Those of you familiar with Spice and Wolf know that much of the plot centers on trade. On the other hand, the conflict often concerns how Lawrence must weigh intangible goods like friendship against his more tangible business deals. Lawrence must make a living, but he recognizes the poverty of commerce in comparison to richness of… Read More Examining Light Novels: On Good Works and Goods
Volume thirteen stands as the most interesting of Isuna Hasekura’s three “Side Colors” volumes of Spice and Wolf so far. This volume features a novella about the shepherdess Nora and her dog Enek. From her adventure with Lawrence at Ruvinheigen in volume two, she gains the capital necessary to enter a seamstress apprenticeship program. However, her… Read More Examining Light Novels: On Female Deacons
Some of you know that I am a big fan of Gintama. No show surpasses Gintama in variety: the plots cover all kinds of genres and moods, the animation stretches across the spectrum of awesome to mediocre, and the humor ranges from wordplay to toilet humor. All episodes of Gintama are not created equal. Yet,… Read More 12 Days of Otaku Christmas, Day 4: A Gintama Christmas
Volume twelve of Spice and Wolf can only be described as boring. (The Japanese have a proverb that only a fool buys complete collections of books. It just might be true!) The story features a journey undertaken by Lawrence and company with a famous silversmith named Fran Vonely. Fran has a near encyclopedic knowledge of local… Read More Examining Light Novels: A Bored God
Found in volume eleven of Spice and Wolf, the novella “The Black Wolf’s Cradle” counts as Isuna Hasekura’s best short work by far. We see Eve Bolan in her early days of being a merchant. Her husband has recently lost both his favor with the crown and his head, and Bolan has lost her noble privileges–even… Read More Examining Light Novels: Pray at All Times
The eleventh volume of Spice and Wolf includes a set of two short stories and a novella. Like in volume seven, the two short stories remind me of something an author might write for his eyes only in order to get to know the characters better. I have decided to put off reading the novella… Read More Examining Light Novels: Latin in the Middle Ages
Volume ten of Spice and Wolf is remarkable for how much mercantile intrigue is centered around Blondel Abbey in Winfiel, which no doubt has its antecedents in England’s Cistercian Abbey of Rievaulx. Both favored wool production and became their country’s chief exporter of wool. (Yes, Winfiel is essentially England. The country is an island, wool is… Read More Examining Light Novels: the Monastic Origin of European Civilization
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