Name: More wolf than spice to be found here
Item: Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF
Rating: 65
Author: Kaito67

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Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF

a review by Kaito67

Kaito67

1 year ago·Sep 23, 2024

/ 100

Holo and Loneliness

Unsurprisingly, Holo herself is probably one of the best things to come out of this show. And that’s a very good thing given that she has the second-most screen time in the show and is even in the title itself. Not only does she have a good amount of charisma (I commend the voice actor heavily here) but I also like the idea of her being lonely because she outlived her friends and got abandoned by a culture that used to worship her. It humanizes her and gives her a certain amount of vulnerability that makes her relationship with Lawrence believable. They don’t travel together just because the plot demands but because both are lonely people and appreciate the company while pursuing their goals. And as I mentioned already she’s simply charming and I like her cheeky and flirty attitude towards Lawrence. I have to heavily commend her voice actor, Ami Koshimizu, for that.

Loneliness seems to be one of the central themes regarding the characterization of both Lawrence and Holo. However, I found Holo to be much more compelling than Lawrence. And it may be because Holo has a prominent screen presence outside her emotional moments, so when it gets emotional it provides a nice contrast to her usual behavior and we see a new side to a character we already find fun to watch. Lawrence on the other hand, showcases a much smaller range of emotion and expression than Holo. He does feel static throughout the show and is mostly just a nice person. And there are moments where it feels like he steps outside that comfort zone, but the show doesn’t do anything with it. For instance when he was willing to lay down his life to protect Holo in episode 6. That’s not normal behavior. Even for someone you feel attracted to, you wouldn’t risk your life like that. But the show doesn’t take up the opportunity to explore why he’s willing to risk his life for Holo. Maybe it’s not just attraction and he’s developed emotional dependency because she’s the first friendship in a long time which is not based on business.

However, the relationship between the two of them still is enjoyable and there are a lot of moments that are simply cute and/or wholesome. It feels straight to the point as the two of them spend a lot of time with each other and are self-aware enough to recognize their attraction toward the other, even if they don’t strongly label their relationship as such. But they have a strong mutual bond which is wholesome to witness. Just like Lawrence however, it feels like the show sometimes misses the opportunity to explore that dynamic further. A particular sour note for me was the story arc surrounding Amati and the pyrite deal. Not only was the arc much longer than it should be and it’s based on a misunderstanding that could’ve been cleared up much more easily, but it also resolved on an unsatisfying note. It feels the arc only served to make Lawrence realize how much Holo means to him, but the arc showcased such a disconnect between the communication expectations between Holo and Lawrence, that it was disappointing to not have them explore that. Especially given that the arc opens the question if a relationship between a mythical being and a human can work in the first place. I wouldn’t even have minded as much the misunderstanding and the length of the arc if it had been an entry point for both of them to reflect on their relationship and how they communicate with each other, but as it is it felt merely like an instrument to drag the drama for a bit longer.

Now there are still gradual developments in their relationship as I mentioned briefly with Lawrence realizing his feelings for instance, and I still appreciate those. On the other hand, the way we get there feels clunky and sometimes frustrating. But I still appreciate it as it is.

Pagan gods and religion

The second thing that I feel underlines the whole show is the world-building regarding mystical beings like Holo and how the world deals with them. We are in a medieval setting where the church is at the peak of its power, but instead of establishing some kind of holy power through its fantasy elements which validate the existence of a church, Spice and Wolf chooses to highlight other “gods” instead. These “gods”, like Holo, are seemingly otherworldly beings who are not only very big but have special powers like granting a good harvest. They are worshipped by small communities and treated like gods, even if they aren’t inherently gods, but only called that way by humans. As such Spice and Wolf explores the concept of religion by highlighting that a lot of ideas regarding gods are man-made and not based on universal truths. The rather ugly application of religion here is showcased in the form of the church, which exploits and takes advantage of smaller communities, branding their objects of worship as pagan gods (false gods). They also profit extensively through taxes from their members, justifying it all by pointing to one almighty god who very well may not exist. Now, apart from whether someone believes in god or not (I think it’s fine to believe in god, as for me, I don’t) I did find the approach this series took rather fresh for a medieval fantasy setting. Even if it could use more indulgement into the fantastical side of things for my taste.

Generally, the series has a more economical lens given that our protagonist Lawrence is a travel merchant. I found the economic side of it to be less interesting, even if it’s fine for what it is. It’s more or less a plot vehicle to provide Lawrence with a challenge for each story arc when a trade doesn’t go as planned. Granted, it’s satisfying at the end of each story arc to have Lawrence figure out a deal that benefits him.

Visually it kinda sucks

Now to be blunt, one aspect that drags the series down generally is the visual side of things. Visually, it doesn’t look good. While I find the world-building regarding religion, the folklore regarding the pagan gods, and such interesting, I am very disinterested in the rest of the world of Spice and Wolf because it looks very boring. The backgrounds are largely unremarkable, and the series also has a very washed-out color palette which is not doing the overall aesthetic any favors. It doesn’t seem to serve any artistic intent either, it just looks bad. I would like to say that Studio Passione simply copied and pasted the post-processing workflow they use for other shows on here, but even their other shows aren’t as grey so I’m not sure what the decision-making was here.

The quality of the animation and the drawings are pretty average to mediocre, which is sadly the standard for a lot of anime nowadays. However, I felt that better drawings could’ve served this series very well by making the character interactions more interesting and adding nuance to how the characters feel in more emotional story beats. Instead, the heavyweight was left on the voice actors when it came to conveying the characters' emotions. I will say though that I was surprised that the staff at studio horny, sorry, studio Passione, were very successful at holding themselves back. Having watched for instance Mieruko-chan from them, I know that they like fanservice, even if they have to add it themselves when the source material doesn't have much. Spice and Wolf however felt very tasteful even for the scenes with nudity.

The only time where Spice and Wolf manages to jump out of its shadow is when Holo transforms. Creature animation is not to be taken for granted, and I was very positively surprised to see that they managed to pull it off in 2D and to have it move to the extent they did. I wasn’t able to find out who is in charge of the creature animation but they did a very good job, even if the rest of the show wasn’t able to keep up. I think the creature animation also helps with selling the idea of how otherworldly or intimidating mythical beings like Holo seem from the perspective of a normal person in this universe.

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Conclusion

Overall, apart from one specific story arc that I talked plenty about already, Spice and Wolf was enjoyable. Mostly because I like the dynamic Holo and Lawrence have, and it’s just enjoyable to see them interact with each other and gradually grow closer through the course of the series. I also think that despite being a medieval setting with little fantasy it has some interesting elements which I found interesting. However, the worldbuilding still feels overall stale, especially so because even some of the interesting stuff like the mythical beasts like Holo are largely underexplored as of now. I would’ve loved to see more stuff like the tunnel dug by the snake where you can see how these giant beasts shaped, even in small ways, the world we currently see. That also factors in with the second major complaint, as a visual medium Spice and Wolf sadly doesn’t do a good job at showcasing the world and it also never manages to scratch that edge in portraying emotional character moments. I’m not sure if I will check out the second season, I may also check the source material which most likely at least resolves some of the issues I have with the anime. Thank you for reading thus far, if you have any feedback feel free to leave it here :)