Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Harvest Festival and the Crowded Driver’s Box

Episode 1 of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf begins with a little girl asking an older woman what story she plans to tell her tonight. The older woman gives the girl some suggestions, but she’s not interested in those. The woman shares a tale about a wolf who protected a harvest’s village and promised bountiful wheat harvests. 

Additionally, she says the wolf kept its promise for a long time, but no one knows when this pact began. Nonetheless, the woman confirms the village treasured this wolf and its blessings. Unfortunately, she says as time went on, the villagers no longer recalled the promise they made with the wolf. Eventually, the stories shared about the wolf became outdated. 

This enticed the villagers to harvest their crops, and they no longer believed in the wolf. The girl asks the woman what happened to the wolf. Before we find out what happened, we cut to a man traveling somewhere via carriage. The man encounters a group of guards and knights. He tells them he’s a traveling merchant. The merchant informs them that he’s heading toward a nearby village and wants to return to the village after selling salt elsewhere. 

The man shows what’s hiding underneath his cargo’s blanket. We learn he has some fur pelts and wheat. The knight informs the merchant that there have been rumblings of an upcoming pagan festival happening in the villages around this area. The merchant doesn’t know what a Pagan is, so the knight explains what they are to the merchant. Then, the knight and his guards stand aside, allowing the merchant to continue his travels. 

The merchant arrives at a village and introduces himself as Kraft Lawrence to several inhabitants. Afterward, Lawrence compliments the villagers on their harvests and asks them where he can find a person named Yarei. The villagers inform Lawrence about Yarei’s whereabouts and feel some villagers may end up like someone named Holo since they lack exceptional skills. 

Lawrence wonders who Holo is. Then, he continues his travels and overhears several villagers rambling about Holo. Lawrence spots Yarei indulging in some harvesting game-like activity with other villagers. Yarei spots Lawrence nearby and trips. Several villagers pick Yarei up and carry him somewhere while referring to Yarei as Holo. Yarei says he’ll speak with Lawrence later. The villagers lock Yarei up inside a barn. 

Lawrence knows he won’t be able to speak with Yarei for a week since he knows what type of game they are playing. He visits a man in this town and is happy that the villagers’ harvests have been going well. The gentleman says the village wouldn’t have achieved this if not for Count Erhendott’s involvement and his control over the village. 

The gentleman Lawrence is speaking to feels the era of praying to the former gods has concluded. Thanks to their new lord’s farming methods, the gentleman says they haven’t experienced any bad harvests. The gentleman shows Lawrence a mini-chest containing a lot of coins. Then, the gentleman and Lawrence discuss Yarei. The gentleman says Yarei’s been doing a great job and says he learned a lot about the business side of things from Lawrence. 

Lawrence says he’d love to stay the night but he has to tend to something important. He stops near a lake and plans to rest there for the night. He checks his cargo and learns a woman’s sleeping inside. The woman gets up and howls at the sky. Then, she turns to Lawrence and asks him for alcohol. Lawrence wants to ask her why he’s in her vehicle. 

However, she ignores his question and grabs the meat he dropped on the floor. Lawrence pulls out a knife and asks more questions. The woman realizes Lawrence isn’t one of the villagers and eats the meat. The woman says she slipped into his carriage to escape the village. Also, she tells Lawrence that she’s Holo and she teases Lawrence about it. 

Lawrence tells Holo that he knows this area’s harvest god goes by that name. Lawrence wonders if the Holo in front of him is a God. Holo says that while people refer to her as one, she only views herself as herself. Holo says she comes from a land up north called Yoitsu and says many call her Holo the Wise Wolf. Holo cuddles against Lawrence’s fur pelts to escape the cold. 

Lawrence asks Holo to prove to him that she’s Holo the Wise Wolf. Holo refuses because she feels her ears and tail are enough proof. Also, she doesn’t want to transform into her wolf form. Lawrence plans to turn Holo over to the Church. Holo says she doesn’t like the Church and doesn’t want to interact with the village’s chief either. 

Lawrence says he’s willing to let Holo accompany him. He feels if she’s the god of the harvests, she’ll help him obtain exceptional wealth. Holo asks if Lawrence wants to see her true form. Lawrence says he does. Holo says that most creatures need to pay a price to change forms. As for her, she needs blood from a living being or some wheat. 

Holo eats some wheat and transforms, startling Lawrence. Somehow, Holo disappears and Lawrence wonders what happened to her. Lawrence meets the gentleman he spoke to earlier and says he wants to stay the night. Yarei greets Lawrence and the other gentleman shows Lawrence a room he can use. Later, Lawrence visits the dining area and sees Yarei sitting at a table littered with food. 

Yarei says these are food offerings for Holo. Yet, he says Lawrence can eat some of it. Lawrence feels an outsider like himself shouldn’t indulge in the offerings. Also, Lawrence questions why Yarei’s not locked up for a week. Yarei says the belief surrounding the game he and the villagers took part in is simple superstition. He feels the tales surrounding a wolf living in the wheat fields are false and an excuse for the villagers to hold a festival. 

Yarei and Lawrence drink and we learn that this village is called Pasole Village. After the two drink their beverages, Lawrence asks Yarei how long it’s been since Lawrence started buying from Pasole Village. Yarei believes Lawrence started buying wheat before Count Erhendott became Pasole Village’s lord. While we receive a flashback of Yarei’s first encounter with Lawrence, Yarei explains how the previous Pasole Village lord handled the area’s taxes and their wheat. 

Despite Pasole Village’s wheat prices being high, Yarei tells Lawrence that he was shocked that he bought wheat from their village. Lawrence confirms that many villages didn’t want to work with newcomer merchants like himself at the time. Yarei reflects how much Pasole Village has grown since then. He says merchants from large towns come by Pasole Village to buy wheat. 

Yarei tells Lawrence he’d like to negotiate wheat prices with him again soon. Lawrence says he’d like that too. Outside, Yarei tells Lawrence they don’t need to rely on Holo as he still believes the tales involving her are mere myths. Also, he says that it’d be unwise to go against the Church. Lawrence returns to his room and contemplates Yarei’s remark about Holo. 

Holo greets Lawrence and Lawrence is surprised that Holo is in the village. She tells Lawrence that she lives inside the wheat, the last piece of it. She says it can be difficult for her to escape from there during harvests. However, Holo says if there is a larger amount of wheat than the last sheaf of wheat nearby, she can move to that wheat without being seen by humans. 

Holo says she’s indebted to Lawrence and asks him if he’s afraid of her. We receive a flashback of the scene where Holo transformed in front of Lawrence. After she finishes transforming, Lawrence is shown whimpering on the ground. He tells Holo in the present that he is scared of her. Holo says she only showed a few humans her true form and shares how they responded to seeing her real state. 

One of those individuals asked Holo to ensure that the village’s harvests proceed as planned. Holo says she kept her promise but notes how much of a toll the bountiful harvests have on Pasole Village’s landscape. This enticed Holo to create bad harvests. She knows this made the villagers view her differently. Nonetheless, Holo knows they’ll have bountiful harvests without her. 

Lawrence asks Holo if she has any places in mind that she’d like to go to. Holo says she’d like to head north. We cut to Lawrence leaving Pasole Village in the morning. He tells Holo that it’s safe for her to come out. Holo comes out and Lawrence realizes she’s wearing one of his garments. He isn’t thrilled about her wearing them. Holo teases Lawrence about it and asks if she can travel with him.

Lawrence complies and properly introduces himself to Holo. He tells Holo that she needs to earn her keep since his profession isn’t a simple one. Holo tells Lawrence she’s okay with that. The episode closes with the two riding off somewhere. 

The Episode Review

The Spring 2024 anime season has arrived and it looks like one of the anime kicking off this season is a remake of a beloved classic. That classic is Spice and Wolf. While some staff members from the original anime are working on this remake, many will enjoy what Passione Studios is doing with it (so far). 

Having worked on a remake of another beloved classic in the past, many wondered how the studio would handle this series’s introductory chapter.

Despite some minor visual hiccups and drawn-out dialogue exchanges, this was a great start. From Holo’s introduction to Lawrence’s business and historical chatter with Yarei, it appears the original series’s core values will carry over into the remake. This is a good sign, especially for those who cherish this anime’s source material and original adaptation.  

Moreover, the show’s opening segments will catch many long-time fans by surprise. Additionally, viewers will find this introductory chapter’s OST marvelous and fitting.

By and large, this was a nice start for this anime remake. Hopefully, this one will contain content not found in the original series, giving it that definitive quality.