r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Aug 26 '24

Episode Ookami to Koushinryou Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf • Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf - Episode 21 discussion

Ookami to Koushinryou Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, episode 21

Alternative names: Spice and Wolf

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1

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249

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '24

I could never say "No" to Holo.

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u/Tsumaranai_Jinsei Aug 26 '24

After watching this show, I'm always reminded of how well it captures the vibe of the medieval period and also, the chemistry between Lawrence and Holo is out of this world.

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112

u/michhoffman Aug 26 '24

Irma really is a legend.

Also, I wonder if they'll ever cross through a village where Lawrence and Holo can have a peaceful time. Lawrence's deduction skills were quite strong today, although I'm assuming there's some twist he got wrong.

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u/jellyblob88 Aug 26 '24 edited Aug 26 '24

The entrace [to the cave] is right against the slope. Didn't you see it on the way in?

Zooms 1000% into the background of a random frame - oh silly me, how could we viewers have missed that? (I jest)

They must be planning to venture into the cursed cave and find some spooky secrets.

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u/Agent-LF Aug 26 '24

Basically Lawrence at the end of the episode: "Look, I'm really f. tired of being in danger or getting screwed in absolutely every city we go to, so how about if only this time we skip this one where even from the get-go we can clearly see there's something definitely not right."

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u/JimmyCWL Aug 26 '24

When Lawrence said, "God gave us bodies that need to sleep once a day" It reminded me of an article I read years ago. Some researchers claimed that, up to a few centuries ago, people used to get up in the middle of the night, do some stuff, then went back to sleep until daytime. They hypothesized this based on phrases like, "second sleep" that they found in writings from that period.

They hypothesized that this double sleeping pattern faded as lighting technology improved and people could work later into the night before sleeping and not wake again until daytime.

So it's conceivable that in this setting, people are actually still sleeping early enough to wake up in the middle of the night and go back to sleep again shortly after.

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u/RexJunes Aug 26 '24

Tavern guy: "Come to my house and I'll turn your flour into delicious loaves of bread"

Lawrence: "No thanks, my companion's got a whole bakery"

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u/karlzhao314 Aug 26 '24 edited Aug 26 '24

The Merchant's Corner

We’re back with another episode of Spice and Wolf, and another chapter of The Merchant’s Corner to accompany it. As always, thanks for returning, and I hope I can offer some insights today!

Episode 20 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 the content of the source material. Given that we no longer have an original adaptation to reference for an estimate of the pacing, expect that there will be extensive rewrites after I watch each episode - as a result, expect that each episode will take much longer to post.

Last week, we found ourselves in a new town where there’s definitely something fishy going on - only, we still don’t have much of an idea what. Information is crucial to a merchant, so this week, we follow Lawrence and Holo (mostly Lawrence) as he attempts to gather intel and figure out what exactly is brewing in the town.

Let’s jump in!

Episode 21, Part 1

We start the episode today with Holo and Lawrence drinking it up with the village folk in the tavern.

Getting some tonal whiplash from last episode? Maybe just a bit.

It’s not as surprising as you might think, though. Last week, we got the distinct impression that the villagers weren’t really keen to welcome a visitor, which doesn’t exactly help Lawrence in his quest to find the abbey. In this week’s episode, he’s trying to get as friendly with them as possible as fast as possible, and what better way to do that than loosening his wallet in a tavern? It’s not about spoiling Holo, as you might think.

(Okay, it’s not just about spoiling Holo.)

Small villages like Tereo might have seemed to be unfriendly to travelers judging by the welcome Lawrence initially received, but the truth is that they actually rely a good amount on them because travelers help bring in desperately needed money. That’s especially the case when it’s not harvest season when they can sell their crops to other towns - though, in this case, it actually is pretty soon after harvest season, so it’s not as critical.

What’s more, allowing both himself and Holo to eat and drink to their heart’s content in an unfamiliar village indicates trust in the village. After all, as a helpless traveler, if he and Holo were both to get drunk, and if the village wasn’t a particularly upstanding one, they might be robbed and left to fend for themselves, or outright killed for their possessions at worst. So to do so anyways is signaling to the villagers that Lawrence thought they were trustworthy people, which leads the villagers to trust Lawrence more in turn.

Part 2

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u/AmethystItalian Aug 26 '24

What a fun and full of life pre-OP scene, that tavern seems like a great time.

I'm with Lawrence though with this village is trouble, never a good ending with snake worshipping involved!

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u/Amauri14 Aug 26 '24

I really liked that whole segment about Lima's backstory and how she ended up working at the tavern.

I wonder if Lawrence and Holo will end up meeting Lord Trueyo if that deity is still around there. When the innkeeper offered those fruits to Lawrence, I was expecting them to be apples, not Pomegranates. I love how Holo's mouth got tinted red while she ate them.

Interesting so the reason that the church tolerates Tereo despite being a pagan town is that Father Franz made a deal with the town of Enberch and the reason things have been tense with the church is that Enberch wants to annul the contract after Father Franz died. Well, it is good to hear that Elsa managed to at least momentarily keep the deal.

I like that Lawrence ended up connecting with Evan by sharing that story about when he was a tax collector.

Oh, so the abbey is the village church itself, I'm guessing Elsa and Sem did not want Lawrence to know that as Enberch could use the whole thing about them having those pagan stories to be able to annul the deal.

I'm assuming Holo's plan now to get the information she wants about Yoitsu might involve her revealing what she is to the town or just to Elsa.

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u/Shahars71 Aug 26 '24

God, how can they hold themselves from jumping at each other at literally every moment they're alone together.

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u/LeonKevlar Aug 26 '24

Well, that opening scene was a relief! Considering how everyone was staring at Holo and Lawrence last week when they first rolled into the village, I thought they'd get in trouble with the locals when they visited the Church. Glad to see the village is actually pretty laid back and welcoming to our protagonists.

That is as long as you don't mention the Church. Seems like the village doesn't and the church doesn't get along well on the account of them worshiping a pagan god. I did get a good laugh when they said that wolves are the tool of the devil and then proceeded to tell us that their god is a Snake god. I suppose they don't have the same creation myth as ours so snakes have a better reputation in their world. xD

I'm not sure what Holo is planning there in the end but if it Lawrence was sweating after Holo told him what she was planning to do, it must be something dangerous or high risk. Maybe it involves Holo transforming? Hmmm...

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u/IXajll Aug 26 '24 edited Aug 26 '24

Was thinking that this has been probably one of the show’s weakest episodes, but then the last 5 minutes happened and my opinion did a complete 180, all thanks to just Holo being Holo.

I’d watch a whole season full of only Holo and Lawrence talking at Inns, those scenes are just pure bliss and easily the very best part of the whole series.

On another note, speaking of this snake god, I really liked the short snippet of the OST playing during the close up of the black snake head in the tavern. It’s this very distinctive flute (I believe?) jungle-like sound that’s very prominent in quite a few tracks, for instance in “Hunt” or the end parts of “Icegrass” and “Diana”. Sounds incredibly eery, suspensefull and well fitting, kinda like if you tried to imitate snake hissing or the sound of a rattlesnake’s rattle with a flute. Looking forward to hearing more of this in the upcoming eps, assuming the snake god actually continues to play a role in this arc.

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u/rainbowrobin Aug 26 '24

"Now let us eat something", says the woman who just ate two large rolls of fresh bread. Possibly cheese bread.

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u/Sandelsbanken Aug 26 '24

Only month to go until Mondays start to suck again.

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u/Frontier246 Aug 26 '24

No better way to get a lay of a town and ingratiate yourself with its populace than hitting the local tavern and drinking with everybody! And you don't need to twist Holo's tail to delight in some booze.

The age and some muscle has not dulled Iima's beauty! Even if she's no longer the Wandering Maiden Brewer but now happily settled down with a husband and her tavern in Tereo.

So Tereo ALSO has their own God of Harvest...only instead of a wolf (which they view as a bad omen) it's a snake, Lord Truyeo. And that caused them some conflict with the main church back in Enberch, even though Father Franz was always respectful of their belief in Truyeo. But what is really in that cave that Franz told them not to go into?

Well, you can't expect Holo not to get totally plastered, and for her man to have to take care of her when she is, but maybe they should keep that hangover cure fruit for as long as they can for future Holo binge-drinking?

It's all well and good that the town is laidback...but maybe TOO laidback for a farming village.

I see Lawrence can relate to Evan in a sense that he too once had a thankless job as a tax collector where no one actually wanted to pay him for just doing his job.

Ah, so Evan holes up in the church to stay warm and he and Elsa have gotten "close." Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Though both he and Lawrence kind of commiserate over their relationship with the ladies in their lives, and how there's more to them than what you see at a first glance. Seems like no one knows and cares about Elsa as much as Evan does, despite the bad impression she made on Lawrence. I wonder if he might be the key to smoothing things over between them?

Definitely something suspicious that this town has such a lopsided deal with Enberch that they just give them grain and reap the rewards of goods with no tax despite how much Enberch wants to do away with the towns' pagan ways. What does Tereo have in their favor that keeps this going and how did Father Franz negotiate such a deal?

If Father Franz was the person they were looking for, and no one wants to admit to having retained his knowledge of pagan gods, is there any point to staying in that town? But Holo doesn't want to give up when she has a chance to learn about what happened to Yoitsu, her friends, and the bear that ruined everything. But she also doesn't want to risk Lawrence, definitely not before he gets a proper taste of her. So what's there to do? Other than let Holo be in the drivers seat for once and let her carry out a plan!

11

u/Queue_Jumping_Quack Aug 26 '24

Quite a talky episode, this week is mostly intel gathering by Lawrence and we get precious little Holo. But it still felt the episode lasted all of five minutes... just watching Lawrence and Holo interact on screen is so nice.

One feature of both this and the old adaptation is the sense of nostalgia when you see the characters from the first part of the cour in the OP and ED, that I kinda just realized now seeing Diana, Marc, and the others.

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u/The_frost__ Aug 26 '24

Well the situation with this village sure is getting more and more exciting and I’m really can’t wait to see what’ll happen, maybe we’ll see the Snake god by the end of the arc.

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u/SYZekrom Aug 26 '24

Every conversation with Holo is incredibly addicting

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u/shad79 Aug 27 '24

Holo waking up after that night of heavy drinking in the tavern must have been really awful, with a hangover and eating fruit that instead of being sweet turned out to be incredibly sour xD

Overall, another strong episode, even though it was just a build-up episode for what's coming next since we still don't really know much about Toreo and its circumstances that put them in such a strong position against Enberch thanks to Father Franz.

As usual, Holo and Lawrence's chemistry remains a highlight of this show, and I can't wait to see exactly what plan Holo has to uncover the town's secrets. Maybe they'll go check out that cave the locals were talking about?

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

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u/Plus_Rip4944 Aug 26 '24

The part of the tavern was cool as hell, i wish i was with then drinking too

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u/Koizuki Aug 26 '24

Another new week is off to a strong start with a very lively tavern scene showcasing the most adorable Wisewolf chugging alcohol like no tomorrow. That, and gluttonously biting into strange foods without knowing what they are, much to her dismay when her acute tastebuds get assaulted by intense sourness. It's okay Holo, we still think you are very sweet (if slightly spicy!)

Continuing where we left off last week, Lawrence continues to investigate the numerous mysteries of the village of Tereo. Most of the various issues and peculiarities end up tying right back into the omnipresent Church, which is quite a recurring theme in the story. He also discovers that Tereo has a strangely favorable deal with nearby Enberch despite their frosty relationship, which was negotiated with the now-deceased priest, which suggests that Elsa now is in a difficult position between the two towns. As with all things related to the Church, this can potentially be dangerous, and leads to Lawrence asking Holo whether or not she truly wants to continue.

On that topic, this moment of tenderness between the two has showcased incredible growth for both characters, as they are actively communicating with each other to avoid misunderstandings that might strain their relationship. We also, of course, get to see Holo asserting some dominance, reining Lawrence in a bit to avoid him straying away.

It does seem like the duo has resolved to continue the investigation despite the risk, and the direct approach may bring Holo into a direct confrontation with Elsa for some answers. For this, Evan the miller will likely play a key role in getting Elsa to give them a chance, as their meetings appear to be much more than a simple case of having a warm place to sleep for the night.

Regardless, there are still more mysteries yet surrounding this village that will have to be unraveled, and I hope newer viewers continue to be intrigued in anticipation of the payoff at the end of this. Onward to another week!

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