Spice And Wolf - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Wolf And Spice

I'm Horo the Wise!

A light novel eventually made into an anime in 2008. The original name, "Ookami to Koushinryou", literally translates to "Wolf and Spice", but for some reason the official English title has it the other way.

The setting of both the novels and anime is a middle-ages European-esque world. Lawrence, a traveling merchant, accidentally frees the local harvest god, a centuries-old giant wolf named Horo who takes the form of a young girl. She convinces him to let her travel with him and seek out her dimly-remembered homeland.

Interestingly, the main thrust of the anime is centered more on the business of Lawrence than on Horo's supernatural nature. While her good senses and intellect come into play reasonable often, she is treated as a companion of Lawrence rather than the focus of the show. Instead of action or fanservice, Spice and Wolf is far more likely to focus on an in-depth discussion on the currency exchange market, with no notable attempt to make it more interesting by going over the top. Surprisingly, the show does this rather well using character interaction (mostly between Lawrence and Horo) and business intrigue.

A second season, animated by a different studio, has recently finished airing in Japan.

This anime has been licensed by Funimation and is streaming on their video portal

This series contains examples of:

Absurdly Spacious Sewer - During the Milone-Medioh arc.
Adaptation Decay and Pragmatic Adaptation - Both. Yeah really. The anime makes Lawrence a bit paranoid of demons, while the original novel and the manga show him as much more accepting. The anime, however, does manage to take two characters and make them into one (Chloe) but does not really attempt to seriously develop her. Overall, despite some slow pacing, the anime manages to stand on its own... somewhat.
All Myths Are True - Comes into play in the second season of the anime, where Horo's past is discussed.
Almost Kiss - Episode 4.
Author Appeal - Toned down, but the people who made this definitely prefer Shinto to Christianity...
Better Than It Sounds - It's a Japanese cartoon all about economics. And it's amazing.
Big Badass Wolf - Horo, in her wolf form.
Big Eater and Bottle Fairy - Horo is a relatively mild version: She drinks and eats more than Lawrence, but doesn't keep the entire kitchen busy like other Big Eaters do.
Bilingual Bonus: Written stuff is in German. (Is this sufficient to categorise like that? If not we might need something between "Gratuitous" and "Bonus"...)
Bitch In Sheeps Clothing - Chloe in the First Season.
Cheshire Cat Grin - Horo often sports one of these.
Chess Master - Horo is a rare "heroic" version of this trope, she seems to be fairly skilled at pulling out a Xanatos Gambit any time a conflict needs to be resolved.
- She ain't kiddin' when she calls herself "Horo the Wise".
Chekhovs Gun - Horo mentions early on she needs to either eat wheat or human blood... to change into her wolf form. She eventually does take Lawrence's blood to save him from Chloe later on.
Chick Magnet: In Season Two, the girl at the bar who Lawrence gets his information from explains that now that he has Horo's scent on him and has admitted that she's his "companion", he is instantly more desirable than usual. Go Lawrence.
Contemptible Cover, American Kirby Is Hardcore - The English version of the novels.◊ Nothing against changing the cover for the market, but at least try to make the replacement something that non-perverted people would actually want to look at. Just, ew.
Corrupt Church - The church hierarchy in the series is portrayed as greedy and oppressive.
Cute Little Fangs - Horo.
Cute Monster Girl - Horo. Very, very cute.
- And wise.
Deliberate Values Dissonance - When Horo asks Lawrence about the slave trade he shrugs and says that it's profitable and necessary.
- He's much more shocked when a fellow trader suggests pawning Horo.
Ear Worm - "Ringo Hiyori", the ending theme of the anime.
Engrish - The above mentioned earworm. It sort of makes sense, but there's no real reason it had to be in English, and it sounds a bit like the singer is reading off a card. It's still quite charming though.
- Also, the tagline for the novels in Japan is "Merchant meats spicy wolf." Whether this is a simple misspelling of "meets" or it's supposed to be an Incredibly Lame Pun, the world may never know.
End Of An Age - Horo decides to leave because the villagers say that they don't need a harvest god anymore. While she initially helped them by making the crops grow, she occasionally had to do the opposite to prevent the growing village from being struck by the Tragedy of the Commons, which grew the resentment among the villagers. At the time she left, she was portrayed in the village harvest festivities as an oppressive force and a thief instead of as a wise benefactor.
Fan Service - Oddly enough, it's rather mellow on this despite the beginning of the series (the novel, anime, and manga all begin the same way) having a lot of it. And some don't consider it fanservice considering that Lawrence (at first) doesn't fully acknowledge Horo's body the way a man would. She's freely naked for most of the OP, with the usual consequences.
- Lawrence seems to respond pretty normally, actually.. he's shy, nervous, and clearly a little distressed that she has non-human traits and turns into a giant wolf. Just how is he supposed to respond to qualify as a man?
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man - Over the course of what is shown in the anime, Lawrence's plans get screwed up 3 times. But only once does the stress really affect him.
- He breaks down again over the course of episodes 4-6 of the second season but is snapped back to his senses by Mark's young assistant.
  - It's worth noting that the situation surrounding his breakdown is the first time in the series that a crisis doesn't threaten Lawrence financially; in fact, either outcome is something of a windfall. He's never been pushed to the breaking point by losing out as a merchant, but the prospect of losing Horo is too much for him too bear.
- Horo in the second half of the second season, lets her emotions go out to lunch and needs Lawrence to completely deconstruct her and jump through some massive hoops before she realizes how foolishly and ridiculously she is acting.
Godiva Hair - Horo's hair, when Lawrence first finds her.
Grandma What Massive Hotness You Have - Horo, technically a "grandma" next to the rest of the cast... but much cuter than most.
Guile Hero - Both Horo and Lawrence definitely earned their chops
Innocent Fanservice Girl - Horo's often naked, but since she really doesn't care it takes away some of the fanservice potential. That and she's actually a lot wiser than she usually lets on. She doesn't seem to ~~realize~~ care that more than her tail might draw the eye when she's naked...
Interspecies Romance - Horo mercilessly teases Lawrence about this on a regular basis, knowing quite well how cute and charming she can be and running circles around the inexperienced human. They really do care about each other, though.
In The Hood - Horo wears one to hide her ears.
I Watch It For The Economics - In the anime, Lawrence and Horo continuously go to an inn, check out a room, get naked... and discuss economic market policies. This led to the Memetic Mutation "I watch it for the economics lessons."
Kuudere - Horo to an extent.
Living Lie Detector - Horo claims (and appears) to have the ability to sense untruths.
May December Romance - Horo the Wise Wolf - Several hundred years old. Lawrence the Merchant - Twenty-five years old.
Mayfly December Romance - Lawrence is a normal human with a normal lifespan, while Horo has lived for several hundred years and is implied to have several hundred more years ahead of her. As we see in the OVA, Horo is painfully aware of this.
Non Action Guy - Horo is initially disappointed in Lawrence for being this, but doesn't object when he points out that things worked out nevertheless. Later, he gets stabbed while defending her.
Panty Shot - averted when Chloe is running and flipping around in the first episode, as (being set in the Middle Ages and all) there are no panties to BE shot. Given that this is Spice and Wolf, it's less fanservice than just a very realistically-animated Bird Run in a peasant dress.
Petting Zoo People - Horo, with her ears and tail.
Playing Against Type - The anime takes 3 seiyu from Code Geass. Giving them different roles from the characters they played. Jun Fukuyama (who played manipulative Lelouch) plays outwitted-confused Lawrence. Ami Koshimizu (who played tough and embarrassed Kallen) plays sly and smooth Horo. Kaori Nazuka (whom played Lelouch's vulnerable little sister Nunally) plays cunning Chloe here.
Really Seven Hundred Years Old - Horo. Looks like a young cute wolf girl but claims to be (and has the shrewdness and cunning of) a person with several hundred years of existence.
Serious Business - Economics. Of course, we all know that economics is serious business, but what really drives this point home is that at any point, when given the choice to show pictures of the cute wolf girl, or two men talking about money, the story will ALWAYS show the money.
- And to lesser extent, human cuisine is serious business to Horo, who can't wait to try out any and all delicacies Lawrence mentions.
Shirtless Scene - Lawrence takes off his shirt (both in the anime and the manga) quite frequently.
Spell My Name With An S - The official romanization of of the female lead's name is "Holo". But fans introduced to the series through fansubs (which directly romanize the name as "Horo") refuse to accept this. Here's a sampling of internet comments after the official spelling was revealed in-series:
"Amati taught the wrong spelling to Horo."
"Horo ftw. It'll be a cold day in hell before I write Holo."
"Holo sucks (if i write holo i think about hollows in bleach), Horo FTW."
"The thing I worry about with the Dub is they will pronounce it like Holo. All I can picture is in one piece, how the Pirate Hunter Zoro, is called Zolo.*Shudders*"
- In Finnish, "Horo" is a slang-term for "whore".
- In a more minor case, also "Kraft" vs "Craft".
- I guess it won't help any that in the second season she signs her name as...are you ready: "Holo"
  - Blah, it looked like "Korlo" or even "Korbo" to me. It's obvious that when Horo first learnt to read and write way back when, R's looked like modern L's.
- Never mind that the "official romanization" was done by a Japanese person. And Japanese people are renowned for their expertize in romanization.
- The L/R ambiguity was bound to cause problems sooner rather than later.
Talking Heads - The anime is very dialog-heavy. But this does not make it bad because the dialog is written exceptionally well.
The Tease - Horo loves to verbally spar with Lawrence about their relationship. Although she can sometimes catch him flat-footed when she puts on the Moe Moe, Lawrence is usually quite capable of giving as good as he gets.
The Woobie - Horo when she gets lonely and homesick, aww.
Title Drop - in the sixth episode of the anime.
Trademark Favorite Food - Horo's love of apples.
- Not so much in the second season.
Unusual Ears - Horo's wolf ears. Very expressive ears - they droop when she's feeling sad, perk up when she's happy, and wiggle when she's excited or feeling playful.
Who Wants To Live Forever - Horo is over 400 years old, and hates being alone: "Loneliness is a sickness that leads to death."
- In her case she isn't so much troubled by her own longevity, than that the fact that humans can't share it. At least she isn't the only one of her kind, so the problem of loneliness isn't entirely undefeatable.
  - She may very well be all alone now, hence why she suddenly goes into desperation and asks Lawrence to give her a child.
Who Writes This Crap
Abe: Sounds like the kind of meeting a cheap poet would write about.
Will They Or Wont They: It is quite obvious that Horo and Lawrence have something going on between them, but it becomes far more pronounced in Season Two where they flat out flirt openly but won't admit their feelings for one another. Lawrence is shy and gentlemanly while Horo is just plain stubborn. Episode 12 of Season Two finally gives us an answer when Lawrence finally says "I love you" and gives her a kiss. If one didn't know how S & W operated, they would assume this was a dramatic, lovey-dovey moment but the theme of subtle emotions continues throughout the entire scene. Horo doesn't admit her love in those exact words but she does return his feelings. Phew. (Well, she seems to return them, anyway, but can't quite bring herself to say it).

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