If I had a nickel for every time Arkada made a multi hour anime retrospective focused on a human entering into a contract with a diety who has a fascination with apples…

The fact that this didn't get a 3rd season in it's original anime adaptation is one of the greatest crimes in human history.

It's been too long since I've watched Spice & Wolf, I completely missed that the Amati arc was literally a pump and dump crypto scheme before they became all the rage in the real world.

i know spice and wolf is considerably longer but the success of the fruits basket re-adaption gives me hope for them at least making a complete story with the new show

I am a simple man, I see Glass Reflection and Spice & Wolf and I will spend the next 2 hours of my Christmas Holiday satisfied. Thank you Arkada, Merry Christmas.

My memory is a bit rusty, but here’s what I recall about Chloe: The village is somewhat out of the way, and they still hold the old pagan traditions. Lawrence isn’t swayed by their faith or their location, so he has visited that village more commonly than other merchants. Lawrence worked with Chloe’s father and he answered her questions, she was an ambitious girl (and opportunistic) and wanted to know as much as possible whenever opportunity arose I can’t remember whether Lawrence traveled with them and they settled in the town, or if she only knew him during his visits Lawrence was leaving the town, he had an outright panic attack when Holo revealed her true form, and whilst carrying the wheat that is connected to her spirit he went back to town to sleep and think about the situation. He takes risks, but now he has confirmation that his cargo is directly connected to a giant wolf spirit that he saw with his own eyes. Chloe was supposed to be locked up for the festival, but we established that she’s an ambitious one, she hears Lawrence came back to town and she seeks him out further, because of her own aspirations. It makes sense to me, the way it played out.

Regarding the canonizing of Chloe. I recall reading in the past, Hasekura commenting about how he liked that change and wish he'd thought of it himself.

"Am I just blowing this all out of proportion?" Yes but probably not for the reason you think most people will assume lol. Just because the VR games are made with Hasekura's involvement, does not mean they are necessarily meant to be slotted into the light novels' canon. It's fanservice as you said, and I'm sure Hasekura knows many of his fans come from the anime adaptation. Plus it's my understanding that the original authors are usually part of production committees, so I imagine that Hasekura always had some level of involvement with the adaptations even if it was small, and despite being directly involved with the games, I'm sure there's still some level of "designed by committee" happening with them.

As a long time S&W enjoyer, this was such a great surprise to see for the holidays! Best gift I could've gotten

i can't wait to see the remake just hope it does well, Spice and Wolf is such a good series so i hope we get a good re adaptation that follows it all the way to the end

Good video. I've got a degree in economics and even then some of the schemes made my head hurt trying to work out what was going on. Lawrence feels like someone who has lived and breathed his role as merchant all his life, well crafted character by the author. Seasons greetings Tristan!

I've been on and off reading the LN for a while now, and Holo and Lawrence still have THE BEST character dynamic and banter I have seen in... pretty much anything, if I'm being honest, so I'm so excited for the remake anime soon, and so glad that it is still getting so much deserved love here Definitely wanna actually finish the LN and get into Wolf and Parchment next year, too! Also, personally I think the original anime for this has the best english dub ever created so far ^^

Thank you for making this. I know it probably won't do well in the algorithm, but this show is one of my favorites and I'm so excited for the new one coming out. You're the best. Stay frosty my friend.

As a fan of Spice and Wolf, my hopes and ideal circumstance is that they finish out the story completely with the new adaptation. Given what anime have been given sequels, continuations, or even first time adaptations recently....... I don't think it's impossible that we get a complete adaptation. My hopes are high, but my expectations are slightly tempered. I'm just excited for the series to be back on the table

Man... I really hope the original dub cast can come back for remake, I hear those voices in my head when I read the Light Novels and I even managed to nail some pretty good impressions of them. I love this show.

Underappreciated anime

Fun fact, I found this series AND your channel from your video on S2. Algorithm just put it my path one day. Quickly became my favorite anime of all time and the only one I have bought the entire light novel series for, and counting! Which is all a very roundabout way of saying thank you. Thank you for loving this show. Thank you for making videos reviewing it a decade ago. And thank you for making this retrospective bringing it all back together ahead of what will hopefully be an excellent revival. I'm cautiously optimistic for the reboot, and am definitely excited for your thoughts on it. Until then, stay frosty.

glass reflection i just want to thank you personally for introducing this wonderful anime in my life, i can say it's still my number one favorite anime and light novel. if it wasn't for me watching your original review of this anime back over 10 years ago i wouldn't have gotten to watch such a beautiful anime so thank you very much.

I finally watched the anime this year. It was very enjoyable since I was an economics major in college, so I loved both the main and sub stories going on!

Love these deep dives! Especially when they are about a subject I know nothing about

The new anime could do a Fruits Basket that took a few years to go through all of the original source material.

I don't know why, but this video got me hyped up during the whole video. It felt like I was watching it for the first time. Thanks Arkada and Merry Charismas!!!!

I've been watching your channel since college days, 2007-2011 can't remember the exact year. To see you cover a favorite again after all these years is a delight. On the other side you and chugga are the two channels that have never left my feed though many relationships. I look forward to many more years of tour reviews and eventually your review of the newest S&W anime. Side note, my S.O. got me the Holo puppet for The Solstice.

you always trigger my nostalgia man love this channel

Ah, SPICE AND WOLF. Holo, my first waifu. Deep discussion of monetary policy, (which I felt compelled to unravel thanks to my job as a financial analyst.) A wonderful English dub headed by J. Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia, the first two voice actors whose names I bothered to learn. Bliss. Now I'll get a cup of tea--make that mulled wine (really)--and sit down to enjoy this Yuletide treat. Thank you, Merry Christmas, and Happy Wintersday!

I stopped halfway through this and started watching the show immediately! Now, I'm halfway through the show to come back and say how much I love it! Thanks GR!

Thank you for finally making Spice and Wolf not only understandable to me, but also interesting.

What a fascinating time to make this or watch it. With the new anime being so different and so much the same, the original makes even more impact now. So far, I am an '08 man, but my hopes are up for the '24 version. I am so glad this video is a thing.

Legit still count Spice and Wolf as my favorite Anime, and Holo the #1 Waifu. Glad to see you showing this some more love in this day and age, thanks Tristan! Going through the Light Novel audiobooks on Audible, and would greatly recommend it for anyone interested. Narrated by the English VO for Holo and Lawrence.

Man, your head must've exploded when you watched the remake and found out Chloe isn't in it after they went through the trouble of putting Chloe in the VR2 game lol. I get it though, it's nice to have something be the definitive version. I'm personally hoping the remake covers everything, AND that they bring back the original English VA's because they were great.

I can't really thank you enough for this video. I remember watching the original anime, loving it, but being so confused by so much of the first few arcs and having not a single clue how anything lead to the next beat. I knew it followed a logical path but what that logic was flew right over my head. This explained things so much better than the anime and gives me a new appreciation for the work that went into pretty much all of the adaptations. I can't wait to see the new version that's airing!

up there with Vinland saga for surprisingly historically accurate series out there to be clear with Chloe as a character between the light novels and the anime, if memory serves me right at the beginning of volume 1 of the LN an un-named previous love interest of Laurence is briefly mentioned in the first 1-3 chapters and that she was some red hair maid or barmaid or associate of sort. i think this is where the anime took inspiration for Chloe.

It took me over a year to work my way through the monster that is the collector's edition of the LN. And while I have my nitpicks about the story or how Holo and Lawrence do a lot of mind reading (not the healthiest way to communicate in a relationship), it was an overall satisfying read that was worth the slow burn.

Hey Arkada. Just wanted to say I'm very happy you still make videos. A few years ago (like...nine or ten?) I watched some of your videos and your very natural way of addressing the audience has always stuck with me since. You are the first person I saw, at least that I remember, who addressed ladies, gentlemen and others and though you might not know it, that made a huge difference for my language becoming more inclusive over time. Also, love your classic outro with "stay frosty". 😊 All the best!

AWOO~

Hello, Arkada. I don't know how well this video did for you in terms of numbers but I would truly like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for talking on for hours about the quality anime that you really like instead of succumbing to trends and cutting off this small series entirely. I've been saving up watching Spice and Wolf for a very long time because all the tiny impressions I got on it made me realize that I'd fall in love with it immediately upon watching it. That's why I kinda saved it like the main dish lol. But with the upcoming new anime and me feeling a void in my heart after realizing my vacations are soon over and real life is catching up, decided to watch the anime. Like I thought, the first season immediately became one of my top 9. However, though it's got a tight-knit fanbase, nobody in the anime mainstream really talks about it nowadays. This is why I was really happy to see you bringing this series to light in its entirety, not just a small shout-out. Your taste is immaculate and your reasonings and analyses are pleasant to listen to, so I hope you'll continue to do this more. Also hopefully, the reboot that plans to adapt the whole series will bring a sizeable amount of life to the fanbase.

Spice and Wolf is back, you should watch the first episode!

15:30 The reason that was done was because of pacing and adapting the novel into an episodic format. For one, it allows the show to characterise Yarei/Chloe early on without having to cram that in later when he/she becomes relevant again. It also shows Lawrence's lone wolf behaviour by constantly moving from town to town quickly in search for profit rather than taking the time to slow down and smell the roses to appreciate life a little. His type of lifestyle makes him not available to socialise often with the locals, so it is very telling when he prioritises profit over human interactions. Lawrence could have stayed and waited a couple of days for Yarei/Chloe to be released if he valued the friendship they had, but instead Lawrence decides to quickly move on as a way to display his anti-social behaviour despite clearly being lonely. The entire episode in both the original and the remake is built upon the ideas of isolation and being lonely that both leads share, so the change actually works in the show's favour to tell that story. The conversation that Lawrence has with Yarei/Chloe also reinforces important pieces of the story, like Holo's motivation for wanting to leave in the first place. You not only get Holo's point of view as she explains to Lawrence that the villagers no longer care about her, but you also get to see it through action and from a conversation with a local who shows clear disdain towards the old ways. Yarei/Chloe is even eating Holo's ceremonial meal to show the amount of disrespect that someone who has lived there their entire life really has toward the Wise Wolf. A very clear theme of the story is the death of Paganism and the influence of the church completely sweeping away the old ways, so the scene is able to do multiple things at once to be able to tell that story more efficiently. Finally, the scene that leads to Lawrence going back when first meeting Holo further adds to the uneasiness and almost dreamlike state that he experienced after meeting her and seeing the paw transformation. The mystique around what he just saw and having Holo disappear so quickly just to later appear out of nowhere yet again really sells Holo's supernatural state of being as she resided within the wheat. I never read the original novels, but if it is an anime only thing then I still think it is such a clever change as an adaptation. It's very efficient storytelling.

Welp, time to finally binge Spice and Wolf so I can watch this Glass Reflection video spoiler-free

In regards to the third audio book; I did not pay any attention to the voice credits on the artwork. So hearing “and Brina Palencia” had me almost in tears I was so happy. Being able to hear her voice Holo again and beyond what was adapted in the anime has just been an absolute dream come true. Also hearing Brina voice Col is just too precious.

Thank you for making this video. I really enjoyed it. Great work! Hope you’re enjoying the new series so far.

Talk about to a HELL of a call back to your early videos. I recall your Glass Reflection review of the series way back to pre 2016.

Wow I don't think I've watched one of your videos since like the podtaku days, glad to see the Old Guard still out here doing their thing. Since Watching Frieren, Spice & Wolf has been on my mind so this is perfect timing. Been awhile since I've seen it so thanks for taking me down memory lane

The dub of this is iconic

These retrospective from you are fantastic

I'm, SO FUCKING STOKED for April when Spice and Wolf returns. It's been one of the cornerstones of my early anime fandom and god I still love it.

49:42 This is why enunciation is important lmao Made me picture Nora hurting sheep and gold popping out

My definitive method of experiencing Fullmetal Alchemist is to watch the original anime until episode 17 and then switch to episode 7 of brotherhood, at which point I just continue on to the end.

GOATED SOLELY on the fact that it's studio WIT.

I feel like I could've finished the novels by this point but... It's almost like I'm reading them slowly so that they always remain a part of my life. That's how much it grabbed me.

I love these retrospective videos I'm sure they take tons of work but I hope you keep making them!

Loved Spice and wolf as well! it's a great series, you asked for suggestions for in depth reviews/ retrospects so I'm going to give suggestions based on your view of "18 year old me" and go back to what Anime's came out as 18 year old me... if by going by strictly 18 year old me Chobits, the first Fullmetal Alchemist and because I was 18... Ikki Tousen... were favourites during my 18th year. That said, I began watching anime in earnest around that same year so what got me hooked into anime as a series was Gundam Wing. Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, and of course Cowboy Be-bop, along with movies the like of Princess Mononoke, Akira, and Ninja Scroll. with all that said, Thank you for your reviews and views of anime myself and my wife look forward to your videos. keep up the great work!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Now that's a good start to the holiday.

Thank you for your christmas present! I really hope the new adaptation will be nice. Even if they'll end up only remaking the first 1-2 arcs at first, maybe it'll get the attention of enough new people so they'll continue the remake at some later point. SO PLEASE, every fan just needs to support the new adaptation as best as possible, so the chances of more S&W are getting higher! IMO we really need to hype this up at any cost if we want it to continue!

29:02 OMG I didn't know you were a capsuleer, the mention of Jita 4-4 unlocked some core memories for me.

Holy shit. I haven't seen your vids since middle school. 8 years ago. Good to see you still around. Never forgot that the climax is paramount

The problem is that I believe that most "author's" that spread their story over different mediums is that each different medium serves a different purpose for the story. Sometimes it's for exploring said story in several different facets. I think the more important thing is to figure out what the different themes are for the different versions of the storyline. And how a certain medium might be best utilized to convey that story.

My attention span is so short that I've been clicking out of thirty and twenty-minute videos from content-creators that I like, and even though I'm trying to get back into anime again, I'm having trouble binge-watching stuff like I used to, even with anime that piques my interest. It's been a while since I watched GR, mostly because my focus has been on work and other things other than anime, but I'm really stoked for the upcoming reboot of Spice and Wolf, and I'm going to sit here sipping on some whiskey and watching this whole--ass two-hour long video. (I'm on sixteen minutes in, but felt the need to express that.)

I knew there were differences between the different mediums, but didn't know how much. This was one of my first niche anime I fell in love with so I'm mixed parts excited and apprehensive on how it will turn out. I will have to see if I can hold out for the anime to air before I binge-read the light novel now that it's back on my radar.

Thank you for the awesome video, I love spice and wolf so much. Here's to many more adventures with our favorite wolf and merchant!🍻

And now with the new adaptation we're back to Yarei. Soooo... I guess we're back to light novel being dominant? Also we're got The Answer, which is kinda nice

Holy Shit a 2 hour long Spice & Wolf video? 🥲

The fact that you know the economics sides of this anime is impressive

This was a wonderful video and also OH MY GOSH THE STORY COMES IN A TOME? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! THAT'S PERFECT!

I just remembered seeing your review of spice and wolf season 2 like 10 years ago... you've been doing this for a long time my guy.

A two hour vid on my favorite anime/light novel series? Sign me up XD

*An obligatory correction: it's not fandubbers who "decided" to call her Horo, it's JP studio who later decided to pick the name "Holo" randomly (without being familiar enough with EN language and rules of romanization). Honestly, had they not done it, nobody would've ever thought to call her that.

Shocked to see this long a video, less shocked it is about S&W.

If I recall chloe fixes a plot hole in sewers with the yaree selling out holo to the church as he never actually met holo prior to this and his motivations for doing so is kinda weak unless he has knowledge of holo, which he doesnt, chloe has a reason to be jealous of holo despite also never actually meeting her in person before getting to the town of Pazzio which is a plot hole. Mother's Basement brought it up in his retrospective on the series, if im remembering it right yaree doesnt sneak out of the barn to go see lawrence like chloe does thus not having a conversation about holo being real.

This was the first anime I ever saw. Loved it so much I went and read the entire series, which I have kept up with to this day. Holo is still best girl. You chopped off the bottom half of Volume 17's cover 😉👍

Oh neat, a video about Spice and Wolf. I love Spice and WOlf. I have 20 minutes to... oh... I missed a zero in there...

Its a treat watching GR, I am as old as him and at least just as seasoned as him as an anime/manga/LN consumer and he offering his experiences from over a decade ago and enlightening me i just never got around to.

Oh my, Spice and Wolf, slayers and Lodoss brings warm nostalgic memories ❤

Dude I fucking love your videos. I’ve been watching you for like 10 years and I wish you never stop. I just want to hear all of your opinions about anime, you’ve shown me so many amazing things. MAYBE ONE DAY YOU COULD DO MONTHLY WRAP UPS OF THE ANIME YOU WATCH

i love the anime and i unfortunately never got a whack at the manga and i just cant force myself to do most light novels. thank you for the retrospective i had no idea what i was missing.

I wish I could watch this video to give it the algorithm boost, but I really don't wanna spoil myself on the story, so I'll just leave this comment here and a like.

A 2hr video about my favorite franchise?! It's not even my birthday!

What a wonderful take on my favourite series! I'd love to hear you talk about another show that aired around the same time and is going to get a remake: Bartender. It's a beautifully written show/manga about personal and interpersonal problems which I feel is quite a hidden gem.

The videos not even started and Im already thanking you

Wow Arkada...I vividly remember that old Spice and Wolf review you did. Honestly I kinda thought it was a fever dream but in your own words you looked it up--I totally remember you talking about how much you hated the economics part of the anime. So much has changed since then! Can't believe I've been subscribed for so long! And how much time has passed o.O

I would've never expected to hear about BobbyBroccoli's amazing Nortel Documentary (seconded, absolutely add that to your watchlist if you got 3 hours to spare) in a nostalgic video about the series that arguably got me into Anime over a decade ago

Good news. The new adaptation… has the nobody back.

I love this anime so much

During the times I've watched Spice and Wolf and Maoyuu, I found it interesting that they had Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu as the protagonist and heroine roles, considering that the previous roles they had played together that one could recall was Code Geass with Lelouch and Kallen,

I have had this show in my "need to watch" list for many years. But will be holding off on watching until the remake comes out because i want the joy of going week-by-week as the Anime Gods intended.

This was such a great video! I look forward to the ONE PIECE: Retrospective!

Thanks for this Video . I was really depressed , that season 2 ended so abrupt . And with your Summary and Knowledge , u really gave me closure . It plagued me at home , at work , everywhere . I was just thinking 24/7 about Spice and Wolf and couldn't live with it , that there is nothing after Season 2 besides (Light Novel/Manga) that i won't read because its unfortunately too boring for me . But yeah really big thanks for giving me some closure on this Anime :)

Honestly, the cookie thing does make a lot of sense: It's not as simple as "Hey, have you guys ever thought about baking something out of your wheat and selling that instead of selling the wheat?". This village was the place of a miracle. Pilgrims will start coming soon. Pilgrims who will need to buy food, clothes, shelter and the like. Introducing a local specialty that can be sold to those pilgrims (and the surrounding villages and towns), that is linked to the miracle (after all, it's the same wheat that began growing due to the miracle) is very clever indeed. Pilgrims will buy the cookies. And they will bring some of those cookies home, as gifts for friends and family. The word of the specialty cookies from the village where the miracle of the wheat took place will spread, attracting even more pilgrims... and merchants who are willing to buy and export those cookies from the holy pilgrim site. It's very clever marketing. And it's something that has happened in the real world multiple times. Aachen in Germany was (amongst other things) a very popular destination for pilgrims, their business making up a LOT of the city's income. And Aachen does have its own special kind of gingerbread, called "Aachener Printen", which are produced since the middle ages.

Well done! You could do a similar take on Urusei Yatsura , which is also being rebooted, has an original manga, and a VAST anime backlog (and a HUGE cultural impact overall) from the first time around. Slayers is another light-novel series with movies, series, OVA's, games, and more, too, although AFAIK, there isn't a new anime on the horizon (One can hope, can't one?). Ruroken, well, I'll leave that one up to you.

Great video! Really looking forward to your future videos!

I've never really been bothered by what is or isn't the definitive edition of anything I've seen/played/watched. Sometimes I watch subsequent material after the original and sometimes I don't. It's rare that it bugs me all that much. For me, the definitive edition is usually the one I enjoyed the most. I liked aspects of FMA more than brotherhood and aspects of Brotherhood more than FMA. I still enjoy both though, so I never really thought about which one is definitive. It never really crossed my mind beyond which one did I enjoy more. Either way, thanks for the long retrospective on a series that I really enjoyed, but haven't gotten around to rewatching in a long time :)

was that a eve reference in a spice and wolf video....... What a great gift from my favorite youtuber.

I’ll be honest, the least thing I was expecting was you mentioning Jira 4 - 4. In a video about Spice and Wolf. You are indeed a man of culture xD

dude i love this video is an amazing full explanation of the series belive me i could not understood the most part of the economics plot before i watched this video

Great timing on this one, i was actually rereading volume 8 so I could finally get on to the final part of the Town of Strife arc, which does not start in Volume 8, as the books themselves state, but Volume 6. Volume 7 is Side Colors 1 so it isn't even in the arc, but half of it is connective tissue for the first three volumes and is Episodes 7 of season 1 and 0 of season 2.

This video on the retrospective of Spice and Wolf is pivotal to understanding why that its about damn time Spice and Wolf got a proper remake! I get that people still love the original anime adaption because it was iconic and would not want the possibility of the remake to fail. But having an anime not been able to realize the full potential of Spice and Wolf will always bother. The skipped arcs in the beginning actually sound like it give us much more insight to the story itself. I just can't anymore until the remake drops. Everything about it seems to be pointed at the right direction this time. I think we'll probably get the full realization it truly deserves!

How long till we can hear your thoughts on the newest season. I WANNA KNOWW!!!

Holo was the main reason why, to be worried about losing out with the pyrite, because Holo was going to seemingly get married and go off with the merchant Amati... and that'd be the end of something wonderful that happened, getting in love with Holo, so a second merchants duel was necessary to ensure Holo's love wasn't lost. or so it was in the mind at the time.

To this day, I STILL don't understand the what I dub the economy deal bullshit in the series, but I still stand by the fact that I can stomach Spice and Wolf more then say more recent anime like the popular slice of life ones. Main reason is because of how Lawrence and Holo interact with each other and how they grow in their relationship. Yeah season 2 has issues but on the flipside our duo got together so I hope that the remake will be Rurouni Kenshin level good and not be like Shaman King level boring. Nice job with this long retrospective and still can't believe that Holo in Japanese became a big breasted red haired demon king who wants to smash the hero who is also smart lol oh Ami Koshimizu is a peach.

Love the series. Still haven't finished Wolf & Parchment though.