Story:The story revolves around Craft Lawrence, a traveling merchant going from town to town selling and trading various goods. After leaving a town, he stumbles upon Horo, a wolf in human form who was considered a "God" by the local villagers, sleeping in his wagon on his furs. After listening to Horo's story, Lawrence decides to accompany her back north to her homeland. Though the story is overall great, there are a few minor things I had a problem with. Mainly the constant explanation of how the economy works, it tends to wear out it's welcome after hearing it several times. The suspense was the main point of the story that hooked me though. It might get slow at a few points, but for the majority of the series I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.
Animation and Sound: There really isn't much to say about the animation other then it was simply beautiful. Even the smallest detail like the faces on coins or the small rust spots on signs are draw with utmost care and attention to detail. The sound is equally impressive. Horo's howl gave me chills every time I heard it.
Character: My personal favorite aspect of the series. Jun Fukuyama as Lawrence and Ami Koshimizu as Horo make the series their own with their outstanding performances. Add together a very good and well-rounded cast of supporting characters and it's any anime fans dream. Though I do feel some characters weren't as fleshed out and developed as they could of been, mainly Chloe and Norah. Norah did have a fairly big role, but I still feel there was so much more potential with her character. Chloe I though and hoped would have a fairly large role, but has no screen time at all for the entire second half of the series.
Enjoyment: Honestly, I didn't have high hopes of enjoying this series when I started it, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I was sucked in from the moment the opening started (which is one of my top openings now) until the ending credits (which was somewhat of a letdown, unless theres a second season) Overall, would I recommend this series? Yes. It was very good and highly enjoyable, and thats coming from someone who usually dislikes series like this. Here's hoping there's a season 2.
