Project #177: Spice and Wolf II

Greetings and welcome to Project Nitusj, I am Isis. As you are all aware my master has left on a journey to the east to reclaim the Anime Force and has left us in charge of the show during his absence. We’ll be switching in and out each week so please take care of me and the others during this time *bows head*. With that being said today is my turn to do a review and I have chosen Spice and Wolf season 2. After the success of the first season Spice and Wolf was greenlighted for a second in the summer of 2009 with a few changes here and there. For starters we had a new character designer and chief animation director and the animation was done by Brain Base (Durarara and Baccano). Other than that everything else remained the same including the VAs who all made a return both in the sub and the dub which we will be looking at today. Let us continue our journey with Lawrence and his charming wolf companion. This is Spice and Wolf season 2.

Opening and Ending Theme

The opening is “Mitsu no Yoake (Honey Dawn)” by Akino Arai. This opening is beautiful and easily out beats the first one. I just love the instrumental in this opening and Akino’s peaceful voice just puts me at ease. The opening does a good job capturing the peaceful atmosphere the series is going for and has created. The ending is “Perfect World” by ROCKY CHACK. Much like the opening the ending keeps that peaceful feeling you feel while watching the anime although in some episodes it can ruin the serious tone an episode has. It’s hard to say if I like this ending over the first season’s ending. Ohh~ why must I choose. Rah! Alright, if I had to choose which ending is the best it would have to be the first one. The first one matches up more with the anime and fits the tone of the episodes while the ending for this anime is good at times the song didn’t fit the tone of the episodes.

Episodes 1-4 and OVA

The anime starts with an OVA titled episode 0 (ah~ so we’re going back to the beginning. Seeing how Holo got to where she was at the beginning of the first season) where Lawrence, Holo, and Nora are having dinner with each other (or not). Everyone is enjoying themselves except for Holo who still holds some animosity to Nora because she’s a shepherd and because Lawrence is giving her a lot of attention (we girls can be very possessive of our men). As the night goes on Holo becomes sick due to fatigue and is forced to rest for a few days with Lawrence taking care of her. As she’s resting she dreams and reminisces about her journey with Lawrence so far and realizing her affection for him continues to grow. It grows even more when Lawrence takes care of her while she’s sick (if he checks her temperature with his forehead I will scream). When Nora comes to check up on her the two finally become friends after sharing a joke at Lawrence’s expense (ha! Like that could work in real life. *Starts to remember how Nitsuj pulled a Lelouch on her and the others 2 years ago* Hey wait a minute).

The season officially begins in episode 1 where Lawrence and Holo have arrived in a city called Kumersun where a festival will be taking place the next day. On their way to the city looking for an inn they run into a young merchant named Amarti who is a part of Lawrence’s guild and takes an interest in Holo (if he likes her now wait until he sees her ears and tail. He won’t be able to hold himself back). They buy some carp from him and he helps find them a room. On their first night in town Holo gets wasted and has a terrible hangover then next morning (scene here: //youtu.be/PVPWUMLP460, her tail wagging at the end was adorable. It reminds me of Yin-Yang when we tickle her ears). Once Lawrence heads out he goes to meet an old friend of his named Marc to sell some iron nails (scene here: //youtu.be/cPeQ7YaaUVM, man they really have a good knowledge of economic terms). After that scene Lawrence returns to check up on Holo where he tries to get information on the towns surrounding Yoitsu which is where Holo is from (but not before engaging in a harty drink and song with the lovely wolf. Scene here: //youtu.be/wINa_YZj-kg, don’t you just love the bond these two have with each other?). It also gets revealed that Holo can’t read (in her defense I too can not read the language of this anime).

In episode 2 Lawrence goes to meet an associate of Marc who might know someone with information regarding Yoitsu. Holo is a little upset by this because she was expecting to spend the day at the festival with Lawrence (standing her up on a date. Bad Lawrence. That’s a very bad Lawrence). He apologizes for this and Holo forgives him (she’s cool like that) and gives her money to enjoy herself at the festival but before he leaves Holo decides to play with him a little (oh she is so good at playing him like a fiddle). On his way to the guild he runs into Amarti where Lawrence stupidly asks him to keep Holo company for the day (suddenly that scene from earlier doesn’t seem too farfetched now). Lawrence meets Marc’s associate Gi Batos a giant of a man (woah! So Paul Bunyan wasn’t a myth after all) who takes him to meet Diana a chronicler who lives in the shady part of town (so this is what the ghetto was like in olden times). She tells him about the legend of the moon-hunting bear that destroyed Yoitsu and also of a large wolf near the town of Lenos who called herself Holo of Yoitsu (yep, that sounds like our Holo). With this story Lawrence now has a good idea of where Holo’s home might be and after telling them a story himself he leaves and goes to have a drink with Marc who warns him not to take his eyes off Amarti as he might try to steal Holo from him (she won’t leave you, you’re far too easy and to pick on). This warning actually gets to Lawrence and he starts to get a little jealous of Amarti. When Holo returns we see that Amarti bought her a minx scarf (you got a minx scarf? Lucky~). We also find out that in order to cover why she’s traveling with Lawrence, Holo makes up the lie that she owes him a large debt (a debt of apples which you selfishly eat). She also shows Lawrence a piece of pyrite which a lot of people at the festival were haggling over because of its charm abilities (nowadays nobody will give them the time of day). The next day Marc’s apprentice drops by (if you see a wolf girl in the room just know it’s normal and when you get older you’ll understand) and tells Lawrence something which has him run out of the inn in a hurry (I sense something big is about to happen).

At the start of episode 3 we find what all the fuss was about at the end of episode 2. Amarti challenges Lawrence in front of the whole guild saying that he will pay off Holo’s large debt of 1000 Trenni silver coins and then propose to her (wow look at him manning up). Lawrence not wanting to look like a wimp in front of the guild accepts Amarti’s challenge certain that even if Amarti pays off Holo’s debt she’ll stay with him and he decides he’s going to use this opportunity to make money off of their competition. Lawrence and Holo go to meet with Marc where we learn that Amarti comes from a rich family however he left to make a fortunate on his own without relying on help from his family or anyone else (a young boy trying to prove his place in the world). After that Lawrence takes Holo to the festival parade where they have a Wicker Man (quick, hide you’re Nicholas Cages), really bizarre mask, and the douse the audience with wine (this is a strange festival). After dancing and enjoying themselves they go back to the inn where Lawrence receives a letter from Marc and goes to see him where we find out that Amarti’s plan to pay off Holo’s debt involves heavily on the pyrite from the last episode. It turns out the sales pitch from the fortune teller selling the pyrite and the Church trying to track it down has made the price of pyrite skyrocket big time and now all the women in town are charming men to buy it for them (if it has a good sells pitch even the most worthless of things can be valuable). Lawrence uses his credit to buy some off of Marc and returns to the end where Holo somehow learned how to read and read the letter about Yoitsu being destroyed which upsets greatly and in a fit of sadness and rage she accuses Lawrence of knowing all along and was just playing with her out of some sadistic enjoyment and is now bored with her which is why he entered this competition with Amarti. Lawrence of course denies all of this and as Holo continues to breakdown we finally see that her greatest fear is being left alone in the world and in an act of desperation tries to convince Lawrence to sleep and impregnate her to which he says no which brings her back to normal a little bit. Holo then ask Lawrence what she is to him to which he’s unable to say anything to her and leaves the room to end the episode (there’s a lot of layers of story here. It’s quite intriguing).

In episode 4 Lawrence is now afraid that in the state Holo is in (desperate and willing to sleep with anyone to avoid loneliness) might actually go with Amarti so his only hope now is to drop the market on pyrite and make them worthless (good luck, that stuff is selling higher than the latest game console during the holiday season). Thanks to Holo, Lawrence gets information about Amarti’s assets (as well as a marriage certificate signed by both Amarti and Holo and since Lawrence is Holo’s guardian if he signs it their marriage will be complete. My advice, rip it and burn it with fire) and proposes a deal to Amarti. Lawrence deal is that he will sell Amarti his silver pyrite at today’s price for credit but there is a catch to it. Should the price fall on pyrite tomorrow Amarti will lose money but if it rises he’ll earn more money (and with the market on the pyrite the way it is now I see him making nothing short of a profit). Amarti is hesitant at first but once Lawrence appears to his chivalry by saying that he stands to lose just as much as him because even if Amarti pays off Holo’s debt and proposes to her it all hinges on whether or not she says yes (and with their history together I think the chances are high she’ll say no. Oh sure they’ve had a falling out but their fall outs never last very long). Amarti takes this as challenge (don’t let your emotions control you in business) and accepts Lawrence’s offer (oh you are a fool). Lawrence goes to tell Marc about his plan to start a rumor about the price of wheat rising hoping it will get everyone scared thus forcing them to sell off their pyrite in order to get wheat for the winter. In order to get the plan started he needs to sell off a lot of pyrite not on money but credit and needs Marc to buy up the pyrite for him. Marc says no saying that there’s too much risk for him which is true. Lawrence is a peddler so if he’s wrong there’s not much lost for him but Marc on the other hand owns his own market in a town and for him that’s his world. If Lawrence’s plan fails then he’ll lose everything. The trust of his customers and other merchants as well as his reputation. As much as he would like to help Lawrence he can’t risk ruining his business and family because of a blind gamble. However, he recommends that Lawrence talk to Diana and the alchemist as they use pyrite a lot and might have a large batch of it they be willing to sell to Lawrence since they don’t care about the market (its genius).

Episodes 5-8

After receiving help from Batos in episode 5 Lawrence goes to Diana in the hopes of getting the pyrite unfortunately the pyrite has already been sold on credit to someone else (he’s screwed) however Diana says that she will do her best to find him some by tomorrow. Lawrence returns to Marc (he should really put up a no soliciting sign) where he finds out the price of pyrite continues to rise but Marc tells Lawrence not to get discourage and even helps him sort out his feelings for Holo (you are a good side character and friend Marc. I would do business with you anyday). The next day Lawrence goes to meet Amarti with Holo by his side (oh~ right in the heart) and Amarti gives Lawrence 14 gold coins which is the equivalent of 300 silver coins as part of their deal. Also for those of you still in the dark about Lawrence’s plan his plan is to oversaturate the market with pyrite. You see right now the reason pyrite is selling so high is because the market is scarce with them so finding them is hard. But once the market has an overabundance of pyrite than the price will drop drastically because it’s everywhere now. It’s sort of like buying a console around the holiday season instead of say buying one in the spring of next year. During the holiday season game companies don’t make enough consoles so every area gets a certain amount of them so the consoles sale at a very high price. But come spring time when the dust has settled and the holidays are over the price will fall a little because the market has become saturated with the consoles and companies need to sell all those consoles as quickly as possible or risk losing a profit.

Things don’t go well for Lawrence in episode 6. He jumps the gun on selling the pyrite he originally has as it continues to rise, Diana’s negotiations to secure him more pyrite failed, Holo continues to stay with Amarti, and Lawrence keeps having thoughts of the two doing it (woah you’re into some NTR stuff aren’t you Lawrence?). Just when Lawrence is all but ready to give up Marc’s apprentice boy Landt tells him not to give up and spurs him on even confessing that he too fell in love with Holo at first sight (well give him credit he at least waited until the end to confess to Lawrence). This gives Lawrence the strength he needs to keep going and he goes once again to sell his second bag of pyrite when low and behold Holo is also selling pyrite as well. It turns out the person Diana sold the pyrite to earlier was Holo who all this time was helping out Lawrence (the loyalty of a woman and wolf is unwavering. (Yin-Yang): Damn straight). After they sell the market on pyrite quickly turns to selling dropping the price greatly causing Amarti to take huge losses (you overestimated yourself kid. You may be good but you still got a long way to go before you can play with the adults). In the end Amarti doesn’t make the money to fulfill his portion of the challenge and gives up on his proposal to Holo. After that we see what went on behind the scenes such as Lawrence being an idiot and believing that Holo had sided with Amarti when really she was on his side the whole time and how she was always waiting for him to return to her (yeah it was stupid of him not to go and see her. Leaving her alone to be picked up by Amarti was a dumb move). We also find out that Diana is actually just like Holo except only a bird (I had a feeling she was similar to Holo. There was white feathers all around her house yet not once did we see a bird with white feathers). The bond between the two grows stronger and they decide to continue their journey together.

Episode 7 is a rather slow episode which is fine by me. After everything that happened to them these few episodes they deserve to take it nice and easy for a while. It starts off on a rather cute note with the two traveling and Holo falling asleep and resting on Lawrence’s lap (it’s adorable to say the least). It soon begins to rain but luckily they arrive in the Lenos a city famous for its fur and wood. Upon entering the city Lawrence receives a tablet identifying him as a foreign merchant and allowing him to trade in town (what a bizarre rule. That’s like me giving foreigners a tablet identifying them as foreigners). After finding a room, drying their clothes, eating and resting the next day they decide to search the town and see if they can find any information about Yoitsu and Holo (and also engage in some fun and silly banter with each other which turns into flirty. Scene here: //youtu.be/9ejEjFBVRzs, *blushes* woah Lawrence’s line at 1:02 even had me speechless. I guess he has his ways of surprising us as well). After that cute moment (I want these two to end up together so bad~) they ask the innkeeper if he knows of any chronicle writers to which he advises them to meet a man named Rigoro Deidre, a scribe of the Church who is a part of this strange gathering of people Lawrence and Holo saw camping outside the town known as the 50 man meeting. After getting this information they run into a mysterious cloaked figure who Lawrence mistakes for a man when really it’s a woman (very rude of him) and they decide to explore the town a little bit starting at the port.

At the start of episode 8 Lawrence and Holo go to the port where Holo is blown away by the scenery (it is nice I won’t lie). While eating and drinking Holo uses her sharp hearing to discover that due to an expedition up north being cancelled foreign fur merchants are having a hard time selling their wares resulting in some civil unrest between them and the residents of the town. This issue is so big that the town is even wondering if they should have a fur trade and as a result has put a hold on fur trading and fur-related stuff until after the 50 men meeting. After Holo gets drunk and goes to rest in the room (I’m beginning to think Holo has a drinking problem) Lawrence goes to a tavern where a pretty waitress named Helena tells him that there’s rumor of a big trade going down amongst the merchants on the outskirts of town. Lawrence believes that he can use this issue to make a profit but requires a bit more information on the issue. He goes to chat with the innkeeper where his talk gets interrupted by that cloaked woman from earlier who introduces herself as Eve Boland another traveling merchant who take an interest in Lawrence. The two chat for quite a bit where they seem to hit it off with each other quite well and we find out that she’s a friend of Rigoro (are connection to the inside) and will gladly setup a meeting between them. After chatting they shake hands with Eve asking Lawrence if he would like to do business sometime in the future and him saying he’ll think about it.

Episodes 9-12

Nothing much to say about episode 9. Lawrence and Holo go to meet Rigoro at his house where he more than gladly lends Holo books about legends of the north. They then have an enjoyable afternoon together (you know it’s been a while since they argued with each other. It’s quite nice actually). When they return to the end as Holo is falling asleep she expresses her concern about being separated from Lawrence when their journey reaches an end (it doesn’t have to reach an end. Just keep traveling together and enjoy yourselves. That’s what I would do). After Holo falls asleep Lawrence goes back down to talk to Eve and the innkeeper where Eve talks about how her business venture in selling statues of the Holy Mother Mary has sunk thanks to the Church who cut her off and she’s determined to move south where the Church’s influence has deteriorated however she needs money and she wants Lawrence to her by selling off Holo (//youtu.be/im_5QdHp04E).

In episode 10 we find out that 50 man meeting ended with a few conditions for foreign merchants (oh did they now?). Foreign merchants will be allowed to purchase fur however they must pay in cash (no charge or credit only cash) and since they’re all travelers they don’t carry that much money meaning there’s going to be a lot of angry merchants in town (in short, there’s going to be a trade war between the merchants and the Church and this town is going to be right in the middle of it). But Eve has a plan to get money quickly, buy the fur, and then resale it down the river for 2 or 3 times what she paid and that plan involves selling Holo to get the money, buy and sell the fur to make a profit, and then buy Holo back (and worst case scenario she could just transform into a wolf, scare people half to death, and runaway returning to Lawrence). The innkeeper is also in on the plan because he wants to go on a pilgrimage and even offers up the inn to Lawrence should he help them. Upon telling Holo about the plan she convinces him to go through with it saying that this is his chance to finally open up that shop he’s always wanted. She doesn’t want Lawrence to sacrifice his dreams for her and wants him to be selfish in his goals (maybe he has a new goal in life). Lawrence then goes to the church where he pays a homeless man for information about the Church finding out that besides selling statues Eve also sold salt to the Church who are trying to increase their power within the region (with the use of salt? Interesting plan). The bishop of the town’s church wants to become an archbishop and since Eve comes from a noble family with connections to the higher ups in The Church they entered an agreement to become partners with each other but as time went on the bishop’s position for greater power became more secure he decided to cut her off as to not get caught in any scandal. After hearing all this and sensing the nervousness in Eve they still decide to go through with the plan and head out to sell Holo.

In episode 11 Lawrence, Holo, and Eve go to the Derink Trading Company where they propose to purchase Holo for 60 Lumione gold coins (too cheap, go higher. You guys are buying a fox deity not Bobby Brown). They agree to the deal and go out to celebrate their victory with a drink where Eve ask how the two met (out in the middle of nowhere with herself naked in his carriage as the day she was born) and she tells them about her past into how she was sold to a merchant who tried to corner the wool market but due to new laws being passed failed and became bankrupted as a result of it. Not being able to live with the embarrassment he killed himself and now Eve is determined to become more successful than him as a way to show the world how the man she married wasn’t worthy of her (that’s some goal). Once they get back to the room Holo says that once the deals goes down they should break their ties with each other (what! No~) because Lawrence will have all the money he needs to open up his own shop and Holo admits that she’s afraid of losing Lawrence. He tries to get her to change her mind but fails (just offer her a barrel of apples. I don’t care what you have to do just don’t get her to leave). The next day they go to return the books to Rigoro where Eve arrives telling them they have to leave immediately because the whole town is revolting (I knew things were going too good for them).

In the final episode we find out that the merchants weren’t too happy with the decision made at the 50 man meeting (I figured. The whole thing was totally unfair to them) and they are demanding the decision be overruled (or the town gets burned to the ground. Which will be bad for them because there won’t be anybody to sell their supplies to. Not the best thought out plan). Despite all the chaos happening in the city the deal to sell Holo off goes through and Lawrence gets his money (you disgust me Lawrence) and runs toward the inn where he feels miserable about what he did (and you should be) where he meets back up with Eve who has arranged a ship for them to escape. Lawrence decides to pull out of the deal and Eve threatens to kill him because he figured out her dark secret (he knows something you don’t). It turns out that the salt Eve delivered to the Church was used to craft the statues this whole time and for a while Eve and the Church made profit off of it and were about to go into fur trading business together but the Church felt that their dealings with Eve would go public and be reflected badly so they cut off ties with her and found new people to partner with. Eve was just using Lawrence as a shield to protect herself should the Church decide to take her out and when the time was right she would take him out, steal his money, and make a profit for herself off of all the fur. She tries to kill him but Lawrence stops her and holds her down but he lowers his guard and gets knocked out. He wakes up sometime later where it’s snowing and the town seems to have settled down (well the place hasn’t been burnt down so it’s not as bad as we thought). Eve took his money and ran but she left him the deed to the inn which he uses to buy Holo back who is downright mad and upset at him. Facing her fury Lawrence goes all in and confesses his feelings to Holo (scene here: //youtu.be/hyQqK5UIcoU. That was beautiful. Too bad the kiss was done awkwardly). So in the midst of all the chaos still going on in the city the two manage to safely reach the docks and prepare to board a ship to continue their journey.

Final Thoughts

So that was the second season of Spice and Wolf. Let’s judge this series by looking at the arcs. The first arc is alright. I do like how Lawrence comes to realize how much Holo means to him and how the thought of her being with some other guy agitates him. I like how Holo despite being upset with Lawrence still remains loyal to him and secretly gives him signs that she’s on his side proving that she cares about him more than anyone else. The only downside to this arc is that a lot of the drama we see between the two feels unnecessary especially near the end where we see that all Lawrence had to do was just talk to her. It really makes all the worries and doubts that Lawrence had unnecessary and drags the story out when it could have easily been solved in like 2 episodes. The second arc is good as we return to a lot of microeconomics. This arc also seems to focus more on Holo as she comes to realize her feelings for Lawrence but also comes to the realization that she’s a demigod and he’s a human meaning someday he’ll die while she’ll continue to live. While she loves him she doesn’t want him to give up on his own dreams and tries to cut her ties with him so that he can realize his dreams only to see that Lawrence cares for her as much as she cares for him. Seeing Lawrence confess to her is so heartwarming and beautiful to see. The only downside to this arc is that the ending doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. It just sort of happens randomly as Lawrence and Holo leave the city with no problems along the way. It really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Character wise the anime continues to focus and develop the relationship between Lawrence and Holo and keep that at the center of the anime. The chemistry between the two characters is amazing. In fact it’s even better this season than the first season. The voice actors for both the sub and dub work off each other so well that you would think they’re in a real life relationship with each other which only makes the relationship between Lawrence and Holo more realistic. I really do love how their relationship develops through the season and how far they’re willing to go for each other. You can tell its true love between the two and how they both realize that at the end their relationship will end sadly they both can’t fight their feelings for each other and in the end want to be with each other no matter what. The more one tries to push away the more the other one tries to pull close to them because their love for each other is just to great. Once again we get to see talks of economics which are done incredibly well this season as they were in the first season. For some people the talks might be hard to understand but the anime tries to keep them as simple as possible. The animation is still good. Aside from a few facial changes and different angles Brain Base didn’t really change the animation up from the first season. If you liked the animation in the first season you won’t be disappointed in this season’s animation. Once again the music is good and continues to follow the European folklore music and yes the voice acting for this anime in the dub is great. Hands down one of the best dubs you will ever see and proof that when we get it right we really really really get it right.

Is it better than the first season

This is a rather tough question because I really do like both seasons but I’m going to say this season is better than the first season. In my opinion this season is a lot more memorable than the first one and I do like how it focuses more on our two main characters and their relationship with each other. Which in my opinion is the best part of this series. It’s real, it’s genuine, and even though you know it’ll lead to a sad ending you can’t help but cheer for them in the end. This season also shows how vulnerable Lawrence and Holo are. Lawrence isn’t this perfect merchant he has flaws and is clueless at times. Holo isn’t always this cool, calm, and wise wolf she can be scared, sad, and lonely and in truth just wants someone to be by her side.

Final Score

The final score for the second season of Spice and Wolf is 9/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. It would have been a perfect if it worked on the unnecessary drama in the first arc and fixed its ending. But other than that it’s a great anime that lives up if not passes the standards of the first season. Definitely check this anime out when you have the chance you will not regret it. Check it out now or I’ll infect your computer. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.

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Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com

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