Spice and Wolf 2
Alternate Titles: Ōkami to Kōshinryō II
Original Japanese Release Date: July 8th, 2009
Episode Length/Run-time: 13 Episodes
Summary:
The journey between Laurence Craft and Horo continues as the pair live the life of a merchant on their way to returning Horo to her home village.
Review:
This season of Spice and Wolf is largely the same as the last. It’s a nice “love story” between Laurence Craft, a merchant, and Horo, a wolf girl deity. As is the case with the first season, there is a great deal of commerce and economics happening which might make it a little difficult for some people to follow. Still, all in all it’s an enjoyable story.
The characters in this show as very good. Laurence Craft is a sensitive personality with shrewd business sense. He also has a lot of guts, at times risking it all on a business deal that can either make him a price or a pauper. Horo is equally a shrewd and is super cute. She’ll often use her senses as both a wolf and a goddess to read and manipulate people.
I do have a couple of complaints with the show to go along with my compliments. First of all, the story of Spice and Wolf 2 felt a bit stagnant to me. The pacing is very slow. It never really made progress over the first season. The pair travel from town to town, trading goods, and really the biggest drama in the series comes from Laurence’s ever present possibility of going bankrupt. Perhaps the most frustrating thing for me was the love aspect of the show which still didn’t seem to make much progress. It’s obvious that they care for each other but ultimately, there is little “physical” progress being made in their relationship.
The show looks glorious. The quality of the art and animation is stunning. Vibrant colors and very appealing character designs are the hallmark of this series. In addition, the music is beautiful. The themes and the episode music are whimsical and memorable.
All in all, this is a good show. What keeps it from being great is the slow pacing and the lack of progress that the story really makes towards its conclusion. The characters and music are memorable but the show does little that the original Spice and Wolf did not.
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