Holy cow. While it wasn’t perfect, this episode delivered a little bit of everything. Powerhouse performances from Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu. Betrayal and intrigue. Lawrence pulling off his best Lelouch act. Angry Horo. Crying Horo. Deredere Horo. Lawrence’s confession. A kiss between the two(!) Seriously, there was a little bit for everyone. The only major knock is that the shoddy animation that became prevalent towards the latter half of the season continued here.

Because every time Lawrence tries, he gets the carpet dragged out from under him, like Kratos always getting screwed over by those damn high-and-mighty Greek gods. Still, all in all, rebellion may turn out to be a good thing for him… assuming he and Horo get out of that town alive.

Hmm, I suppose in any show you’ll have your fair share of clunkers. Not that this episode was bad, but the animation was uneven, Fruhl’s plans felt like a retread, and the story and dialogue seemed to lack the spark the previous episodes have had so far. And with only 2 episodes left, I get the sense that the pace of the buildup might have been too slow, and we’re going to be in for a rushed or truncated resolution. I guess we’ll see.

The title doesn’t make any sense if you think about it, but I thought it sounded cool. We get another episode with a healthy dose of Horo x Lawrence banter, not much development on the main storyline and then one heckuva cliffhanger at the end. Everyone wants Horo! (With good reason!)

A strange thought occurred to me as Horo talked about listening to the various groups of arguing merchants – does Horo have two sets of working ears? She has the clearly visible and moeblob okami ears, and every indication is that they’re not just decorative. But what about Horo’s human ears? Do they work too? If so, I wonder how her brain is wired. I should really stop thinking about the anatomical workings of a fictional wolf-human god. Anyway, onto another solid episode of Spice and Wolf.