Spice and Wolf (2024) Ep 23 – 25 [S1 FINAL]

When the news come that a shoemaker in Enberch had died after eating Tereo’s bread, tensions have spiked and the villagers were unnerved, leaving Lawrence, Holo and Elsa all in a precarious situation. The culprit was suspected to be Ridelius Hellfire, a disease in wheat that can kill someone upon consumption. The death brings about many consequences, many the villagers were not prepared to deal with. Enberch intends to not only return all the wheat they had purchased and demand a refund, but also seek to exploit this opportunity to rip up the contract.

But the predicament the villagers found themselves in was partially because of their own doing. They were too complacent and comfortable with the amazing deal Father Franz had negotiated for them. They didn’t do any extra labour to produce emergency funds in the winter in case their next harvest goes south. As result, it put them in this position where they could be easily exploited, which is exactly what happened. Enberch saw an opportunity to finally rip up that contract Father Franz had negotiated and sought to not only to gain leverage at the bargaining table, but also finally convert the pagan town to their own.

With things going from bad to worse, Lawrence and Holo came to the conclusion it would be in their best interests to escape, but they weren’t about to leave Evan and Elsa behind to take the blame in their steed. So they offered to take them with them, the two accepted. Since Elsa already experienced being startled by Holo’s true for the first time,seeing her in her wolf form didn’t freak her out too much. Evan on the other hand, who has just learned about it honestly took it better than most people would. He didn’t faint or freak out, though perhaps it helps that he knew he wasn’t going to be eaten or anything of the likes. Either way, you can definitely say he took it with stride. Elsa didn’t fair very well for the ride though haha, good thing Evan was around to keep her from flying off!

But in the end, their great escape was called off half way. Despite the hostility from the villagers, Elsa couldn’t bear to leave the village to fend for themselves. She wishes to faithfully follow Father Franz footsteps, and carry out the responsibilities that had been entrusted to her. Evan, was understandably extremely upset about this, but he didn’t stop her. Instead, he chose to go back with her, choosing to abandon the opportunity to finally leave the village and start anew. He couldn’t bear to let her go back on her own. Now that’s love man!

Still, it’s up to the viewers’ discretion to judge whether it’s stupid of Elsa to go back to a place that treated her and Evan so badly, or an admirable act of courage. Considering only the village head Sem, and Ilma were the two to have taken care of Evan and Elsa after Father Franz had passed, I’m not really sure if it’s worth it. But at the same time, leaving the village would also mean leaving behind Father Franz’s priceless collection and research of Pagan Legends. With no one to guard it, and God forbid the Church finds it, they’d certain burn all the records and invaluable information and history would be lost. So I do admire her courage to take that risk, because it’s undoubtedly not an easy one since they didn’t hesitate too much to leave in the first place given how hostile the villagers were. Bless Iima for being such a boss, even she encouraged them to leave.

In order to protect the villagers, they need to put on a ‘show’ of a miracle. Holo has the ability to do just that, so the plan is to stage a miracle by proving it is safe to consume.

It’s an understatement to say this was an extremely risky plan. Elsa needed to be especially careful and shrewd with the way she worded things. She didn’t want to invalidate Lord Truyeo, but she also couldn’t discredit the Church’s faith, so she walked the fine line of speaking ambiguously enough that they can neither confirm or deny it by claiming Lord Truyeo is one of God’s Miracles, and then solidified it with Evan was chosen as the Divine messenger. His job was to stand on the wheat, while Holo made the wheat grow on the spot, all while weeding out the one load that was inflicted by Ridelius Hellfire. Next with the remaining batches, Evan’s job was to collect the wheat from each wagon and drink it from the chalice. By staging the miracle in front of everyone, it forced Bishop Mendez into a corner– who mind you, came in with the very set intentions to officially rid of the town’s faith in Lord Truyeo. He was in no position to deny the miracle that they all witnessed. If he did, his bias and true intentions would be made clear. So he sucked it up and drank from the chalice, formally acknowledging the little Church in Tereo is a legitimate one. Elsa was wise enough to make sure she got that in writing too. Who got their foot in their mouth now, huh?

With the threat of the Church dealt with, all that left was the economics. That’s where Lawrence stepped in. See, the guy who set them up was none other than the merchant they’d last talk to when they had passed through Enberch, and Lawrence wasn’t about to let him go scotch-free. It’s pay back time. He certainly had the eyes of a Wolf, which the comment Holo made about that was certainly on point. Perhaps she’s rubbing off him in some ways haha.

While Father Franz contract was a good one for the village, the problem was that it was just too unfair. As result it fostered a lot of resentment from the residents of Enberch. So in order to rid of that tension, Lawrence decided the best thing to do was to just rip it up and form a new one that better suited both parties. Additionally, because Reindott had suffered loses from his business, he cannot keep the village’s wheat. So the village must take it back. However since they do not have the money, they cannot repay him yet. So Lawrence proposed a business idea: Teoreo would become a village that’d specialize producing biscuits that’s popular in the south. Fortunately it’s become a very popular treat, and is set to become the town’s main goods during the winter season.

Thanks to the resolution of the crisis, the villagers are now a lot more favourable to Elsa and Evan, as they should! Best of all Evan is no longer stuck being the ‘mill boy’, and has been given a more important responsibility of leading negotiations with the Church. Now life in the village should be a lot more peaceful and bearable for the two of them. And Elsa has come to a conclusion of why her father collected stories. She realizes he wanted to confirm the existence of the pagan gods to confirm the existence of his own God. That’s why she didn’t want to discredit Truyeo nor Holo, who was the one who was kind enough to participate in performing a miracle in the first place.

Apart from that, earlier on we did see Holo have a moment where she found herself consumed with grief and regrets when Elsa decided to go back and protect her hometown (with Evan tagging along behind her). Holo had a lot of “what ifs” going through her mind, especially fresh off reading the tale of the Moon-Hunting Bear that wiped out Yoitsu. The only silver-lining of the tale is that it suggests at least some of her kin were able to escape with their lives, but Holo wished she had been there to help fight the bear off and protect their home. Needless to say, there was no certainty if she would’ve won or lost, but what’s done is done, and there’s no changing the past. At the very least Lawrence was able to comfort her properly this time, giving us an endearing back-hug.

And with that, it’s time for Holo and Lawrence to carry on with their journey. Both Elsa and Evans were likeable characters, so I’ll certainly come to miss them. As Lawrence said, rather than regrets, they made great memories together. Their next stop is Lenos, but before that Lawrence said he heard of a new business opportunity he’d like to check out. So that means their journey will continue a bit longer than planned, but that’s something they both hope for at this point as neither of them are quite ready for it to end.

Final Thoughts

Man, it was great to revisit Spice and Wolf again! I know a lot of people were genuinely concerned about Studio Passione behind it, but I wasn’t particularly concerned about it since many of the staff members from the previous adaption returned to work on this project, which in all fairness, with the exception of a couple of questionable liberties, was good. And we can see a lot of the similarities, but also where they chose to flesh things out. I think the only gripe I had with Studio PASSIONE was merely Holo’s wolf form. I’m sorry, but compared to the original adaption she doesn’t look anything like a wolf. I said it before, her wolf form’s face looks more like it belongs to a Shiba Inu.

That said, it was really great we finally got to see Volume 4 adapted, and best of all, A SECOND SEASON HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED!!!! I’m even more excited to see we’re promised more in the future! I suspected we were promised more content given how the first episode of this season began, so I’m absolutely thrilled to see it be true! Hoping this means we’re getting a “Fruits Basket” treatment, as in adapting the entire main story! That’d be really fun to see!

I for one am very glad that I adjusted the way I usually do my coverage since I knew I wanted to cover this no matter what! Really didn’t want to repeat the situation I faced with Sugar Apple Fairy (another series was also very slow paced). Safe to say, it was very wise decision on my part since it allowed me to cover it from start to finish. I love this series, but sometimes there’s it’s just not enough to talk about, especially in times when I do remember details from the novel that haven’t been revealed in the episode yet, so I can’t really bring it up as easily.

Overall I’d say this adaption deserves an 8/10. Spice and Wolf is a slow series that has a combination of economics and romance. Frankly it’s not for everyone, but if you don’t mind the talks of economics, and enjoy endearing banters and slown-burn romance between the leads, then you’ll certainly enjoy this one. You just need to survive the misunderstanding arc, and you’ll be fine hahaha. In all, it’s solid series that aged well!  I’ll be back covering Season 2 when it airs! Until then, thanks for reading!

Extra: Coming out later this week, Fall Anime 2024 Season Preview! Should be out by Friday the latest, so stay tuned!