One of the series that I really found interesting from last year was Spice and Wolf. It started out as a light novel series, and eventually got a manga and short anime series adaptation. It's a rather unusual fantasy series, as it focuses on Lawrence Craft, a trader who sells goods to various cities in a vaguely medieval European setting. Along the way, he meets Horo (or Holo), a wolf deity, who due to changing beliefs forced by a monotheistic Church, is driven from the town she has protected. Rather than focusing on grand themes of war and adventure, the first major arc is about a scheme to take advantage of the different purity of silver coins and the economics of a medieval society.

When I saw the show in fansub last year, I was wondering if it'd be big enough to get a US release, especially since it seems a bit of niche title. Today, I discover I guess I was wrong. Yen Press, the same folks that are doing the Haruhi Suzumiya novels, will begin releasing the novels and manga starting December this year, with a new volume coming out ever six months. In addition, Kadokawa Pictures USA (Lucky Star, Haruhi) along with FUNimation will release the original 13 episode series later this year. A second anime series will begin airing in Japan this summer.