Ookami to Koshinryo, or also known as Spice & Wolf in English, is a light novel series written by Isuna Hasekura and illustrated by Jyuu Ayakura. The English translation is in the order of Alphabet, which makes it more natural to pronounce than Wolf & Spice, but certainly when bring the work into discussion, we have to follow the original arrangement to make the most out of it.
Wolf
Wolf, or scientifically Canis iupus, is a widely-known species, mostly because they are the ancestors of many kinds of domestic dogs. They are known as the kind of animal being able of patience and scheming while pursuing their prey. When talking about wolves, the first image from our imagination is often a single lone individual, which is portrayed more frequently than their other trait, wolf’s pack. In addition, scientific researches have also pointed out that lone wolves, or mated pairs, possess higher rate of success in hunting than a large pack.
So what the hell does it matter, other than a leading characters is a wolf herself, and being able to transform into human? That is not to mention the fact she had separated herself from the pack for quite a long time, so long that she had forgotten the way to home, to the point she had to form a situational bond with the other leading character, in order to find the long and winding road stretching to her place of birth. What a convenient plot device...
Yeah, what I said previously is only relevant to the content to some extent, but what following is the true core of this series. Wolf, the kind of animal being able to plan and wait for the right moment to strike, is the reference to merchant, an occupation still existing nowadays, and the origin of businessman, or businesswoman, which is in larger scale, like operating a company or corporation. Merchants were often in business of a particular merchandise in a particular time, very competitive to each other for supplies, profit and information, which connects those previously mentioned. As a result, merchants often worked alone, and were not easily to trust, because they would do anything profitable, even with deception. However, when having a common objective, the greater good, merchants were also being able to cooperate with others, which explains the existence of merchant guild.
As a result, the plot is heavily on the side of wolf-like..., sorry for my bad English, business-like talk, about how to take advantage of their circumstances to earn as much profit as possible, how to sell their goods at the possibly highest price, trading,… These economical topics are really uninteresting to many, but the author has tried his best to keep it simply as much as possible, and how the plot progresses could be understood without much knowledge in that particular department, as long as you are able to summarise and organise the given information.
Also, set in the Middle Age Europe, such occupation was widely known as traveling merchant, due to historical facts. In order to be one, merchants had to abandon their citizenship to travel, and ironically, dreamt of someday being able to once again obtain such SHIP, when they decided to settle. As a matter of fact, a merchant often had no fixed accommodation, and their life stuck with the roads their carriage(s) traveled on. They were more exposed to nature, and like an old saying, risks there were like a wolf waiting for such an unstable life. If fortunately, you could avoid mishappens and live a good and well-being life. Else, you would have to deal with the harshness of wilderness, such as accidents and natural disasters, or being the victims of wolves, unsurprisingly, or bandits, which could easily take away all the goods costing your entire fortune, or worse, your life. Also, you had to accept the risk of losing, being deceived, put into debt, and your investments didn’t always bear fruit. The characters in the story were many times put into such situations, and despite its simplicity, the author has managed to work out the complex portrayal of its instability, as his intention was never to colour a merchant’s life in pink to begin with.
Spice
Spices, such as pepper, were luxuries in the Middle Age, due to many problems in logistics, which were also in the list of goods the characters would sell. They are the decisive factor of a good meal, because simply cooking meat, fish, vegetable with heat wouldn’t automatically make them tasty. Definitely, I once again talked of bullshit for a whole paragraph, but there are indeed some spices I have found within the work namely Ookami to Koshinryo in its original language.
We know life on the road for merchants was such a hardship. However, when they opened their eyes in the morning and had another day doing their professionals, it was quite a minor happiness. When they traveled in the speed that could make them vomit blood, just to make sure their goods arrive in time of the best business, or to overcome the danger they had been in, preserved their lifetime’s investment and eventually earned quite a fortune out of it, it was then time for celebration, and the taste of beer, wine and food at that time was surely delicious. Joy, indeed, tastes very good.
Speaking of Europe in Middle Age, we have been provided a map with plains separated by ranges of mountains, cities on the bank of rivers surrounded with walls, paddies of buckwheat, and forests of conifers covered in snow during winter further northwards, with religious and cultural festivals held in places the journey came across, as well as the Church, which is very alike to the description of the continent. Therefore, it would be no surprise, or in fact quite an astonishment, to see words written in German in many scenes from the adaptations, which results in the quite simple, yet effective and realistic world building.
Due to the concept of traveling merchants, the conversations within this series tend to be business-like, which is not quite appealing and consists of many ‘actions’, if you know what I meant. However, the characters kept conversing with each other, and that’s more than enough to learn of them. The side characters could be said to be disposable, but since the journey would be quite long and there would hardly be a chance for them to return, I believe they had fulfilled their task, not to mention they felt quite natural at their respective roles of the stories. As a consequence, the interaction was mostly between the protagonists, and the readers are able to witness their changes.
Kraft Lawrence, or Kraft Lorenz, was a calculating merchant with years in the business. Like any other peers, he also dreamed of a settlement in a city, a family of his own, and a successful career of trading merchandises, and had been working his a-- off for it. However, that is not to say that he was extraordinary or anything, as there were many times he let the greed blind his eyes and put himself between the rock and a hard place, or desperately ran away from the dangers that he alone could not do much against. We could say he was naturally described as a typical merchant.
Holo, the self-proclaimed Wise Wolf, was a mythic existence having resided in Pasloe for 700 of years. Living up with her words, she was indeed knowledgeable, and with her living experiences, she often made fun of Lawrence, who was indeed a child in comparison to her. As of her origin, she was born in the forest of Yoitsu, and after a long sleep, she had been left alone, so Holo had decided to set off, in order to find her kinds, which ended up with settling in Pasloe as a Guardian. As the time changed, her role was no longer necessary, so she offered Lawrence to take her back to Yoitsu, in exchange of her support for his business.
So began their adventure, and the more they interacted, the more opening-up they were to each other. Holo was typically very haughty and self-sufficient, though due to her isolation for hundreds of years in Pasloe, Holo had gradually felt very lonely, not to mention she left Yoitsu due to her state of being left behind in the first place, and sometimes showed a more fragile side of herself. She relied on Lawrence for company as she feared loneliness, which is quite understandable for being with perception of its own existence, and could be said quite human as well. Lawrence, in exchange, got helped with her wisdom to increase his profits and get him out of jams. He had gradually got out of his calculating self of a merchant, started caring for his companion, not because of the preservation for his investment, but because of his honest will to do so. Her loneliness was something that Lawrence was very aware of and had tried to comfort her in his own way. As such, we were able to witness how two independent, solitary wolves, literally and figuratively, formed their own pack, and that is one of the spices used in this series. Also, as their relationship progressed, we were also able to see how Lawrence turned the table against Holo, and got onto the stage of big teasers.
Something worthy of mentioning here is the fact that during the nights of traveling, under the heaving light of the campfire, myths that the merchants had heard, or those from the place they were staying or heading to, were such interesting things to kill the time. Such myths, also appeared in Spice & Wolf, consequently increased the mysterious aspect of the work. Further more, reading the novel also feels like being able to take a walk inside the mythology itself, because the existence of Holo has been giving out the sensation of legends coming true.
Conclusion
This is one of the very few works that are quite simple, yet the simplicity has created such a superiority that many breathtaking actions and suspense, dramatic romance and relationship, or big fat voluptuous round anime tiddies, panty shots or weird fan service camera angles couldn’t achieve.
Charming, enjoyable by all age groups, calm and beautiful in its manifold details, Spice and Wolf is a delight to sit down after a long day and simply let the evening flow.
