Posts Tagged ‘spice and wolf’

On one of my days in Seattle, I found myself with little to do and nowhere to go. I thought that I was bound for a lonely day of wandering around the city when I happened upon something interesting: a wolf goddess of harvest who was equally bored and wishing to be shown around the city. I knew that no one would believe me however so here is photographic evidence of the day I spent with Holo the wise wolf!

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The Story

Taking place in a fictional medieval world, Spice and Wolf centers on Kraft Lawrence who works as a traveling peddler. While visiting a village, Lawrence happens to pick up a stray girl in his cart named Holo. The local goddess of harvest, she has been providing the villagers with plentiful wheat for years but now that they have converted to the one true god and have found ways to grow wheat for themselves, they no longer need to rely on her. Forgotten and abandoned, Holo asks Lawrence to take her with him as he travels to the north so that she can return to her homeland. Following the pair for thirteen episodes, the first season will take the audience into different towns as Lawrence sells his wares and attempts to avoid swindlers, robbers and the church who would love to destroy the heathen goddess.

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In a move made quietly and discreetly, Kadokawa Pictures closed down their US subsidiary Kadokawa USA, at the end of August with a message on the US site reading: “Please be noted that Kadokawa Pictures USA, Inc has closed as the date of August 31st, 2009.” This is fairly sudden news but not entirely unexpected (Anime Vice reported on the intended closure back in June).

The last news that Kadokawa USA announced was the availability of titles Chrome Shelled Regios, Macademi Wasshoi (Magician’s Academy) and GaRei-Zero- but none were ever confirmed as actually licensed by anyone within the US. At Anime Expo 08, the company announced that they had licensed Junjo Romantica, Spice and Wolf, Rental Magica, My Heartfelt Sympathy Ninomiya-kun, H20 ~Footprints in the Sand~ and Wagaya no Oinarisama and had made them available for US production and distribution. Out of those, only Spice and Wolf, Rental Magica and Junjo Romantica were confirmed to be licensed (Spice and Wolf by Funimation, the latter two by Right Stuf/Nozomi Entertainment). Where this leaves the other titles remains to be seen though I assume that they will now remain in limbo for the near future at least.

Sad to see that it’s been made official but hopefully Kadokawa Japan will continue efforts to get titles licensed here.

Wow, I’m reporting on a DVD delay and it’s not from Bandai. That almost feels like a novel change of pace. Funimation has delayed one of the more anticipated titles of the upcoming season, Spice and Wolf. Originally set to be released in late November, the complete season 1 box set has been bumped to December 22^nd. Nothing else has changed about the box set but this does make one wonder how many disappointed otaku there are going to be come this December when they realize that Holo isn’t going to be waiting for them under their holiday tree/bush/whatever it is people use these days.

<Via Robert’s Anime Corner Blog>

Today is just one of those days. The kind of day when you just want to step out of your comfort bubble a little, surf in a new direction and appreciate some art. For today’s dose of artistic culture, I stumbled across an entry of wood carvings. Normally I’m not a big fan of wood art but something about this caught my attention. I just wish I could put my finger on what exactly… oh yes, its anime characters being carved with big freakin chainsaws.

A series of videos have been posted featuring a masked chainsaw artist carving several anime characters out of logs. Each video is around five to ten minutes long so make sure you’ve grabbed yourself a snack and drool over things you wish you could have as lawn ornaments.

Mio Akiyama from K-ON

Miku Hatsune

Horo from Spice and Wolf

<Via Cartoon Leap>

Otakon is wrapping up but before it all comes to an end Funimation sent out two more announcements this morning. Two new cast lists have been revealed for the upcoming ‘Spice and Wolf‘ and ‘Nabari no Ou‘. Copying directly from the press release, the cast list for Spice and Wolf reads:

Chloe – Jamie Marchi
Holo – Brina Palencia
Lawrence – J. Michael Tatum
Nora – Leah Clark
Weiz – Eric Vale
Zheren – John Burgmeier

Additionally, the first release will feature episodic character performances by such veteren actors as Christopher Ayers, Bob Carter and Chuck Huber.

ADR Director: Justin Nordell
Line Producer: Colleen Clickenbeard

In the second announcement, the cast of ‘Nabari no Ou’ reads:

Miharu- Brina Palencia
Yoite- Joel McDonald
Tobari- Eric Vale
Koichi- Chris Burnett
Yukimi- Rob McCollum
Raimei- Kate Oxley

Additionally, the first release will feature episodic character performances by Michael Tatum, Greg Ayres, Kent Williams, Jamie Marchi, Caitlin Glass, Christopher Bevins, and Stephanie Young.

Line Producer/ADR Director: Colleen Clinkenbeard / Monica Rial
ADR Scripts: Eric Vale & Monica Rial

Both series will be released in box sets before the end of the year (Nabari no Ou will be split into two 13 episode sets).

Two more trailers (of sorts) have gone up for two summer premieres beginning next week. Starting with the series that arguably has one of the bigger buzzes going this season, a third puppet theater promotion video has been uploaded to the official site. If you’ve watched the first two puppet theater PVs than you’re already pretty familiar with how this one plays out but it’s still cute to see. The new season of Spice and Wolf premieres July 8^th.

In other summer premiere news, two new trailers have gone up for Bakemonogatari which premieres this weekend. In the fifteen second trailer, a little bit of character animation is shown while the thirty second trailer shows basically all of the same character animation plus some more. Additionally, on the official site an interview with series director Akiyuki Shinbo and producer Atsuhiro Iwakami. In the interview, the two reveal that the series will actually be fifteen episodes instead of the usual thirteen. Because Japanese television generally only allows a series a 13 week block, the plan is now to air 12 episodes on television and then stream the final three for free on the website.

Only one new trailer to close out the week (and am I the only one who is glad to say that the week is almost over?) but it’s certainly one of the more entertaining ones released this season. With its premiere just around the corner, the official website (first green button in the middle) for Spice and Wolf II has been updated to include a new 30 second trailer. Even if you have no plans to watch the series, it’s worth it to check out this trailer as it features Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu delivering the message via hand puppets along with new animation footage.

Keeping with the catch up theme, there was a number of new release dates announced over the weekend as well. First up is the new series which will be making its debut in October, Yumeiro Patissiere. Based on the manga of the same name, the series follows a young teen girl as she explores her dream of becoming a top pastry chef. When she enrolls in a culinary school, she meets a fairy of sweets who helps her become her best. No bonus points if that reminds you of any other series that uses that theme.

Moving closer to home, US release dates were also revealed for the latest Studio Ghibli movie, ‘Ponyo’ and the live action adaptation of ‘Blood: The Last Vampire’. ‘Ponyo’ will be opening August 14^th on 800 screens across the country while ‘Blood: The Last Vampire’ will be opening on a paltry 11 screens (the closest one to me is Seattle, curses!) on July 10^th. Other cities include: Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, Cambridge, Dallas and Washington, D.C.

Finally in DVD news, Funimation has launched a page for their upcoming release of ‘Spice and Wolf‘ season 1: December 2009 (which has already been added to my calendar).

As announced exclusively on AnimeVice last night, Funimation will be localizing the popular series ‘Spice and Wolf‘ for Kadokawa which will include the unaired episode 7. The period series follows a peddler in a setting that resembles 19^th century Europe who comes across a goddess named Holo in the form of a wolf girl. Lacking in followers, Holo wishes to travel to the north back to her homeland which the peddler helps her to do. Along the way Holo uses her wisdom to help keep the pair out of trouble and acquire new sales. The IMAGIN produced first season of ‘Spice and Wolf’ began airing in early 2008 with a sequel television series set to airwaves next month. No word on if Funimation has also acquired the rights to the second season, I have an email out to Funimation for confirmation.

Update: Only the first season is being released for now.