Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 3
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 3 Cover
Volume 3 picks up where Volume 2 left off, with Lawrence and Holo in Pazzio's sewers attempting to escape the Medio company after figuring out their plan. It continues all the way through to the sale of the pepper in Poroson. While mostly true to the original light novel, this volume of the manga adds in scenes of Nora, the shepherdess, before Lawrence and Holo have met her. This works fairly well as we're able to understand her background and previous life as seen by her, rather than as told by her.
Volume 3 has one full colour page right at the start of Holo partially covered by a few furs. I find this a little strange, as they sold the furs all the way back in Volume 1! I would have much preferred to have seen one of the scenes in full colour instead of a picture. The "Bonus Track" chapter in Volume 3 really is a bonus, in the previous volume the bonus track simply continued the story. However, this time we've got a short story set in Japan's Edo period where Holo is a courtesan and Laurence is (still) a merchant. The bonus track was an amusing, if somewhat different, read. As with the previous two volumes, the artwork is extremely detailed thought the manga.
Volume 3 of the manga covers chapter 6 and the epilogue of Volume 1 of the light novel and chapter 1 of Volume 2 of the light novel. Volume 4 of the manga has no release date on the Yen Press website, but Amazon lists it as the 31st of May 2011. Volume 3 of the light novel is set for release very soon, on the 7th of December 2010 - I can hardly wait!
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 3 is available from Amazon. ISBN 9780316102346.
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 2
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 2 Cover
Volume 2 of the Spice and Wolf Manga was released a few days ago, after reading Volume 1 a few months ago and being amazed at the quality of the manga I instantly put volume 2 on pre-order. Like volume 1, it has a small parental advisory imprint on the cover but if anything, volume 2 is far more 'safe' than the first volume. Like volume 1, the artwork is superbly detailed - Keito Koume is an outstanding artist.
Unusually, volume 2 contains no full-colour pages - unlike volume 1 and almost all other mangas. I was somewhat disappointed at their absence but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed reading volume 2.
In relation to the light novels, volume 2 of the manga covers volume 1, chapters 4-5 of the light novel. Considering that volume 1 of the manga covered volume 1, chapters 1-3 of the light novel I was expecting volume 2 of the manga to finish off volume 1 of the light novel. However, it seems like we'll have to wait for volume 3 of the manga to see the ending of volume 1 of the light novel! I suspect the reason for this is the extra content that volume 2 of the manga has added to the story. While the story line in the manga stays true to the original, there is an extra scene of Holo conversing with her captors - something that isn't in the original light novel.
Volume 3 is set for release on the 16th of November 2010 Update: Amazon now lists it as the 20th of January 2011, not heard confirmation from Yen Press about this yet Update 2: Amazon dispatched this on the 23rd of November 2010 so I can expect it soon (and Volume 3 of the light novel is set for release on the 7th of December 2010) - i've got my copy pre-ordered in anticipation!
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 2 is Available from Amazon, ISBN 9780316102322.
Spice and Wolf Volume 2
Original Japanese Cover
Yen Press recently released Volume 2 of Isuna Hasekura's Spice and Wolf light novel series. The story picks up shortly after the events of the first volume with Laurence and Holo travelling onwards to sell the spice they received as payment previously. I found Volume 1 to be quite 'bright and happy' overall and the initial parts of Volume 2 are also like this. However, things soon take a turn for the worse after a bad decision leaves Laurence extremely close to bankruptcy and he has a falling out with Holo. Thankfully, Laurence and Holo soon resolve their difficulties and Laurence comes up with an ingenious plan to save himself from bankruptcy.
Like Volume 1, there are 3 full page colour illustrations at the start of the book as well as various illustrations thought it. The illustrations are good, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more variation in the first 3 colour illustrations - perhaps there could have been one depicting the city?
Volume 1 attracted a lot of controversy over it's choice of cover, abandoning the original Japanese cover for a photographic equivalent. The publisher, Yen Press, stated that this was due to demands from bookshops. However this time, they've printed the book with the original Japanese cover, but put a photographic dust cover on top of it. This satisfies demands bookshops and also fans - well done Yen Press! I hope they reprint Volume 1 in a similar fashion - if they did I would almost certainly buy it again (despite also owning the original Japanese Volume 1 book which does have the original cover!).
I thoroughly enjoyed Volume 2, the story line feels stronger than the previous volume and is also longer. Economics is still a core part of the story line but like the previous volume it is not overwhelming nor did it detract from my enjoyment of the book. Volume 3 is currently scheduled for release on the 7th of December (2010), i've got it pre-ordered but I really wish that Yen Press would translate them faster - 6 months is an awfully long time! In fact, the author writes each book faster than this if the release dates on Wikipedia's List of Spice and Wolf light novels are to be believed.
Spice and Wolf Volume 2 is available for purchase from Amazon.
Photographic Dust Jacket Cover
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 1
Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 1 Cover
In preparation for the upcoming release of volume 2 of the Spice and Wolf light novel, I wanted to refresh myself of the storyline of the volume 1. As the first volume of the Spice and Wolf manga was recently released, I decided to read it in order to refresh myself.
The front cover has a "Parental Advisory/Explicit Content" label on it and I did initially fear that the manga might be full of Holo fanservice and ignore the original story. Thankfully though, the manga only has a few Holo fanservice scenes - primarily when Laurence first finds her in his cart. Normally in manga, the first 4 pages are in full colour. However, in this case the 4 colour pages are Holo's discovery instead, which I think was a very good choice. At the very beginning, there is a brief introduction to each character and a map of the area within which the story is set in. The artwork is absolutely stunning - it is perhaps the most detailed i've ever seen in any manga. This level of quality is maintained thorough the manga.
The manga stays true to the original story and doesn't skip any major parts and acutally explains some of the more difficult economic concepts in the story quite well. However, it only covers chapters 1-3 of the Volume 1 light novel - up to where Laurence goes off to make a proposal to the Milone Company. I presume that Volume 2 will cover chapters 4-6 - if/when Volume 2 of the manga becomes available i'll be sure to purchase it!
Available from Amazon.
Spice and Wolf Volume 1
Spice and Wolf Volume 1 Cover
I've been meaning to watch the Spice and Wolf anime for a while now, but combined with my ever increasing to-watch list and a friend telling me that it was 'all about economics' I didn't think I'd get round to watching it any time soon. So, I did something completely different and ordered the light novel, from which the anime is based off.
I recently finished the novel and I'm happy to report my friend was somewhat wrong! While economics and finance do feature, they are blended extremely well with the main storyline, which sees a travelling merchant (Lawrence Kraft) discover the wolf goddess of the harvest (Holo/Horo) in his cart. A relationship is quickly formed between the two and Holo's cute charms provide plenty of embarrassment and amusement for Lawrence as they travel around.
While the cover is somewhat ordinary (apparently this was a complaint from many fans), it does not annoy me particularly. As soon as you open the book, you are presented with 3 beautiful double page spread full-colour images of scenes from the novel. Not only this, but thought each chapter there are 1 or 2 images depicting a scene. These where very well drawn and added greatly to my imagination of the scene.
I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and have already pre-ordered Volume 2, which comes out in June 2010. I am definitely bumping the anime version of this up a few places on my to watch list too!
Author: Isuna Hasekura
Bought From: Amazon