Tag: Throwback Thursday

Spice and Wolf S1 – 8 [Wolf and Virtuous Scales] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Hello all and welcome back to another episode of Spice and Wolf! Sorry about this one being a bit late, but I just finished moving into my new home and I love it. Fios is a godsend. Switching back to Spice and Wolf though this a good week for us. Holo and Lawrence continue to deliver fantastic exchanges, meanwhile the pair finally leaves Pazzio for new pastures. What do they find? Read on to find out!

Starting with a basic overview, it looks like we are back to travelling and I’m glad for it. I would have liked a bit more of a notice of that fact though. The episode opens already on the road and in a new town, taking me a bit to realize we weren’t still in Pazzio. I figured it out eventually through context clues and dialogue of course. But jumping from one brick walled city to another with no in-between or notice could get very confusing very fast. As the only things to really delineate these towns from each other are the overhead views and the characters in them. That’s basically the only issue I have the with episode though. Spice and Wolf seems to struggle a bit with how to open but once it gets going it becomes rather capitating. Not the worst problem to have I suppose.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 7 [Wolf and a Tail of Happiness] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome to The Bachelorette Spice and Wolf, I’m your host Lenlo and this week Holo is super thirsty. That’s it, that’s the plot of this weeks episode. By I’ll be damned if their dialogue doesn’t make interesting so lets dive right into it.

Initially I was kind of confused by this episode. Not much was really happening and for some reason we were still in the same town as before. I I thought that Lawrence and Holo would be on the run or maybe leaving at least. You know, getting out of the town that thinks she’s demon possessed and all that. But no we just wake up munching on apples and go shopping as if half the town wouldn’t have heard about the wolf girl. It’s not as if the church isn’t still hunting her right? But as the episode went on and the dialoged evolved beyond pointless needling it started to draw me in. I realized that this week was more of a check in on what their relationship is like now, rather than jumping into a new plot thread. Not perfect but hey, I can enjoy thirsty wolf girl flirting.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 6 [Wolf and a Silent Farewell] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to the almost halfway point of Spice and Wolf season one! This week wraps up the arc as people get stabbed, Holo goes wild and Lawrence gets huge bill. So without further ado lets dive in and talk about “Wolf and a Silent Farewell”.

Starting off I want to take a moment to appreciate the OST of Spice and Wolf. Composer Yuuji Yoshino has a clear vision for how this series should sound and I didn’t realize until this week. They have chosen a few key instruments and centered the entire album around them. Take tracks such as “Hashiru” and “Zawazawa Suru” or “Satoki Hito Tachi”, all of which you can find here. The violin is a constant presence in each, tying all of them together and giving us a common sound throughout. But the way Spice and Wolf blends and leads into each track over the course of the episode is fantastic. I particularly enjoyed how the each song slowly ramped the energy of the scene up more and more until we got to the grand finale. It was an incredible example of what a good OST, fit to a scene, can do.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 5 [Wolf and Lovers’ Quarrel] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

We’re back with another episode of Spice and Wolf! This week Holo and Lawrence reunite and… not much else happens. Yet for some reason, I don’t mind it. So without further ado lets dive into it.

I typically try to start these posts off on a positive note, something to get us going. But since I can only think of one negative for this week, lets start there instead: The opening scene. I tried my best to follow it, I really did. But Spice and Wolf is going a mile a minute with these economic theories and plans to strong arm a King. I had to rewind and rewatch the segment a few times to really understand what they were saying. Part of that is because I’m just an idiot when it comes to economics but I do think they could have slowed it down a bit. What I caught across those rewatches though did make sense. The back and forth between Lawrence and Marlheit, basically haggling and threatening each other to free Holo, was good. I just wish I could follow it easier.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 4 [Wolf and Her Helpless Partner] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome back to Spice and Wolf everyone! This is a big week for the series, at least for me, as it completely breaks what expectations I had. So without further ado lets dive in!

Starting off, like I said, this isn’t what I expected Spice and Wolf to be. When I first heard/read about this show, when the other authors here described it to me, I figured it would be more Slice of Life-life. Either that or some kind of mercantile Kino’s Journey. Basically I expected the focus to be on following Holo and Lawrence around as they traveled the countryside. So imagine my surprise when not only have we not done much traveling, but that there is a legitimate plot! Back in my posts about episodes 1 and 2 I just wanted some one-offs surrounding the Church or Holo’s image. Individual stories to build up the world that has passed her by. Instead we get a fully-fledge plot about people kidnapping her for her control of the harvest and threatening to reveal her to the church, and I love it.

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 3 [Wolf and Business Acumen] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome back to another episode of Spice and Wolf! This week is all about the stonks as Lawrence and Holo talk market volatility, currency theory and the economic value of an apple. Confused? So was I, lets dive in.

Now it’s at this point that I have to admit something to you dear readers: I am not smart enough for this show. I don’t know economics, I didn’t go to business school, I can barely balance my bank account. I have a Computer Science degree for goodness sake, computers do my math for me. So when Lawrence and Holo starting discussing economic policy and warfare via coins I got a little lost. I had to actually rewatch some sections a bit to fully… not understand, but to truly “hear” it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I can’t predict where this silver coin plot thread is going at all because of it. But it can certainly be a bit of a chore at times to listen to. Luckily the back and forth between Lawrence and Holo is interesting enough, their play by play entertaining enough, to keep me engaged

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Spice and Wolf S1 – 2 [Wolf and Distant Past] – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Spice and Wolf, Throwback Thursday

Welcome to week 2 of Spice and Wolf! This week Lawrence and Holo have a sleep over at a church, get involved in shady deals and lie to a pastor. So without further ado, lets talk about these paragons of virtue!

Right off the bat, Spice and Wolf surprised me this week. You see, I’m typically not a fan of shows that are 90% talking. Hell, I don’t even like Re:Zero that much and that one at least has some murder. But some how, some way, Spice and Wolf did a good job of making its dialogue engaging. The back and forth between Lawrence and Holo was rather nice. Their constant one-upping of each other, of poking and prodding to figure each other out. I think a good portion of this is carried by Ami Koshimizu’s voice work as Holo. Her inflections and the way she speaks ride this line between smug and playful really well, pulling me along through the conversations. I especially like when she drops the playful bit and gets… maybe not sultry, but its a fitting word nonetheless.

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Twelve Kingdoms – 43/44/45 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Throwback Thursday, Twelve Kingdoms

Welcome all to the finale of our Twelve Kingdoms watch! It was a long road to get here, filled with self-discovery and political intrigue. Sadly, as incredible as the journey was, all good things must one day end. And this is that day. So without further ado, lets jump right into it!

Right off the bat I have to say… this isn’t how I would have preferred the series to end. Admittedly, following up episode 39 was going to be a tough task however you slice it. There was an air of finality, of release, to such a long an intricate arc that nothing was really going to match it. But to end on a recap of all things? It leaves a sour taste in my mouth, one that isn’t fixed by the ending of the actual arc either. It really feels like Twelve Kingdoms was given 6 more episodes than it needed, and so had no idea what to do with them. Either that or it was canceled when they thought they had more time. Because there was clearly more story to tell, and lots of setup to tell it. As far as what we got though, I find it wanting.

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Twelve Kingdoms – 40/41/42 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Throwback Thursday, Twelve Kingdoms

Welcome all to the penultimate week of Twelve Kingdoms! It feels weird to be here, especially after how final that last arc was. But we have 3 more episodes to get through this week, this time featuring Shoryu and Enki! So without further ado, lets dive in.

My initial impressions of this arc are… ones of familiarity. Coming off of the previous arc, it feels like we have seen this all before. A troubled Kingdom, a rebellion, a disrespected Ruler. There are some changed details that make me curious of course. Such as Shoryu’s character, or how the rebellion is against the Ruler this time. But overall it largely feels like a retreading of the prior arc, at least on first impression. I would wager that Twelve Kingdoms is going to use this as a sort of commentary on the previous arc. To show us how such a thing could be resolved from the Rulers position, rather than participating in it. Unlike the last arc though, this one only has 6 episodes to gets message across and I cant help but fear it will feel… rushed. That concern aside though, there is a lot still to discuss!

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Twelve Kingdoms – 31/32/33 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Throwback Thursday, Twelve Kingdoms

I must admit, I was almost late getting this Twelve Kingdom’s post out. Something about this new game, I’m sure you’ve never heard of it, Cyberpunk was just robbing my time. That aside, this is once again a big week for Twelve Kingdoms. From rampant corruption to public executions, things are getting bad. So without further ado lets jump right into it!

Starting off, this is a complex week and I am unsure of where to start. As I said above, things are getting bad though in Kingdom of Kei, so lets being there. This was the first week were we really got to see Kei’s political situation, on a local level. Sure we learned from Enho about land distribution, and we have seen the palace court. But those aren’t the officials who handle the day to day. They aren’t the boots on the ground, so to speak. And what Twelve Kingdom’s showed us wasn’t pretty. It’s here that the previous displays of what Hou was like before it fell come back to haunt us. Rampant corruption, murder in the streets, public executions. Things we, the viewer, thought were a thing of the past. Yet now we see them in Nakajima’s own back yard. And it’s all thanks to Shoukei.

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