What is Reddit's opinion of Spice and Wolf, Vol. 1 (light novel)?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

It may be a region thing because on Amazon.<strong>com</strong> it's available right now?

I do have a few on the Kobo app, on my phone, btw,... it's a pretty good reader so if that works,.. that's OK too.

Well here we are! I've been excited to share my favorite show with the rest of you since the announcement of the rewatch!

First, allow me to get some overall information out there:

• The OP for the first season is Tabi no Tochuu, and the full version is absolutely beautiful and worth a listen!
• The first season will cover Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Light Novel. If you are looking for a series that adapts the source completely, you unfortunately won't find it here, but please don't give up on it for that!
• Speaking of the Light Novel, there are 17 Volumes, with 2 more volumes being stories that take place in the future. You may find the books at Amazon (this is a U.S. Amazon link), Bookwalker, or other stores that sell books. I highly recommend reading it, I fell in love with the series through the anime and I still read all of the volumes!
• There is a sequel to the Light Novel as well that has recently started called Spice and Wolf New Theory: Wolf and Parchment, but I will not be linking that so that there aren't any accidental spoilers for anybody who clicks it. I will provide links at the end of the rewatch for those interested.
• This is not a fast paced or action-y series. This is a slow burn show that focuses heavily on the dynamic between it's main two characters as they grow closer and how they interact with not only each other, but those around them.
• Don't fret too much if you really prefer dubs or subs, both are great. I prefer the sub, as I feel Ami Koshimizu's voice is better for Holo, but Brina Palencia does a great job too. They are wildly different takes on the character, but they both fit well for different reasons.
• I assure you that it is Holo and not Horo, if you are watching subs that decide to use the name incorrectly.

And with that done, onto the first episode! This episode does a good job of introducing us to our main two characters, being Holo and Lawrence, as well as doing some excellent world building to key us in on the setting that we have. We get a little insight into Holo's backstory and why she is no longer interested in staying in Pasloe, as well as a little bit on Lawrence and his place in the world. As a traveling merchant, Lawrence values relationships, so it is quite nice to have a show start out where the "outsider" character has an established relationship with the area.

We are introduced the character of Chloe, who is an anime only character, taking the place of Yarei in the light novel. Chloe and Lawrence clearly have history from Lawrence's previous visits to the town, and that is one of the major reasons why I like the anime's decision to use her instead of Yarei.

We also get our two main character's first meeting in Lawrence's cart as a result of him having that bundle of wheat. You could probably infer this by my previous statements, but the dynamic between these two is truly fantastic. The fact that they start it from distrust, especially on Lawrence's end and for good reason, lends credibility to the development that they go through for the rest of the series.

Hope you all enjoyed the first episode, and I look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow! Please let me know if there are any questions or anything else you would like me to add to my comments each week.

TLDR; The show is great, please watch and support both it and the Light Novel!

Well here we are, the final episode! In lieu of my usual approach, I'm gonna do some overall final wrap up stuff:

• If you would like to continue, please read the Light Novel! There are 17 Volumes, with 2 more volumes being stories that take place in the future. You may find the books at Amazon (this is a U.S. Amazon link), Bookwalker, or other stores that sell books. As I said in the first episode thread, I highly recommend reading it. I fell in love with the series through the anime and I still read all of the volumes!
• There is a sequel to the Light Novel as well that has recently started called Spice and Wolf New Theory: Wolf and Parchment. Only the first volume has been officially been released in English, but there are three released overall so far. You may find it here (again a U.S. Amazon link).
• If anybody is looking for a similar show, allow me to recommend Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, which is not as good as Spice and Wolf, but nails the whole historical romance vibe pretty well. I like to think of it as a lite version of Spice and Wolf, but if you enjoyed Spice and Wolf, you should enjoy it.
• I would like to thank frequent thread contributors /u/notathrowaway75 for his first time perspectives, /u/Durinthal for his wonderful manga comparisons, and /u/Caspus for his veteran perspective and discussion generation. I've been keeping an eye on the comments of you three and you've all been a bright spot in these threads. Thanks for toughing it out (almost) every thread through the whole two seasons with me.
• Extra special thanks to /u/Holofan4life. I am a long time lurker on /r/SpiceandWolf and you are by far the champion of that subreddit, and I have loved your contributions here. Keep up the good work, people don't tell you enough how amazing what you do is.
• Extra extra special thanks to /u/mpp00 for running these threads for 26 episodes. You did a great job and I can speak for myself that I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch this show with a decent sized group of people, as I never got the chance to do so before. Your hard work is much appreciated.

Alright, with the administrative stuff out of the way, allow me to talk about the series as a whole a little bit before we depart.

Holo and Lawrence are by fair my favorite pairing (and two of my favorite characters individually as well) in all of anime, with no small part of that being how real their relationship feels. There is no rushing, no suddenly being in love with each other, it's just a slow and deliberate build in their feelings for each other. Watching them overcome trial after trial as they both contribute to each others happiness and open themselves up to another is a real joy to watch and read. I hope that some of you new watchers fell in love with these characters as I did.

The supporting cast is also wonderful, each with their own motivations and quirks that make them memorable as well as making their involvement in the story believable.

The setting and world is well fleshed out and has a lot going on behind the scenes, and I like how things move even without the main characters. Very few shows give the characters situations that spawned from events out of their direct control.

Future events and characters are very much worth reading the novels, and those of you craving more of our main duo will most certainly want to see how they continue from here. I honestly recommend reading all of them, but season 2 leaves off on novel 5. Go back and read 4 (as it wasn't covered in the anime), and then continue with 6.

TLDR; Thanks to everyone who watched, I do hope that any of you who stuck around for the rewatch enjoyed the show. Please support the Light Novels if you enjoyed the series. Hopefully I'll see some of you around here as well. I may not be as wise as Holo, but I'll try to remember you all!

Amazon.ca for me shows the original cover art for the Kindle edition, but the new cover art for the paperback edition—even though the ebook actually seems to have its own, different art. So in short, I'd be careful about trusting which version you'd get from Amazon.

Chapters Indigo shows the original cover art for me, while also showing the correct ebook art for the Kobo edition, so it's possible it's more trustworthy. The reviews there complain a lot about the live action cover, but they're also from several years ago, and one of them notes:

> And for that matter, Yenpress has released it with a new cover anyway. It's in the same format as the next installments: the Americanized cover as a dust jacket, and the actual phyiscal book itself retains the cartoony cover from the original Japanese edition.

The good thing about ordering from someone like Chapters is that you could always call a physical store that has it in stock to ask them about the cover.