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Since this is the first time I did this on this blog, I would like to say most of the anime reviews I do will likely be in this format, where I would watch the entire series and review the series as a whole. Part of this has to do with my watching habits, another reason is that I feel this offer a much better overall review as I have watch the entire series, and allows me to comment on hindsight. There will be episode review for some series that I can't wait to watch/review and those series will be listed on the right side of my blog, while the rest will be reviewed whenever I get around to it once it is done. For those that actually read my reviews, and would like to see episode reviews of a particular series, I'm open to suggestions and you can leave a comment here or some other post and I will take it into considerations.
Now that the administration stuff is taken care of, let us dive into the main course!
Overall rating (out of 10 apples): 7.5
Recommended for: Mature viewers, lighthearted series
Do not read past this point if you intend to watch this series, as there will be spoilers, you have been warned.
After watching the first season of Spice and Wolf, I was eagerly waiting for the second season as I have never really seen anything quite like it- A light heart story between a goddess and a merchant with so many witty twist, both big and small. The interaction between the Horo, our pagan wolf goddess, and Kraft Lawrence, a traveling merchant that happened to stumble upon this goddess, is gold. My prediction was that it will be difficult to match the first season and unfortunately for the most part, I was right.
The production was generally good overall, the art got a tad messy near the end, especially the last two episode, but it was definitely no Eva, and acceptable by today's standards.
The seiyuus did a wonderful job again, without mention Jun Fukuyama (Lawrence) and Ami Koshimizu (Horo) [Since they are by default, awesome], the rest of the cast, such as Amati and Eve, all fill their role with emotions and as a viewer I could not complain. A note to the side- If only the english voice actors/actresses can do the same it would make English dubs so much more enjoyable to watch and English dub games so much more enjoyable. To this date I could name all the good voice actors in one hand, and I can not even name one good voice actresses in North America, and I can't really fault them, as the anime business here just isn't big enough for them to receive the proper training to produce the quality many of us are looking for.
The witty interaction between Lawrence and Horo intensified in the second season, and while that is a good thing, I felt it took away from the plot, and often times, slowed down the pace and forced a rush somewhere else down the line. However, I really do enjoy the conversation between the two so I didn't mind it that much, but overall the pacing could have been much better if the series was extended to 13 episodes.
For the story, let's break it down to the two main arcs in second season:
Amati arc
The story of Amati was definitely the best part of the second season, the investigation Lawrence did behind Horo's back; the breakdown between Horo and Lawrence; the duel between Amati and Lawrence; the realization of each other's feelings between Horo and Lawrence were all very well written for the viewers. I would argue on hindsight that the resolution, where Lawrence came to the realization that Horo was on his side seems to come to sudden and could've had a tad more dramatic build-up for the "Eureka!" moment, but the entire arc kept me at the edge of my seat I can't complain. I am also pretty curious what Amati said that made Horo mad enough to try to rob Amati of everything. This arc definitely reminds me of the first season for its clever yet reasonable twist and the detail yet exciting interactions between Lawrence and everyone else.
Renos, Eve arc
After the exciting story of Amati, the viewers followed Lawrence and Horo to the town of Renos, while I will not say the arc was boring, the pacing was definitely slowed down quite a bit as this arc focused on Horo X Lawrence much more than the other arcs and therefore the underlying plot was relatively slow. The external conflict between Lawrence and the "world" sort to speak is quite lacking in the second part as the focus was on Horo. The dull colour and slow pacing sets a really depressing foreshadow to the internal conflict of Horo and her feelings, so much that the so called risk in the fur trade really couldn't match up, as a viewer I barely felt tension between the Lawrence and Abe. However, Horo's struggle was also very subtle which made this arc very slow-moving, and as a viewer this sudden change in pacing made this arc look even slower- it's like driving on the highway at 130km/hr, after getting off the highway it feels really slow even when you are driving 80km/hr. Also, the art quality really dropped in the last two episode and sometimes the character look a bit deformed and background a little distorted, acceptable but it could have been done much better.
Overall I really like this series, I will say this now- I'm looking forward to a third season. Even though the second season left me somewhat unsatisfied, I still felt it was a good season and I still feel joy and entertained watching the beautiful, lighthearted tale between my favorite pagan wolf goddess and her beloved traveling merchant.
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