Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart” is a lovely conclusion to the whole story arc with Fermi Amati. For this is the episode in which both Kraft and Holo show who they really care for in the end, and giving us a very loving confirmation of their relationship.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart”: Details

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF NA key visual.
At long last, we see Holo enter the story again as a main character.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart” is the 19th episode (you can check out my reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, Ep. 10, Ep. 11, Ep. 12, Ep. 13, Ep. 14, Ep. 15, Ep. 16, Ep. 17, and Ep. 18 here) of season 1 (which hopefully won’t be the only one) of this economic fantasy reboot anime series by studio Passione (Citrus, Mieruko-chan, Yuri Is My Job!).

Said anime series is the reboot of the 2008 anime Spice and Wolf by studios Imagin (season 1) and the duo of Brain’s Base and Marvy Jack (season 2). Said original anime series (along with this reboot) are the anime adaptations of the light novel series of the same name by Isuna Hasekura (World End Economica, Magdala de Nemure). Crunchyroll is the company licensing this anime for its NA release.

Production Cast

Takashi Ikehata, Lee Ki-Chang, Hito Tadano, Hiroki Moritomo, and Tatsuya Hagino all co-directed Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart”, with Yukito Kizawa as the writer, and Hiroyuki Shimazu as the storyboarder. As for the Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF anime as a whole, we do still know that Hijiri Sanpei is the director. Takeo Takahashi is actually returning from the original 2008 anime series as the chief director. Tatsuhiko Urahata is the overall writer, with Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss, Tower of God, Bye Bye, Earth) as the composer for the music you hear in this reboot anime.

Voice Cast

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart” features the voices of  Jun Fukuyama (J. Michael Tatum in English dub) as Kraft Lawrence and Ami Koshimizu (Brina Palencia in English dub) as Holo the Wise Wolf. Other notable voices in this episode include Akeno Watanabe (Colleen Clinkenbeard in English dub) as Dian “Dian Rubensm, Rikiya Koyama (Ian Sinclair in English dub) as Marc Cole, and Saeko Chiba (Ryan Reynolds in English dub) as Fermi Amarti.

When and Where to Watch

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on August 12, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this reboot anime as a whole only on Crunchyroll for now. If you want to watch the original 2008 Spice and Wolf anime for comparison, then you can do that on Crunchyroll as well.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart”: Synopsis

Holo is back to smiling in this episode!

Alas, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart” only made its debut two days ago as of this writing. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis from Crunchyroll instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can read that synopsis below:

The price of pyrite keeps rising, but when Diana’s representative appears and informs him of the failed deal, Lawrence’s plan collapses. Has he lost the bet against Amati and, consequently, Holo?

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart”: The Good

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 "God's Unseen Hand and Wolf's Unseen Heart" episode visual by Jū Ayakura.
Jū Ayakura really knows what we want for episode visuals.

Okay, there is definitely no question about it. It’s the story of this episode that keeps my eyes glued to the computer monitor. This is all due to the economic drama of much of the episode, combined with the heart-meltingly adorable romance between Kraft and Holo. It may be a bit of a spoiler for this episode, but it’s kind of obvious given the whole anime’s premise. Needless to say, it’s the whole romance angle from Isuna Hasekura that’s the best part of not just this episode, but the anime as a whole.

Complementing that amazing story is the animation. Fortunately, Passione pulled out all the stops for this episode. When this is basically the episode where Kraft finally all but confesses his love to Holo, it makes sense that all the stops are being pulled here. It’s especially satisfying to see that this episode took two weeks to come out compared to the usual weekly release for this anime. After a week-long break, being rewarded with high-quality episodes makes me think animators should take more breaks more often.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 “God’s Unseen Hand and Wolf’s Unseen Heart”: The Bad

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 19 "God's Unseen Hand and Wolf's Unseen Heart" screenshot showing Holo and Kraft reunited at long last.
Not bad in the slightest.

Alas, if you’re an action junkie who likes action and nothing but, this episode of the anime is probably not the episode for you. There’s only drama and romance here, with a healthy dose of economics. If you want action, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, and/or The Elusive Samurai. Those will have more than enough action to satisfy any junkie.