater show I saw when I was young where the premise was that one guy was there to help the other, but he just made things worse. Then after the first guy chased off the helper guy, he started feeling bad so he invited him back. Alright, I digress.
Spy x Family follows the Forger family. Their last name is Forger because they’re all using fake names. Pretty smooth right? Loid Forger is the very successful spy twilight. His newly acquired wife Yor Forger is the assassin known as the thorn princess. Their adopted daughter, Anya, is a telepath. Yor and Loid don’t know about each others’ professions nor do they know about Anya. The latter has figured everything out, but she’s a telepath so that’s cheating. The reason for this setup is to get Anya into a prestigious school and this way get closer to the target that Loid/Twilight is spying on. What makes this show for me so far is two things. First, Yor is voiced by Saori Hayami. She is my favorite voice actor and I love listening to her. She’s in tons of high profile shows and it’s always a joy.
Second, Anya is a very funny character. A telepathic child living with two dangerous individuals is a dynamic I didn’t know I wanted in my life but it works so well. She loves peanuts, is worried she’s going to be abandoned again and her shocked face is very funny. I can’t wait to see more of this family’s dynamic as the show continues and I’m definitely picking up the manga after this season ends. Give it a watch no matter what your anime preferences normally are, it’s that damn good.
An expression like that on a face like that with a voice like Saori Hayami’s? That’s just plain unfair.
And that’s a wrap. I’m watching a few more shows that aren’t sequels, but none of those are particularly good and I might end up dropping some. The sequels airing right now also don’t seem that amazing. I can’t even remember half of them without going to my tracker. I’m getting more and more picky when it comes to what anime I enjoy. I even wrote about rewatching shows recently and I’m going to start reviewing some older shows. I haven’t decided what to start with, but since Utawarerumono is getting another sequel this year I might revisit the first seasons of that. There are so many amazing shows already out that it feels sort of bad to watch mediocre shows just because they’re currently airing. Either way, it’s nice that there’s still new shows that can impress me each season and after Ousama Ranking and now Spy x Family I’m very excited for the future of anime. Thanks for reading and I hope you end up enjoying some of these recommendations!
My man’s about to unlock a whole range of emotions he’s supressed for the sake of his job. It’s a good thing he flipped because you should have seen Yor’s expression. That was way scarier.
After three solid volumes we’re finally approaching unknown territory. Although I’d forgotten about some of the stuff that the anime covered from the first three volumes (cut me some slack, it’s been over a decade) I did remember the major plot elements once they were presented properly. Volume four is what I assume the upcoming anime is going to cover. Speaking of which, have I mentioned yet how excited I am for the sequel? Yes? Well, let me say it again. After all these years we get another Spice & Wolf season. It’s easily the sequel I was most hoping for. After we got Chihayafuru season 3 a while back, that is. Enough about that though, let’s dive into this volume. I’ve decided to approach the review a little bit differently from previous entries. Instead of dividing characters and stories, I’ll just go through the story more chronologically and give my opinion on each part of the story (the start, the middle and the conclusion). Without further ado, let’s get to it.
The story starts with Holo and Lawrence making their way further north. Diana gave them some idea of where to go and they had a place to start. An abbey near the small village of Tereo. On their way there they come across a small mill. The miller, a young man named Evan, tries to impress Lawrence. He knows that the miller’s profession is one that isn’t very appreciated and is looking for a way out of this situation. I didn’t know this and it makes me wonder if this is accurate. The reasoning given in the novel is that wheat turned into flour drastically reduces in volume and the more pure the flour made, the lower the volume. It makes sense that people wouldn’t like someone who made their products shrink. Obviously that’s not the miller’s fault, but it’s easy to have a scapegoat. After talking with Evan for a little while, they move on to Tereo proper. The village seems a bit hostile and although the village elder is polite enough, there’s definitely something going on. The person in charge of the local church, a young woman named Elsa, sends Lawrence away without properly answering his questions. Later that night they spot Evan sneaking into the church and being let in by Elsa. Lawrence and Holo flash some money to treat the villagers to a nice evening of drinking and get a little bit more insight into the situation the village is in. Emboldened by some new knowledge and having had a very serious talk with Holo about their goals and what they want to do in this village, Lawrence goes back to church, now bringing Holo with him. They overwhelm Elsa by showing off Holo’s animal features and she finally agrees to them searching for information. You see, the church had secretly been the abbey they were looking for all this time and Father Franz, the previous man in charge of the church, was the monk they had been looking for. His books and scrolls were still hidden in the church. While reading for information, the two get involved in the turmoil the village has been in, which is what they were worried about.
The nearby city of Enberch had made a deal with the recently deceased Father Franz that guaranteed Tereo’s prosperity so far. It’s a clever deal that allows Tereo’s villagers to live peacefully without having to worry about anything. Unfortunately, this deal wasn’t as good for Enberch as it was for Tereo, and the passing of Father Franz was the perfect opportunity for them to change things up. They were quick to make up a fake story about poisoned wheat killing a man in Enberch and demanding Tereo pay them back for the wheat. So the villagers are now faced with this problem and turn to blame the obvious target; Lawrence and Holo. Although the village elder starts off being reasonable towards the two, it quickly becomes obvious that he’ll put the villagers ahead of the travelers. It might not be the right thing to do, but it makes sense for a village elder to put the village first. After thinking things over for a while, Lawrence and Holo, together with Elsa and Evan, decide to escape the village. And just as they’re about to confirm that decision, the townsfolk show up at the door of the church, demanding them to be turned over. That wouldn’t end well for Lawrence and Holo. They escape through the secret passage in the back of the church. This leads through a long tunnel towards an altar for Lord Truyeo, the snake god that the village used to follow. Father Franz was looking into these kinds of stories in hopes of reaffirming his belief in the one true god, the one the church follows. He’s an interesting character and I wish we could have known more about him. I think one thing that’s to be respected is when people who are religious question their beliefs when it is apt to do so. Some people will just ignore reality to reaffirm their beliefs. What Elsa does later on is a great example of having faith but being realistic too. When she sees Holo turn into a massive wolf, she doesn’t say this isn’t real or anything like that, she rationalizes it. Holo and other creatures of the sort must be created by the real god. Makes sense from a religious perspective.
After the four have escaped the village, Elsa changes her mind and she goes back to the village. Lawrence has a harsh talk with Evan which results in the latter going after Elsa. Holo gets angry at herself. With her snarkiness it’s often easy to forget there’s a lot of depth to her character. She’s mad at herself for not protecting her village from the bear spirit, even though she didn’t know about this spirit at all, and if she did wouldn’t have been able to win against it either way. What they can do though, is help this village here and now. And that is exactly what they do. They devise a plan to save the village and show off a true miracle by making wheat grow out of wheat seeds. This is one of the few times we see Holo do something miraculous, besides turning into a massive wolf. The bishop from Enberch is bamboozled and after Evan eats wheat from every bag without dying they have to admit defeat. Lawrence handles the financial parts of the deal and the village is saved. All’s well that ends well.
Final Thoughts
This volume focuses heavily on the religious aspects of the Spice & Wolf world. There are different pagan gods, spirits and rituals, just like in our world. There is also the god that the church worships, just like in our world. It’s interesting to have a take on this that involves the different spirits actively being in the story. I’ve always liked the idea of gods and spirits being real although I’m not a believer of any religion. I do like to include religion a lot in the stories I write. Having powerful entities that watch over people, for better or worse, is something fascinating and adds dimensions to a story.
I do think it’s funny that the church just went and dubbed everyone else a Pagan. Pretty arrogant, but I suppose that’s a notion not uncommon about religion in real life either. I wasn’t as enthralled by this volume as the last one, but I still enjoyed it. Time to start reading volume 5, but before I do so I would love to know what you guys thought of this volume. Let me know in the comments down below and as always; thanks for reading!
It’s not often I watch an anime that completely transports me to another world. I used to get this feeling a lot more when I was younger. One Piece, Bleach, Naruto and even early Fairy Tail would make me feel like my worries are no longer an issue and let me just enjoy the world these characters are living in. It’s a fantastic feeling to have, and it’s the main reason why the fantasy genre will always be my favorite. I’ve recently started enjoying different shows a lot as well. Some of my favorite shows are now more dramatic and less fantastical. But that doesn’t mean the genre isn’t capable of making me feel things that no other genre can. And along came a little anime called Ousama Ranking. I knew nothing about this show, but on a whim I picked it up after the first three episodes had already aired, even though I initially dismissed it because the cover art looked too childish. Let’s talk about this masterpiece, shall we? This review contains spoilers for most of the anime!
By trying your hardest, Kage. I have an inkling that will work out well.
Title: Ousama Ranking (Ranking of Kings)
Year: 2021-2022
Episodes: 23
Studio: WIT Studio
When I see the name Wit Studio, I immediately think of the grittier shows they’ve done, like Attack on Titan and Vinland Saga. Looking into the studio a little bit more, they’ve also done The Ancient Magus Bride, which, although definitely very different, does have a similar vibe to it. What they do great is solid animation and making shows look really good by looking unique. I don’t think any of the aforementioned shows look generic or similar by any means, and neither does Ousama Ranking.
Art & Animation
As I already mentioned, this show looks a bit childish from the outset. The art makes it look like it’s made for children and this is definitely on purpose. Ousama Ranking is a Fairy Tale for sure, but it’s like the darker fairy tales that we didn’t quite see as kids. Behind the surface of this boy going on an adventure lies a dark secret and a web of conspiracies. But although the artstyle can be a bit deceiving, it definitely fits the show really well. It makes it feel special and transports you into the world. The animation is also very solid for the entire show. It didn’t stand out as spectacular if I’m honest, but I also never found myself being distracted by it. Where shows like Demon Slayer are enhanced by the animation quality, for most shows having solid animation is more than enough.
I think the specific artstlye used for this show really helped convey how ominous this scene was, especially when you later realize this rage might have been aimed at Domas instead of Bojji.
The music and the OST
The music. My god, the opening and ending themes for this show are absolutely fantastic. The first opening is done by King Gnu, who I’ve heard some songs by, but I’m not super familiar. Looking a bit into it, they’re a very prolific artist. The song itself sounds very unique and if you want to do yourself a favor, look up the music video for the song. It’s definitely a wild ride. I know I’ll be looking into their music more. The ending is heart wrenching and I don’t even understand what she’s singing about. Oz by Yama was immediately added to my playlist. And when I saw they changed openings halfway through I was only disappointed for a moment, since Vaundy is a name I recently became familiar with and the song for the second half of this anime is also fantastic. It’s almost breath stopping? I can’t really put it into words well, but the sound makes me just wait with my breath held. If not for SiM’s The Rumbling these would be my favorite songs coming out of this past season.
I love every opening and ending for this show, but Vaundy’s Hadaka no Yuusha, in combination with this shot of a young Miranjo gives me actual chills. It’s so damn good I can’t believe it exists. It makes me feel like creating art like this is the only real point to being alive. I’m being dramatic, I just love this show so damn much.
The Characters & The Story
Alright, enough of the side dishes, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this post, shall we? I really want to dig into this story a bit deeper than I did last week. There will be spoilers ahead of this, so be warned. If you haven’t watched the show at this point, what are you doing? It’s amazing!
Before writing this, I’ve looked at some of the negative reviews about this show. I wanted to know what the people who didn’t like it think. Sometimes this helps me get new perspectives. Sometimes, which is the case right now, this just affirms that I love a show despite its flaws. Ousama Ranking, to me, is a fairy tale. In a fairy tale I won’t get mad about characters getting redemption even if they might not deserve it. The real world is cruel enough, if it’s well written I’ll allow my escapism world to have as much redemption and happy endings as it needs. This brings me to looking at the characters. With this out of the way, let’s talk about the characters.
So precious, no wonder Kage ended up being such a good friend to Bojji.
Bojji as our main character is great. We don’t have enough disabled characters in fiction. I’m personally not deaf or mute, but I reckon it’d be great for people who are to have a character in fiction that runs into similar problems. And for me it’s fascinating to try and walk in that character’s shoes. His partner in (not) crime, Kage, is a great fit. He’s such a dork even though he thinks he’s so much cooler than everyone around him. Both their backstories are heartbreaking as a good backstory should be. Watching Kage’s mother strung up from that spear broke my heart and then all the shit he had to endure to finally find a friend like Bojji? By episode 3 this show has made me cry more than half the anime I watched last year combined did. Following them through 23 episodes as they slowly get embroiled in this grand conspiracy around them and watching Bojji become strong is such a joy. In a lot of shows, the side characters make a show great, and though the side characters in this show are fantastic, the main characters steal the show. Bojji’s training with Despa, Kage’s working with Bebin to protect Bojji, and eventually them helping save the kingdom from its doom is great.
This guy is such a good guy. That is all.
The four strongest are arguably my least favorite characters out of the ones that get a lot of screentime. Bebin’s snake is more interesting than all of them combined and I actively dislike Domas. But his lovable sidekick, Hokuro, being one of the first people to properly believe in Bojji is so damn good that I can almost forgive Domas for being a backstabbing piece of work. Almost. Dorsche is probably the coolest of the four, surviving fights on pure grit and will. His duty to protect Hilling is so strong that it’s admirable. And Hilling. The evil queen Hilling who wants to make her own son king instead of Bojji. The evil stepmother who ended up being such a good person that I’m tearing up just thinking back to her healing people with potions hidden under her clothes. Just like Kage, she’s such a big dork and I am absolutely in love with her. It turns out she does care about Bojji, and has tried so hard to make this clear to him. She’s gotten caught up in all this drama unawares, and once she starts putting the pieces together she’s not the high and mighty queen anymore, she’s a powerful woman who will do what’s right and be on the frontlines to protect her family. She’s easily my favorite character in this show and she steals every scene she’s in.
This entire flashback to Bojji’s youth and the following fight between Dorsche and the hellhounds has to be one of my favorite moments in the show.
When the show gets towards its final conclusion we get more information revealed about Miranjo. We find out she had a very sad backstory. The way her village and her family were treated is horrendous and it does explain her baggage. Her behavior afterwards is still unacceptable of course, but we gain a bit more understanding of why she is the way she is. She found one thing that made her happy and didn’t want to lose it. And she would do everything in her power to keep Bosse close to her. I would have liked to see more closure on Despa, Vespa and Ouken’s arc. I would assume this gets handled in the source material at some point, which makes me wonder if there’s material for a second season. Bojji leaving in the end to journey with Kage is the only good ending we could expect.
Ouken is so creepy throughout this show, and it’s such a stark contrast to the loving, caring guy we see in the flashbacks. Really wish we got more of the three brothers.
Final Thoughts
I don’t think this show is perfect. There’s many things that could be done better. The animation quality during the fights could be better. The characters having two sides to them does get overplayed quite a bit. I also didn’t like the character of Bosse at all. He felt very much like a plot device who was overly difficult and vague just because the story required it. Having said all of that, I did enjoy every episode of this show tremendously to the point that this is a top 10 show for me without a doubt. The characters are all super interesting and the main duo is an absolute joy to watch. The music and animation are all of great quality and I love the fairy tale story that it presents to us. It’s different enough from the seasonal isekai shows. I watch too many of them so that it sticks in your memory for longer. I highly recommend this show and give it a passing mark. Thanks for reading.
He’s a good guy, I swear. Kind of. It’s complicated.
I got into this show a few weeks after it started airing because initially the artstyle seemed a bit childish. What I didn’t realize is that this artstyle gives the anime a charm that you don’t really see in other shows that much. It both looks adorable yet believable at the same time. And it definitely looks unique. Let’s talk about what makes this show tick and why I believe you should watch it.
The boy and his friend
Let’s start with the story. Ousama Ranking follows Bojji, a young prince who doesn’t hear or speak and is made fun of for this reason. He lives in the palace with his father, his stepmother and his halfbrother. His father is unwell and one of the two boys is going to be the next king. Bojji is first in line by age, but not everyone is equally okay with the handicapped boy becoming their next king. Queen Hilling seems to prefer Daida, her own son, as the one to ascend the throne. She meets with the four great warriors protecting the kingdom and they get to an agreement.
While all this is happening, Bojji meets a member of the shadow clan named Kage. He’s a non-human character who seems to be young as well, just like Bojji. We’re never told Kage’s age, and it’s hard to guess, but he appears to be young and his backstory isn’t particularly long. What it is, is very good though. Three episodes into this show and I was completely emotionally invested. Kage and Bojji set out on a journey together with Domas, the master swordsman and Hokuro, a soldier. During this entire mess there’s a conspiracy brewing in the palace as well.
Look over there, it’s the plot progressing
The strength of Ousama Ranking lies in its characters and their dynamics. These are complicated people who feel very real in their convictions. They make mistakes, they hesitate, they pick the wrong side and come to regret it, or they pick the right side but this isn’t clear for a while. This makes trusting certain characters difficult and betrayals that much more convincing when they do happen. And underneath all of this are the workings of Miranjo, the girl in the mirror. What is she planning with Prince Daida? Mirror, mirror on the wall, are you the villain of them all? You’ll have to watch the show to find out.
Let’s give a quick talk about the production side of this show. I already mentioned that it has a unique style and it works so well for this kind of story. It gives it an almost fairytale aesthetic although this is one of those fairy tales that’s a little bit more for adults than for small children. The openings and endings of this show are also stellar. The music throughout just fits perfectly and the production is just superb.
Don’t make me cry all over again.
I don’t think there’s too much left for me to say about this show without diving into the story, which I will do in another post, except that it’s well done, has a very good ending, and leaves you wanting more. I loved every second of this show without a dull moment and I’m sad it’s over. I will definitely rewatch this show, probably very soon, and I highly recommend everyone else to give it a watch too. Join me next week for a deep dive into this show’s story and as always, thank you for reading!
As of writing this, we’re 8 episodes into the second season of Vanitas no Carte, or the Case Study of Vanitas. That means I’ve watched twenty episodes of this show. And yet I’m not invested in the story at all. It just doesn’t really interest me that much. For those unfamiliar with Vanitas let me give you a quick, mostly spoiler-free, rundown. Vanitas no Carte follows the titular Vanitas, who is a human doctor. At some point in his life he got the illustrious Book of Vanitas. It was a book from a famous vampire. This book allows him to help vampires that are letting their instincts take control of them, the so-called curse bearers. On his journey he meets a vampire called Noe. Together they run into more trouble than the average toddler in a toy store. On their journey they come across several characters that are important to the story, including Jeanne (definitely not D’arc), several Chasseurs, an organization fighting vampires as well as some prominent vampires.
Off to an interesting start. We’ll see the colors blue and black a lot throughout this show.
If that description is a little bit vague then that’s because looking back on twenty episodes of this show, I’m still not really sure what kind of story it is trying to tell. Everyone seems to have their own subplot, character personalities seem to be all over the place, and it feels very anime, if that makes sense. Some stories thrive on their realism, and some stories thrive on them feeling fictional. How everyone sort of knows each other and gets embroiled in the same problems. That’s not a bad thing, by the way. Durarara has everyone’s lives intermingled and I absolutely love Durarara. Many good shows do this. But it shouldn’t be a replacement for the plot. Every week I see the episode appear online and think to myself; do I still watch this show? But then when I do I always find myself enthralled. And that’s what I’d like to talk about today. The aesthetic qualities of Vanitas.
The illustrious book of Vanitas in all of its blue glory.
Vanitas no Carte has a certain style. A pizazz. (I just really wanted to use that word.) It speaks to a sense of fashion and glamor that I don’t really have in my daily life. These are all extremely pretty women and extremely handsome men. Sure, many anime have that, and since it’s not a genre that I tend to watch a lot, there’s a very good chance that there are shows out there that do this kind of thing better, but everything just kind of pops when I watch it. From the opening to the ending. To the cat that looks like it has more class than I ever will. To Roland and Olivier casually sitting at a cafe in Paris while our main characters stroll past them. Paris is massive, it’s not a place where you just casually spot someone you know easily if you don’t live there. But it feels like everything is interconnected. And everyone is dressed like they own the place. The outfits in this show almost make me feel bad about sitting here in sweatpants and a hoodie. It’s cold, okay, leave me alone.
All jokes aside, it’s shows like Vanitas that remind me how many different facets there are to a good story. And when it comes to visual storytelling, the way your characters shine on the screen is very important. If there’s not a single character in your show, male, female or otherwise, that I want to be stepped on by (don’t judge me) what are you even doing? You’re wasting my time here. (It’s Domi, for those wondering, and it’s not even close).
Don’t judge me okay, just look at her.
This show makes me wish I could rock an outfit like Olivier does. And Jeanne looks absolutely amazing too. Hell, even Noe looks fantastic with his white clothes and hat. This show just screams style and class and it’s just enthralling. I’m generally someone who watches shows for the story or the action. And I think that’s why the rest of Vanitas falls so flat for me. There’s not a lot of interesting action and the story doesn’t quite interest me personally. But it’s the pure style that keeps me watching. I want to see these characters in motion, I want to see them talk to each other and find out what ridiculousness they get up to.
Imagine being able to rock a hat like that.
So if you’ve reached this point and you’re still wondering if this show is worth the time, then I’d say yeah, probably, I don’t know, I’m not your dad. Watch the first two or three episodes. If you like what you see, I promise it keeps getting better. I think season two has better moments than season one so far. The introduction of some of the chasseurs in this season has really built up a bigger cast, and Chloe is adorable too. It’s a fun show. It’s got great aesthetics and sometimes that’s all you need. Thanks for reading.
Antonio is absolutely adorable and such a good kid.
The joy of creating something new and exciting transcends artforms. Be it music, writing, drawing or magically creating flora, there’s a distinct joy to creating things that’s really hard to describe. Disney movies have often been inspiring. I remember watching Tarzan as a kid and just loving the music, feeling like I wanted to put something into the world too. When I was a child I watched many Disney movies. The little mermaid, Tarzan, Lion King, Pocahontas, Snow White. I could keep going as I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a majority of Disney’s animated movies that came out before the year 2000. After that I kind of stopped watching them. I was 8 or 9 and it didn’t interest me as much anymore. I definitely wouldn’t go to the cinema to watch a Disney movie anymore and by the time the newer ones were readily available I was a teenager. The only “new” Disney movie I’ve seen is Frozen, and although that was a perfectly adequate movie, it wasn’t anything fantastic. Encanto is the first Disney movie I’ve seen in a long time that renewed that joyful feeling inside of me. So let’s talk about it today. It may not be anime, but I hope you’ll forgive me for skipping a week and talking about this western animated movie instead. This contains minor spoilers.
Part 1: The story
Encanto tells the story of Mirabel Madrigal, a young daughter of the Madrigal family. Their family had to escape from their old village a long time ago, when her grandfather was killed. A magical candle then appeared to save them, and every member of the family has gotten a gift since that day. Mirabel’s mom can heal with food, her aunt controls the weather (using the word control loosely here), her cousins and sisters have super strength, transformation, creating flowers, crazy good hearing and controlling animals. And her uncle Bruno, well, we don’t talk about Bruno. Mirabel didn’t get a gift when it was her time to get one, and it’s been weighing on her. Of course it has. When people’s powers start having a bit of trouble and the house they live in starts showing cracks it’s Mirabel’s time to figure out what the hell is going on. And the key to all of this is probably her uncle Bruno, the one they don’t talk about. His gift is that of visions. That’s a gift that rarely goes well.
Quality Entertainment.
Part 2: The characters
The characters in this show are Colombian. At the very least the Madrigal family is, I don’t want to make unnecessary broad assumptions. We focus solely on the family. There’s some other characters that get a line or two, but the movie doesn’t waste time on anyone outside of the main family. The three children of Abuela each get a little bit of screen time and are used for some jokes and funny moments. The focus lies on the grandchildren, Mirabel’s generation.
Luisais the strong one. She can carry pretty much anything and does all of the hard physical labor in town. She lifts things, moves donkeys around and is even seen relocating an entire church at some point. Under the surface she has doubts though and is a human just like everyone else.
Dolores has super hearing. This is not the place to go into the details of all of these gifts but I’m willing to bet that having this gift in real life would drive you completely insane very quickly. Being able to hear everything around you all the time would suck. Dolores seems to be okay though.
Camilo can transform into other people and seems to be very laid-back and humorous. He even transforms into his father at some point and makes fun of him.
Antonio is the youngest kid. He gets his gift during this movie and is the movie’s way of showing us how the ceremony works. He’s a very nice kid who cares about Mirabel and shows this.
Isabella is perfect in every single way. She makes perfect flowers and never does anything wrong. She gets along poorly with Mirabel.
Mirabel is the main character. Without a gift but with a strong bond with the house itself, Casita, she is the one who has to be up to the task and save the family. And for this she needs her uncle Bruno. Bruno saw a vision a while ago and then vanished. We find out that he’s not actually really gone as the movie progresses and he becomes a focal point of the movie as well.
And last but not least is Abuela. She’s the matriarch of the family and the one who’s trying to save the family as well, but mainly does so by hiding the fact that things are going wrong.
I think overall the characters are well written, even the ones that only serve a small role seem to be well fleshed out. They all have their own lives and moods and behaviors and they really feel like family, albeit a somewhat dysfunctional one.
Part 3: The songs
The selling point of any Disney movie, be it old or new, is the music. Some of my favorite songs of all time come from Disney movies. Tarzan, Lion King, Hercules, Brother Bear and many more have created songs I could perfectly sing along to word for word. And this movie definitely adds songs to that list. The soundtrack is partially handled by Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose work I’ve talked about a little bit before (Hamilton mainly). He has a recognizable style and it’s great. “Surface Pressure”, “We don’t talk about Bruno”, “Dos Oruguitas” and “What else can I do?” are quickly becoming some of my favorite Disney songs. I’ve watched some RoomieOfficial videos where he talks about the songs as well and he seems to think they’re good too. I’m no musical expert, I just like the sound of certain songs or the message the lyrics have. That’s why so far “What else can I do?” is my favorite song. It’s a song about breaking the norm and creating what you want and not what you think other people want you to create. Be yourself and express yourself is such an important message to send. And many of the songs have nice messages. I’m less inclined to find meaning in Dos Oruguitas since I don’t speak the language, but I can tell you that it sounds absolutely beautiful.
Caught in the act.
Part 4: The finishing touches
Let’s quickly talk about some of the other things. The film is quite short, and could probably do with a little bit more room to breathe, but on the upside it also doesn’t waste any time. I’ve seen enough movies that feel dull at some point or another so it is also kind of nice to have a movie get right to the point.
The voice acting is great. I’m not very familiar with Colombian culture, but everything here looks very colorful and nice. The people seem so welcoming, so if it’s representative of Colombian culture it’s painting a very lovely picture.
Mirabel is voiced by Stephanie Beatriz who I primarily know from portraying Rosa Diaz in Brooklynn 99. It’s a very different role but she performs it amazingly and is very believable. I found all of the other voice acting to sound very natural as well.
And the animation, well, it’s a Disney movie. It looks amazing, it’s extremely detailed, there’s fun hidden stuff and like I mentioned earlier it’s very colorful.
My final thoughts are pretty obvious at this point. I had an absolute blast watching this movie and it convinced me to try and watch a few more western animated movies. I’ve had some recommendations thrown my way, so I best get on that soon. Overall I’d highly recommend you watch this movie and then play the soundtrack on repeat afterwards, like I’m doing. I’m listening to it as I’m writing this. Thanks for reading.
My favorite part of this song is that Mirabel supports Isabella as soon as she becomes a more normal person.
It’s been a month. I promised myself that I would be reading more books this year but it’s been a challenge. Through other plans, health problems and a general lack of focus I’ve not been able to read as much as I wanted to. Luckily I did find the time to read this volume Spice & Wolf. Just like the first volume, this part of the story has been covered by the anime as well. I’ve never actually read all of the second volume before, although I did read a bit of it back in the day when I first bought it. Now without wasting any more time, let’s have a look at the second volume.
The Story
We follow Lawrence and Holo as they continue traveling up north. They’re going through the city of Poroson and make their way towards the religious beacon for the church that is Ruvinheigen. Since the roads there are dangerous they decide to go through a lesser traveled road. This road is supposedly prone to wolf attacks but with the wolf goddess of the harvest on their side they should be fine. On their way there they run into a shepherdess which is curious. They travel to Ruvinheigen together where they part ways. Lawrence meets up at his merchants guild and slowly the signs that something is off start to creep in until Lawrence gets to the company where he’s planning to sell off his armor. There he finds out what was wrong. The price of armor has plummeted to mere scraps compared to what it once was. The company that sold them to him has had to default and the loan now belongs to the company he was initially hoping to sell the armor to. With a debt that’s too large to do anything about in a short time, and a cart full of useless armor, Lawrence and Holo are getting desperate.
So they hatch a plan. Together with Norah, the shepherdess, and the Remilio company that is facing bankruptcy with them, they decide to smuggle gold into Ruvinheigen. The city taxes gold extremely heavily so the price is very high in town. Being able to smuggle some into town without paying taxes on it would lead to ridiculous profit. But many have tried to do so in the past and a majority has failed. They’re now faced with finding a way to succeed against the odds. That’s where Norah and her shepherding skills come in. Having her sheep swallow small clumps of gold to then excrete them after they enter Ruvinheigen is a brilliant plan but it can go wrong at any moment. They decide on it against these odds and manage to convince her as well, allowing her to dream of quitting this job and becoming a seamstress. Together with a member of the Remilio family they travel through dangerous wolf-filled forests to the nearby Lamtra and back. Will they make it safely and avoid certain doom? You’ll have to read the book to find out. (Spoiler, there’s another 20 or so books after this, so I don’t think the worst case will happen to them. Just a hunch.)
The (new) Characters
We know about Lawrence and Holo at this point, so let’s have a look at some of the other characters introduced in this novel and what to think about them.
The first one that’s arguably the most interesting character as well is of course Norah, the shepherdess. They meet her on the road from Poroson to Ruvinheigen and hire her to protect them. Norah doesn’t really know that they don’t need her help at all with Holo’s talents, but Lawrence likes the extra company. She’s a young woman who’s been herding sheep for a handful of years. She’s employed by the church at the moment who aren’t really paying her well. It’s a stable line of work though, even if the church doesn’t really trust anyone who’s talented or even remotely different from the norm.
She has bigger dreams than being a shepherdess forever though, and that’s how she gets caught up in Lawrence’s scheme in this book. She wants a different career path and the money that Lawrence provides can just get her there. There’s the obvious risk though, but she decides it’s worth it. My favorite part about her character is that she is a lot more clever than Lawrence initially thinks, which leads to some interesting conversations. Holo is of course ever the smart one and realizes all this at once.
Besides Norah there’s no real major characters in this book. There’s the trade guild master that Lawrence visits, who is friendly but a lot colder when he finds out Lawrence’s predicament. He doesn’t seem like a bad person. Besides him there’s Hans Remilio, the man who’s going down with Lawrence into bankruptcy as well as Marten Liebert, a young upstart with the Remilio guild who is accompanying them on this trip. Besides these minor characters, the story mainly focuses on Lawrence, Holo and Norah. And the dog, Enek, of course. Can’t forget the goodest of bois.
Final Thoughts
Overall this volume felt similar in pacing and storytelling as the previous one did. The story is one I’m vaguely familiar with because season 2 of the anime covered it. Speaking of season 2 of the anime, as I was writing this, fresh of the press, season 3 of the Spice & Wolf anime has been announced. I’m still half worrying that it’s not real, but it looks real. I can’t put into words how excited I am for another season of Spice & Wolf. Putting that aside though, I liked this volume. I think Norah was a fun character that really complimented Lawrence and Holo’s cynicism a lot. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but there is definitely a sober way of looking at the world that Norah doesn’t quite have yet. Yet she’s also not so naive that she becomes an unbelievable character. The story was fine, although the situations surrounding the specifics of Lawrence debt and the way his guild handled it did feel a bit overly mean. I get that business is business, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
I am so ridiculously excited, Look at that majestic tail. Holo is such a fun character and design wise just amazing too.
The final chapter is where it’s at though, and we’re reminded that Holo isn’t just a young woman with a tail and wolf ears and some good senses. She is the wise wolf of Yoitsu. As the troop is harrowed by wolves in the forest, she’s the one who has to stand up in the end. I urge you to read the book itself to see what happens next, but I can assure you that it’s quite good.
I might make a separate post about the announcement of Spice & Wolf season 3, but I don’t know yet. It’s something I hold very dear as it’s the show that convinced me to start buying light novels and manga. Over the years it’s no longer my favorite show per se, but it’s very high on my list still. Holo was my avatar and steam on discord for a long long time and she’s still one of my favorite characters. She’s so sassy, whimsical yet emotional, flawed and so small at times. But she’s also this ferocious wolf goddess and it’s such a complex and amazing character I can write about it for days. But enough of me gushing over Spice & Wolf, I’d love to hear how you enjoyed volume 2. We’ll be covering Volume 3 next month, so make sure you get ready for it. I found myself zooming through the chapters once I started reading, which admittedly was way too late, I only just finished it. As always, thanks for reading and until next time!
