A new Spice and Wolf anime has been greenlit.
Series co-creator Isuna Hasekura announced the new project in a video that was posted to his official website. The author's announcement and the first teaser trailer for the project were light on details - it's currently unknown if the new anime will be a sequel to the 2008 series or a reboot, and the announcement doesn't clarify if the new project will be a full series, movie, or an original video animation (OVA) release. The teaser trailer features Ju Ayakura's art from the original light novel series, alongside the tagline "Holo the Wise Wolf and Lawrence the Merchant's story continues."
The first volume in the Spice and Wolf light novel series was published in 2006. The series tells the story of Lawrence, a traveling merchant who hopes to one day settle down and open up his own shop, who one day meets Holo, a wolf-deity who can transform into a young girl. While Holo was once respected by the people for her ability to generate good harvests, she has been abandoned by the region's farmers in favor of more modern farming methods and is now being hunted by the Church. Lawrence reluctantly agrees to help Holo return to her homeland in the north, and in return, she uses her 600-years of experience to help Lawrence succeed with his business.
Hasekura's novels have been a huge commercial success, selling over 3.5 million copies in Japan as of 2009. The series was later adapted into a manga by artist Keito Koume, which made it onto The New York Times' best-sellers list when it was released in English. An anime adaptation was originally produced in 2008 by studio Imagin, which is now known for their works in the boys-love genre. The anime returned for a second season in 2009, which was now produced by Brain's Base, the animation company behind the TV adaptations of Durarara!! and To Your Eternity. Both seasons of the anime were directed by Rozen Maiden's Takeo Takahashi. The series has also received numerous video game adaptations, including a VR game that was ported to the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation 4 in 2019.
The original light novel series has continued to this day, with the most recent book being published in Japan in September 2021. Both the novels and the manga adaptation are available in English from publisher Yen Press. Both seasons of the anime series are available for streaming on Funimation and Hulu.
Source: YouTube, Isuna Hasekura's official website
