More crazy wolf and merchant anime is always a welcome thing and I finished the second season of Spice and Wolf last night well after it had finished airing in Japan. It's actually surprisingly good timing as I can also mention some other great news for those Spice and Wolf fans out there. The biggest question though is whether or not the second season lived up to the quality and originality of the first season.
In a word YES it did very much so. There is still a ton of old world economics with the mingling of the church to make it refreshingly different and this time around Lawrence our intrepid traveling Merchant ditches the cart for the most part. Horo keeps mostly to her self this time around and does more tit for tat with Lawrence than anything else. But for the most part it's that tit for tat that makes you like this series so much. The two have an interesting relationship and finally the man steps up to the plate and tells Holo that he loves her at the end. HELL YA! He even kisses her.
This time around there are two main plots in the middle of Lawrence and Holo's travels to her home land. The first obstacle in the way is a young boy looking to buy Holo's Freedom but he ends up getting beaten since Holo being the wise one beats out the two guys even though Lawrence was able to make his plan work in the end of course that leads us to Holo giving him a lecture.
The second obstacle is an apparent chance for Lawrence to get that store front that he's always wanted but that would mean leaving Holo to her own adventures but Holo shares the same loneliness since she is falling in love and is thinking about how rough it will be to out live Lawrence even though she's done it many times before. The chance is that Lawrence goes into business with another female trader to purchase Furs with a large amount of cash using Holo as collateral. The business is a schame and Lawrence finds out about it in the most round about way and confronts his partner who knocks him flat on his ass and takes the money leaving him high and dry. Well minus the dead to the Hotel place that they have all been staying and it allows Lawrence to buy Holo back and tell her how he truly feels. That leaves us kind of wanting and waiting for a third season and more adventures of Holo and Lawrence on their travels to her home land.
I don't think it was nearly as good as the first season only because it wasn't so new at the time and by this time you know Lawrence will figure his way out of any troubles so there is no worries also Holo was considerably more clothed than in the first season. Anyways on to that other good news. The first season is being released soon in a complete collection all 13 episodes dubbed by FUNimation and if you haven't heard the uproar else where the Lite Novels that the anime is based on is being published by Yen Press although there is some resentment about the covers being non anime related. It's still a great way to find out what new adventures await Holo and Lawrence however so might be worth it anyways.
Check out a preview of the second season here.
