Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

Smart parts of dialogue from the original story are being cut off and giving space for more scenes of nudidy and sillyness from both main characters. I'm sorry for those who are meeting the story for the first time in this adaptation. I'll change this rating if it goes uphill from here. But so far the direction seems very lazy. The directors seem to not understand the story at all.

The character design is pretty and the scenes are quite well drawn. There is nothing special about the animation so far, but we can notice it trying to save budget here and there. I'll keep following a bit more and change the review accordingly to how it progress from here.

I truly wanted to enjoy this anime, and I made it through the entire first season. Unfortunately, there was no excitement; the storyline felt dull and repetitive. I kept waiting for something significant to occur, but it never did. To summarize the plot: you witness a wolf god exploiting a kind-hearted man. I had high expectations since this is a remake, and they must have had a reason to redo it. Although I never watched the original, I certainly won't be doing so now. This is, without a doubt, the most tedious show I've experienced. I'm surprised I managed to endure the entire first season; many might have given up long before that, but I was hoping for something to change.

A story about a merchant who finds himself bound to a wolf harvest goddess, Spice and Wolf is a grown-up anime on par with Frieren.

It has the will-they/won't-they vibe that's core to most rom-coms, but it's treated a little differently here. They have the problem that Holo, the goddess, is immortal (or at least very long lived) while Lawrence (the merchant) isn't.

Add to that, that it's left a little ambiguous as to if Holo's feelings are the effect of her being bound to him, along with Lawrence's own emotional reservations, and you have the makings of a complex relationship arc.

It can get side tracked on trade from time to time, as wheeling and dealing is its stand in for fantasy violence.

And I'd take any comparison with the original series with a grain of salt. I watched most of the new one, then went back and watched a few episodes of the old one, and I felt like the new one was slightly better.

I will say I'm a fan of the English dub. To me the original Japanese sounds a bit caricatured (Lawrence sounds too generic, and Holo sounds too young).

Even though the story was told differently which is an improvement, their was some missing depth that was added in the old version. However the story felt more fluid and enjoyable. The beginning of the Mid part kinda felt lacking, it seemed they didn't miss any important parts from the story which huge step up. The scenery and the atmosphere felt more realistic and lively compared to the old version. The characters appearance seemed better in the old version specifically speaking about holo since she seemed more mature but this new version is growing on me didn't expect much facial expression but theirs expression where great. The pace of the story was handled better for sure than the old version.

The chemistry has been slow but enjoyable which way better not as rushed as before and the fan service increase Abit but not to much.

So far, this rendition of Spice and Wolf has been absolutely godly in quality. Whereas the original had a wonderful, unmatched atmosphere, the remake improves on almost every other quality. The least of which being that when dialogue goes on for a long time, there is far more expression and changes of focus on the scene to keep the audience engaged (making the dialogue less like a chore and more like a dance. So much attention to detail is payed, and the animation is on a level that is both relaxing and highly stimulating (a somewhat unusual combination). After Apothecary and Frieren I did not expect something of this level, but, in my book, this surpasses both.

The somewhat lower rating makes no sense. See for yourself.