Welcome all to the final episode of Spice and Wolf Season 2! It’s been a long road to get here, 6 whole months of wolf waifu. While this may be ending however that also means its time to vote for a new series! You can find the link to that at the end! So without further ado lets dive in to the last episode of Spice and Wolf.
Before we get into the episode proper I want to talk a bit about my feelings on this arc as a whole. Don’t worry, ill have much longer thoughts for the final review, but this needs to be talked about. Because overall this arc feels like a rehash of the previous one. Except where the last arc with Fermi stopped just short, this arc seems to fully commit to the relationship. In a way that’s nice! I’ve wanted to see these two be in a relationship, to process their feelings, for awhile now. And while this arc finally gave me that, it did so by hitting on a lot of the same beats as the last. Sort of like a rehash or repeat of what came before except without the benefit of being the our first time. Want specifics? Read on and find out below!
Basically the parts that I think are rehashed is most of Holo and Lawrence’s conflict in this episode. They had this whole thing about not telling each other stuff. Of being afraid to talk about their feelings, of pride, etc etc. Despite the fact that the past arc with Fermi was meant to tackle many of these same insecurities! What really makes it weird though is that this arc started off fine in that department. Both Holo and Lawrence were more open with each other. But its as if, when the chips were down, they both reverted back to how they were for the sake of having a compelling ending. Don’t get me wrong, the ending was nice and we will talk about it. But as far as narrative structure it feels like Spice and Wolf hasn’t really evolved much here.
That said the ending we did get was much more conclusive than in Fermi’s arc. We finally got the confession, Holo and Lawrence are finally a proper couple despite it feeling like that happened last arc, etc. The whole thing was good and I especially enjoyed the presentation of their new relationship status. I particularly liked the use of bells in the city that, when combined with the panning shots of the church and their walking through the door together, gave the feeling of a shotgun wedding. For all that Spice and Wolf has jerked us around a bit with their relationship this one feels suitably… final. Or as final as it can get with the knowledge that there are more light novels past this. As far as places to end an anime though, this is a pretty good one.
For all that I enjoyed the ending however I do have to continue to criticize Spice and Wolf’s pacing here. It feels like we could have pushed into this revolt much sooner and spent more time dealing with Eve’s betrayal and everything else that has happened rather than forcing it all into a single episode. Maybe an epilogue of some kind showing Lawrence and Holo finally interacting as full blown couple. Or cutting some of the random town stuff and instead giving us more time with Rigolo or Eve. Anything to make the pacing of this arc better. Because as is I feel like you could cut 2 whole episodes out of it and lose little of value.
And on that harsh note its a wrap for Season 2 of Spice and Wolf! This felt like a bit of a long one to be honest. Maybe watching 2 seasons of a show in a row is a bad idea. That or this second season just wasn’t as good. Whatever the case the final review will be about soon. In the meantime I give to you a poll! Vote on what show you want to see next on Throwback Thursday. Since next week is my break week to write the review the new series will start up on the 29th of July. Look forward to seeing you there!
Now to get writing… God it never ends.
I think this will be my fourth or fifth time voting for Escaflowne. It will win eventually!
I think this time it’s officially won, considering how many votes it has now. And I voted for it too, even though there are other anime listed on there that I like more.
Eventually it has to win! I even voted for it myself this time, if only to get it off the list and to get other writers/friends to stop bothering me about watching it.
It felt like maybe watching 2 seasons of an anime with spice and wolfs pacing wasn’t your cup of tea. Personally i enjoyed the second season more but I didn’t watch them back to back.
I voted LOGH for the lulz. you’ll be reviewing that one for years. The ones winning right now (Escaflowne, Renmei and NHK) are all good. Escaflowne is a bit of an Evangelion clone and the others have some pacing issues but they are all enjoyable.
Its entirely possible! What I enjoyed the most, Holo and Lawrence’s back and forth, was still there. But for some reason this second season felt… slower.
The only similarity between Escaflowne and Eva is that they are in the mecha genre. They are nothing alike whatsoever. Escaflowne was in development long before Eva aired and was created by Shoji Kawamori, a veteran of the mecha genre who had created the Macross franchise.
You know, you are absolutely right! I realized I was thinking of RahXephon and not Escaflowne. I might have to rewatch it because the only thing i remember from it is the music
Grats for finishing Spice and Wolf. Some fun fact: This 4th arc in the anime is actually the fifth volume of the book in the LN. Fourth book iirc is much more tightly incorporated to the lore of Holo and Yoitsu, and would be an awkward spot to stop as it introduced a lot of new plot elements without resolving it. 5th volume is the best option to end the anime as it provides a proper emotional closure, but as the result I think skipping the 4th volume and some direct and indirect changes resulting in this arc not being as good as it could be.
As for the next series, anything would be fine even though I voted LoGH (partially for lulz considering we’ll need around 2 years to resolve it), but I guess we can go by season per season. Most of the episodes there are actually interesting as a discussion starter.