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This episode may have been light on finances but it was filled with good drama and good laughs. Seriously, this is the most satisfying thing I've come out of Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf with since it first came out. My enjoyment of the content has carried me through many of this anime's lulls, but I have nothing to complain about this week.
The heart of the episode is Holo's girl talk with Nora, an interesting dance of dialogue. Nora isn't much of a conversationalist, but you can tell it's due to lack of opportunity, not lack of trying. Sheep are not friends who talk a lot. Grasping this, Holo entices and invites her into a fun conversation, opening our wise wolf to her favorite topic: wallowing in Lawrence. While her vulgar sense of humor confuses Nora, it breaks the ice and that's what she needs to do. And between her jokes, you can see Holo enjoying the chance to chat with another woman, even if she's a shepherd. It's funny to see Lawrence's eyes widen every time Nora notices one of Holo's wolfish qualities while Holo acts cold. Finally, Nora relaxed enough to make a quip about Enek “cheating” on her, and Holo's friendliness paid off.
However, beyond that joke, this mission is a stressful affair. With that in mind, I have to commend this adaptation for capturing that tension well. The campfire scene balances light and shadow well, using that contrast along with the characters' actions and expressions to convey the invisible threat of the wolves. It's a big step up from the sewer sequence in the first film. It achieves more with fewer resources, which is a smart move when production runs are stretched thin. Likewise, the editing during the wolf chase is also rhythmic and controlled. The cuts themselves have some jerkiness, but the splicing of the entire scene balances the action between wolves, sheep, and humans. This maintained the momentum until Holo used The Voice to tell the pups to leave. I think both of these scenes are great. For the first time since its release, I found this adaptation to be more confident than compromising. Hopefully it's a sign of better things to come.
And while I'm being nice, I should also say that this week's soundtrack is outstanding. Kevin Penkin's compositions are always good—no surprise there—but it's hard for me to top my fondness for Yuuji Yoshino's work in the original series. Yet here, I can feel this adaptation getting over that hump. It may have taken me most of the season to get over my biases, but I'd say this episode used its music more effectively. Expressive vocals complement the drama of the chase scene, and the forest winds create the ethereal atmosphere of Holo's confrontation with the guardian of the forest wolves.
I'm also a big fan of the misdirection of storytelling used in this arc. The story sets up two main obstacles to Holo and Lawrence's plan: the wolves and the discovery of their plot. Nora and Holo deal with the wolves and their representative Remerio handles the Lamtra negotiations without any problem, so everything seems to be under control as we near the end of the episode. It's also important to note that both of these threats are largely invisible to Lawrence, so he has no way to deal with them other than relying on his teammates. While he was wallowing in self-pity, a third source of danger caught us off guard: Remerio Trading. Looking back, it's clear that desperation would tempt them to use what little power they still retained to take down their even more desperate business partner. These are the cold-blooded calculations a company makes to save its skin.
However, in reality, their actions are clearly offensive. Spice & Wolf portrays Lawrence's attackers not as mustachioed tycoons but as cowards looking for the easiest way out. They breathed a sigh of relief when they assumed Holo was dead, and they left Lawrence tied up in the rain like wolf food because it saved them the trouble of making their hands bleed further. They have despicable joy in their worldliness. However, they are also men and they are working for merchants. Those are areas where Lawrence has some expertise, so he can use his talents to solve this crisis.
It's tempting to blame Lawrence's naivety because that's what got everyone into this mess in the first place. However, that's also what makes his character and these stories so compelling. Spice & Wolf would be much less fun if he were a master businessman who could drive and handle a situation with his hands tied behind his back. I'd rather see him wriggle his way out of a traffic jam, and I'd rather see Holo help him do that. Also, if anything, we should commend Lawrence this week for spontaneously saying something that impressed Holo. He hasn't left the game yet.
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Spice & Wolf: merchant meets wise wolf is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Steve is on Twitter while it lasted. He still knows the song “Wolf Whistling Song” by heart. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure on This Week in Anime.
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