Spice & Wolf is pretty unique amongst shows that I have seen. It is relatively slow paced, and there is no obvious epic plot that everyone is striving towards. The show revolves around two main characters, Kraft Lawrence and Holo. Kraft is a traveling merchant, who makes his living by buying goods in one town and selling them in another town where he can get a higher price. Holo is a “wolf god,” a giant wolf that can change form into that of a young woman, though with obvious wolf ears and a large, bushy tail. Holo wants to go back to her home in the north, and Kraft agrees to take her there.

You could say that the show was about Kraft taking Holo to the North Woods, because that is the initial set-up. That isn’t actually what the show is really about, though. The show is really about the relationship between Kraft and Holo, both of whom are quite lonely and therefore bond emotionally with each other as they spend time together. The show is also about currency speculation and the dangers of speculative trading while heavily leveraged with debt. Seriously, you can learn some basic economic theory if you pay attention to the various money making schemes that Kraft and Holo get involved in. While the economic and business stuff has serious consequences for the characters, and is the primary plot driver throughout the show, the relationship between the two main characters is the primary point of the show.

A show about relationships can be difficult for some people to get into, I admit. Personally, I have a soft spot for shows involving mecha shooting things and then those things exploding. There are no mecha in Spice & Wolf, and there are no big explosions. That didn’t keep me from really liking the show, though. The reason is that I really like the two main characters, Kraft and Holo. As Holo points out during the show, Kraft is a very good natured person. While he wants to make enough money to settle down and open his own shop someday, and is willing to take significant risks to reach that goal quickly, he isn’t the type of person to take advantage of someone who is weak or unable to defend themselves. While he can drive a hard bargain, he only really goes after people that have tried to swindle him or otherwise show that they are not to be trusted. This makes him a “good guy,” one whom you can trust to keep his word and deal with you in an upright manner.

Holo is an altogether different story. It isn’t that Holo is evil, or bad, or even out to get anyone. Rather, it is that Holo isn’t a person at all, but a wolf. Holo’s personality is where the show really shines for me, as the writing for her character is very good. Holo, as one would expect of an animal, is usually self-centered and very goal oriented. She wants to get to the north, and will happily trample over whoever gets in her way, not because she is mean, but because she just doesn’t care about you, or anyone else, really; she wants to accomplish her goal. When she wants apples, so goes and gets a bunch of apples and eats them. When Kraft mentions getting her something that she wants, she hounds him about it until she gets it. That being said, as the story progresses Kraft begins to have more of an effect on her, such that Kraft is able to convince her to not give in to her base nature sometimes. Another fun thing about Holo is that she is supposed to be quite older than Kraft (who I would guess from appearance is in his early 20s), even though she looks like a teenager in her human form. She very much enjoys showing up Kraft in merchant tactics, and the general facts of life, and it is obvious to everyone, including Kraft, that she enjoys it. This leads to some nice bickering back and forth between the two, with Holo usually having the upper hand, at least at first. Related to this, I found that I liked the English vocal track for this show more than I did the Japanese vocal track specifically because of Holo. In the Japanese, Holo sounds like a teenager. However, in the English vocal track, Holo sounds like an older woman, almost a “cougar,” if you will, as she toys with Kraft’s emotions. To me, that fit the character better.

The animation for the show is solid, and the backgrounds generally look great. The setting is a generic, early Renaissance Europe, set in no particular real country, so there are walled cities with lots of stone and big churches, and then there is countryside and large, dark forests, all of which look quite good. There are few actions scenes, so the animators focused more on the backgrounds and the actual character animations. Holo, specifically, is visually interesting, as she hides her animal features under a cloak for a lot of the show, but you can sometimes notice ears twitching or tail swishing underneath if you pay attention. The animators also put her in some different outfits as the show progresses, though Kraft is stuck with the same duds for the entire journey.

To summarize, Spice & Wolf is a character-driven story about two lonely souls finding comfort in each other, and the pain, frustration, and joy that can come letting someone else get close to you. It isn’t an action show, but it doesn’t need to be to be an enjoyable viewing experience.

The publisher provided a copy of the show for review purposes.