YMMV / Spice and Wolf

• Alternative Character Interpretation: There is some ambiguity as to the real personality of Nora Arendt. Lawrence believes that she's as naive and innocent as she seems, but Holo claims that this is only a facade.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Hashiru". It usually comes on or before Lawrence senses trouble.
  • "Tabi no Tochū" by Natsumi Kiyoura is a more understated example of this trope, but it can still stir your soul. It almost perfectly encompasses a feeling of loneliness and happiness, particularly in the chorus, where the female vocalist is joined by an underlying male one to match the two main characters.
  • "Perfect World" by Rocky Chack is an absolutely beautiful piece with poetic lyrics that reflect Holo and Lawrence's relationship in a very heartwarming way.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Just by looking at a Google Image search of the title, one would assume Holo spends half the series naked. She first appears in the nude as a consequence of, well, not having any clothes with her when she goes back to her human form and is naked in the original anime's OP, but for the most part remains fully clothed. The fans, most official images, and merchandise (and This Very Wiki) would have you believe otherwise.
• Can't Un-Hear It: It's pretty easy to hear the voices of Lawrence and Holo in either language when reading the books. Further solidified when Yen Audio had J. Michael Tatum narrate the audiobooks.
• Colbert Bump:
  • The Twitter account for Spicy Tails, the production group organized by this series' author, made a tweet about being amazed and grateful for the "Tabi no Tochū" cover by Ninomae Ina'nis from hololive for bringing more viewers to the anime.
  • The 2024 remake has drawn in newcomers who either never heard of the series before, or had heard of it through word of mouth, but never tried it before.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: It's "Holo", not "Horo", no matter what the fansubbers will tell you.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Due to certain similarities in appearance and character, Eve is commonly referred to as Sheik.
  • "Korbo" for Holo, due to how her name looks like in her sloppy handwriting.
• Genius Bonus: The landscape art in the 2024 anime has a somewhat Impressionist painting style to it. The inventor of Impressionism, Claude Monet was notable for his Impressionist Paintings of heystacks. These heystacks were often made of wheat or barley. What makes this more on point is that Pasloe◊ in the remake is shown having haystacks that are exactly similar to Monet's haystacks.◊
• Growing the Beard: The sixth book in the series sets off a three-book epic that introduces Lawrence's totally-not-apprentice Col as a third main character as well as a central driving plot: a church conspiracy involving one of Holo's deceased great-wolf kin's remains.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Lawrence catching the man he's selling pepper to using skewed scales becomes a lot less funny/awesome after Lawrence discovers the actual value of the weapons he bargained for.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Upon finding out that Yoitsu is gone, Holo in grief confronts Lawrence and demands they have a baby. The man refuses to copulate, and the wolf takes this as a rejection. But it wasn’t, as Lawrence does love her. By refusing her advances while not in the right frame of mind, he’s truthfully affirming: No child should be born out of fear. If they’re to have a baby, it must be for love. And eventually they do end up having a daughter.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: When Vtubing became a thing, fans of Spice and Wolf naturally joked about Holo's name being in the term Vtuber term Holo Live. Now, Holo is a Vtuber, making her officially a Holo Live member.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "I watch it for the economics" started as a meme from the anime.
  • The "Stupid potato" line from the dub. (In the original Japanese version, she called it an "Evil Potato", which might have been even funnier.)
  • Missed the Eclipse for Anime of the Year: A joke was made by Chibi Reviewers about missing the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse because they would rather see more of Holo. This seems to be something a few people online have done.
  • Holo Live: With the release of the new anime, it was also announced that Holo would be having her own Vtuber channel. Her name being in the Vtuber related term, Holo live hasn't gone unnoticed.
  • "Korbo" as a nickname for Holo, based on her partly illegible signature on Amarty's contract in the second season.
  • Holo's Ear Dance in EP 5 has become this with how cute she acts and the way she moves her ears.
• Moe: Holo can act soft, vulnerable, cute, etc. to get what she wants from anyone but Lawrence, but she also has some genuine moe moments, either when she's eating an apple, demonstrating her naivete about the day and age, or having a woobie moment.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: Sure it's not without its tragic elements, and doesn't gloss over the hardships of travel, but it just serves to make their relationship all the more heartwarming.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • One grievance some fans of the 2008 anime have is that Chloe has been replaced by a guy in the 2024 anime. This is despite the male in question, Yarei being the original version of the LN's character, and Chloe was an anime original character who took his place.
  • Holo's design and demeanor coming off as a lot more silly and childish in the remake has put some viewers off, making some 2008 only-anime viewers think she's now 'ruined', having been turned into a generic moe girl compared to the more mature version of the OG anime. However, this version is closer to how she's portrayed in the novels and manga.
• Tear Jerker: Holo finding out that Yoitsu is gone, and confronting Lawrence. This extends to their interactions with the few animal spirits left in the world. Their time of power has come and gone, and most just accept it as the way of things and just want to live out their days in peace.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Fans of the series were surprised to find Holo and Lawrence's daughter, Myuri, appearing at the beginning of EP 1 of the 2024 anime.
  • Yarei being in the remake wasn't surprising to fans given they expected it was gonna be more LN accurate. However, what did surprise many was the brief cameo of Chloe in EP 1., given that Chloe was Yarei's replacement in the OG anime. It's a nice tribute to the classic anime while still being more faithful to the Novels.
• The Woobie: Holo when she gets lonely and homesick.
• Woolseyism: The translations try to make the dialog appropriate for the medieval-esque European setting by having the characters speak in modern but formal English with few or no contractions, while words that are rare in modern usage but still valid like "vexing" are used as well. This makes the dub dialog sound suitably old yet also avoids the problems caused when pseudo-old English is attempted.

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