Spice and Wolf - Episode 13 (Completed)

To begin this entry, a confession - When I first started watching Spice and Wolf, I was convinced... no, determined, that I wouldn't like it. An often naked wolf girl and a rather dull merchant set in the far flung past? Hardly the kind of anime I'd traditionally trouble myself with, but I figured I'd give it a go anyway seeing as several people were talking about it, but to be honest I was just expecting a rather clichéd and fan-service laden offering.

However, thirteen weeks later I have to come clean and admit it - I was wrong.... Boy, was I wrong. While Spice and Wolf never threatened to be an action-laden, edge of the seat work, it offered a vast amount of simple pleasures thanks to one simple factor often forgotten by anime writers - Personality. Quite simply, the Horo and Lawrence dynamic that developed throughout this series is up there with the best of them in any television medium... A Mulder and Scully of the anime world, if you will. The way the two main characters played off against one another's strengths and weaknesses was in turns touching, amusing, saddening, and a whole other host of emotions that I can't even begin to conjure in words.

While episode thirteen turned up the action quota a little to polish off the existing gold smuggling storyline (while also giving plenty of screen time to Horo in her wolf form), it still never lost sight of what is important about this show, keeping the main pair's dynamic at the fore and throwing in plenty of mercantile thinking into the bargain too. Indeed, the series was concluded with a beautifully hilarious scene between Horo and Lawrence, which well and truly leaves the door open for a second series. I never thought I'd be saying this when I embarked upon this particular journey, but please make a second season of Spice and Wolf. Please.