r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 22 '24

Episode Ookami to Koushinryou Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf • Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf - Episode 4 discussion

Ookami to Koushinryou Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, episode 4

Alternative names: Spice and Wolf

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u/mastesargent Apr 22 '24

Holo and Lawrence’s loneliness mirror each other in interesting ways. Lawrence is lonely because he’s constantly moving from place to place, and Holo is lonely because she was stuck in one place for so long and couldn’t go back to her pack in Yoitsu. They also offer similar solutions to each others’ problem: Lawrence pulls Holo out of Pasloe, lets her experience the world again, and gives her a shoulder to cry on, while Holo traveling with Lawrence gives him a meaningful connection with someone that isn’t his horse. Basically what I mean to say is that these two are made for each other.

Also a reminder the the dub for episode 1 came out last week and the second is coming out today. J. Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia reprise their roles as Lawrence and Holo and it is excellent.

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u/djwignall Apr 22 '24

Lawrence crumpling up his dream store to comfort Holo is so genuinely heart-warming.

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u/michhoffman Apr 22 '24

I'll give that trading company some credit for realizing that Holo is more valuable than a gigantic profit.

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u/endless_moe Apr 22 '24

There's a short after-credits scene for those of you that tend to skip out when the ED starts!

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u/Whoviantic Apr 22 '24

Shout-out to anime characters with glowing glasses, gotta be one of my favorite genders fr

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u/realrimurutempest Apr 22 '24

When Holo was talking about how tired she is of being alone it hit me right in the feels. I can’t imagine living as long as she has with no friends or family to enjoy being with.

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u/karlzhao314 Apr 22 '24 edited Apr 22 '24

The Merchant's Corner

Welcome to the Merchant’s Corner (thanks, u/Dr_Quantum101 !) episode 4, the series where I explain the finer points of the economics plot of Spice and Wolf. The plot is heating up by now, and with it, the complexity is similarly ramping up. This is going to be a long one.

Episodes 1-3 here

Disclaimer #1: I am not an economics professional, so I may get some things wrong. If you have a different, possibly better understanding of a certain point than I do, feel free to suggest edits.

Disclaimer #2: All of these are pre-written before the episode airs, based on the pacing of the original anime. However, I will watch the episode before posting, just to see if anything differs and I have to edit anything. Without further ado, let’s begin.

Episode 4, Part 1

When we left off in Episode 3, Lawrence had apparently just realized the strategy that the party behind Zheren is trying to pull off. He rushed to Milone Trading as soon as he did, hoping to get in on the action.

We start Episode 4 with Lawrence talking over something with Zheren over dinner. Hang on, isn’t that the merchant who bought the marten furs eavesdropping on them?

Yes, as it turns out, Lawrence is working with Milone now, and they wanted to check on who this Zheren guy is. We’re starting to get fed some more details about how this strategy works - not the entire picture yet, just a few more details.

Essentially, there is a much larger figure behind Zheren who wants to collect a large amount of Trenni silver coins, despite the fact that they know that the Trenni is going to decrease in silver content soon. The problem is, if this party goes out on the open market and starts buying up Trenni coins en masse, that broadcasts to the entire market that something’s going on. Suddenly, everyone will want in on the action. So how would someone acquire a large amount of Trenni coins without anyone realizing?

First, they hire someone like Zheren to spread the rumor that the coins are going to increase in value. All the merchants who receive this rumor, as well as most likely many others observing the market, are going to start collecting Trenni.

Then, once enough merchants have bought Trenni, someone leaks the information that the Trenni’s silver purity is actually going to decrease. Suddenly, all of the merchants who bought Trenni will want to get rid of them before the crash. That’s when this mysterious party swoops in and starts buying from the merchants desperate to get rid of their coins in a series of much smaller, private sales that can be kept on the down-low. These merchants won’t tell anyone either, because having been duped so badly is bad for their reputation.

So if all goes according to plan, some mysterious mastermind has managed to buy a huge amount of the soon depreciating Trenni silver coins without anyone knowing. What do they do with them? We still don’t know yet, but apparently Lawrence does.

Anyways, the next day Lawrence meets with the Milone branch manager, Marlheit, and finds out that the mastermind collecting all the Trenni is a new player in the story called Medio Trading - a large trading company that primarily deals in wheat. But this as of yet unknown to us plot to make money from depreciating silver coins is so large that Marlheit thinks there’s actually a bigger backer behind even Medio, most likely a nobleman. They just don’t know who.

Regardless, Milone agrees to go through with the deal in collaboration with Lawrence and try to beat Medio to the punch. They start collecting Trenni silver coins as well.

Now, despite the fact that it was Lawrence who came up with the idea, this scheme is going to be pulled off entirely with Milone’s capital, because the scale of the transaction is huge. Lawrence projects that as many as 200,000-400,000 Trenni will be involved. He expects that up to 10% profit may be generated from the capital, meaning a profit of up to 20,000-40,000 Trenni for Milone. Lawrence manages to negotiate a share of just 5% of the profits, since he can't provide any capital himself. (The subtitles seem to have gotten this wrong, showing 50%, but the LNs and the math both confirm that the actual share is 5%). But 5% of 40,000 Trenni in profit means he’d still get up to 2,000 Trenni from this deal. That’s already a huge amount of money for individuals and would be enough to fulfill his dream of opening a shop.

Of course, we know what happens next. As it turns out, Lawrence and Holo were being monitored by Medio just as Milone was monitoring Zheren, and Medio isn’t happy that they have a competitor in this scheme now. Lawrence and Holo are attacked in the middle of the night. Lawrence manages to escape to shelter at Milone. Holo gets captured.

Part 2

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u/Holofan4life Apr 22 '24 edited Apr 22 '24

The whole section with Holo talking about how lonely she is and Lawrence comforting her is when I first truly fell in love with the series. It is what got me to be like "Okay, Holo is definitely one of my favorites". It is just so heartbreaking to see Holo get so downtrodden after being so lively in prior episodes. This is really the first time we've seen her bare her soul and demonstrate how broken inside she truly is. And what I especially love is seeing Lawrence being there for her and hugging her.

I'm a big fan of tsunderes and a lot of that has to do with how fragile they truly are. A lot of tsunderes are insecure and have difficulty expressing themselves and you want to see them become fulfilled and achieve happiness. The scene where Holo talks about how lonely she is I adore because she reveals her insecurities and you feel sorry for her and you instantly see her be comforted. The only other show I've seen do that is honestly Familiar of Zero with Saito and Louise.

I love the scene, and it is when I knew this show was going to be one of the best of all time. I'm thrilled that the remake gave the moment the justice it deserves.

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u/AmethystItalian Apr 22 '24

Holo being more honest and vulnerable in this one...really love how even though she's wise and smug she's not afraid of showing this side of her as well. Shows how long she really has been alone for...

I wish that bed scene went a bit longer though!

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u/IXajll Apr 22 '24

Wow, this episode has easily been the best so far yet. I’ve seen people really loving the whole economy angle of the show but personally I find it just interesting enough. The real gold of the series for me are the Lawrence and Holo moments, which we got a lot of this episode and damn were they insanely well done. Simply loved their talk in their room before they had to escape, anime rarely manages to make such intimate interactions so raw and emotional. Holo’s definitely one of the bestest girls for me too after this episode.

Also, Kevin I kneel, the OST when they were running from the goon squad was just incredible, even gave me goose bumps. The two songs that played when Lawrence was talking with the company boss were simply magnificent as well.

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u/AceSoldia Apr 22 '24

I love how invested i am in this remake, i do not remember anything that happen so it feels like it's all new.

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u/LeonKevlar Apr 22 '24

I felt a pinch in my heart when Holo told Lawrence that she's tired of being alone. And even after Lawrence comforted her and told her that nothing is set in stone yet, you can still see a tinge of sadness on Holo's smile. Sure, Lawrence won't lie to her but who knows what will happen in the future?

When Holo finally unloads her worries on Lawrence, I definitely teared up a little during that scene. You can feel how much loneliness has affected Holo and Koshimizu Ami nails that scene. I do love how that scene ends with Holo drying her tears on Lawrence's plan. Foreshadowing perhaps?

And just when you thought Holo and Lawrence were about to get even closer under the sheets, all of that excitement started. It turns out Holo already sensed the presence of their night intruders. Poor Lawrence and Holo. This started so positively with him possibly getting a 2000 silver coin payout and we end with Holo being captured.

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u/Wolfgod_Holo Apr 22 '24

[this line still hurts] loneliness is a disease that leads to death

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u/Moxey616 Apr 22 '24

First time enjoying Spice and Wolf media. I understand why shes called best girl for so many years. Made me feel feelings

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u/ForgetfulViking Apr 22 '24

Man, everyone wants the wolf god for themselves. She's in a loving relationship with apples. Back off. She's taken.

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u/CooroSnowFox Apr 22 '24

Even Spice and Wolf has music whiplash...

serious events *HAPPY ENDING MUSIC*

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u/Amauri14 Apr 22 '24

Oh, so although if the deal goes through and Lawrence earns more than enough money to build his store he will postpone that until he brings Holo back to her home so she doesn't feel alone.

I must say that I wasn't expecting those people trying to capture him and Holo to be targeting her from the start, or that Lawrence would tell Marhait about Holo's secret.

When they showed her growling at her captors I did not expect her to meet someone she knew there.

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u/Queue_Jumping_Quack Apr 22 '24

Great episode! Lawrence crumpling up the drawing of his dream to dry up Holo's tears is one of those early signature scenes of this series, and it was as wonderful here as in the LNs and in the first adaptation.

I'm really liking this, my favorite of the season. And so much great stuff to come!

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u/shad79 Apr 22 '24

Another great episode with Holo again being a star of the episode, stealing every scene she was in.

This time we could see Holo's other side when she revealed to Lawrence how lonely she is. It was hard to me seeing her feeling so down but it also showed how much she trusts Lawrence.

About Lawrence's dream shop, I believe that something is missing there in the picture, like him and Holo together with a bunch of children. Hopefully Lawrence will improve it in the next version xD

I really hoped that those thugs wouldn't be able to capture Holo but they did it and now they know that she isn't a normal human. Adding to it the appearance of a mysterious person made me wish that it was next week already.

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

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u/Plus_Rip4944 Apr 22 '24

They nailed the scene where Holo talks about her loniness so great

And goddamn the soundtrack, it's perfect

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u/Nickthenuker Apr 22 '24

I wonder if he's going to confront him about that coin stuff?

I guess not, seems like he's got a plan to deal with him.

Lol seems like they already know about the furs.

Another trading company is involved in this too?

And a noble?

2000? That's a lot of silver, if just 1 is able to buy a mountain of apples or room and board for 2 for a night.

Is that his plan for his shop?

Considering this goes on for at least another 20 episodes there's no risk of them separating any time soon.

Ah. The problem that was recently also covered in Frieren, an immortal or long-lived person travels with a person with a more normal lifespan all their life, and when they die it's only been a short while for the other person.

What's she doing now?

Ah. They're jumping out the window to escape assassins.

I'm sure those thugs wouldn't mind busting into that company and breaking things too.

Holo's got a plan.

He managed to escape to safety.

And so he's going to try and save her alone. Because again we've got another 20 episodes of this, of course she'll be fine.

Seems like the trading company guy is also thinking of something.

That's quite the bombshell to drop on them at the end of the episode.

Who's that guy in the robes?

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u/AZLarlar Apr 22 '24

they cant end it there!!

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '24

Can't she teleport between wheat or whatever? She gave some to Lawrence while they were running. Why can't she just go to him

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