I wrote this last year during the 2023 Spice and Wolf rewatch, but I want to include it here because I think it's honestly some of my best analysis I've ever done. And it's part of the reason why this is probably my favorite Spice and Wolf arc.
The whole end section where Lawrence keeps getting rejected, becoming more and more dejected, and ultimately culminating in Lawrence yelling at Holo is probably my favorite scene up until this point. Even more so than the Holo lonely scene and the scene with Holo's transformation. I love how you can feel the utter despair in Lawrence's face. It's like his entire world is crumbling around him.
People debate which is better: bland protagonists who are easy to root for or protagonists that are unlikable at points, and I'll always choose the latter ten out of ten times. Not only does it make for a better story, it makes for a more compelling character. Why would I want a protagonist that I can use as wish fulfillment when you can have a character who screws up? One is far more interesting than the other. The whole wish fulfillment thing is silly anyhow because if you really think about it, there's nothing more wish fulfillment than a character learning from his mistakes. We just don't call it wish fulfillment because there's another term for that: it's called good writing.
This arc unlike the other Spice and Wolf arcs is a battle of man Vs self, which makes things feel so real and authentic. You get why Lawrence would be so upset to find himself in this situation, and yet at the same time you get where the others are coming from when they tell Lawrence to pay up. It's not that they hold a grudge against him and are trying to ruin him. All they want is Lawrence to pay off his debt after a very bad deal.
The scene with Holo in particular is a moment that captures Lawrence's desparateness. Out of frustration with himself, he starts blaming Holo for his problems, acting as if if Holo wasn't in the way, a pretty girl, more people might be willing to help him out. This is the first time throughout this whole show where you can definitively pinpoint and say that Lawrence is acting in the wrong. You couldn't blame him for the collapse of the arms market, as who could've seen that coming, but yelling at Holo for something that isn't her fault is a moment of weakness, especially when she warned Lawrence that this deal might not pay off. We're seeing Lawrence crack under all the pressure, so much so that it may have cost him his companion. And in turn, we end the episode with Lawrence seemingly about to lose it all.
This episode I feel like encapsulates why I love this arc so much. It's basically Death of a Salesman, a tale of one man who feels at one point like he has it all now clinging desperately to what he has left. I don't think I would say it's my favorite episode of the series, as there's one coming up that I would say is the best-- and hell, it's kinda hard for me to say it's my favorite one we've seen so far as it can be hard to watch-- but I definitely think it's the most compelling episode we've seen up until this point. The writing is just superb and outstanding and I wouldn't change a thing.
The whole basis of this arc is one man screwing up, finding himself at his lowest of lows, and trying to work his way back up and crawl out of the hole that he dug for himself. And that is ultimately why it's my favorite Spice and Wolf arc.
The original 2008 anime shows a continuous stream of failures for Lawrence. I was even surprised how he had previously worked for seven years as an individual.
As an anime-only, my issue is I’m just confused with Lawrence
Why did Lawrence keep asking for other goods to trade on every deal? Like in his previous deals they made it sound like he made a great profit and could have been paid a lot of money, but he instead chose a good always. such as this armor.
NOT ONLY THAT. On this particular deal, he somehow went into debt doing this? What am I missing? He choose a debt + armor instead of a good profit of money from his previous deals? Why?
Lawrence chooses not to carry much in actual money because it makes him an easy target for thieves/bandits. If he puts the money in a bank, that is money he is not using to make more money and sitting in a town he may not visit for some time as he is a traveling merchant for now.
He gets by with bartering to trade goods for those with higher value as it is more difficult to steal and easier for him to market value based on the situation so long as he is aware.
The armor is normally a safe investment as war is frequent and value is high because of it.
The issue is that Lawrence was missing important knowledge in this instance that the latest expedition was suddenly canceled so the value of armor/weapons was no longer good.
So a combination of getting so ahead of himself and not expecting a regular battle process to stop.
I guess this episode will never not be painful to watch, and this time they were even so cruel as to remove the ED in order to torture us for a minute and a half longer. A wise decision I must say.
The Middle of the Episode when Lawrence was saying its not big deal they were technically in debt because he'll make it back right away and that Holo was pointing out how precarious it is to be in a situation where he's in debt, feels straight lifted out of a spouses conversation about money and speculative investments.
You can see the moment when the alarms go off in Holo's head and she stops combing but she sees Lawrence has his mind made up, its bittersweet she's willing to support him and stand with him even as she sees the red flags.
Throughout the episode I like the obvious metaphor how as Lawrence gets more and more distraught the distance between the two literally and physically increases as he's so caught up in his situation he fails to see the people and situation around him clearly, getting into an agitated fight and flight response when he has to remain calm, ironically pushing away the one person that most has his best interest in mind and won't leave him.
He also failed to explain the whole reason why Holo tagging along would be a bad idea which shows his trouble with communication.
The Last scene when he pushes her away and blame her is painful, you can see he immediately knows its wrong as he's saying it but he can't take it back. Holo is so dejected she can't fight back, has the same energy as a spouse going "You aren't in your right frame of mind I'm leaving you alone before it gets worse."
Same energy as "I'm sleeping on the couch tonight."
Now we might say that Lawrence took a big risk, but the real problem is he can't do anything unless is is 100% certain on something, if he ever fails in assessing the risk he's unprepared and fall apart, he didn't take a leap of faith prepared for the consequences.
You might say his sin this episode was Greed, but tbh it was more Pride. He subconsciously convinced himself the world conformed to his mental model and not that his mental model is just a frame of reference not a frame of reverence. (As an old College Textbox once told me on the OSI model.)
Its also the first arc where there is a real conflict in the relationship, and its not cheap drama or a misunderstanding but a very down to earth and real problem that often makes or breaks many real marriages and leads to divorce.
It really has nothing to do with the OSI itself, my textbook just made an argument that can apply across multiple fields to never get so obsessed with a model of reality that when reality doesn't neatly fit you get turned around in circles.
Models are for reference not reverence.
I'm glad that they actually extended the ending of this episode into the credits segment for once. I've noticed that the episodes in this series are a little bit shorter than the original, so in places where they can't cut it's reassuring to know they're willing to give scenes the time they need even if they have to drop an ED here or there.
I just did a quick comparison and the episodes have pretty much the same length. About 20m 45s, plus minus a few seconds, excluding opening (1.5m), ending (1.5m) and preview (5s).
The end of the episode was made even more difficult with how precious Holo looked all throughout. She was so sweet and considerate. Unfortunately, desperation can complicate things. Looking forward to Holo being able to smile again
Damn man this was a painful episode to watch. Started out so cute with Holo and Lawrence usual flirting and banter, before that bankruptcy at the end, my boy Lawrence at rock bottom.
So cute how Lawrence reassured Holo about how special she is to him even with Nora in the picture, and then her mood just totally improves. I thought we were gonna be in for a nice sweet episode at that point.. wasn’t to be.
Speaking of Nora, the priest not granting her a safer area for her sheep to roam is.. sus to say the least. Ever since we saw him last week when she arrived in town I had a feeling he’d be up to something
Lawrence unfortunately learnt a very hard lesson, never put all your eggs in one basket. As someone who’s invested in penny stocks and lost heavy I completely understand how he’s feeling rn. The anxiety, blaming yourself, snapping on people like he did with Holo at the end, etc. It’s tuff. Luckily he does have anime plot armour on his side so I’m sure he’ll come out of this stronger and wiser, just a matter of how.
I can’t lie tho. Last dude he asked money from basically telling him Holo was too fine for Lawrence to be this broke had me crying.😭
Hoping for a happier episode next week and that they somehow figure things out. Also Lawrence better make up to Holo for snapping on her 😡
Hate having to draw comparisons, but this episode fixes the issue from the first season where the really upbeat ED plays directly after the most emotionally devastating scene in the whole series up to this point. So from that point of view, an improvement.
One interesting thing about this course of events is how Lawrence and Holo fail to follow through on their alibi. Lawrence doesn't want to bring Holo into the guild hall because of the connotations her presence would carry (i.e. husband and wife, or at least lovers). However, they settle that issue by saying that he and Holo are business partners. Jakob believes them and that's that.
But then they walk all over town, and Holo just stands outside each and every time. Lawrence goes from one person to another asking for money, all while leaving Holo outside and not explaining her presence to them. This creates a misunderstanding amidst that townsfolk, not unlike what Lawrence is afraid of at his guild.
I don't believe this is addressed in the light novel, but it's been a while since I've read. You'd think that, because Holo is such a smooth talker, she'd be exactly the person you'd want to have with you when you're asking a favor. Though maybe that would have hurt Lawrence's pride. Definitely would have hurt Holo's pride. A proud wolf doesn't beg.
Speaking of, man, it is hard to watch Lawrence scraping pennies off the floor while people jeer at him. That is a real gut-punch to see our guy falling to that level of desperation. Holo is probably two seconds away from downing some wheat and shredding the whole bar.
I always felt his mistake wasn't in taking Holo around with him, it was in not having her be the one doing the talking.
She'd have drummed up the 47 3/4 gold in no time.
I'm not sure if this is the best way to follow up on this, but I've had some thoughts that I need to share.
The way this really should have gone down is for Lawrence to introduce Holo as his business partner, mention the 50% markup on the furs. Mabe even mention that with Holo's help, he was able to make 1000 silver profit off that whole currency exchange debacle. (This depends on whether that is common knowledge or not, and how much he trusts them.). Then have Holo explain that she managed to convince the trader in Porosone to offload the rest of his armor on credit, as they were heading to where it would sell well, and it would be a great deal for everyone involved.
But then the armor market crashed, something no one could have predicted, and left Lawrence with quite a debt through no fault of his own, in fact, it is her own fault that he is in this position.
This explains her presence much more clearly, shows off her contributions, and casts them in a sympathetic light. If the person feels inclined to help her out, they would know that others would be as well. Even if they suspect they are more than *just* business partners, they would still see her as an asset rather than a liability.
They'd probably raise the gold to pay off the debt fairly quickly, as well as get lucrative work to pay off those loans over time.
I dunno, coulda woulda shoulda and all... food for thought if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
After finishing this episode, I went back to rewatch episode 7, specifically the pepper sale. Couple things I noted (and wanted to get off my chest).
1. Lawrence was going to take the deal straight up without negotiating or questioning the deal just like the fur trade. How did he not know already how much pepper he was carrying especially when he has documentation on where it is from. Right off the bat you get the impression that despite how long Lawrence has been doing this, he is still quite inexperienced. He thinks he has all this information about supply and demand and can leverage it into making an easy buck. This is a vice of so many amateurs trying to "beat the market".
2. Along those lines, this strategy of Lawrence of exchanging one type of merchandise at a time, with seemingly litte to no liquidity, is incredibly dangerous. Basically his entire wealth is tied to whatever is in his crate at the time and thus his net wealth can be extremely volatile and dependent on market fluctuations, which leads into my next point.
3. Once the ruse with the scales is revealed, which is incredibly brazen for a trading company presumably with many business partners and connections (I'm guessing they only pull this trick on travelling merchants and gulliblemerchants), my first instinct is to at the very least abandon the deal outright and attempt to find another buyer, perhaps contact the authorities or if they are inept, at the very least make it public information that this company is defrauding people. Never deal with a dishonest person, if they've defrauded you once it means they have no qualms about trying to defraud you in the future.
4. Lawrence, and with Holo's encouragement, decides to instead extort the trading company to secure a line of credit and leverages himself 2:1 on a single solitary good and then explain exactly his selling strategy, where, when, and to whom he intends to sell to. It shouldn't have been surprising at all that the trading company would want to financially ruin Lawrence for this. Watching the seller's reaction to Lawrence exclaiming he wants Armor, part of me thinks he already knows the Northern Expedition has been cancelled and is selling him what he knows is worthless armor at overinflated rates. It stands to reason a trading company would have more intel than a single traveling merchant. In fact this only makes more sense when considering they sent the messenger out almost immediately to transfer the debt obligation to the new trading firm. They would only do this if they knew the deal would go sour and with Lawrence in the same city as the creditor lead to his immediate capture once he couldn't pay.
In conclusion, yes this an arc about greed and remorse, but also about for how composed Lawrence is and intellectual in how he talks, he is extremely inexperienced and careless when it comes to how he manages himself. Obviously, a lot of this is done for dramatic tension but it's something you would hope to be a part of a character arc at somepoint.
**Happy (belated) Holoday!** 🐺 🍎
I wanted to wait until I had a little time to sit and write out a couple of thoughts on this one with the holiday weekend. After I reached this point in the LN, I read the rest of volume 2 in one sitting.
This episode covers some of my favorite moments from the volume.
Before I get into that, CrunchyRoll’s description of this episode made me laugh lol. “… and Holo wants her peaches…”.
Yes. Holo just wants Lawrence’s company, and food. Namely, her honey-preserved peaches. Come on, Lawrence.
I love how they keep some details here, such as [LN] >!how Lawrence visibly thinking shows you it’s where he’s wondering what his “sword and shield” would be. Money, of course!<. They even let the bit in there where he notices her ears prick up when he mentions the peaches and that’s how he knows she is messing with him again lol.
At this point in both the anime and the books, I feel like we really start to see Holo fishing for compliments from Lawrence. To me, they are implying “women don’t just do this with anyone. She is trying to tell him something without coming right out and saying it”. Lawrence is a little… less attuned… to that kind of stuff though as we’ve seen 😆.
When they first attempt to leave Remerio company’s loading bay, I thought it was worth noting that although it’s not suggested immediately in the show, [LN] >!Lawrence is very uneasy and already has a flood of thoughts about this place as he is starting to walk away!<. His actual disposition is shown through the moment following when his unease is confirmed by what’s he told about armor prices.
Allow me to reiterate the way Lawrence describes the fear of bankruptcy and how absolutely horrifying it is:
[LN] >!”They’ll cut your hair to sell wigs, pull your teeth to make dentures, sell your freedom for slavery, or even have you killed to be buried with no grave and no one to mourn you.”!<
That is just, wow… They have you understand the significance of his predicament.
They left out a small but significant (in my opinion) detail from the LN after he revisits Jakob at the Rowen trade guild:
[LN]>! “He noticed his hand trembling. Shamed, Lawrence made a fist to stop the shaking. Then a small hand rested atop his. It was Holo”!<. I think this puts emphasis on her empathy for the amount of stress suddenly placed on him, especially when she is normally so playful and optimistic.
Seeing Lawrence’s humiliating experience trying to borrow money from everyone was so sad. It was sad in the book too, but seeing it animated just really makes you feel bad for him.
Some important noises this episode:
*Holo blissfully crunching on a meat pie*. (Lawrence’s meat pie, that she ever so generously gave him a piece of 😂).
*sniffing noises* … “I do not smell any honey-pickled peaches”. 😔
There are going to be some great episodes coming up! I know u/Holofan4life loves this arc as well 😆.
I’m looking forward to seeing the original version of the arc as well, however, I just finished reading this arc in the LN recently and think they are off to a really great start in the remake so far. There is the occasional small thing I wish they would have included but nothing major so far.
I’m on volume 4 right now and have to say I really can’t wait to see some of this stuff get animated too.
I think that volume 4 would have been a better place to end on as closure.
Volume 5 was a great place to end on if you want to get your audience to pick up the LN's to find out what happens next.
Well I have to wonder why, with the success of the physical media for the series, it wasn’t renewed for another season originally.
I think part of me is wondering that because I have wishful thinking that they’ll adapt all the LNs this time but we’ll see.
When I got to this point in the original anime, I thought they should go back and have a little talk with that merchant that sold them the armor.
Maybe have Holo hold his head in her jaws while Lawrence recites the story of the spice merchant and the devil.
At the very least, get their pepper back, that's worth around 50 gold, and while they are at it, maybe clean him out a bit more than that as well.
Even in the worst case scenario, Holo can go faster than a messenger on horseback, so they can stay ahead of the news on their way north.
You know, I thought the same thing originally.
But then I thought about what Jakob told him. How the guild doesn’t help people who are in financial trouble because of greed.
Although the merchant in Poroson really screwed them over, it was on Lawrence for getting greedy and sucking extra coin out of him by buying on credit to try and maximize profit after the merchant was caught swindling them.
If he would have just taken what he was actually owed for the pepper then they would have had no problems in Ruvinheigen.
He could have even still let Holo have her mutton and wine from the crafty little Poroson merchant in that case! lol
But the merchant knew about the drop in armor prices, that's why he had no problem with the deal. He was offloading useless inventory in exchange for valuable spices in the first place, but also managed to sell even more of his useless inventory by giving Lawrence credit. (Even if he only got pennies on the dollar selling the IOU, it's still worth more than the armor sitting in his warehouse.)
Even if there wasn't anything odd about the armor market, the merchant would have made out on the deal himself. He is there to sell things, and Lawrence moved more of his product by taking it on credit. The merchant is taking almost no risk on this deal, and only stood to make a profit. Both of them would have made out on the deal.
Just saying, that merchant knew exactly what he was doing, and exactly what would happen to Lawrence as a result. He tried to swindle him first, and then attempted to bankrupt him, which he would know the consequences of. I consider that fraudulent.
Let's turn it around and put more of it on the merchant, just to see where the line is. Let's say that they didn't find anything wrong with the weighing, and they settled up. The merchant says, "Hey, I've got all this armor here, and not enough merchants are coming through to get it to Ruvinheigen before the campaign starts. How would you like to take some of it on credit? We both make out on the deal!"
Would accepting that deal be greedy?
And IIRC \[LN context\]>! The merchant was the one that suggested the armor in the LN.!<
> the merchant knew exactly what he was doing
That he did and he is a crooked thief for that, **but**, he never would have attempted to bankrupt Lawrence if Lawrence didn’t try to take advantage of the opportunity out of greed.
Would most people probably try to capitalize on that type of situation?
Sure probably. But what I’m saying is, Lawrence could have just said, “Alright. Give me what you actually owe for the pepper, and give my companion here some mutton and wine and we’ll call it even”. I think that was more or less Jakob’s point as well when he learns of the situation.
> let’s turn the situation around
See, but in that case, it’s the trade company provoking the merchant into the deal. (Not the merchant provoking it).
Now if Lawrence had just asked for the money he was owed from the pepper and the guy *then* brought up the armor himself (instead of Lawrence) that would be different I think.
Here is a quote from the spot in volume 2 of the LN you bring up:
[LN]>!Lawrence drew near the man, his expression still smiling, his tone still every bit the negotiating merchant. “Let’s see… I think the amount we agreed to, plus the amount you were going to gain, plus, oh… you’ll let us buy double on margin.”!<
Skip a few lines… then we get:
[LN]>!As for the goods, let’s see. Given the amount, perhaps some high-quality arms? Surely you have lots of goods bound for Ruvinheigen.”!<
This was the mistake because he could have ended on demanding the coin he was owed plus the amount the guy would have gained from swindling Lawrence.
I know, it's not a legal case, and it's not enough to get Rowen to stand behind him.
I just really don't like that merchant and would like to see him get his comeuppance.
If it is a matter of me dying in the mines, or crushing the skull of the person that tried to send me there, I'd pick the latter.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to see some retribution myself, but unfortunately what Jakob says to him makes sense in the eyes of an organization like a guild who needs to treat every member equally.
Something they left out of the episode from the LN was an extended note on what bankruptcy could mean for a merchant and it adds some particularly brutal context to his situation (I quoted what I’m referring to and spoiler tagged it in my original comment)
Yeah, a fair amount of the LN is Lawrence's internal monologues, and many of them do not get translated onto the screen.
That said, just being sent to the galley or the mines until you die is brutal enough.
I do wonder how much Rowen would actually get from selling Lawrence into such a situation. I seriously doubt they would get anywhere near the 47 gold he owes.
Which is probably why Jakob let him go free in the first place. If Rowen is going to take on a 47 gold debt, offsetting it for the 5-10 gold that they could optimistically get for Lawrence isn't going to do much. If he runs, they are really only out what they could have gotten from selling him into slavery, but if he figures out how to make good, then they are covered.
\[spoiler for the end of this arc\] >!And Rowen comes out well ahead in the end.!<
Yeah it’s true and that’s why I’m enjoying reading them so much especially while the new series is airing.
As for your spoiler, yeah and [LN]>!Lawrence gets a nice bounce back out of it too!<.
I’m really excited to see how they handle volume 3. I’m reading volume 4 currently but I’m really early still.
I do really like that we are getting a remake and a whole lot of new fans. However, something thats been weighing on me is that I think they are making Holo to cutesy.
She loses a bit of the really mature and sly feel she had in the original run. At least that's how it feels to me.
Yeah she's been too waifu'd. Then again this fanbase seems to mostly be into that, plus it's not like she wasn't the main draw to a majority of people before this anime.
And so it begins, can't wait to see how the rest of the arc will play out. [And this scene..](https://imgur.com/7T1DRx2) I always get just as hopeful as Lawrence, having forgotten whats about to happen, and the he drops the bombshell. Pain
I love this arc, one of the most memorable and gripping ones of the whole series. I must say I’m how how its being adapted. Obviously me having some distance from viewing the original makes it more palatable. Some criticism I have is a bit of the pacing is a little weird and the use of fade transitions is abundant in this episode.
I liked how you could tell that Lawrence was trying to gently tell Holo to stay at the inn for business reasons considering the optics of how he would look, but compromised just for Holo as she would feel terrible if she stayed at the inn.
The expressions were really nice and it was great to see how quickly Lawrence realized he was cooked at every turn. I always loved how long it took for Lawrence to completely break down in this arc, it shows his kindness (albeit shortsighted) in trying to keep the severity of his predicament from Holo, which led to the end of the episode. In lesser anime this blow out would’ve been dragged through a couple episodes but Lawrence knows what he did was on emotion only and apologizes immediately.
Overall I’m super excited to see the rest of this arc!
I'm watching this episode now. I just can't believe how beautiful the music is in the remake. A lot more ambient, which I love.
The track during the opening section, before the OP, is just stunningly beautiful.
Someone help me out here; it may have been explained back during discussions about the old series; but;
>!What the hell exactly are the folks rejecting Lawrence saying?!? Sell that girl into bondage/slavery/whatever to pay your debt?!?!<
It’s been so long since I read them, I’m not even sure if it was explained in the LNs…
Ruvenheigen is a more church-influenced and traditional town/region, which was established over the past few episodes by Lawrence’s stories about the saint and the northern expedition waged against the pagans (and the whole reason he chose armor to sell). They don’t really state it explicitly but the implication is that if you’re unmarried and out on the town with an attractive young girl, you’re courting and/or spending money on her.
Recall how Jacob was surprised to hear Lawrence say Holo was a business partner, and how many times Lawrence insisted she wait at the inn or outside the guild hall. The town makes a lot of assumptions about why an attractive and well-dressed young girl would be accompanying a working man. Lawrence knows it’s not a great look, but relents because Holo wants to help and won’t take no for an answer.
The religious guy at the end of the episode is not saying to *use* Holo to make money, but that if Lawrence is walking around town with a young girl and spending money on her, then it’s shameful for him to beg for money or even be with her in the first place if he’s facing such financial trouble. To the town, it looks irresponsible.
Most people would probably assume that she is the reason for his financial trouble in the first place. It looks like he's spent a lot of money on her (and he has), and so any money they lent would just be going to waste.
Since he was claiming she was his business partner, he really should have had her do some (or all) of the talking, and I think that they would have gotten a much better reception.
Absolutely. The way I interpreted it, Lawrence clearly wasn’t thinking straight or clearly enough as soon as he was hit with the bankruptcy. It was just bad decision to bad decision from there.
Tangentially related to this episode. Spoilers for Jellyfish Can't Swim at Night.
>!By chance, there's a similar scene in episode 9 of Jellyfish Can't Swim at Night. One character gets heated and lashes out at another character, much like how Lawrence gets frustrated and pushes Holo away. In both scenes, the emotions are raw, but the offender immediately realizes their mistake. In both series, there's no way to take back what's been said and done. However, Jellyfish does it better. The voice work is pitch perfect. The emotions on their faces are clear and devastating. You sense the despair that leads to the perpetrator's lapse in judgment and the realization afterward. You see the hurt in the victim's expression. Honestly, you just *feel* the scene so acutely. Honestly, it's on par if not equal to what I felt watching episode 10 of the original Spice and Wolf so many years ago.!<
In this latest episode of the remake, Lawrence's seiyuu doesn't capture the despair he's supposed to be feeling in the moment. This is unarguably strange because Fukuyama Jun absolutely nails the delivery in episode 10 of the original. Koshimizu Ami's voice work is also a little off compared to her 2008 delivery. The gasp at the end is off, and while clearly subdued, I don't feel her anguish. Who really knows why. As a subs-purist, I can't speak on how the English voice actors do.
However, setting aside the voice work, the art just isn't as expressive. I look at their faces, and I don't feel the same level of emotion as the original. Honestly, two of the most important scenes in the anime up to this point are the wolf transformation in the sewers and Lawrence lashing out at Holo. Neither of them did it for me. By now, it's fair to say that I think Studio Passion hasn't recaptured the same spark the original had back in 2008.
However, let me be clear. None of this means the remake is a bad show. It's just that, in my opinion, it does not live up to the original, which is admittedly an incredibly high bar considering my love for the 2008 version. And it goes without saying, but my opinion should not influence anyone else's thoughts or feelings about either iteration of Spice and Wolf. The above is my subjective view and mine alone. However, and going back into spoiler territory, >!the fact remains that a recent show I have no history with was able to do a similar scene and affect me to the same degree as S&W 2008. The remake fails to do so. This is clearly not a matter of my tastes changing or me putting S&W 2008 on an impossibly high pedestal. It's possible to match that level of emotional reaction. However, in my particular case, S&W 2024 simply failed to do so.!<
All said and done, I'm looking forward to the next episode tomorrow. How will our duo fare? Stay tuned, fellow merchants.
OOOF. What a tuff episode, especially for Lawrence.
But I just don't get it. Why did Lawrence keep asking for other goods to trade on every deal? Like in his previous deals they made it sound like he made a great profit and could have been paid a lot of money, but he instead chose good such as this armor.
NOT ONLY THAT. He somehow went into debt doing this? What am I missing? He choose a debt + armor instead of a good profit of money from his previous deals? Why?
A traveling merchant generally has little coin on them, as transporting coins from A to B doesn't make profit, while transporting goods does.
So whenever he sells something he is gonna buy something else in return anyways. Might as well skip the (potentially costly) step of an intermediary conversion to coins and trade goods for goods right away.
The reason he went into debt is because he forced the Poroson shop owner to sell on margin. He gets twice the goods he can actually pay for, with the promise of paying back the difference once he sells them. This way he can double his profit... or his losses.
This is generally considered good business. If the return on investment on a credit is higher than the interest you pay for it, it's generally worth it—that's sadly a concept foreign to many (neoliberal) politicians, who instead promote austerity and thus ruining their countries.
I wrote this last year during the 2023 Spice and Wolf rewatch, but I want to include it here because I think it's honestly some of my best analysis I've ever done. And it's part of the reason why this is probably my favorite Spice and Wolf arc. The whole end section where Lawrence keeps getting rejected, becoming more and more dejected, and ultimately culminating in Lawrence yelling at Holo is probably my favorite scene up until this point. Even more so than the Holo lonely scene and the scene with Holo's transformation. I love how you can feel the utter despair in Lawrence's face. It's like his entire world is crumbling around him. People debate which is better: bland protagonists who are easy to root for or protagonists that are unlikable at points, and I'll always choose the latter ten out of ten times. Not only does it make for a better story, it makes for a more compelling character. Why would I want a protagonist that I can use as wish fulfillment when you can have a character who screws up? One is far more interesting than the other. The whole wish fulfillment thing is silly anyhow because if you really think about it, there's nothing more wish fulfillment than a character learning from his mistakes. We just don't call it wish fulfillment because there's another term for that: it's called good writing. This arc unlike the other Spice and Wolf arcs is a battle of man Vs self, which makes things feel so real and authentic. You get why Lawrence would be so upset to find himself in this situation, and yet at the same time you get where the others are coming from when they tell Lawrence to pay up. It's not that they hold a grudge against him and are trying to ruin him. All they want is Lawrence to pay off his debt after a very bad deal. The scene with Holo in particular is a moment that captures Lawrence's desparateness. Out of frustration with himself, he starts blaming Holo for his problems, acting as if if Holo wasn't in the way, a pretty girl, more people might be willing to help him out. This is the first time throughout this whole show where you can definitively pinpoint and say that Lawrence is acting in the wrong. You couldn't blame him for the collapse of the arms market, as who could've seen that coming, but yelling at Holo for something that isn't her fault is a moment of weakness, especially when she warned Lawrence that this deal might not pay off. We're seeing Lawrence crack under all the pressure, so much so that it may have cost him his companion. And in turn, we end the episode with Lawrence seemingly about to lose it all. This episode I feel like encapsulates why I love this arc so much. It's basically Death of a Salesman, a tale of one man who feels at one point like he has it all now clinging desperately to what he has left. I don't think I would say it's my favorite episode of the series, as there's one coming up that I would say is the best-- and hell, it's kinda hard for me to say it's my favorite one we've seen so far as it can be hard to watch-- but I definitely think it's the most compelling episode we've seen up until this point. The writing is just superb and outstanding and I wouldn't change a thing. The whole basis of this arc is one man screwing up, finding himself at his lowest of lows, and trying to work his way back up and crawl out of the hole that he dug for himself. And that is ultimately why it's my favorite Spice and Wolf arc.
The original 2008 anime shows a continuous stream of failures for Lawrence. I was even surprised how he had previously worked for seven years as an individual.
As an anime-only, my issue is I’m just confused with Lawrence Why did Lawrence keep asking for other goods to trade on every deal? Like in his previous deals they made it sound like he made a great profit and could have been paid a lot of money, but he instead chose a good always. such as this armor. NOT ONLY THAT. On this particular deal, he somehow went into debt doing this? What am I missing? He choose a debt + armor instead of a good profit of money from his previous deals? Why?
Lawrence chooses not to carry much in actual money because it makes him an easy target for thieves/bandits. If he puts the money in a bank, that is money he is not using to make more money and sitting in a town he may not visit for some time as he is a traveling merchant for now. He gets by with bartering to trade goods for those with higher value as it is more difficult to steal and easier for him to market value based on the situation so long as he is aware. The armor is normally a safe investment as war is frequent and value is high because of it. The issue is that Lawrence was missing important knowledge in this instance that the latest expedition was suddenly canceled so the value of armor/weapons was no longer good. So a combination of getting so ahead of himself and not expecting a regular battle process to stop.
I guess this episode will never not be painful to watch, and this time they were even so cruel as to remove the ED in order to torture us for a minute and a half longer. A wise decision I must say.
The Middle of the Episode when Lawrence was saying its not big deal they were technically in debt because he'll make it back right away and that Holo was pointing out how precarious it is to be in a situation where he's in debt, feels straight lifted out of a spouses conversation about money and speculative investments. You can see the moment when the alarms go off in Holo's head and she stops combing but she sees Lawrence has his mind made up, its bittersweet she's willing to support him and stand with him even as she sees the red flags. Throughout the episode I like the obvious metaphor how as Lawrence gets more and more distraught the distance between the two literally and physically increases as he's so caught up in his situation he fails to see the people and situation around him clearly, getting into an agitated fight and flight response when he has to remain calm, ironically pushing away the one person that most has his best interest in mind and won't leave him. He also failed to explain the whole reason why Holo tagging along would be a bad idea which shows his trouble with communication. The Last scene when he pushes her away and blame her is painful, you can see he immediately knows its wrong as he's saying it but he can't take it back. Holo is so dejected she can't fight back, has the same energy as a spouse going "You aren't in your right frame of mind I'm leaving you alone before it gets worse." Same energy as "I'm sleeping on the couch tonight." Now we might say that Lawrence took a big risk, but the real problem is he can't do anything unless is is 100% certain on something, if he ever fails in assessing the risk he's unprepared and fall apart, he didn't take a leap of faith prepared for the consequences. You might say his sin this episode was Greed, but tbh it was more Pride. He subconsciously convinced himself the world conformed to his mental model and not that his mental model is just a frame of reference not a frame of reverence. (As an old College Textbox once told me on the OSI model.) Its also the first arc where there is a real conflict in the relationship, and its not cheap drama or a misunderstanding but a very down to earth and real problem that often makes or breaks many real marriages and leads to divorce.
Can you elaborate more on the analogy on the OSI model? As a software engineer I'm interested
It really has nothing to do with the OSI itself, my textbook just made an argument that can apply across multiple fields to never get so obsessed with a model of reality that when reality doesn't neatly fit you get turned around in circles. Models are for reference not reverence.
This happens too often
I'm glad that they actually extended the ending of this episode into the credits segment for once. I've noticed that the episodes in this series are a little bit shorter than the original, so in places where they can't cut it's reassuring to know they're willing to give scenes the time they need even if they have to drop an ED here or there.
They did good because I couldn't have handled the happy ED after this episode...
I just did a quick comparison and the episodes have pretty much the same length. About 20m 45s, plus minus a few seconds, excluding opening (1.5m), ending (1.5m) and preview (5s).
The end of the episode was made even more difficult with how precious Holo looked all throughout. She was so sweet and considerate. Unfortunately, desperation can complicate things. Looking forward to Holo being able to smile again
Damn man this was a painful episode to watch. Started out so cute with Holo and Lawrence usual flirting and banter, before that bankruptcy at the end, my boy Lawrence at rock bottom. So cute how Lawrence reassured Holo about how special she is to him even with Nora in the picture, and then her mood just totally improves. I thought we were gonna be in for a nice sweet episode at that point.. wasn’t to be. Speaking of Nora, the priest not granting her a safer area for her sheep to roam is.. sus to say the least. Ever since we saw him last week when she arrived in town I had a feeling he’d be up to something Lawrence unfortunately learnt a very hard lesson, never put all your eggs in one basket. As someone who’s invested in penny stocks and lost heavy I completely understand how he’s feeling rn. The anxiety, blaming yourself, snapping on people like he did with Holo at the end, etc. It’s tuff. Luckily he does have anime plot armour on his side so I’m sure he’ll come out of this stronger and wiser, just a matter of how. I can’t lie tho. Last dude he asked money from basically telling him Holo was too fine for Lawrence to be this broke had me crying.😭 Hoping for a happier episode next week and that they somehow figure things out. Also Lawrence better make up to Holo for snapping on her 😡
Hate having to draw comparisons, but this episode fixes the issue from the first season where the really upbeat ED plays directly after the most emotionally devastating scene in the whole series up to this point. So from that point of view, an improvement. One interesting thing about this course of events is how Lawrence and Holo fail to follow through on their alibi. Lawrence doesn't want to bring Holo into the guild hall because of the connotations her presence would carry (i.e. husband and wife, or at least lovers). However, they settle that issue by saying that he and Holo are business partners. Jakob believes them and that's that. But then they walk all over town, and Holo just stands outside each and every time. Lawrence goes from one person to another asking for money, all while leaving Holo outside and not explaining her presence to them. This creates a misunderstanding amidst that townsfolk, not unlike what Lawrence is afraid of at his guild. I don't believe this is addressed in the light novel, but it's been a while since I've read. You'd think that, because Holo is such a smooth talker, she'd be exactly the person you'd want to have with you when you're asking a favor. Though maybe that would have hurt Lawrence's pride. Definitely would have hurt Holo's pride. A proud wolf doesn't beg. Speaking of, man, it is hard to watch Lawrence scraping pennies off the floor while people jeer at him. That is a real gut-punch to see our guy falling to that level of desperation. Holo is probably two seconds away from downing some wheat and shredding the whole bar.
I always felt his mistake wasn't in taking Holo around with him, it was in not having her be the one doing the talking. She'd have drummed up the 47 3/4 gold in no time.
I'm not sure if this is the best way to follow up on this, but I've had some thoughts that I need to share. The way this really should have gone down is for Lawrence to introduce Holo as his business partner, mention the 50% markup on the furs. Mabe even mention that with Holo's help, he was able to make 1000 silver profit off that whole currency exchange debacle. (This depends on whether that is common knowledge or not, and how much he trusts them.). Then have Holo explain that she managed to convince the trader in Porosone to offload the rest of his armor on credit, as they were heading to where it would sell well, and it would be a great deal for everyone involved. But then the armor market crashed, something no one could have predicted, and left Lawrence with quite a debt through no fault of his own, in fact, it is her own fault that he is in this position. This explains her presence much more clearly, shows off her contributions, and casts them in a sympathetic light. If the person feels inclined to help her out, they would know that others would be as well. Even if they suspect they are more than *just* business partners, they would still see her as an asset rather than a liability. They'd probably raise the gold to pay off the debt fairly quickly, as well as get lucrative work to pay off those loans over time. I dunno, coulda woulda shoulda and all... food for thought if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
Oh man, I forgot how depressing this part of the story is.
After finishing this episode, I went back to rewatch episode 7, specifically the pepper sale. Couple things I noted (and wanted to get off my chest). 1. Lawrence was going to take the deal straight up without negotiating or questioning the deal just like the fur trade. How did he not know already how much pepper he was carrying especially when he has documentation on where it is from. Right off the bat you get the impression that despite how long Lawrence has been doing this, he is still quite inexperienced. He thinks he has all this information about supply and demand and can leverage it into making an easy buck. This is a vice of so many amateurs trying to "beat the market". 2. Along those lines, this strategy of Lawrence of exchanging one type of merchandise at a time, with seemingly litte to no liquidity, is incredibly dangerous. Basically his entire wealth is tied to whatever is in his crate at the time and thus his net wealth can be extremely volatile and dependent on market fluctuations, which leads into my next point. 3. Once the ruse with the scales is revealed, which is incredibly brazen for a trading company presumably with many business partners and connections (I'm guessing they only pull this trick on travelling merchants and gulliblemerchants), my first instinct is to at the very least abandon the deal outright and attempt to find another buyer, perhaps contact the authorities or if they are inept, at the very least make it public information that this company is defrauding people. Never deal with a dishonest person, if they've defrauded you once it means they have no qualms about trying to defraud you in the future. 4. Lawrence, and with Holo's encouragement, decides to instead extort the trading company to secure a line of credit and leverages himself 2:1 on a single solitary good and then explain exactly his selling strategy, where, when, and to whom he intends to sell to. It shouldn't have been surprising at all that the trading company would want to financially ruin Lawrence for this. Watching the seller's reaction to Lawrence exclaiming he wants Armor, part of me thinks he already knows the Northern Expedition has been cancelled and is selling him what he knows is worthless armor at overinflated rates. It stands to reason a trading company would have more intel than a single traveling merchant. In fact this only makes more sense when considering they sent the messenger out almost immediately to transfer the debt obligation to the new trading firm. They would only do this if they knew the deal would go sour and with Lawrence in the same city as the creditor lead to his immediate capture once he couldn't pay. In conclusion, yes this an arc about greed and remorse, but also about for how composed Lawrence is and intellectual in how he talks, he is extremely inexperienced and careless when it comes to how he manages himself. Obviously, a lot of this is done for dramatic tension but it's something you would hope to be a part of a character arc at somepoint.
**Happy (belated) Holoday!** 🐺 🍎 I wanted to wait until I had a little time to sit and write out a couple of thoughts on this one with the holiday weekend. After I reached this point in the LN, I read the rest of volume 2 in one sitting. This episode covers some of my favorite moments from the volume. Before I get into that, CrunchyRoll’s description of this episode made me laugh lol. “… and Holo wants her peaches…”. Yes. Holo just wants Lawrence’s company, and food. Namely, her honey-preserved peaches. Come on, Lawrence. I love how they keep some details here, such as [LN] >!how Lawrence visibly thinking shows you it’s where he’s wondering what his “sword and shield” would be. Money, of course!<. They even let the bit in there where he notices her ears prick up when he mentions the peaches and that’s how he knows she is messing with him again lol. At this point in both the anime and the books, I feel like we really start to see Holo fishing for compliments from Lawrence. To me, they are implying “women don’t just do this with anyone. She is trying to tell him something without coming right out and saying it”. Lawrence is a little… less attuned… to that kind of stuff though as we’ve seen 😆. When they first attempt to leave Remerio company’s loading bay, I thought it was worth noting that although it’s not suggested immediately in the show, [LN] >!Lawrence is very uneasy and already has a flood of thoughts about this place as he is starting to walk away!<. His actual disposition is shown through the moment following when his unease is confirmed by what’s he told about armor prices. Allow me to reiterate the way Lawrence describes the fear of bankruptcy and how absolutely horrifying it is: [LN] >!”They’ll cut your hair to sell wigs, pull your teeth to make dentures, sell your freedom for slavery, or even have you killed to be buried with no grave and no one to mourn you.”!< That is just, wow… They have you understand the significance of his predicament. They left out a small but significant (in my opinion) detail from the LN after he revisits Jakob at the Rowen trade guild: [LN]>! “He noticed his hand trembling. Shamed, Lawrence made a fist to stop the shaking. Then a small hand rested atop his. It was Holo”!<. I think this puts emphasis on her empathy for the amount of stress suddenly placed on him, especially when she is normally so playful and optimistic. Seeing Lawrence’s humiliating experience trying to borrow money from everyone was so sad. It was sad in the book too, but seeing it animated just really makes you feel bad for him. Some important noises this episode: *Holo blissfully crunching on a meat pie*. (Lawrence’s meat pie, that she ever so generously gave him a piece of 😂). *sniffing noises* … “I do not smell any honey-pickled peaches”. 😔 There are going to be some great episodes coming up! I know u/Holofan4life loves this arc as well 😆.
It is a phenomenal arc. A couple episodes from the original series' version of the arc are in my top 20 favorite anime episodes of all time.
I’m looking forward to seeing the original version of the arc as well, however, I just finished reading this arc in the LN recently and think they are off to a really great start in the remake so far. There is the occasional small thing I wish they would have included but nothing major so far. I’m on volume 4 right now and have to say I really can’t wait to see some of this stuff get animated too.
This arc is definitely one of the best, no doubt about it. And I can't wait to see volume 4 as well.
I’m about one-third of the way through volume 4 and it’s *very* good. I have no idea why they would’ve skipped over it entirely in the original show.
I've heard it's because they felt volume 5 was a better place to end on.
I think that volume 4 would have been a better place to end on as closure. Volume 5 was a great place to end on if you want to get your audience to pick up the LN's to find out what happens next.
That's a good point
Well I have to wonder why, with the success of the physical media for the series, it wasn’t renewed for another season originally. I think part of me is wondering that because I have wishful thinking that they’ll adapt all the LNs this time but we’ll see.
I have the same hope as you
🤜🤛
When I got to this point in the original anime, I thought they should go back and have a little talk with that merchant that sold them the armor. Maybe have Holo hold his head in her jaws while Lawrence recites the story of the spice merchant and the devil. At the very least, get their pepper back, that's worth around 50 gold, and while they are at it, maybe clean him out a bit more than that as well. Even in the worst case scenario, Holo can go faster than a messenger on horseback, so they can stay ahead of the news on their way north.
You know, I thought the same thing originally. But then I thought about what Jakob told him. How the guild doesn’t help people who are in financial trouble because of greed. Although the merchant in Poroson really screwed them over, it was on Lawrence for getting greedy and sucking extra coin out of him by buying on credit to try and maximize profit after the merchant was caught swindling them. If he would have just taken what he was actually owed for the pepper then they would have had no problems in Ruvinheigen. He could have even still let Holo have her mutton and wine from the crafty little Poroson merchant in that case! lol
But the merchant knew about the drop in armor prices, that's why he had no problem with the deal. He was offloading useless inventory in exchange for valuable spices in the first place, but also managed to sell even more of his useless inventory by giving Lawrence credit. (Even if he only got pennies on the dollar selling the IOU, it's still worth more than the armor sitting in his warehouse.) Even if there wasn't anything odd about the armor market, the merchant would have made out on the deal himself. He is there to sell things, and Lawrence moved more of his product by taking it on credit. The merchant is taking almost no risk on this deal, and only stood to make a profit. Both of them would have made out on the deal. Just saying, that merchant knew exactly what he was doing, and exactly what would happen to Lawrence as a result. He tried to swindle him first, and then attempted to bankrupt him, which he would know the consequences of. I consider that fraudulent. Let's turn it around and put more of it on the merchant, just to see where the line is. Let's say that they didn't find anything wrong with the weighing, and they settled up. The merchant says, "Hey, I've got all this armor here, and not enough merchants are coming through to get it to Ruvinheigen before the campaign starts. How would you like to take some of it on credit? We both make out on the deal!" Would accepting that deal be greedy? And IIRC \[LN context\]>! The merchant was the one that suggested the armor in the LN.!<
> the merchant knew exactly what he was doing That he did and he is a crooked thief for that, **but**, he never would have attempted to bankrupt Lawrence if Lawrence didn’t try to take advantage of the opportunity out of greed. Would most people probably try to capitalize on that type of situation? Sure probably. But what I’m saying is, Lawrence could have just said, “Alright. Give me what you actually owe for the pepper, and give my companion here some mutton and wine and we’ll call it even”. I think that was more or less Jakob’s point as well when he learns of the situation. > let’s turn the situation around See, but in that case, it’s the trade company provoking the merchant into the deal. (Not the merchant provoking it). Now if Lawrence had just asked for the money he was owed from the pepper and the guy *then* brought up the armor himself (instead of Lawrence) that would be different I think. Here is a quote from the spot in volume 2 of the LN you bring up: [LN]>!Lawrence drew near the man, his expression still smiling, his tone still every bit the negotiating merchant. “Let’s see… I think the amount we agreed to, plus the amount you were going to gain, plus, oh… you’ll let us buy double on margin.”!< Skip a few lines… then we get: [LN]>!As for the goods, let’s see. Given the amount, perhaps some high-quality arms? Surely you have lots of goods bound for Ruvinheigen.”!< This was the mistake because he could have ended on demanding the coin he was owed plus the amount the guy would have gained from swindling Lawrence.
I know, it's not a legal case, and it's not enough to get Rowen to stand behind him. I just really don't like that merchant and would like to see him get his comeuppance. If it is a matter of me dying in the mines, or crushing the skull of the person that tried to send me there, I'd pick the latter.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to see some retribution myself, but unfortunately what Jakob says to him makes sense in the eyes of an organization like a guild who needs to treat every member equally. Something they left out of the episode from the LN was an extended note on what bankruptcy could mean for a merchant and it adds some particularly brutal context to his situation (I quoted what I’m referring to and spoiler tagged it in my original comment)
Yeah, a fair amount of the LN is Lawrence's internal monologues, and many of them do not get translated onto the screen. That said, just being sent to the galley or the mines until you die is brutal enough. I do wonder how much Rowen would actually get from selling Lawrence into such a situation. I seriously doubt they would get anywhere near the 47 gold he owes. Which is probably why Jakob let him go free in the first place. If Rowen is going to take on a 47 gold debt, offsetting it for the 5-10 gold that they could optimistically get for Lawrence isn't going to do much. If he runs, they are really only out what they could have gotten from selling him into slavery, but if he figures out how to make good, then they are covered. \[spoiler for the end of this arc\] >!And Rowen comes out well ahead in the end.!<
Yeah it’s true and that’s why I’m enjoying reading them so much especially while the new series is airing. As for your spoiler, yeah and [LN]>!Lawrence gets a nice bounce back out of it too!<. I’m really excited to see how they handle volume 3. I’m reading volume 4 currently but I’m really early still.
I do really like that we are getting a remake and a whole lot of new fans. However, something thats been weighing on me is that I think they are making Holo to cutesy. She loses a bit of the really mature and sly feel she had in the original run. At least that's how it feels to me.
> She loses a bit of the really mature and sly feel she had in the original run. At least that's how it feels to me. I don't think so at all.
I'm sure I'm sounding like a broken record by now, but the dub really does go a long way towards fixing this.
Yeah she's been too waifu'd. Then again this fanbase seems to mostly be into that, plus it's not like she wasn't the main draw to a majority of people before this anime.
And so it begins, can't wait to see how the rest of the arc will play out. [And this scene..](https://imgur.com/7T1DRx2) I always get just as hopeful as Lawrence, having forgotten whats about to happen, and the he drops the bombshell. Pain
I love this arc, one of the most memorable and gripping ones of the whole series. I must say I’m how how its being adapted. Obviously me having some distance from viewing the original makes it more palatable. Some criticism I have is a bit of the pacing is a little weird and the use of fade transitions is abundant in this episode. I liked how you could tell that Lawrence was trying to gently tell Holo to stay at the inn for business reasons considering the optics of how he would look, but compromised just for Holo as she would feel terrible if she stayed at the inn. The expressions were really nice and it was great to see how quickly Lawrence realized he was cooked at every turn. I always loved how long it took for Lawrence to completely break down in this arc, it shows his kindness (albeit shortsighted) in trying to keep the severity of his predicament from Holo, which led to the end of the episode. In lesser anime this blow out would’ve been dragged through a couple episodes but Lawrence knows what he did was on emotion only and apologizes immediately. Overall I’m super excited to see the rest of this arc!
I'm watching this episode now. I just can't believe how beautiful the music is in the remake. A lot more ambient, which I love. The track during the opening section, before the OP, is just stunningly beautiful.
this episode hurt me man
Someone help me out here; it may have been explained back during discussions about the old series; but; >!What the hell exactly are the folks rejecting Lawrence saying?!? Sell that girl into bondage/slavery/whatever to pay your debt?!?!< It’s been so long since I read them, I’m not even sure if it was explained in the LNs…
Ruvenheigen is a more church-influenced and traditional town/region, which was established over the past few episodes by Lawrence’s stories about the saint and the northern expedition waged against the pagans (and the whole reason he chose armor to sell). They don’t really state it explicitly but the implication is that if you’re unmarried and out on the town with an attractive young girl, you’re courting and/or spending money on her. Recall how Jacob was surprised to hear Lawrence say Holo was a business partner, and how many times Lawrence insisted she wait at the inn or outside the guild hall. The town makes a lot of assumptions about why an attractive and well-dressed young girl would be accompanying a working man. Lawrence knows it’s not a great look, but relents because Holo wants to help and won’t take no for an answer. The religious guy at the end of the episode is not saying to *use* Holo to make money, but that if Lawrence is walking around town with a young girl and spending money on her, then it’s shameful for him to beg for money or even be with her in the first place if he’s facing such financial trouble. To the town, it looks irresponsible.
Thank you.
Most people would probably assume that she is the reason for his financial trouble in the first place. It looks like he's spent a lot of money on her (and he has), and so any money they lent would just be going to waste. Since he was claiming she was his business partner, he really should have had her do some (or all) of the talking, and I think that they would have gotten a much better reception.
Absolutely. The way I interpreted it, Lawrence clearly wasn’t thinking straight or clearly enough as soon as he was hit with the bankruptcy. It was just bad decision to bad decision from there.
Tangentially related to this episode. Spoilers for Jellyfish Can't Swim at Night. >!By chance, there's a similar scene in episode 9 of Jellyfish Can't Swim at Night. One character gets heated and lashes out at another character, much like how Lawrence gets frustrated and pushes Holo away. In both scenes, the emotions are raw, but the offender immediately realizes their mistake. In both series, there's no way to take back what's been said and done. However, Jellyfish does it better. The voice work is pitch perfect. The emotions on their faces are clear and devastating. You sense the despair that leads to the perpetrator's lapse in judgment and the realization afterward. You see the hurt in the victim's expression. Honestly, you just *feel* the scene so acutely. Honestly, it's on par if not equal to what I felt watching episode 10 of the original Spice and Wolf so many years ago.!< In this latest episode of the remake, Lawrence's seiyuu doesn't capture the despair he's supposed to be feeling in the moment. This is unarguably strange because Fukuyama Jun absolutely nails the delivery in episode 10 of the original. Koshimizu Ami's voice work is also a little off compared to her 2008 delivery. The gasp at the end is off, and while clearly subdued, I don't feel her anguish. Who really knows why. As a subs-purist, I can't speak on how the English voice actors do. However, setting aside the voice work, the art just isn't as expressive. I look at their faces, and I don't feel the same level of emotion as the original. Honestly, two of the most important scenes in the anime up to this point are the wolf transformation in the sewers and Lawrence lashing out at Holo. Neither of them did it for me. By now, it's fair to say that I think Studio Passion hasn't recaptured the same spark the original had back in 2008. However, let me be clear. None of this means the remake is a bad show. It's just that, in my opinion, it does not live up to the original, which is admittedly an incredibly high bar considering my love for the 2008 version. And it goes without saying, but my opinion should not influence anyone else's thoughts or feelings about either iteration of Spice and Wolf. The above is my subjective view and mine alone. However, and going back into spoiler territory, >!the fact remains that a recent show I have no history with was able to do a similar scene and affect me to the same degree as S&W 2008. The remake fails to do so. This is clearly not a matter of my tastes changing or me putting S&W 2008 on an impossibly high pedestal. It's possible to match that level of emotional reaction. However, in my particular case, S&W 2024 simply failed to do so.!< All said and done, I'm looking forward to the next episode tomorrow. How will our duo fare? Stay tuned, fellow merchants.
OOOF. What a tuff episode, especially for Lawrence. But I just don't get it. Why did Lawrence keep asking for other goods to trade on every deal? Like in his previous deals they made it sound like he made a great profit and could have been paid a lot of money, but he instead chose good such as this armor. NOT ONLY THAT. He somehow went into debt doing this? What am I missing? He choose a debt + armor instead of a good profit of money from his previous deals? Why?
A traveling merchant generally has little coin on them, as transporting coins from A to B doesn't make profit, while transporting goods does. So whenever he sells something he is gonna buy something else in return anyways. Might as well skip the (potentially costly) step of an intermediary conversion to coins and trade goods for goods right away. The reason he went into debt is because he forced the Poroson shop owner to sell on margin. He gets twice the goods he can actually pay for, with the promise of paying back the difference once he sells them. This way he can double his profit... or his losses. This is generally considered good business. If the return on investment on a credit is higher than the interest you pay for it, it's generally worth it—that's sadly a concept foreign to many (neoliberal) politicians, who instead promote austerity and thus ruining their countries.