From the looks of the episode count, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” looks to be the start of the final arc of this reboot anime. After all, this anime is supposed to last for 25 episodes, and this is the 20th. Fortunately, based on the romantic drama and mystery surrounding this episode, studio Passione look like they’re starting off this final arc on a high note.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy”: Details

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF NA ket art.
We might not be able to look at this key art for much longer.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” is the 20th 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, Ep. 18, and Ep. 19 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

Tatsuya Hagino, Satoshi Saga, Hito Tadano, Miki Sorakubo, and Vu Ngoc Tram all co-directed Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy”, with Yukito Kizawa as the writer, and Takeo Takahashi 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. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” 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 Atsushi Abe as Gyoam Evan and Lynn as Elsa Schtingheim.

When and Where to Watch

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on August 19, 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. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy”: Synopsis

Holo even gets to be as silly as she looks in this thumb.

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. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” only made its debut seven 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:

With a load of flour, Holo and Lawrence head deeper into the north, arriving at the town of Tereo, searching for an abbey with information on Holo’s home.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy”: The Good

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 "Church Girl and Miller Boy" episode visual.
Jū Ayakura is very good at making Elsa look displeased.

Honestly, it’s the story of Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” that’s what keeps me watching. All because of the playful conversations and other interactions between Kraft and Holo, even when it involves Kraft doing things like accidentally stepping on Holo’s tail. This is all the more endearing to me because of the heavy emotional arcs lately, so the soft fluff is a nice breather of an episode here. Even then though, there are elements of mystery in this episode that peeks through the fluff, and makes you invested even more in the story. It’s this balance that makes this a lovely milk chocolate of an episode to sink your teeth into and let it melt in your mouth. Definitely kudos to Isuna Hasekura for writing this wonderful story.

Complementing that wonderful story is the animation. Passione continue to maintain a pretty high quality of animation in this episode, as they have done for the previous episodes in general. In particular, the buildings are very wonderfully drawn. Honestly, they look like something out of a watercolor painting. It’s a nice touch of eye candy for the start of this final arc of the anime.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy”: The Bad

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 "Church Girl and Miller Boy" screenshot showing Gyoam rubbing the back of his head.
He’s just embarrassed about being a miller, is all.

Alas, this episode is not for you if you’re an action junkie. Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 20 “Church Girl and Miller Boy” is basically slice of life and romance with a dash of mystery to season it. An action-packed episode, this is not. If you want that, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, and/or The Elusive Samurai. Those anime series should have more than enough action to satisfy you.