Forum - View topicSpice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf (TV).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11446 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Spice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf (TV) Original Series: Spice and Wolf (TV) (discussed here) Source: Light Novel (ongoing @ 24 volumes, written by Isuna Hasekura, illustrated by Jū Ayakura) Demographic: Seinen Animation Studio: Passione Genres: adventure, comedy, drama, romance Themes: adult cast, demi-humans, economics, folklore, goddesses, medieval, religion, transformations Plot Summary: The life of a traveling merchant is a lonely one, a fact with which Kraft Lawrence is well acquainted. Wandering from town to town with just his horse, cart, and whatever wares have come his way, the peddler has pretty well settled into his routine—that is, until the night Lawrence finds a wolf goddess asleep in his cart. Taking the form of a fetching girl with wolf ears and a tail, Holo has wearied of tending to harvests in the countryside and strikes up a bargain with the merchant to lend him the cunning of “Holo the Wisewolf” to increase his profits in exchange for taking her along on his travels. Lawrence soon learns, though, that having an ancient goddess as a traveling companion can be a bit of a mixed blessing. Air Date & Platform: April 1, 2024 (Monday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: Pending Last edited by Tony K. on Sun Apr 07, 2024 1:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Edjwald
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Remakes are a bit dicy. On the one hand, I like the idea because there are a lot of shows from the 80's and 90' and even early millennium that had incredibly original plots or cool characters but had really unfortunate sound effects and musical scores. I don't care how hardcore an anime fan is, if they can't even admit that a lot of those pre-millennium synthesizer farting sound effects are bad, there's just no hope of them communicating with rational human beings. Then again, we're all anime fans, so I'm not sure rational human beings are that common anyhow.
Anyway, art norms have changed too...for example, there was a predominant style that had noses so sharp you could pop a balloon on them, ET sized eyes, and verrrrry minimal lip movement. It doesn't take long to get used to it once you get into the story, but modern viewers might find that kind of thing off putting. On the other hand, the very idea of a remake can offend the hardcore fans of the original who still vividly remember the magic of first experiencing the anime when the medium was a lot newer to them or their adolescent bodies were percolating with hormones like a coffee maker or whatever. Fruits Basket was probably the most successful remake for me. I tried to watch the original after I first got into anime in 2013 and was going through Hulu and Netflix archives looking for shows to watch, and I couldn't get into it. But the remake pulled me in. Kino's Journey II had me close to morally outraged. But I loved the original, so was I giving the remake a fair chance? Maybe if I'd seen Kino's Journey II first, I would have thought it was better than okay instead of viewing it as a travesty? Has anyone ever loved the original and then liked the remake better? Nostalgia is like beer goggles. Or maybe crack goggles. And I'm not sure why Spice and Wolf would need a remake. I'm pretty sure it has a much bigger following than either Fruits Basket or Kino's journey, and the story? Art? Music? What part of the original would be inaccessible or dated to modern viewers? So the makers of this show are hopefully feeling some pressure. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2674 |
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It also puts pressure on the viewer in a weird way. I have watched anime that were hyped up due to the original being amazing and thinking that the remake did not make me feel anything of note. At that point I am left wondering if I am just not getting the appeal or if said appeal has been lost between the original and remake.
The recent Rurouni Kenshin is a fine example of this. Me and others that heard all the positive talk about the original went in expecting a masterpiece and left thinking it was a good show with faults. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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Ah, I did not realize this is a remake. I thought it was a sequel and I haven't seen Spice & Wolf II yet so I was gonna give it a pass. I agree with Edjy (hee) in not understanding why a remake was deemed necessary but it's been so long since I saw the original I think I'll pop in just to see.
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11446 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Coincidentally enough, Passione, who is doing this remake, also did the most recent iterations of When They Cry, which were originally thought to be remakes, but actually ended up being sequels(?) (I put the question mark, because I haven't seen Gou or Sotsu, yet, to confirm that).
But they're also bringing back the original voices for the main characters in this, which makes me wonder if this will be a full-on remake or a "just kidding, it's actually a continuation" series. |
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b-dragon
Posts: 498 |
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It is perhaps notable that the first anime didn't completely follow the source material (or so I've heard,) so perhaps doing a more accurate adaptation is the goal? Thats just guessing on my end, of course. At very least, I hope we go beyond events from the prior show eventually- I like these characters, and I want to see more of their relationship developing.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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Smurky - I dropped Rurouni Kenshin redux after four episodes, but you just reminded me that I should check out the original while I've got a little time. I think it's on Hulu. As to Spice and Wolf, I think the original is a bit like Frieren in the sense that it's set in a fantasy world but takes a leisurely, slice of life approach and often has mercantile tidbits. It's not as good as Frieren IMHO, but it is another example of a great boring anime.
Blood - I'll gladly take your advice on both those anime and not for that reason you said. Tony - I hope you're right. Black Dragon - I'm not at all familiar with the source material, but if someone's trying to cover stuff that got edited out, that could be interesting. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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You are actually responding to a post of mine in a different thread. And that boys and girls is why you shouldn't use drugs, mmmkay? 
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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And here I've been wondering if I should take medication to make sure I'm not hallucinating some of our exchanges....
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10030 Location: Virginia |
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@Edjwald
If you ever get the feeling that you have been repeatedly tossed in a blanket, you probably have been corresponding with Blood-. If memory serves, they skipped an entire volume of the source novels between seasons 1 and 2. I have no problem with it being a remake if they cover the original material properly and go well beyond the end of the prior two seasons. The only thing I've seen as a remake is Bubblegum Crisis. the OVA version was halted in mid story due to studio problems. The remake, the TV series Bubblegum Crisis 2040 started well from a story point of view but eventually could not come up with a decent ending. Of course it also lacked the music of the original but the world had moved on. The remake actually needs a remake as it is stuck in digipaint hell. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6585 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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The best remake I've seen is Space Battleship Yamato 2199. I think it was better than the original.
I've just watched the 1st episode of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf and it seems to be following the Yamato approach, ie faithful to the original TV series in tone and presentation, while hewing closer to the novel by omitting Chloe (though I liked her and she played an important role in forcing Lawrence to make an active decision to choose to travel with Holo). There are constant little nods to the original anime that I like. Anyway, a good start. It's Tuesday morning here in Melbourne and I'm going to be late for work. Holo does that to you. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3972 |
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I was just going to mention that myself. 2199 kept the main plot of the story, but tweaked or changed a lot of the details. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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I enjoyed it. I don't know if I liked it better than I liked watching the original first episode or not - it's been awhile since I've seen the original - but I definitely liked it better than I would have liked rewatching the original first episode if that makes any sense.
The things I remember liking about the original were - in no particular order- the beautiful scenic backgrounds, the lightly classical score that felt appropriate for the fictional milieu but wasn't irritating like a lot of Renaissance faire type music can get quick, the attraction of opposites dynamic between the likable leads, and the patient world building. This episode kept all of that. In fact...I would even say that I liked Holo's big reveal in the wagon a little better. The changes didn't feel substantial to me (sorry Chloe...sort of), but the faithfulness to the things I liked did. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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Episode 1
I liked it but I found Lawrence to be a bit of a Mr. Grumpypants. Come on, dude, a cute wolf girl pops up in your cart... you can be a bit more gracious about it. It's been long enough since I've seen the original that this feels like a first time watch for me. That's just the kind of memory I have. |
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zfunk
Posts: 309 |
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Well I wouldn't write Chloe off just yet, there is a chance we see Yarei cross dress as a nod to her. |
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