Spice and Wolf, The Beginning of the End [Update]

As all good things must come to an end, so too will the Spice and Wolf (Ookami to Koushinryou) light novel series, cleverly authored by Isuna Hasekura and mesmerizingly illustrated by Juu Ayakura since 2006. With today's release of the light novel's 15th volume in Japan, comes word that the story is now entering its final chapter, called "Taiyou no Kinka" ("The Gold of the Sun", or "Golden Sun", or something along those lines).



That's not to say that the series will end with volume 15 (at least one more will follow), but knowing that the end is nigh does make us wonder what kind of finale awaits... Granted, most of us will only find that out after the next anime adaptation, which - inevitable as it may be - has yet to be officially announced. So I fear we might be in for a pretty long wait.

Apart from the two anime seasons spiced with various extras released so far, the novels have also been adapted into several manga, of a more or less official nature. And with such a teasing character as Horo, it's no wonder that fan-artists are still coming up with some of the most superb artworks out there. So a local gallery update should be up later today tomorrow...

Update: In the end it took nearly two days to select the new Horo pics, download them, filter the final selection, enhance the images where needed (I can't stress that enough, for how time-consuming it is to turn a crappy scan into an enjoyable wanking material, let alone dozens of them), and finally upload and post them. But anyway, I'm sure you'll find them a lot more entertaining than my late-night stressed-out ramblings. So, enjoy!