If you enjoy the atmospheric soundtrack, leisurely journey, and comforting world of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End but are at a loss for something similar to chew on as you bide your time awaiting the second season to release, there’s another series you should definitely check out in the meantime: Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf! Especially with Frieren bringing a lot of bright vibes and the summer season nearing a close, Spice and Wolf is sure to begin getting you into the autumnal mood with a harvest festival and apples galore!
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While Frieren provided some fantastical deathmatches with demons and dragons along Frieren, Fern, and Stark’s otherwise fairly leisurely journey, Spice and Wolf winds down Lawrence and Holo’s journey with an even more easygoing, grounded excursion. The hook of Spice and Wolf includes a complicated and convincing, authentic trade economy with a deep focus on mercantilism and currency. If you enjoy a tale including a compelling romantic twist and a cozy adventure atmosphere in a lightly fantastical, antiquated world, you won’t want to sleep on Spice and Wolf.
Wolf, Economics, and Apples
As Kraft Lawrence, a traveling merchant, makes a stop in the next town on his route, the pagan village of Pasloe, the town is in the midst of its annual harvest festival. As legend has it, one of the villagers made a promise with the wolf deity Holo centuries ago, with the wolf blessing Pasloe with bountiful harvests of wheat year after year. As time passed and the villagers became disenchanted, the legend became merely tradition as the townsfolk ceased worshipping the now considered fictitious deity.
But Lawrence, about to set out to his next destination, finds someone sleeping amongst his pelt wares — a nude woman with animal ears and tail who claims to be Holo, the wolf deity herself. Wishing to return to her home in the north, she convinces Lawrence to allow her to accompany him in his travels, vowing to earn her keep via her quick wits and experience with negotiation. On their leisurely journey, Lawrence and Holo vigilantly utilize economic opportunities that they happen upon, putting both their shrewd business skills and their relationship to the test.
A series centered on a wise, eccentric, underestimated female protagonist hundreds of years old, going on an atmospheric, leisurely journey? Surely any Frieren fan will enjoy this similar series! Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf from 2024 is itself a remake of the 2008 anime based on the eponymous ongoing 24-volume light novel series, Spice and Wolf, by Isuna Hasekura and illustrated by Juu Ayakura. The anime has had one 2-cour season so far, with Season 2 confirmed to be on the way (a second series with an upcoming second season to look forward to!).
As Frieren focuses on more traditional fantasy worldbuilding, Spice and Wolf takes a different, more realistic pathway in creating its fantasy world. While other anime tend to gloss over how economics actually function and expect audiences to assume a very simplistic, straightforward system, Spice and Wolf delves into such fundamentals and practicalities. Concentrated on trade and mercantile within the world, the characters and interactions prioritize explaining the intricacies of the economic inner workings such as different currencies, exchange rates, performing negotiations, and the unique dangers that come with such monetary dealings.
Although a premise centering on economics may seem more mundane and uninteresting, this series spices things up. With Holo’s keen craftiness and whimsicality and Lawrence’s mature practicality, the two make for one shrewd, eccentric duo. While their talent for gaining the economic upper hand often benefits them, sometimes it actually becomes a detriment and lands them in some mischief along their journey, other merchants not always taking kindly to their cunningly shrewd dealings.
Holo may be a powerful wolf god, but there’s one thing her towering beastly form can’t brute force: money. In which case, Holo needs to rely on her extensive experience and wit to assist Lawrence in his dealings. But while she may often take on a smaller human form, her appetite tends to retain its monstrous appetite, earning her keep often has its perks of getting to eat some tasty foods. As much as the series can feel somewhat educational at times, it’s also just fun to watch Holo absolutely devour a bushel of apples.
Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Let us know in the comments your thoughts on Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf as a fan of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End!
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