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I saw this anime because of a few recommendations online and several glowing reviews, however upon watching Spice and Wolf I have to wonder how old the writers of these reviews are that they can find this enjoyable. If you've read any other review on this show, you'll know it is praised for its "character depth" and its use of economics. Let me warn you ahead of time, I have seen puddles with more depth than these characters. They are extremely 2 dimensional, the dialogue might as well have been written by a junior high student, and the monotonous tone of the voice acting is ... appalling. As to the economics so heavily praised by viewers, it is hardly a fair trade for a good story. When the subject is brought up, it sounds more like the characters are reading from a textbook rather than furthering the story. It basically consists of an economic buzzword being said, followed by the definition, in other words the show is extremely full of parrot expositions.

The sound of the show also leaves something to be desired, as there is little to no music, almost exclusively dialogue and ambient noise, which I understand was the intent, and could be quite powerful if done correctly. Unfortunately, it was not. Instead of using this tactic to emphasize important and deep scenes, the entirety of the show is treated the same and the viewer is quickly desensitized to the effect and no emphasis is ever placed on anything. When music is actually used, it tends to be poor quality and rather obnoxious, typically played over conversation which was clearly intended to make the conversation seem fun and uplifting but ends up causing the opposite.

The art style of the show is average quality and I really have no comment on it.

Right off the bat, we are greeted by both Lawrence's friend provocatively discussing a business transaction and Holo explaining nonverabally how comfortable she is nude, and how frequently you can expect to see her that way. At this point you would expect that fanservicing will be the downfall of this show but overall what ruined the show for me was the abysmal dialogue and utter lack of real character depth. As I continued to watch I noticed that the closest thing I could compare this show to, both in character and in dialogue would be Twilight. The obnoxious amount of exposition tropes is also reminiscent of your typical shonen.

I expect the crowd who actually do care for this show are coming from a background in Naruto or One Piece, which were also not my cup of tea.

TL;DR: If you are below the age of 16 and have never seen anything with a more dynamic story than Naruto, you may enjoy Spice and Wolf, you may even praise it for the greatest characters ever written. But for the adults reading this article who are looking for a show with legitimate character development and an enthralling story, look elsewhere.