Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

Stark700★ 9

If someone told me a few years ago that Spice and Wolf is getting a new anime to air in 2024, I would've laughed it off and called them crazy. Looking backto 2022 from the announcement and here we are. Holo, the wise wolf makes her grand return on the television screen, her first time in well over a decade. Back in 2008, the first Spice and Wolf anime holds a special place for me and I'm sure it's a special anime for many fans. It's the first fantasy anime that I watched that didn't revolve around swords, magic, or some sort of plot about savingthe world. Spice and Wolf ventures into an unique category that deals with economics and business. For a franchise like this, Spice and Wolf was ahead of its time. Rather than adapting a direct sequel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf serves as a remake, retelling the story of 25-year old Lawrence Kraft and his traveling companion Holo. However, the remake goes far deeper into their story, relationship, and adds more into their world lore. Watching this season reminded me the nostalgia of enjoying a fantasy-adventure classic. Spice and Wolf's first episode begins with the season of the harvest festival but immediately introduces the self-proclaimed Wise Wolf, Holo. According to story lore, people worshipped her as a God-like entity far before the main timeline story began. Holo is aware of this and holds pride in her status. Meeting with someone like Lawrence is a new experience as she has never build a relationship so close to a human before. It's between the two that we truly experience their story. Even after 15 years, it felt like yesterday when we met Holo and Lawrence. The voice actors played an outstanding job at performing their roles, in particular Holo. Her haughty, sarcastic, flitartious voice tone adds countless moments for the audience to see. Accompanied by her superior confidence, Holo is truly prideful of her existence and what she presents. Although some might interpret it as arrogance, Holo never has malicious intents to gain what she wants. Her love for food and alcochol also shows her humanity. Even though she is a wolf entity, Holo displays many traits that is perceived as human. In fact, she isn't that different from Lawrence thoughout their journey together. It's noticable from the start that both characters contain insecurities about themselves. Holo's greatest fear is being alone while Lawrence rely on himself so much that he realizes not everything can be accomplished by himself alone. As a remake, this season follows mostly in tone with the original season. The storytelling maintains a balance of dealing with business while developing the relationship between our two main protagonists. Holo and Lawrence together accompanies each other skills. With Holo's wit and Lawrence's intelligence, they're able to get through many obstacles and obtain their win of the share. In their business dealings, it's easy to see what can go wrong if neither of them help each other. The show makes it clear that Lawrence's experience is invaluable. Meanwhile, Holo's playful personality and persuasive nature gets them by through bargaining and other essential deals. One of the main selling factors for the original and this remake is the expanding relationship between Holo and Lawrence. It's very important to realize that the two rely on each for comfort and escape lonliness. They only have each other as judging by their journey, they don't come across any close friends, family, or allies. We actually don't see much of either characters' family at all, whether in the present timeline or the past. As such, Holo and Lawrence always depend on each other to survive. This is made so important that Holo suffers a case of monophobia, where anxiety surfaces and she expresses them in extreme ways in later episodes. It's a sensitive topic that can relate to any relationship and this anime is able to explore that in its own unique way. Kicking into the story, Holo and Lawrence comes across many interesting individuals ranging from the shepherd Nora Arendt, finsmonger Fermi, and church manager Else Schtingheim. Each of these individuals introduces business and emotional elements for the pair. For instance, Nora ignites a feeling of jealousy for Holo while also serves as a foil character because she is a shepherd. Fermi's fascination for Holo causes him to fight Lawrence for her ownership. And finally, Else gives us a deeper glance at the complex system of the church in their world. Let me just say that while these supporting characters do not become permanent traveling companions, they test the feelings of our two main stars. Spice and Wolf truly wants us to show how Holo and Lawrence interact with others in unusual circumstances and face life together in ways they've never realized before. Passione's long track record of adapting various fantasy based media has a role for Spice and Wolf. Among their most prominent work includes Rokka no Yuusha, with the environmental art style feeling familiar with this show. Adapting into this series over a half and decade later, the character designs look cleaner and sharper. Nonetheless, the overall asthetic is still similar including its world fiction. The most noticable character traits are Holo's wolf features and more prominently, her real form. When transformed, she displays fierceness and animalistic features of a mature wolf. In such form, she grows several times her size and sheds her human form completely although maintaining much of the same personality. The fan service of her being nude should not be misinterrpted as it's her natural form. The show contrasts her human and animal form in such magnficient ways that it looks surreal and atone to classic fantasy. Watching Spice and Wolf after all these years made me realize that these remakes brings so much more than just nostalgia. It's a celebration of the author's works and gives both returning and the new audience to experience such a wonderful adventure.

Marinate1016★ 9

As someone that’s never seen the original Spice and Wolf but seen tons of Holo memes and hype over the last decade, all I can say after watching this remake is “I get it”. She lived up to the hype as a waifu, but more importantly, this lived up to the hype as a fantasy story about two people who couldn’t be further apart coming together and changing one another for the better. Lawrence and Holo’s relationship is a breath of fresh air in a world full of shallow ones. This show exudes the magic of the early 2000s and even at nearly 20 yearsold, is still better than most fantasy anime. I just love the trope of an immortal being journeying with a human and learning what makes humans special. Coming off the high of Frieren recently, spice and wolf kind of stepped in and filled that gap for me. While it may not have Madhouse production values, still found this to be a very emotionally engaging story. Holo and Lawrence’s romance blossoming through numerous obstacles was a joy to see. I know there’s the whole economic and trading aspect of the story, but let’s be real. The big draw here is seeing how cute Holo is and how well she and Lawrence get on. While at times they argue like an old married couple, it’s the vulnerable moments the two share that take this story to the next level for me. That’s not to say that the trading stuff was bad, there were some genuinely good storylines with that and it definitely forced Lawrence to grow as a person with all the times he gets ripped off in this show. But at times I found all the economic stuff to be a little convoluted and got lost in a couple episodes. But you know what, I’ll always prefer an author putting too much detail in a story rather than too little. I just wish it could’ve been conveyed a little better without overwhelming me at times. Again though, that’s minor because even when I was feeling overwhelmed with details in the story, they’d have some great moment later in the episode with Holo saving Lawrence’s ass during a bad business exchange and it’d make me forget anything else. Plot wise, other than the trade negotiations, economics and Lawrence constantly almost going bankrupt, I thought the church storyline was really cool. It started off slowly before really ramping up in the second half when we learn more about the church’s relationship with Holo’s fellow deities and everything that’s going on with her hometown. I very much preferred the last third of the season because of how much world building we got and how we went into the mythos of this world’s deities. But even with that, it feels like we only scratched the surface of what this world offers. I mean, we end on volume 4 or so of a series with 20 volumes so clearly there’s a lot more to unpack here. I hope in a potential 2nd season we get to see more of the lore expanded upon since it was touched on at several points throughout the season as Holo searches for information on her hometown. But you know, it’s very much a show that just uses everything else as a plot device to bring the two leads closer and I’m ok with that. Holo shines as the star of the show and Lawrence is a worthy support for her. They complement each other’s strengths and bolster each other’s weaknesses. A match made in heaven. Production wise the show is solid. After the disaster that was Seikengakuin, this one looks really good. They updated all the characters’ designs to the modern age and as someone who prefers modern anime art styles, I think they look great. The action sequences are passable and the Kevin Penkin OST only makes every emotional moment between Holo and Lawrence that much better. Spice and Wolf is a slow, but rewarding burn that I’ve enjoyed watching these last 3 months. There’s no sudden jump into a relationship, but we do see two people who enjoy one another’s company slowly grow to find each other irreplaceable. It’s a must watch for any romance or fantasy fan. Spice and Wolf gets 9, out of 10.