出典 : Amazon.co.jp
A thorough examination of the possibility of a third TV anime season for the popular light novel “Spice and Wolf”!
The series was once completed, but has been resumed, and now a new series “Wolf and Parchment” is being published in addition to the main story, so we have made a prediction about a new anime adaptation of this work that is gaining momentum!
A unique “economic fantasy” is a big hit! Once completed, but relaunched on the occasion of its 10th anniversary!
出典 : Amazon.co.jp
Wolf and Spice”, the debut novel by Ms. Frozen Sand Hasekura and the Silver Prize winner of the 12th Dengeki Novel Award, has been talked about as a “different kind of light novel” since the first volume was released.
It’s not …… because the heroine, Holo, has a tail and animal ears.
It is because this work was mainly about economic activities.
Although Spice with Wolves is a fantasy work, there are no supernatural powers such as magic, and there is no combat using weapons such as swords and spears.
The protagonist of this work, Craft Lawrence, is a young man who is a traveling peddler who travels from place to place, buying and selling various goods.
He meets Holo, the incarnation of a wolf, and the story is an innovative novel that depicts the economy of a fantasy world while playing out a game with various people in various places.
The main focus of the story is on economics, which may sound like a complicated subject, but this is not a rigid story.
Lawrence’s pride as a merchant and the pursuit of Holo’s cuteness are typical of a romance, and the story doesn’t have the stench of explanation or “characters just appearing as a stage set” that is common in such genres. It’s not just “characters who are just there as characters.
The story is also based on the economy of medieval Europe, but with a simple setting and structure so that even a layman with no background in economics can easily understand and enjoy learning the basics and mechanisms of business transactions such as distribution, exchange, and futures trading.
This work, which deviates greatly from the main road of romance, but at the same time keeps the promise of romance, has received much praise and was made into an anime only a year and a half after its publication.
It was broadcasted in the winter of 2008 and was well received, and a second season was broadcasted in the summer of 2009.
The story of Wolf and Spice continued to be a popular work, and was completed with the release of the 17th volume in July 2011.
However, in 2016, the 10th anniversary of the book, a resumption was announced and a new volume was released, the first in five years.
In addition, a new series, “New Theory: Wolf and Spice: Wolves and Parchment,” was started featuring Toto Corr, who appeared as a boy with a girlish appearance in volume 6 of the main story, and Lawrence and Holo’s daughter, Muuri.
Even after the resumption of the series, the popularity of the series is still going strong, and both “Spice” and “Parchment” are ranked at the top every time a new book is released, with the total number of copies sold in the series reaching 4.35 million.
It is an ongoing hit, and many fans are looking forward to a new anime adaptation.
Will the success of the VR animation project affect the third season?
Since the relaunch in 2016, there has actually already been a new anime adaptation of Wolf and Spice.
However, it was not a sequel to the second season, but a project to be produced as a VR anime by the coterie circle “SpicyTails” run by the original author, Mr. Shikura, who raised support through crowdfunding.
The “Spice and Wolf VR Anime Production Project” started in 2018 on the crowdfunding sites “CAMPFIRE” and “Kickstarter”, and attracted a lot of attention as it brought together people such as Mr. Shikura, Mr. Jun Bunkura who is in charge of the original illustrations, Jun Fukuyama who plays Lawrence, and Ami Koshimizu who plays Holo. The project attracted a lot of attention, and reached its goal of 8 million yen in just two hours.
The final amount of support reached 41,470,064 yen on Campfire and 30,978,009 yen on Kickstarter, for a total of 72,457,073 yen.
After that, “Spice and Wolf VR” was successfully released on June 3, 2019, and a sequel will be produced just two months later.
From this, it can be seen that Mr. Hasekura is focusing a lot on VR.
So will all future anime adaptations of Wolf and Spice be in the form of VR anime?
In conclusion, it seems unlikely.
As anyone who has actually experienced “Spice and Wolf VR” will immediately understand, this is not the type of anime that can be enjoyed in the same way as regular anime.
It’s more like a communication game, where you can enjoy the conversation with Holo and her reactions from Lawrence’s point of view in a 3D space.
The story is written by Mr.Hasekura, but it’s not a story that you can take your time to enjoy, but rather a conversation drama that focuses on situations and direction for flirting with Holo.
Although the romantic comedy between Lawrence and Holo is one of the main attractions of this work, it is only one of several axes, and it will be difficult to satisfy all fans with this VR anime.
Wolf and Spice VR is a part of the “Frozen Sands of Hasekura Project” and not the main project of the “Wolf and Spice” anime.
However, the fact that this VR anime project has raised over 70 million yen is a big plus.
There is no doubt that the project was able to show that “Spice and Wolf” still has a lot of loyal customers.
In particular, it is good news that we received more than 30 million support from Kickstarter, an American crowdfunding site.
In addition to the option of simply raising support for the third season through crowdfunding, we can also look into getting funds by selling the exclusive distribution rights to Netflix and other overseas-based platforms.
In recent years, there has been a tendency for anime that are well received overseas to be made into sequels, and Wolf and Spice has plenty of potential for this.
