Summary
Crunchyroll came to NYCC, one of the biggest fan conventions in the Americas, with a few different announcements. One of the biggest, though, relates to a continuation of a classic 2000s anime series, with a new title, for a new generation of anime fans. The 2008-2009 anime seriesSpice and Wolf, adapted from the light novel series by Isuna Hasekura, was a major fan favorite in the early 2010s anime scene. On the industry side, the originalSpice and Wolfseries was known for its collaboration between different studios and its place as an early adopter of the highly organized light-novel-to-series adaptation pipeline that dominates the anime industry to this day. Although merchant meets the wise wolf, as a new adaptationwas originally announced last yearto coincide with the 15th anniversary of the original light novel series, Crunchyroll’s NYCC trailer reveal is some of the first footage for fans.
The originalSpice and Wolffocused on the relationship between Kraft Lawrence, a traveling merchant, and Holo, a harvest goddess who takes the form of a teenage wolf-girl, as they navigate the changes that time has brought to Holo’s ancestral land of patronage. The new series,Spice and Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf(lowercasing intentional), brings the IP to a new studio as well as offering deep expansions onto the world of the original light novel and its previous adaptations. At Crunchyroll’s Industry Panel at NYCC, a new trailer for the series was revealed.
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In addition to the trailer, the official description ofmerchant meets the wise wolf, as provided by Crunchyroll, gives further information:
Lawrence is a traveling merchant selling various goods from a horse-drawn cart. One day, he arrives at a village and meets a beautiful girl with the ears and tail of an animal! Her name is Holo the Wisewolf and she brings bountiful harvests. She wishes to return to her homeland, and Lawrence offers to take her. Now, the once-lonely merchant and the once-lonely wisewolf begin their journey north.
The new series includes the original Japanese voice actors for the main characters, Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu, reprising their voice roles. The new series isn’t exactly a prequel or a sequel to the original series; falling into something of a new adaptation, not totally unalikelast winter’s reimagining ofTrigun,Trigun: Stampede.
While there hasn’t been a specific release timeframe for merchant meets the wise wolf beyond a general ‘coming soon’, Crunchyroll’s panel included teasers for several other licensed anime as well. The other works teased at NYCC by Crunchyroll include the shonen seriesSengoku Youko, the third season ofClassroom of the Elite, and the anthropomorphic animal seriesBye Bye, Earth.
