Buy lots of apples before you get too far in this anime. Yes, APPLES! You will crave it not too far into Spice and Wolf!!! Trust me.
I'll wait here until you go buy some.
Got them? Good! Now on to the actual review:
Spice and Wolf is a pretty unique class of anime. It can practically stand in most genres: it's a comedic romance featuring historical backgrounds mixed with fantasy and suspense related to economy/financial problems, with the sense of family, belonging, loneliness, and homesickness amidst all.
Uhh I probably didn't make much sense there. Let me explain :)
The story revolves around a young man named Lawrence who is a traveling merchant in the medieval era. His job is pretty bland to us, since all he does is sell, buy, travel, repeat. Fortunately, we meet the next protagonist fairly quickly, a wolf named Holo.
Holo is the story driver in this anime. She's a wolf who has lived more years than Lawrence could imagine, a wolf who wants to return home. All of the arcs in the plot revolve around her, since...well, she's a wolf!
The primary focus of this anime, and this series (if you watch the second season), is romance. However, this isn't just regular romance. It's the type where you, the audience, has to figure things out by yourself. There are absolutely no internal dialogue revealed, and the watchers must conclude from the characters' actions and face expressions how they are feeling, what they are thinking, etc. One of the reasons this anime succeeded was because it was so REAL--instead of giving us the ability to probe deep into the characters' thoughts, we were simply placed there, in the middle of the story, expected to understand what was going on through physical observations.
Because of this, there's a lot of dialogue here. But you will welcome the dialogue, I guarantee it. They are very purposeful--not many things are mere fillers. Dialogue either tells us more about the personalities and the character development of a person, or explain a sticky situation, or make us laugh, or keep us in suspense.
Enough of the story. I'm afraid I might spoil something accidentally.
The music is simply AMAZING. It puts you right in the setting--appropriate music comes on at appropriate times. There are lots of moments where the music puts a humorous color to the scene, foreshadowing a witty joke, and there are times when you sense the seriousness of the situation just by the music.
Animation and voice acting were fantastic as well. First off, Holo is so kawaii! Apart from her personality, her voice immediately puts me in a jokingly good mood. Why? Her tone often has this...tinge of mischief and humor in it. Lawrence is quite the handsome man as well, considering all the other male characters weren't as appealing as he was. The scenery is very nicely portrayed. The drawings of the apples, and their depiction of Holo eating was so good they made me buy apples the day after watching this. It just looked so delicious. And I used to hate apples, too.
Anyway, unlike most anime watchers, I give my animes ratings based on my enjoyment. No matter how good or bad the plot was, character development was, etc, I judge animes based on how much I enjoyed them. And I give this anime a proud 9, ONLY because I felt that the second season deserved a 10 since it gave more enjoyment. It's definitely an anime worth watching, although you have to get used to the dialogue-driven plot in the beginning. Good luck!!
-Icesica
