Spice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf

Episode 19

After those dastardly Olympics delayed my weekly dose of Holo haughtiness, it feels good to be back. Now that this chapter has concluded, I can confirm that I love this arc. This is Spice & Wolf at its best so far, where the impending emotional catharsis transforms a primitive stock market ticker into a canvas of compelling drama. Lawrence, per usual, gravely miscalculates the situation, but that's not the whole story. Holo has her own surprise in store, and Lawrence still wages his own battle—misdirected though it may be—against Amati's machinations. Plus, there's a lot of good wood-on-wood foley work.

From its rise through its collapse, the pyrite market has been the most complicated subject Spice & Wolf has tackled to date, compounded by our protagonists' attempts to manipulate it. Maybe it's not so bad if you have an MBA, but I don't. Luckily, however, one of Hasekura's strengths as a writer is his ability to "dumb down" economic theory without sacrificing too much of the complexity that makes it interesting. Here, he does so by homing in on the psychological factors that ultimately dictate a market. The crowd murmurs among themselves about when to buy and when to sell. They all want to maximize their profit, but the nature of the market makes it impossible for all of them to do so. They're skittish and unpredictable, like a cat caught in a spotlight. Nonetheless, someone has to be left holding the bag, and Hasekura makes that danger concrete in the form of the contract Lawrence made with Amati. Again, that's a clever way to hone the narrative and still get a taste of how these speculative markets work in reality.

This plotline dovetails wonderfully into Lawrence's reconciliation with Holo, although "reconciliation" is kind of a misnomer. Now, were there better and less misleading ways for Holo to have aided Lawrence? Certainly. Would those have made for a more interesting narrative? I doubt it. I'd also wager that a part of Holo wanted Lawrence to sweat it out a little, but it's worth emphasizing that Lawrence's cuckolded editorializations were all his own. Thus, it's satisfying to see him arrive at the truth on his own (with a push from Lant, who definitely earned that tip). It's also all worth it for the sight of him and Holo selling their fat wad of pyrite in tandem. To me, this moment is far more badass than any of Holo's big wolf beatdowns. They won with their brains this time.

Moreover, this "twist" works because it's wholly believable that Lawrence could have read this situation that incorrectly. By limiting the audience to his POV post-fight, the narrative sweeps us up into his anxieties and insecurities. He might have been operating on false premises, but his reactions to those premises were still genuine and compelling. It was very early into the arc when I recalled how it would shake out, and I still had a great time following Lawrence's schemes. The big reveal enhances those tribulations; it doesn't negate them. The big picture also becomes quite comical when you realize that Holo was one step ahead of him the whole time. Any lingering ire she might have nursed surely would have evaporated in those front-row seats to Lawrence's overly earnest bumbling. Later, her devilish smile on the balcony says it all.

The last-minute revelations make Diana an even more interesting character as well. I'm not even talking about her being a bird lady, although that detail compounds the parallels between her and Holo (and their male merchant mates). Note that she refuses to go along with Holo's plan of lying to Lawrence about Yoitsu, but she jumps on the chance to play matchmaker in her own way. I like Diana. That scene also reminds us that Holo is far from perfect either, as she, like Lawrence, was willing to construct a lie to keep their journey going. Indeed, these shared personality traits/flaws are another reason why they clash so often yet get along so well.

Per usual, I love to see Holo chew Lawrence out and she takes that wording especially literally this week when she sinks her chompers into his hand. Lawrence, to his credit, is acquiescent. He knows he screwed up. They both did but eventually remembered the open line of communication they had pledged to last time. As twilight descends on the town, they're more flirtatious than ever. Spice & Wolf still mostly realigns to the status quo; they don't commit to being a couple in any official or overt way. There are still plenty of light novel volumes left to adapt, after all. Nevertheless, they've definitely moved the needle.

Speaking of those other volumes, we're finally arriving at the fourth one next week. That's the book that the first series notoriously skipped. The promise of its adaptation was, in my estimation, probably the best selling point this new anime had going for it, so I'm eager to see how well this production can follow up that hype. This will be uncharted territory. We won't have old episodes to compare these to. We're finally going to have to judge this series on its own merits. I can't wait.

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Spice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is on Twitter while it lasts. He still knows "The Wolf Whistling Song" by heart. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.