First things first, I highly recommend reading the light novels if you enjoy(ed) Spice & Wolf. The piece I quoted above really made me feel for Lawrence in his solitude, and yet it's only 30 pages into the first volume. But without further of due, here's my review.
We're joined by Lawrence, a twenty-five-year-old traveling merchant. His sole dream is opening his own shop, and to achieve this he embarks on journeys from city to city in order to sell various merchandise. He travels only with his goods and his trusty stead, who steadily takes Lawrence's cart to his destination. While in a certain city, however, Lawrence spots the people doing some kind of ritual. More specifically, the villagers are running around in the wheat fields. It is their tradition in order to get a good harvest of wheat each year.
When Lawrence has done his business in this village, he receives a gift. The said gift is some of the wheat, which Lawrence can trade in other cities. What he is unaware of is that a certain god resides within the wheat he carries; and that god is Holo. Holo is a wolf-god who lived in the village in order to keep her promise that she made, the promise in question was to give the villagers a good harvest. She abandoned the village since she noticed that they had good harvests without her and whenever there was a bad harvest she was blamed for it. Holo then joins Lawrence in his traveling in order to find the village in the north that she originates from; her home.
The world where this takes place is definitely inspired by the middle ages. The church, which seems to be of roman catholic origin, still has a lot of power but is on the verge of losing some of the power that remains. This affects both Lawrence and Holo on their journey through various ways.
Being in the middle ages, the scenery, consisting of a lot of woods and a lot of castles, is really mesmerizing to me. The character models, as well, are really well-made. There isn't a lot more to say, the illustrations speak for themselves.
Spice and Wolf has, without a doubt, some of my favorite music. Period. An opening performed by Kiyoura Natsumi (Tabi no tochuu) is constantly in my head and I never get sick of it. The sound, not only openings and endings, in Spice and Wolf will completely submerge you in the mood.
Spice and Wolf is a lot about how two traveling companions deepen their bonds, for better or worse, by tackling different hardships. It's also about how much you can learn by being next to one another, spending time together, relying on eachother. They really have managed to display a proper bond forming between two characters for me, and it is indeed a wonderful sight to behold.
