I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that a wolf doesn’t wear any clothes, except for that profitable incident with the sheep. But still, it seems like Holo, the “wolf” of FUNimation’s latest import Spice and Wolf, spends an inordinate amount of time in the first four episodes FUNi sent me clad in nothing but her bushy tail and birthday suit. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. If you focus on the (tastefully done) nudity, however, you’ll miss out on an elegant, fascinating story with two immensely likeable characters at its heart.
Her penchant for going au naturale aside, Holo’s one sharp wolf. When she abruptly appears in the back of traveling merchant Kraft Lawrence’s cart during a pagan festival honoring a “wolf goddess,” he’s not quite sure what to make of her. He quickly comes to believe that she really is the incarnation of a local wolf deity, who had been bound to the fields by a promise made hundreds of years ago to the founders of the village. Although Holo’s kept up her end of the bargain, the villagers recently have turned to more “modern” methods of ensuring a good harvest, leaving her feeling unwanted and unnecessary. So, she makes a bargain with Lawrence to take her back to her country in the far north.
For his part, Lawrence ends up with a traveling companion who’s arrogant, quirky, touchy, and ruled by her appetites. She also possesses a keen nose for business (literally) and helps Lawrence improve his trading as they make their way north. Holo’s quite a character—immensely proud that she’s a wolf and not a human, but also surprisingly fragile at times. You get the sense that Lawrence’s solid, dependable nature makes him the perfect partner for her, and indeed, as the show moved along, it seemed to be heading that direction, until a dangerous business deal sends the series careening in a different direction.
Based on these first few episodes, it’s safe to conclude that Spice and Wolf has the potential to be one of FUNi’s best releases this year, along with Baccano! and Sgt. Frog. The animation’s sumptuous, with lush shots of the pastoral countryside and late medieval architecture, and the medieval madrigals and instrumentation complement the scenery and provide some of the most unusual background music I’ve heard in an anime in a long time. The offbeat nature of the show, with its focus on trading and relationships, held real appeal for me, and Holo’s a character you won’t soon forget. However, I wish the show took a little more time to establish Holo’s background, as well as how and why she was stuck with the village in the first place. As it is, the first few episodes move along at a tremendous clip that will leave viewers struggling a bit to keep up. Still, if worst comes to worst, there’s always the lowest common denominator of focusing on Holo’s mostly naked form. You pervert.
score 9.0 out of ten
verdict Unusual and quirky, Spice and Wolf has serious potential—assuming people don’t get too distracted by Holo’s birthday suit.
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