Spice and Wolf - Season 1

One of the things that I like about anime is that even when it's not very good, there's usually at least something about the plot or setting that's unique. Spice and Wolf has the benefit of using an interesting topic that I haven't seen before, and also being very good. To describe it briefly, it's a fantasy series that focuses on medieval economics instead of swords and sorcery. The two leads are Lawrence, a young traveling merchant trying to build a fortune and Holo, a half human, half wolf incarnation of a goddess of nature that brings good harvests to a town Lawrence visits on his route. Circumstances make them friends, and Lawrence agrees to accompany her to a forest in the north if she'll pay her own way. Some people try to capture her and ruin his business, but they use a combination of wit and her powers to keep on the journey.

As I mentioned, the general backdrop of the story is old fashioned economy, and the series goes into a ton of detail on the topic, from the varying silver purity in various coins to all kinds of back room deals and schemes to capitalize on the changing values of goods. This sort of thing is what interested me in the show in the first place, and I enjoyed how much time the show spent on it. It treats the viewer intelligently, giving you the information you need and treating the mind games of being a merchant in a way that's as exciting as any battle. The main characters are both well developed and interesting too, and their companionship is one of the better relationships I've seen in an anime in a while. Of course some deeper feelings come around, though that sort of thing is handled better than it usually is. There's a nice climax to the arc of these thirteen episodes, but that's not the end of the story and I'm definitely going to be there when they bring the second season to the states.