It’s another anime post for you folks! This time it’s about an anime series (or actually two) called Spice and Wolf. I’ve just watched the final episode of the second season and I have to admit I quite adore this one. If you want to find out more, read on. 🙂
So, Spice and Wolf was of course originally a manga, which has so far been adapted into two anime series; Spice and Wolf and Spice and Wolf II. It was actually released a few years ago now and finished around 2009, so I am as usual a little late to the party!
In a nutshell though, it’s a quaint adventure that’s riddled with fantasy and romance and is just undeniably enjoyable.
In slightly more detail, it follows the story of Kraft Lawrence, who mainly goes by the name of just Lawrence. He is a rather talented travelling merchant that has spent the majority of his life learning the tricks of the trade. His dream though is to eventually settle down and open his own shop.
The anime kicks off when Lawrence travels to a town in the peak of its harvest celebrations, only to one night find a *naked* girl in the midst of his cart. But, she is obviously more then just a *naked* girl; she is the Wise Wolf Holo, a deity that has watched over the town for hundreds years and blessed it with a successful harvest every year. If her name and the ears and the tail weren’t enough of a clue, Holo’s true form is a giant wolf.
Lawrence eventually agrees to take Holo on a journey to find her home town of Yoitsu far in the north, which means leaving the small town and its harvests behind.
It’s quite a light story in truth.
You follow Lawrence and Holo from town to town, witnessing the varying predicaments they get themselves in and out of. Some involving the dangerous Church or sometimes it is just a deal gone bad. One thing is obvious though; the more time the two spend together, the fonder they grow of each other.
It takes them a little while to figure out though, but not in a bad way. At no point does the pace of the story feel too forced or even too slow, their story seems to progress at a believable and likeable pace. (Until it ended of course, that wasn’t so good.)
Holo is one of my favourite characters of any anime I have watched for some time. She is quick witted and fierce and sometimes quite a tease, but deep down she is unquestionably lonely. Those traits would explain why she enjoys her time with Lawrence as much as she does; he is also very clever and their minds seem to tick along at the same pace, but also he is the first person Holo has spent any time with in a very long time. Plus, he is so open and accepting of her, something not many would be.
Holo also has a very distinct voice, one that I fell in love with myself and that suited her character perfectly.
Towards the end of the second season you start to feel that the end of their journey is creeping ever closer, and almost depressingly so.
I genuinely didn’t want it to end. While it isn’t the most action packed anime, I kept going back wanting to watch more, wanting to see more of Lawrence and Holo. I was hooked. When I mentioned I didn’t want it to end to my other half, we kind of agreed that it is just.. nice. Not nice as in average, but nice as in warm and fluffy and something that you would have all the time if you could.
While the ending was quite a good conclusion, I am a little hopeful that there will be another series. However, it has been a couple of years now with apparently no news so I do unfortunately have my doubts.
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