Take a trip down memory lane with a classic dub review from the archives. This time, let’s look back at the dub for Spice and Wolf Season 1.
Dubbed by FUNimation Productions, Ltd., Flower Mound, TX
Line Producer: Colleen Clinkenbeard
ADR Dir: Jamie Marchi (1-4), Joel McDonald (5-8), Justin Nordell (9-13)
Script: Head Writer: Eric Vale; Script Writer: Jamie Marchi
Note: This review was originally written in 2009, but has been updated as necessary. The dub is still available, now in a complete collection including both seasons of the show on blu-ray and DVD.
Series Description:
Spice and Wolf, a rather unusual “fantasy” story, was adapted from the light novel series Ookami to Koushinryou (the English title is pretty much a direct translation, just switching the order of the words) written by Isuna Hasekura with illustrations by Juu Ayakura, which began in 2006 and completed in 2011 with the seventeenth volume (released in English translation by Yen Press in early 2016). In 2008, the first season of the anime adaptation was broadcast in Japan. That first season was dubbed and originally released by FUNimation in association with the now defunct Kadokawa Pictures USA (the second season, which aired in Summer 2009, was licensed directly to FUNimation by Kadokawa Japan). The story centers around the quirky relationship between a centuries-old wolf goddess named Holo (I will address the tiresome name debate near the end of the review), and a seemingly crafty traveling merchant named Craft Lawrence. When Lawrence manages to free Holo from the agreement she made centuries ago to bind herself to a small village, he then agrees to help her return to her original home far in the north of a land that looks vaguely like late medieval, early Renaissance northern Europe, though with made-up names and fantasy geography.
Key and Minor Roles:
The show does not have a very large cast. The vast majority of screen time is dominated by just two characters: Holo and Craft Lawrence.
In the “title” role of Holo, the Wise Wolf, Brina Palencia faces a somewhat daunting task, for Holo is not a very easy character to voice. In the original performance, Ami Koshimizu was called upon to speak in a somewhat old-fashioned manner, even employing some vocabulary that was associated with oiran, who were high-class female professional “entertainers” (make of those quotation marks what you will) who were popular with the nobility during the Tokugawa Shogunate (roughly 17th-19th Centuries). This is not exactly an effect that can be easily rendered into English, especially modern American English (which does not use voice and accent as much to define class and status—in a place that is more class and background-conscious such as England, an equivalent of some sort might have been found, but in the United States, only the over-educated might have hit upon some form of accent or vocabulary usage that might have an equal effect, though I doubt that it would be meaningful at all to a general audience unless pointed out in an extensive commentary that no one would listen to, but I digress…). What Ms. Palencia and the production staff seem to have decided upon was to have Ms. Palencia give Holo a rather grand voice at times, with a certain depth and resonance that makes her seem more imposing than Holo, the character, more often than not is. There were also clearly times where Ms. Palencia either chose or was encouraged to make her diction as precise as possible, pronouncing every sibilant, fricative, plosive, whatever, with a razor-like sharpness and precision. I see the effect they were going for, but I do not feel that it was the best means of trying to bring out that part of Holo.
The problem with that grandness is that it does not entirely suit the nature of Holo the character, who is quite playful and very manipulative. Fortunately, Ms. Palencia is an adept enough performer that she can manage to bring out Holo’s playfulness, right from the start. Already in the first episode, when Lawrence, who was taken by surprise by her appearance, draws a dagger, Holo is contemptuous of the disrespect shown her, but when she realizes that Lawrence is not one of the villagers, from whom she would expect greater courtesy, she cheerily tells him to “wield away” with his dagger.
At many points however, I do feel that her voice sounded a touch too “grand” for the character. While Holo might be a centuries-old “wise wolf,” she does not always act in a manner that makes it appear that she takes that status too seriously, though at other times, it is clear that she does mean it when she says it of herself. Happily, Ms. Palencia does break away from that grandness when it is truly required of the character. I was touched by her plaintive tone in Episode 4, when Holo tells Lawrence of her loneliness and her wish to never be alone again. Ms. Palencia was also quite good at injecting the right amount of energy when Holo gets high-strung and demanding.
That is not to say, however, that the performance was entirely satisfying on an emotional level. There were times when I did not sense enough depth of emotion; there were moments of flatness. Many times, the playfulness that should have been in the voice did not have sufficient impact. There was a lively teasing quality to the original performance in Japanese which I was not hearing in Ms. Palencia’s English rendition enough, which was much colder. Professional, clean, and admirable like a classical marble statue. It could have used a bit more warmth. (During a later rewatch, perhaps two to three years ago, this feeling persisted, but not quite as strongly. There was some improvement by the second season, which is not covered by this review).
Craft Lawrence is voiced by J. Michael Tatum, who has made Lawrence his own in a performance that fits the character pretty well without being an imitation of Jun Fukuyama’s original. Mr. Tatum is restrained and calm much of the time, which is right for the role, as Lawrence is a cool and calculating businessman, always thinking about the angles that he can play to increase his profit. There is not too much more for me to comment, since by nature the role of Craft Lawrence is not one that gives scope for grand histrionics and emotional explosions, though that is not to say that Lawrence is an emotionless robot. When called upon, Mr. Tatum does properly voice anger and frustration, sadness and despair, while not going overboard into the realm of over-emoting hammy acting that would not feel natural for the character.
As much of the show is spent watching these two simply talk, a great deal hinges upon how well they sound together. On that score, we are fortunate, for while they may have recorded separately (as is standard industry practice here), they sound quite natural playing off of each other. While they sounded slightly more distant in the early episodes (and this is perfectly right, as the characters were not close at that point), by the middle and later parts of the show, there was a natural repartee and ease of interaction between Holo and Craft, something that is very important.
In terms of some of the more important minor roles, three stand out. In the early episodes, there are the dealings that Lawrence has with an important merchant company, the Milone Company, whose branch manager Marlheit (Christopher Sabat) proves be an important aid to Lawrence in detecting an ambitious currency trading plan that Lawrence first catches wind of through an encounter with another traveling merchant (Zheren, voiced in an appropriately untrustworthy manner by John Burgmeier). Marlheit gives us Mr. Sabat showing his ability to be more than just “Mr. Low-Pitched Growly Man” as we hear far too often from him. While his voice will always be distinctive and easily recognizable, Mr. Sabat is quite soft in tone and clean and calm in voice, which gives Marlheit the right feeling of authority and competence. Also playing an important early role is Jamie Marchi, who voices Chloe, a young woman from the village of Pasloe where Holo had been bound as a harvest deity. When we first meet her, she is just a fairly cute voice matching a fairly cute exterior: there is nothing distinctive about the character. As it turns out, however, Chloe is in reality a very sharp financial schemer who is part of a local nobleman’s plot to create a financial blackmail hold over the King of Trenni, the currency plot that Lawrence gets sucked into. Once Chloe reveals her true colors, Ms. Marchi gives a much more interesting performance, as the icy chill of greed and ruthlessness creeps into that once bland cute-girl voice. It is great fun to hear her change and I suspect that Ms. Marchi had more fun as well when her character threw off her mask.
