Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf Episode 1 Discussion

I only rewatched a part of the episode but just wanted to have a taste of the English dub and man I feel so much at home with it. The Japanese voices are fine but I truly loved the dub version of it and it's really good to see the cast back and sounding great in roles so far. Also, the opening was sung in English as well for the English dub version so that is interesting to say the least. Doesn't sound as smooth as the Japanese version of course, but still fairly solid and cool that they did adapt to English for this. ED was still in Japanese though but that's fine.

I do eventually want to rewatch this entry of Spice and Wolf at some point before a second season, and the fact that the dub cast is back and running does make the idea of a rewatch even more enjoyable than me watching it right now weekly in Japanese to be honest, but I'll try and get through both versions in full before season 2 ever happens.

@animejas

You should watch the whole episode, there is a scene towards the end that just felt so amazing with the English VAs back. Brina is just absolutely fantastic as Holo, no elaboration needed....but even J.Michael as Lawrence is like a tonic to me, he adds such a soft/ calm feeling to the character and when these two are having a touching scene it just makes me melt hearing them together. I am sure the Japanese VA are really good but these are the characters I know. I am already so excited to see how some of my favourite scenes are going to play out in this remake.

And Kevin Penkin is killing it with the music.

I haven't watched Spice and Wolf 08 in years, so unlike FMA 03 and Brotherhood (where it was obvious just how much Brotherhood was rushing the early parts, and the story suffered as a result), I can't really say how well this compares to its previous adaptation. Furthermore, I've never read the books, so I'm mostly able to judge this adaptation on its own merits.

The first episode is very charming, and I'm looking forward to following this show as the dub comes out; I likely wouldn't have bothered to watch it at all if Palencia and Tatum hadn't come back to voice the MCs. My assessment of the show on the whole as it progresses will come down mainly to three things:

1. Is Holo as much of an outright brat as she was (or at least, as I remember her being) in the 08 series, to the point where many of her actions made no sense?

2. Does the series draw out the start of Holo and Lawrence's actual relationship like it did in the original? I know their relationship starting at the end of the 08 series was probably just because that's roughly when it began in the books (again, haven't read them), but it would still be nice if they just admitted to each other early on that they want to bone each other until they're both walking bow-legged the next day, and saved us a lot of will-they-won't-they bullshit.

3. How does it end? I know the books are still being written, so lord knows if the ending will be show-original, the actual ending after the books have concluded, or what, but hopefully it will at least be more satisfying than the rather weak 08 ending.

I haven't read jack shit about the show, so if any of my concerns have been addressed in an article or tweet or something, please link me to it.

@CartoonVelocirap

Why are you even watching this show?

I wonder how it compares to the original adaptation, but this start was just as I expected with the setup of Lawrence meeting Holo via the grains.