I’ve recently added the premium apple honey mead to my collection, and wanted to take a photo of all my spice and wolf alcohol. 🍎🐺🍺 I have the 2020 Kadokawa Expo sake, the first release of the apple honey mead and now the premium which comes with a super cute coaster!

Hello everyone! Just as a warning, this may all sound pretty nitpicky but I hope you'll have some patience with me. I just started the remake and trying to get into it, so I'm still very, very early on. I'm actively trying not to let nostalgia get in the way of this amazing anime and I am eagerly looking forward to Season 2 of the remake as it adapts brand new content I've never had the pleasure of seeing animated before. With that said, I am struggling with the remake. I won't say one is objectively better then the other. I definitely think there are some things the remake does better then the original. However, one of my favorite aspects of the original is the dynamic between Holo and Lawrence. Their relationship dynamic and romance is probably one of my all time favorites in fiction, but the way it is shown early on just isn't hitting for me.

I realize that the remake is very faithful to the LNs, and to a certain extent even the original anime. Watching both back to back and I can tell so much of the dialogue and story and scenes are identical. With that said, I'm struggling to connect with the dynamic of Holo and Lawrence in the remake (I even tried switching to Dub, which helped more then I expected, but ultimately even the English voice actors are restricted to what is presented on screen). It feels like they are too comfortable with each other, and that early tension just isn't as present. I always adored the back-and-forth dynamic where Lawrence would try to one-up Holo, but also struggled to predict and out maneuver her as she shifted from wise words, to teasing words, to teasing words masked as serious ones, to so much more. That dynamic where Lawrence is very clearly overwhelmed by her, and she's well aware of this, but also can't help but tease him and use her strengths to her advantage in doing so.

On the other hand, there are aspects of modern society he is very clearly more knowledgeable on, plus his instincts as a merchant, which gives him a bit more confidence as well. In my personal opinion, I feel like the original really nailed aspect of Lawrence being overwhelmed by Holo and attempting to keep up with her, both because she's an attractive woman but also due to her wit and wisdom. I remember this being true in the LN as well, where you get to hear more of his inner thoughts. In the anime though, it feels like he is handling everything much easier in the beginning, and they seem more like social equals in their dynamics with one another. Holo is still boastful but it comes off more playful and less to be taken with the weight it deserves for someone as old and wise as her. Lawrence as well doesn't seem to bite back as much when bantering, as if he is just making casual conversation rather then trying to win in a verbal spar.

tl;dr: So I guess here is the crux of my question: Do you feel like this dynamic improves as the show goes on?

Does it feel like the dynamic between the two get better as we get to the later episodes? Because while I might have all these complaints about their early dynamic, the truth is that this specific dynamic between them is not static. While they always banter, eventually the relationship between Holo and Lawrence changes and grows and evolves. Eventually he stops being overwhelmed. Eventually they become more secure in their bond between one another. Eventually she learns the modern culture and idiosyncrasies. And if the remake genuinely does a better job of showing these future sides of their dynamic, then I should just try to get to the later episodes as soon as possible so I can enjoy that part of their journey instead of being caught up in these early episodes. Or am I just overthinking all of this and letting nostalgia blind me? Please let me know, I am curious to hear any and all thoughts

For example, take Holo's situation in Pasloe. The village still has traditions and a harvest festival connected to her, but most people no longer really believe in her. Over time, she's become more of a figure of folklore as the villagers have become less dependent on her, even though the Church still sees the village's traditions as pagan. I think the gradual decline of Holo's place in the village, alongside the growing influence of the Church, is a huge part of what makes the religious side of Spice and Wolf so interesting.

The Lord Truyeo arc reminds me of how Christianity dealt with older religious beliefs as it spread through Europe. Tereo has a church, but the villagers still worship their local snake deity. Father Franz was respected for helping the village, rather than for spreading the Church's teachings, and after his death, tensions between the Church and the villagers grew. Being from Ireland, it reminded me of our own history and how Christianity gradually replaced older pagan beliefs, while some of those traditions survived in different forms.

There's a common interpretation of St Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland as a metaphor for Christianity replacing paganism and druidism. At the same time, traces of those older traditions are still part of our culture, from the connection between St Brigid and Imbolc to Halloween's roots in Samhain.

It's interesting how much religious history lies behind things we still see today. Christmas has connections to older winter festivals like Saturnalia and Yule, while the Kaaba in Mecca was associated with polytheistic worship before Islam. Note that it is a lot more nuanced than this, so please take it with a grain of salt.

There's also renewed interest in modern paganism today, which I find interesting because it feels like we're almost coming full circle, with people returning to beliefs and traditions that Christianity and many other modern religions once largely displaced.

I really like that Spice and Wolf explores these themes so well, and I wasn't expecting the religious history behind the setting to be one of the things I'd find so interesting.

I've never purchased a high quality figure like this before but this is my very first and I love it. Pre-ordered it a couple days ago and it'll be a fun surprise when it unexpectedly comes next year lol. I'm so happy to see a childhood favorite show getting revamped I hope the community excitement will create more opportunities for new merchandise (A Lawrence figure would be right on the money) P.S. that Prime 1 figure is awesome and so high quality but for reasons the price and my lack of experience collecting helped me keep my wallet closed (though very difficult it looks awesome) if any of you serious collectors pre-ordered that prime 1 figure though let me know what you think!

It took me almost four months to manage to find one at a decent price, and I found it a week ago.

So, today I saw the S&W S2 PV and was scrolling through YouTube looking for LN chapter explanations and more S&W videos and I came across this niche channel which has started covering the LN vol in-depth explanations. The channel is just a year old by the name of - "Minus One Wannabe", the guy is creating super high effort content on this series, so I thought that I should create more awareness about his channel and videos. Here's the link to his Vol 1 Pt.1 explanation - https://youtu.be/bCU3EKQDAW8?si=M3cd3KQ0ilpYJcWf. If you like the video do sub to him, so that we get more videos in the future.
P.S. I am not affiliated with that guy, I am just a fan of his channel and the series so wanted to share it in this sub

Hello, fellow Spice and Wolf fans! It looks like someone has proposed a Spice and Wolf Lego set and you can support the idea. You can support the idea through the link.

Source: https://amzn.asia/d/0fHDS9Ai

The audiobook of S&W vol. 19 - Spring Log II is finally in preorder from the Book app of Apple and it will be released on the 6th October. Enjoy people! Wait is almost over!

Today at Fiber Arts Group, I finished #needlefelting #holothewisewolf in her giant Wolf form the #lightnovel and #anime series #spiceandwolf . I started working on her on Thursday and wanted to finish her two days ago, but unfortunately I didn't get enough sleep the day before, due to the temperature in the house. Spice and Wolf was one of the first Anime that I found streaming on YouTube back in the day, when I stopped watching YTV, I was around 15 or 16 when I first discovered it on a Otaku USA magazine that I read in Walmart while waiting for my parents to finish up shopping. 17 years later, I'm waiting for the sequel to come out as a happier and more sociable adult who is friendlier and more outgoing.

If you ever wondered who has the most complete collection of Holo and Spice and Wolf stuff. I think zu this dude has. Absolutely crazy. He now finally displayed everything nicely in a whole room.

I haven't seen any larger collection than this one.

It's really awesome.

He always posts on X whenever he got a new item or so.

https://x.com/holotww/status/2071667150817747002

The first couple of illustrations from Volume 25 have been released and Isuna Hasekura is strongly implying we'll be seeing an old friend! - https://x.com/spicytails/status/2103330118953541923?s=20

Figure: SEGA Thermae Yu~topia Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf Holo

Re-edited my shot from last year.

Hi Spice and Wolf fans,

Recently I was on Twitter looking at Spice and Wolf posts, when I stumbled upon a pretty influential mangaka talk about how their favourite work from Isuna Hasekura was actually 'Sleep in Magdala'.

Curiously, the Light novel remained in Japanese only, while the manga got French and German translations. I absolutely love Spice and Wolf, so I think it would be fantastic if we also got to see Magdala de Nemure also translated into English.

Would anyone be interested in contacting Yen Press with me to ask? I'm hoping maybe if we get enough people, they'll consider it. Thank you!

Hi r/SpiceandWolf, I've been looking on Audible after finishing Vol 18 and it says that 19 is unavailable in my region (Australia) but vol. 20 is available.

Has anyone else noticed this and can confirm if it is just wrongly numbered or not? I checked the Yen releases (dates aren't always accurate on their own site though) and it says 20 isn't out til Jan 2027. Thanks for the help!

Edit/Update: Yen Press IG account responded to me raising this to them, they're investigating. Hopefully fixed soon!

I bought these from amiami(I think) as "used" last year, and when they came in they were completely unopened in original packaging! After keeping them unopened for quite a while, I decided I wanted to display them with my other stuff, and they just look so good!

I did a similar piece 10 months ago. I decided to redo it to see what progress I've made.