Ookami to Koushinryou
Spice & Wolf

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Spice and Wolf is a romance manga with touches of drama with power dynamics and intrigue, but let's break it down.

The central characters are Lawrence accompanying Horo in search of his homeland, both protagonists are very charismatic and with a chemistry that makes the romance engaging. In that sense, see how their relationship blossoms along the journey and how one influence on the other is not only fun but rewarding.

The story is surprisingly cool, focused on being an adventure where to find the location of the land of Horo they need to investigate manuscripts and collect information. However, knowledge has power and especially value for ... merchants who hold the documents, so Lawrence often ends up being swallowed up by the commercial dispute that is taking place between those who have the material in possession.
In this sense, it's really cool to see how the conflicts are constructed, being more strategic than really physical, where the antagonists have a great presence and malice that makes the protagonists feel pressure in a suffocating way.... However, unfortunately the author doesn't close as much well the conflicts in the same way that it builds them so it is very common the plot has an ending that borders on the innocent and easy.

The characters in the manga are one of its greatest qualities, it's a power game so the enemy at the beginning can become an ally along the way and that's good because it conveys the human complexity that the merchant profession requires. This is even why simplistic endings weigh heavily at the end of arcs, because the author is very careful in passing characters off as something more human to end up as something shallow.

The art is pretty average, there are moments where it can take pages to be mesmerized and impressive. However, in general, it is more common to be weak in passing movement and expression.

Ultimately, Spice and Wolf is an enjoyable novel with engaging arcs and, unfortunately, a simple ending. Having an average art that rarely delivers anything of impact, at least it has its perfect ending for those looking for a good romance.

I start this review by saying that spice and wolf is, for me, one of the few Japanese works that can uniquely describe a medieval / fantasy world, implementing slice of life facets to a solid and interesting story.

Moreover, unlike many lovers of spice and wolf, I believe that the manga is a work that has nothing to envy to the anime and the light novel, since it presents the engaging story of spice and wolf, adding however the fantastic drawings of koume sensei, which give peculiar details to Holo (in particular), and make Lawrence a character who demonstrates many more emotions.

Now I ... finish giving my personal judgments and list the reasons why I highly recommend reading spice and wolf to lovers of the genre, or to those who know this work but are reluctant to read the manga transposition.

Story (8,5/10)

The story follows the travels of Holo and Lawrence, respectively a divine wolf, who would like to return to his native land after a long stay in the village of Pasloe, where she is no longer respected by the inhabitants; and a merchant, who would like to open his own business and stop wandering, settling in one place and staying there for life. The story of the manga sometimes differs from that of the light novel, as it ended first, and the light novel still continues. However, in any case, the adaptation of sensei Koume is still enjoyable, sometimes it presents very long dialogues, but they're are very well chosen, and make perfectly understand the problems and adventures that gravitate around the economy.

Characters (8,5/10)

Characters are one of the strengths of spice and wolf. The imagination and effort put into creating main characters like Lawrence and Holo are remarkable. Moreover, even the secondary characters are very interesting and unique in their own way. The characters fit perfectly into the story, and never feel boring or underdeveloped. Indeed, in each narrative arc it is possible to discover interesting secondary characters useful for the resolution of the specific economic problem, who come into contact with Lawrence and Holo (who always find themselves in the midst of events and must resolve conflicts between cities or commercial companies). Sometimes these characters help the protagonists and sometimes they get in the way, but they are never bland or badly characterized.

Art style (9/10)

The art style of sensei Koume is elaborate, but at the same time it almost seems like a sketch at times. The expressions of Holo are priceless, as are the rural and medieval landscapes that are drawn by the sensei. Koume was really the right mangaka to draw this genre of manga, even if most of his works are h-manga, I must say that he is really talented and I would be happy if he could also adapt other works like spice and wolf.

Enjoyment (9,5/10)
In this section there is not much to say ... The manga is relaxing from start to finish, and its medieval atmosphere makes it even more enjoyable. Moreover, the alternation of serious and happy moments, with the continuous and inevitable company of the divine Holo (best waifu) make it one of my favorites.

Overall (9)

To finish this review, I recommend you to also read the original source and watch the anime, as they are worth all the time and money you will invest in watching / reading them.

The anime both old and new are fantastic. I finally decided to check out the manga and it was okay. The artwork is amazing and the best aspect for me. Second to that is the setting. The story in general is really good, and the arcs were good but the dialogue was a struggle for me. It makes sense since it's a story about a merchant but putting a sense of action and seriousness behind that is not easy and it shows. There is one arc that centers around a certain captured animal that was just weird, like treating it as the centerpiece of a ... do or die situation of whether or not they can buy it, comes off as really forced, trying to inject some kind of action into a really bland premise.

The relationship between Laurence and Holo is stagnant for much of the manga, and the running joke of Holo calling Laurence 'a fool' gets old. Also the sudden attitude shifts is jarring. Going from happy to sad to laughing happens too much.

Between the dry dialogue and stagnant relationship, the story in general is suited more for an anime.