If one wishes to switch a bit from action and cute-girls-doing-cute-stuff series, and watch a more serious but yet funny and romantic story, this is the perfect choice.
The quote above, said from Lawrence to Holo, represents one of the main features of the anime: the mixture of an economics theme with slice-fo-life elements. From the surface, it sure seems pretty odd, but when you take a deeper look, you see it blend so well with the storyline that long conversations about price raising and market value -boring to many people- end up as things joyful to watch in a way that it's even possible you get excited over commercial deals just as much as you'd be with a mecha fight.
Spice & Wolf is a smart anime, with a serious tone and a lot of dialogue, however, it doesn't lose its silly moments and sometimes shows a glance of an heartwarming comedy.
Also, I may clarify for those who are still wondering about it, the fanservice in this series is very close to zero, with the exception of few seconds in specific episodes, there is none of if. Then you might ask me "oh, but that girl was naked in pics and in the first episode as well, wasn't she?". Well, of course she was. That girl is a wolf and I've never seen a wild wolf wearing clothes before. With that in mind, there was never such intention to turn this series into an ecchi. I would consider it... realistic (in some extension of course).
There is indeed some eroticism in the series, most of the female characters do have a slender look. It might have been a marketing maneuver, in order to catch more viewers in the beginning of the series, who knows.
Anyway, it is just a nice eye candy, not a huge appeal and definitely not the major focus of the anime.
With that in mind, the summary here in MAL is very nice. It sums up the beginning of the story, and without further spoilers leave that scent of mystery on the air.
How lonely would be travel all by yourself? How important it is to have someone with you?
Craft Lawrence is a peddler traveling by himself for more then 5 years. he was able to establish himself as a somewhat-known merchant in the territories of South and is working hard with a goal in mind. After a while, he arrives in a agricultural village during a spice harvest festival, do some business, meet up with old friends, and... find a wolf-girl. *ahem* Not just an ordinary wolf-girl, please. She is Holo, The Wise Wolf. To the church, a pagan god. For the villagers, the deity of that region spice harvests. What does she wants with him? What will develop from this? Just watching to find it out.
What I found wonderful about this story is the placement and the context of it.
The fantasy element plays an important role in the story, although, it is not the "generic style" of fantasy, common in many anime titles nowadays.
Instead of doing an story full of magic, wizards, knights, titans... and things like that, Spice&Wolf approaches the folklore and tales from the medieval era. The struggle between believers in other divinities and the holy church, gods living between people and holiness protecting and blessing the fields are just the tip of the iceberg that will develop along the storyline.
What is marvelous to see, is that even with all this development, scriptwriters were cautious enough to not let this characteristics takes the spotlight of the show, which should and indeed continued to be, economics and Holo & Lawrence relationship.
This series sure has one of the best classic OST I've ever listened to.
With the sole exception of ARIA -which has a very similar tone then this series by the way- this was probably the first series I actually paused one episode to search what song was playing and if there were any TABs for it.
Along with a great performance, the sound direction in this anime was also superb. Since I'm already on the topic, I'd take a moment to emphasize the difference some VoiceActors can make in an story. Something that I was amused by was the characteristics and the accent they attributed to some characters speech. The geographic location of them would change their way of speaking and some slang, while Holo for example, talks in a completely different way from other characters. She uses an old dialect from Edo period Tokyo.
It is great to see that someone did cared about this details. Think about it, indeed would be weird for a 600+ years old wolf, to talk modern Japanese.
Spice and Wolf brings up a deep psychological analysis of characters and a lot of development.
Do not expect simple or formulaic characters and never underestimate Holo's personality’s complexity.
This being a slice-of-life series, of course it would focus on dialogues and characters themselves, however the way these chars interacts with the environment and how the scenario contributes to the normal flow of the story and conversations was also carefully thought.
The collabo between animators and writers succeeded into this great "visual interaction" with characters expressions, allied with a marvelous voice acting already mentioned. One notorious example of it, is Holo's physical reactions to some emotions, where instead of just blushing, she would sometimes raise her ears or move her tail.
That said, I have no complains with the artwork. In some episodes it was visible that few scenes were rushed, but besides from minor weird camera angles and some lines in the wrong place, there is nothing else to complain.
In the end, I'm still enjoying its "afterglow".
It was sure over my expectations. I dislike doing "generic" recommendations, but this title is something everyone should watch. But there is a right time for it. If you are new to anime, or if your list contains mostly action/mecha shounen, this is not the right time to watch it. On the other hand, if you're already used to romance or medieval themed dramas this would be a nice pick. Give it a try! Unless you have horror to economics or suffer from fear to math and/or long dialogues, you won't regret it.
I wonder why is this series not very popular... It isn't underrated, as we can see, the score it holds here in MAL isn't that high but still above average. But the ranking of popularity is awful low. Maybe due to the studio who made it isn't that famous?
It is a jewel in a dunghill after all.
Along with this, I would recommend for anyone who enjoyed it, to read the Light Novels. Since the anime adaptation of season 2 just cover till chapter 5, it stops right in the middle of the adventure, which is a pain. While we hope for a 3rd season, read the books!
