'Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf' Reveals Additional Cast, Staff, Third Promo

by DatRandomDude
Mar 21, 7:08 AM | 18 Comments

The official website for the Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf (Spice & Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf) television anime revealed on Thursday additional staff, returning additional cast, and the third promotional video. The anime is scheduled to premiere on April 2 at 1:30 a.m. on TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, and TV Aichi, followed by BS TV Tokyo and AT-X.

Mai Nakahara (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni), Houchuu Ootsuka (Golden Kamuy), Hozumi Gouda (Vampire Knight), and Daisuke Namikawa (Haikyuu!!) returns to voice their characters from the previous anime series.

Staff
Character Design: Kouji Haneda (Saihate no Paladin)
Color Design: Tomoko Koyama (Assassins Pride)
Art Design: Kaoru Aoki (Isekai Ojisan), Toshiki Amada (Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen), Ryouji Obata (Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero)
Art Director: Kazuhiro Inoue (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou)
Director of Photography: Kouji Hayashi (Renai Flops)
Editing: Ayako Tan (Mieruko-chan)
Sound Director: Tomohiro Yoshida (Strike Witches)

Singer-songwriter Hana Hope (Hametsu no Oukoku) is performing the opening theme "Tabi no Yukue" and ClariS (Hataraku Saibou) performs the ending theme "Andante." Both songs are previewed in the promotional video below.

Hijiri Sanpei (Joshikousei no Mudazukai is directing the anime at Passione with chief director Takeo Takahashi (Ookami to Koushinryou director). Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) is composing the music.

The series adapts Isuna Hasekura's fantasy romance light novel which was originally submitted at the Dengeki Novel Prize in 2005 and won the Silver Prize. Media Works (later ASCII Media Works, now Kadokawa) began publishing the series through its Dengeki Bunko label in February 2006, featuring illustrations by Juu Ayakura. Kadokawa shipped the 24th volume in January 2023.

Hasekura launched the spin-off light novel Shinsetsu Ookami to Koushinryou: Ookami to Youhishi (Wolf & Parchment: New Theory Spice & Wolf) in September 2016. The ninth volume was released in July 2023.

Yen Press licensed both light novels in English. The 24th volume of the main series released in August 2023 and the eighth volume of the spin-off will release on May 21.

PV 3

Source: Comic Natalie

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18 Comments Recent Comments

There would be complaints about this "new" look, which might look accurate with the novels, but not with the original anime. That's understandable, but this was still trailer.

Though very much looking forward.

Mar 26, 1:00 PM by Softhenic03

A remake? I'm curious, why did they make a remake and not the sequel? Does anybody know their reasoning?

Mar 25, 1:15 PM by Leenbow

I'm so hyped for this remake! ♥️

Mar 24, 12:35 AM by MaouNemesis

@MegamiRem In a sense, yes, at first I confused the announcement with the LN adaptation of the sequel due to the more youthful appearance of this version.

Mar 24, 12:26 AM by RobertBobert

@RobertBobert Holo looked better in og imo with the more mature look.

Mar 24, 12:19 AM by MegamiRem

@DarkDooM2 You are 100% right I am sorry. I feel so dumb. I still think we should all give this adaptation a chance though simply because the more spice and wolf the better in my opinion. (I also still feel the reboot designs are closer to the light novels though) Thank you for the correction though. I apologize about my misinformation.

Mar 22, 9:57 PM by Calal-Chan

@RobertBobert Don't get me wrong either. I would have preferred if this adaptation was getting the Frieren treatment. That is why I think it is a passion project because I don't think it would exist if it wasn't done like this honestly.

Mar 22, 9:56 PM by Calal-Chan

Animation about on par with the orginal adaptation but the art is nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing. Still worth a watch I think for other factors, namely it seems to follow the source material better and supposedly the ost is quite good, though these are only things I have heard from others. It is really unfortunate Passione seems to feel the need to rebrand every older anime they manage to get with the very worst of the 2020s plastic art style, and they will be using CG for some scenes as well. Not exactly hyped but I hope to still enjoy it regardless and see the conclusion.

Mar 22, 4:08 PM by niconiconii27

Will be surprised if this didn't end up ranking #1 or #2 on MAL.

Mar 22, 11:08 AM by wildhood

Calal-Chan said:
but Ayakura, Juu who did the designs did so for both series and did the art for the light novels

Original Character Design is not the same as Character Design. The character designer for this reboot is Haneda Kouji.
Manga still has best designs btw. 2008 anime and LN come second while reboot designs are a clear last place to me.

Mar 22, 6:07 AM by DarkDooM2

@Calal-Chan Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to hate this reboot. On the contrary, I am very intrigued by what could come of it. But it upsets me that a remake of such an iconic show doesn't seem to have that big of a budget.

Mar 22, 2:40 AM by RobertBobert

@RobertBobert Yeah and if this was 2008 and we were having this conversation the same thing would have been said. I think modern day forums and how we look at anime now has ruined projects like this. Not every show is going to have the best visual quality of all time. Honestly the only reason this is being made is because it is a passion project (no pun intended) The fact the same director and same voice actors have shown up is already rare for reboots like this. Honestly I am not sure if I can even name a series that has done that. Even FMA 2003 to FMAB didn't do that. They had the director for opening one of 2003, direct brotherhood. But the main director Seiji Mizushima had no influence at all on FMAB.

Also you criticized the character designs right? And this was even news to me considering I said the old show kind of failed in this aspect, but Ayakura, Juu who did the designs did so for both series and did the art for the light novels. So honestly the designs are as accurate as they possibly can be most likely for animation including the original as they were probably made with simplicity in mind to make the animation easier.

The OG creator is also on staff and they even are getting Kevin Penkin to do the music. Honestly the adaptation is going way beyond what it could have been. (looking at you Kino no Tabi reboot which was terrible)

Anyway sorry for the ramble here but it was interesting to me when I was doing some research so I thought maybe you would find it interesting.

Mar 22, 2:01 AM by Calal-Chan

@Calal-Chan Well, at least it looked better from the outside. Modern limited shows have a certain lackluster design that makes them look like amateur animation.

Mar 22, 1:37 AM by RobertBobert

@RobertBobert I mean it is obvious that this newer series has limited animation, but the designs are just objectively closer to the light novels. I love the old show, but that is one of the few things it failed on. Honestly other than colors the old show didn't particularly have amazing animation itself either. It was also extremely limited. But it was still good just because of the writing and voices and thankfully that seems to be what is happening here. Pretty much to be expected considering it is the same director.

Small edit. Season 2 of the old Spice and Wolf looks better than season 1 even if also a bit limited.

Mar 22, 1:20 AM by Calal-Chan

@Calal-Chan The new design just seems lower quality, as the new colors and animation are less rich and detailed than the old anime. However, I'm glad for the original cast, considering the years that have passed since then, perhaps this will give them impetus again.

Mar 22, 1:07 AM by RobertBobert

The animation doesn't seem to be exceptionally good. Maybe similar level to the older anime, and maybe not as appealing? But then again, it's just a trailer.

Mar 21, 9:02 PM by W3TFT

@RobertBobert The character designs are just more accurate to the light novel. The original series while I still really enjoy didn't capture the light novels designs. And yes most of the VA's are the same.

Mar 21, 4:39 PM by Calal-Chan

They changed the character designs so much and rebooted the adaptation but all the VAs stayed the same?

Mar 21, 8:39 AM by RobertBobert