For the past few days, I’ve been in the strange mood to compare animation-companies. Don’t ask me why, I’m not sure myself. In any case, Spice and Wolf (or Ookami to Koshinryou) has been produced by Imagin, whose only previous work basically consisted out of a bunch of notoriously bad fanservice-series (Hit wo Nerae, Cosprayers, Love Love?), so no, I can’t really say that I was anticipating this release. Turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Or in this case: an old wolf.

Even though it may not look like it, Spice and Wolf is what you’d call a smart and down-to-earth series. The two main characters are surprisingly deep for only thirteen episodes. Their motivations are well-motivated, much more than what you’d see in usual anime, and they have a lot of different and complex sides. They both start to travel together, in a setting reminiscent of medieval Europe, though this isn’t a story about knights at all, it’s about merchants.

And this series really makes use of this, by showing us the ins and outs of the life of a merchant, while both Lawrence and Horo (the two main characters) provide critical commentary and analysis to the things that they run into. The dialogue is of a really high-quality, and it’s no wonder that the light novel that this series was based on won an award. This becomes especially apparent when the major female side-character gets introduced: I was really convinced that the show would turn into a cheesy love-triangle at one point, but it’s the opposite! Her appearance and use in the story is carefully explained, as well the relation that she has between Lawrence and Horo.

As for the bad points for this series - if you plan to watch this, you really have to be interested in merchants. Otherwise it’ll just bore the heck out of you. Aside from the side-character mentioned above, the other characters in this series also pale in comparison to the main cast. Sure, their motivations are explained well enough, but it feels like they could have been used and fleshed out much better than this series did.

The highlight of this series is definitely the final three episodes, where everything comes together like a charm. In one word, these episodes are fascinating, and close off the series without leaving a bad taste whatsoever, and still leaving space open for a possible continuation. The first arc may feel a bit lacking, but this is still another great series from the past winter-season.

Ah, shounen-fighting series. How many of them have fallen into the pit of mediocrity? Probably too many to count. Still, once in a while a series appears in the genre that actually delivers. The cream of the crop is for me the Law of Ueki, and even though Kekkaishi couldn’t come to that same level, it’s still a good example of a well-developed series in a genre that overall consists out of lazy manga-adaptations and toy-commercials.

For once our lead heroes (Yoshimori and Tokine) don’t have offensive powers. In fact, the entire concept of Kekkaishi is based around defence; all they can do is block, nothing more. The first twenty episodes are basically just reserved for random stories that let the viewer get familiarized with both the characters, and how they make use of their own powers in their own way. The creators manage to keep these episodes more than interesting through lots and lots of quirky characters, who’ll put a smile on your face.

Then when the story comes, this series has the advantage that it can work with characters that are already pretty well fleshed out, and the creators make perfect use for that. Keep a lookout for when Gen appears, because he’s without a doubt the best character of the series. Throughout its run of 52 episodes, Kekkaishi isn’t afraid to do things that usual series of the genre try to avoid.

There are a few problems with this series, though. Fighting-series should NEVER play with hidden powers, and yet every single one seems to have them. Although Kekkaishi uses them in enough moderation, they do pop up at the worst possible moments. This is the cause that the final three episodes will feel rather meh, which is a shame because the episodes that lead up to them are excellent.

It also feels that a part of this series does feel needlessly drawn out, though. I believe that this would have been the perfect series for 39 episodes (my personal favourite series-length). Apparently, this series was dropped by its sponsor and had to be drawn out to a 52-episode format so that it could be sold overseas, though this is why I’m of the opinion that series should just use the amount of episodes that fits for their story, and not make the story fit its amount of episodes.

On a semi-unrelated side-note, I think that this is a good place to voice some complaints about Sunrise that I’ve been having. I personally consider four animation-studios as “the big four” for television-series: Nippon Animation, Production IG, Madhouse and Studio Deen with as runners up Gonzo and Bones. I don’t think of Sunrise at all when I think of my favourite series, and yet they have been behind some interesting series as Freedom, Mai Hime, Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto and Gintama.

I think that I finally know the reason: it’s a bit harder to see, but they’re just like Kyoani and Makoto Shinkai. They may be great in their own way, but they’re too afraid to try out new things. Makoto Shinkai has his male main characters, Kyoani has its high-school settings, and for Sunrise, everything has to be epic and everything has to be a commercial success. Concepts that work get needlessly drawn out, which is probably why Kekkaishi went on for too long.

At the moment, I’m still hoping that Gintama won’t run out of jokes, now that it’s already passed its ninety-episode mark. Sunrise has produced a lot of noteworthy anime, but they’re just not like Gonzo, who can churn out a Master of Epic once in a while from out of nowhere. Come on, why not try a slice-of-life series next time?

There are basically two kinds of Gonzo. The first is Good Gonzo, which searches the borders of anime with new and engaging concepts, and which delivered us series as Bokura no, Master of Epic, Red Garden, Gankutsuou, NHK ni Youkoso and Last Exile. Then there is Bad Gonzo, which consists out of a bunch of lazy writers that are stuck in mediocrity and brought us series as Rosario to Vampire, Gravion, Romeo x Juliet, Glass no Kantai and Giniro no Kami no Agito. Dragonaut, unfortunately, without a doubt is a product of Bad Gonzo.

It’s a shame, because on a second look, the story has a definite epic potential, about Pluto undergoing some kind of metamorphosis and sending dragon-like creatures to earth for some strange unknown purposes. It has the making of a great mystery-series. Unfortunately, any attempt to develop this story is held back by an abysmal cast of characters.

There are just one or two characters that aren’t badly written. Everyone else spends the entire series angsting about nothing, and this series has really weird character-development. One moment characters hate each other from the depths of hell, and the next they’re passionately hugging each other like they’ve been friends for ages. Motivations for each character are badly explained, and they’re lucky if they can have a background. Especially the main couple will get on everyone’s nerves with their endless whining of “Jin?” “Toa?” “Jin!” “TOAAAAAAAA!!!!” Oh, and let’s not forget to mention one particularly bad character: Kazuki. This guy is a true joke and entirely ruins every scene that he appears in.

And of course this series has been dubbed “Boobonaut” for a reason. The character-designs try to be different, and they’re done by the same guy who did them for Witchblade, but something tells me that his hormones were really bugging him when he sat down to draw the different characters. Nearly half the female cast has a ridiculously over-endowed bosom that defies all senses of logic.

The past half year really hasn’t been good for Gonzo, with this… thing and Rosario to Vampire. Thankfully, their next line-up of Druaga no Tou, S.A and Blassreiter look more promising, and let’s hope that the people from Bad Gonzo are taking a very long holiday for the upcoming season. For Dragonaut, I really see no reason to recommend it. Even if you want cheese, Suteki Tantei Labyrinth is a much better choice, because at least that one is well-written.