Spice and Wolf

Spice and Wolf (狼と香辛料, Ōkami to Kōshinryō, lit. "Wolf and Spice") (sometimes stylized as Spice & Wolf) is a multimedia franchise based around the adventures of the traveling merchant Kraft Lawrence and his wisewolf companion Holo. It began as a light novel series before branching out into other mediums including manga, anime, and video games.

Plot

Traveling merchant Kraft Lawrence dreams of settling down and opening up his own store one day. However, his work forces him to live hand to mouth, and unfortunate circumstances keep taking what extra cash he can obtain. This changes when he comes across a wolf spirit called Holo. The wise and witty god once oversaw the crops of a village called Pasloe, but recent generations have come to consider her fickle and uncaring, if they even remember her at all. Being stuck in Pasloe for centuries means she has missed out on a lot, so she would like to travel the world before returning to her homeland of Yoitsu to see what has changed. Though initially reluctant, Lawrence agrees to aid Holo on the condition that she help him with his work. Holo readily accepts, leading the two to begin their long journey to the north.

History

Isuna Hasekura initially submitted the first volume of Spice and Wolf for ASCII Media Works' 12th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2005. In 2006, the light novel was published under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint.

Media

Light novels

Main article: Spice and Wolf (light novels)

Main article: Wolf and Parchment: New Theory Spice and Wolf

Within the entire franchise, as of September 2024, there are 33 light novels. These can be separated into three series. First are the original Spice & Wolf series, which oficially end with the light novel volume 17, aptly named Epilogue. This light novel is set roughly 2 years after the events of light novel volume 16, and consists of short-style stories that culminate into the an opening ceremony for a bathhouse Spice & wolf, a wedding ceremony and a shocking revelation, whispered to Lawrence by Holo. This is, however, not an actual end to the stories of Lawrence & Holo.

Following the original series are series called Spring Log. These are light novels that focus on the lives of Lawrence and Holo some 13 years after the events of light novel volume 17. Up to the date, there are currently 7 light novels in the spring log series. Because the Spring log are essentially a continuation of Spice & Wolf, they continue the count from volume 18 to 24, currently. These series are a collection of both short stories, that mostly focus on the lives of Lawrence and Holo, occasionally also including Myuri and Tol, and some longer-format stories that connect to each other. Spring log occasionally also features short stories that would generally belong to the third series, that runs perpendicular to the Spring log. This third series, named Wolf & parchment: New theory Spice and Wolf, follow the story of Tote Col on his journey to reform the corrupt church, and Myuri, that followed him in search of her own adventure (and to tempt Tote Col from the path of a celibate priest into a marriage with her, of course). Wolf & Parchment: New theory Spice & wolf series currently feature 9 volumes. Because these series are focused on different set of main characters, these light novels are numbered from volume 1 to volume 9. While the timeline is not perfectly maintained, in terms of chronologic order, it is advised to first read volume 18 (Spring log 1) followed by Wolf & Parchment volume 1, and alternate between each other. It is also possible to read the series separatedly or as standalone series without any particular inconvinience, caused by the dependancy on reading the other series first.

There is a significant timeline distorsion between the flow of time in light novel 17, the following light novel 18 and Wolf & Parchment, volume 1. For example, the events in light novel 17 indicates that 5 years happened between the events of light novel volume 16 and 17 (3 years of bathhouse construction, 2 years of traveling and trading). However, in Wolf & Parchment and volume 18, Tote Col is implied to be 25 years old, and Myuri is 13. If the Volume 17 timeline was true, Tote Col would be at least 28 years old, and Myuri would have been at most 10 years old. This is likely a small oversight, caused by a long time between these volumes originally came out (volume 17 release year was 2011, volume 18 release year was 2016 - year 2016 also marks the 10th year anniversary of the series, when the previous 17 volumes were revised).

Manga

Main article: Spice and Wolf (manga)

A manga adaptation of the light novels began in 2007. It ran until 2017, finishing with a total of 100 chapters collected within 16 volumes. The art was created by Keito Koume.

Anime

2008 Anime

Main article: Spice and Wolf (2008 Anime)

In 2008, the first season of the anime adaptation aired. It ran for twelve episodes and had one OVA. The second season aired in 2009, running for twelve episodes and had one OVA.

2024 Anime

Main article: Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf is an anime series, announced in a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the franchise. The first season aired on April first, 2024, and features the stories from the first four light novels - the trenni silver arc, Ruvinheigen arc, Kummerson arc and Tereo arc, as well as one episode that featured a short story from volume 7 (Side colors 1). This short story, named Wolf and amber melancholy, is featured right after the conclusion of Ruvinheigen arc, featuring a celebration feast of Lawrence, Norah and Holo, during which Holo falls ill to exhaustion. In the original anime, this same short story was released as OVA for the second season of the show.

Video games

Main article: Spice and Wolf: My Year With Holo

Spice and Wolf: My Year With Holo is a short video game, released for Nintendo DS, in Japan on June 26, 2008. The game takes place in an alternate universe. Player takes a role of a protagonist that is loosely based on the personality and appearance of Kraft Lawrence. Starting off as a traveling peddler who does business on foot, the player is forced into accepting a shady deal to obtain a cheap cart with a horse. The owner and a client turns out to be a mysterious girl with wolf ears and tail named Holo, and the contract states that the player needs to pay off a loan of 2 000 silver coins, as well as deliver Holo to her home within the limit of one year. The game consists of traveling from town to town, buying and selling of goods to amass wealth, and collecting rumours in order to complete the contract and deliver Holo home. The game is also a dating sim of sorts, as Holo will occasionally interrupt the travels with random encounters, during which you as a player have to select proper dialogue options to grow closer to Holo. Game has a number of different endings that depend upon if the contract was fullfilled within the allocated 1 year or not, depending on level of intimacy with Holo, and on the merchant level and other choices made in the game. Player becomes closer with Holo depending on their actions in the various random encounters, and on the progress of the main storyline (unless one reaches a certain point in the game, they cannot increase the level of intimacy beyond a certain point, though upon reaching this pivotal moment, previously accumulated "intimacy points" may cause a rapid increase in the level of intimacy).There are also certain "investment oppurtunities" that player can uncover via rumours. There are generally two ways these investments can go - the player has to usually pay close attention to rumours to divine if they can make profit or not. These investments often allow you to ask Holo for advice, and can also occasionaly be completely unprofitable, depending on how the game generated them. Game features some artwork from the original anime series, or is at least inspired by it - several artists, involved in the original anime participated in creation of the game. Since this game only released in Japan, the audio is only available in japanese - there exists a fanmade translation to english for the text within the game, however.

Main article: Spice and Wolf: The Wind that Spans the Sea

TBA

Main article: Spice and Wolf VR

While technically classified as a game, Spice and Wolf VR is more of a light novel story reworked into a VR animation story. The game has very little in terms of options for interaction - the game is very linear story, delivered via VR interactions, featuring an original story in the spirit of light novels.

Main article: Spice and Wolf VR 2

After the success of Spice and Wolf VR, Spice and Wolf VR 2 is another light novel, delivered in the mode of a interactive VR. The game features original story inspired by Light novel 18 (Spring log 1). Interaction mostly serve to further the story.

Wolf and Parchment

Main article: Wolf and Parchment: New Theory Spice and Wolf

In addition to continuing Lawrence and Holo's story for the tenth anniversary, Hasekura began a new series focusing on the adventures of Tote Col, a young theological student who wants to become a priest, and Myuri, Lawrence and Holo's daughter. The series began in 2016 and currently has nine light novels. A manga adaptation began in 2019 and is also ongoing.

Trivia

Story within the game My One Year with Holo, set in alternative universe, features a different storyline than that within the light novels. However, it is possible this game also served as some inspiration for the later storyline of light novels - many of the story moments are very similar to the happenings within the later light novels. For example, in the game, it is revealed that forest where Holo lived was "swallowed up by a serpent" - this turns out to mean that it was flooded by river that formed a lake, now named Serpent lake. In Light novel volume 23, Lawrence and Holo are looking into the legend of a "giant serpent, slain by hero Voragine". It is later revealed that this "giant serpent" was actually a river upon which the smuggling of lumber took place in the past. Game released in 2008, at the time Spice and Wolf Volume 9 (Town of strife 2) was released.