Popular Fantasy Anime Remake Is Breaking New Ground

The Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf remake hasn’t really managed to make a name for itself. Sure, it’s visually stunning and the story is great, but it’s hard to really see why the remake was necessary in the first place when it’s so close to the original.

There were only a few differences between the two Spice and Wolf anime versions, such as the color pallet and voice actors. Only two main differences are notable, which involve Holo looking much cuter and less frightening in her wolf form, and the change from the character Chloe, who was original to the first anime, to Yarei, the actual character from the novel. These small changes meant the two stories were pretty similar and hard to tell apart.

At least, it seemed that way during the first part. However, as of August 19, the new Spice and Wolf has decided it’s time to deviate from the original. It’s doing this by adapting an arc completely skipped in the first anime adaptation.

This arc is titled Legend of the Pagan Gods and is covered in the fourth volume of the manga.

This is exciting news as this arc has some prominent ties to the overarching story. It being skipped in the first Spice and Wolf anime was surprising and quickly derailed the story.

It focuses heavily on Holo (Ami Koshimizu) herself and her history, and it seems it was ignored in favor of focusing the plot on the relationship between Holo and Lawrence (Jun Fukuyama).

There is another reason the original show stopped here. For a long time, most anime adaptations were done to entice people to read the manga more than to cover the story in new media.

The fifth volume of the Spice and Wolf manga, and where the original anime adaptation stopped, ends on a huge cliffhanger. This made it the perfect place to quit the anime to try and encourage people to read the manga and to get there quicker, they cut out the not-so-necessary arc.

However, fans were disappointed to see such an interesting arc skipped. The studio behind the new Spice and Wolf anime seems to realize this, as they are promoting the arc hard with new key visuals and social media announcements.

In addition to this being an amazing arc that lets viewers learn more about one of the main characters, the fact that Passione Studio (Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou) is adapting this arc is a good sign for the future of this Spice and Wolf remake. It means there might be a good chance the full manga is adapted and the story actually gets an ending for anime viewers.

In this arc of Spice and Wolf, two new characters are introduced. The first is Elsa Schtingheim, who is voiced by Lynn (Oshi No Ko). The second is Evan Gyoam, voiced by Atsushi Abe (Maid Sama!).

If you want to catch up with the Spice and Wolf remake, it’s available to watch on Crunchyroll. Despite all the similarities, the new story is doing well for itself, with an average score of 8.03 on My Anime List.