From "Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf," Episode 10 "The Wolf's Wisdom and the Merchant's Sweet Talk" - advance scene clips and plot summary released!
Spice and Wolf, an adventure story about a traveling merchant and a wise wolf—this super-popular light novel series published by KADOKAWA's Dengeki Bunko, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2021, has now been adapted into a brand new TV anime, 'Spice and Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf'! (I know, I'm also chuckling at this long title)
The anime has aired up to Act 10 (that is, episode 10), titled 'The Wolf's Wisdom and the Merchant's Sweet Talk'. In this episode, our protagonist Lawrence falls into a huge predicament. Due to a sharp drop in weapon prices, he incurs massive debt and is almost facing bankruptcy. He runs through the streets, pleading to raise money, but is repeatedly turned away at the door. Lawrence manages to scrape together a little money, intending to at least give it to his partner, the Wise Wolf Holo, as travel expenses to return home. However, this action of his greatly angers Holo. So, Holo proposes a secret plan to Lawrence, hoping the two of them can overcome the hardship together.
The anime's production team is very strong, including Chief Director Takashi Takahashi, Director Issei Mitsuishi, Character Designer Koji Haneda, Color Designer Tomoko Koyama, Sound Director Tomohiro Yoshida, Music by Kevin Penkin, and production by the collaboration of two well-known studios, ENISHIYA and Passione. The theme songs are performed by the popular singers Hana Hope and ClariS. Moreover, the voice cast bringing the characters to life is also quite luxurious, including Jun Fukuyama, Ami Koshimizu, Daisuke Namikawa, Yoshitada Otsuka, and others.
As for the original novels, they have now been published up to volume 24. The story follows the young traveling merchant Kraft Lawrence, who, with a horse pulling his cart as his companion, lives a life traveling from one city to another, selling goods. One day, in a village surrounded by golden wheat fields, he meets a beautiful girl with wolf ears and a tail named Holo. Holo calls herself the 'Wise Wolf' and is actually the incarnation of a wolf who presides over harvests. And so, the two of them begin their commercial journey to the north together. However, a merchant's journey is always full of unexpected twists and turns...
If you haven't watched Spice and Wolf yet, or haven't kept up with the new anime, then I highly recommend you check it out. It's a story full of wisdom and adventure, and both the original novels and the anime are very much worth watching.