>>222507Spice and Wolf
When I saw the first scenes of the first episode I thought it was going to be fan service all the way, but in the end they treated Holo's nudity as a natural thing and didn't go any further in the direction of fanservice aside from subtle hints between Holo and Lawrence, mainly by Holo, later on when there is more of a romantic tension between them.
The story is great. You get to see how Lawrence actually overcomes real obstacles like taking a huge economic loss, the church getting in his way, a wealthy rival, etc. all through doing what he does for a living, being a traveling peddler and using all his ingenuity and experience as an avid trader. It has a feel of them being perfectly real scenarios in which a man only has his knowledge and expertise in his trade to overcome them.
The romance itself is also very believable (Holo being a wolf aside). You have two parties who at first have little interest in each other and only have a deal between them that ties them to traveling together and then, as time goes by, become more aware that they love each other but are not open about it because of the situations they are in and they don't want to interfere with each others dreams and goals (Lawrence's shop, Holo's hometown)
To this day I still have a warm feeling when I think of this anime. I love it so much, it is a good drama.
However, if you are only interested in the anime and not the light novels then beware that there isn't, and sadly will never be a season three.
As to what personal reasons I have to like this anime? Well, it simply clicks all my buttons. Part of it may go back to me dreaming of traveling the world in very much the same style a traveling peddler would in medieval times when I was a wee lad. The romance in it also hit all my buttons and got me very emotional at certain points. Only two animes have made me have a weep, the first was the last episode of Bebop when I was something like 13 and later on Spice and Wolf.
