Me and Holo.. Oh sorry, I mean 'Spice and Wolf' manga has been said to be the worst version of the story. This is perhaps true, but it contains countless, polished artwork of Holo eating, sleeping, drinking, smiling, bathing, smirking, hugging, sitting, and---apples, and therefore, it's perfect and flawless in every way. Not really, but it's exactly everything a fan of the franchise could wish for.


The art of this manga is fantastic. I have lost count on how many light novel series and already produced anime series have received a manga adaptation with beyond lackclustery art. Spice and Wolf looks rough and almost sketched, but at the same time being incredibly detailed and soft. Its world has very realistic and atmospheric feel to it thanks to the artwork alone which serves the settings of the series and does magnificent job delivering everything from backdrops to character's behavior and reaction faces. Overall the art is memorable and the main reason why this manga adaptation works so well.


The story is based Spice and Wolf. The series centers around two characters called; Holo The Wise Wolf of Yoitsu, who is a Goddess of the Harvest, taking a human form -- and; man named Lawrence Kraft, a travelling salesman aiming for business and riches. The driving motion in the story from Holo's part is visiting Yoitsu, while Lawrence aims to make business while travelling from town to town. These two partner up and decide they will head to Yoitsu while visiting towns and doing business. From its core, the story centers around economics, but on the surface level it's a life story of two people interacting with each others and the world around them.


While the more arc-based stories center around money-creed corporations, curses, scammers and talking-hares even, they are all essentially spiced with the our two main characters just being there for each others, learning about one another and deciding what they really want from life. The characters are the selling point of the series from the light novel to the anime, and their personas along the strong art are the reason why the manga is of high quality.


Holo is in generally among the best written female characters this industry has to offer. Due to her old age and hundreds of years of solitude, she has developed a personality and wisdom which come not only with insane character depth and complexity, but behavior and waifugame so strong she alone could be criticized for Japan's dropping birth rate as real women can't compete. However, the chemistry of our main couple from dialogue, intimacy and more serious plot-related sides can only work because of Lawrence. 25-years-old man who seems to be able to adapt to any situation. He is calm person with big heart and personality. Knowing his head-pats are enough to make the wolfie happy should be enough of a prove of his superiority.


The character development practically equals with relationship development as there are approximately 300 hugging scenes in the series. This is close of being the most wholesome thingie created since the invention of the word itself, reading the manga for these scenes is worth of it alone, even though it has much more to offer than just that.