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.

I must say, I was rather confused by Lawrence’s actions at the beginning of the episode. Fruhl reveals that she’s still planning to move forward with their plan, but require some extra precautions on their part. Lawrence agrees to continue the deal. Horo knows that Lawrence realizes how much more riskier this deal got, then asks him what he’s hiding. Lawrence reluctantly explains that if he succeeds, Horo will part with him. If he fails, Horo will refuse to be bought and escape as a wolf, leaving him behind. Then both him and Horo agree that it’s not worth throwing it all away to gamble on a single thread of hope. Then Horo asks him if he thinks she’d be happy with that. When Lawrence replies yes, she smacks him in the face. Ok, I’m confused. Does Horo want him to do the deal? Or not?

I couldn’t figure out if Lawrence and Horo were agreeing or disagreeing. From Horo’s perspective it sounded like she was saying the deal wasn’t worth it. Lawrence seemed to agree. But then for some strange reason, he still planned to go forward with the deal. After watching that scene about 4 times, I think I finally got that while Lawrence agreed that the deal was too risky, he thought what Horo really wanted was for him to chase his dream. Even if it meant that she would leave and travel alone. And since Horo doesn’t disagree with him, he’s willing to take the risk. That’s my interpretation. I very well could be off. Let me know if I am.

So with the two in agreement. Lawrence heads back and pawns off Horo as a noble. As he races with the large sack of money to meet with Fruhl, he thinks about how close he is to achieving his dream, but wonders if it was the right decision, and why he isn’t happy.

When Lawrence arrives, he sees Fruhl sneak a pouch of money into her purse. And then the negotiations then break down. Lawrence questions Fruhl’s lack of nerve. And Fruhl makes references to the cost of a life being nothing compared to the amount of money in the bags they have. With so much at stake, the distrust between the two is now at a head.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I was shocked when Fruhl attacked Lawrence. Rigolo trusted her. The shopkeeper trusted her. But perhaps I should have put more stock into Horo’s intuition. Lawrence luckily saves himself from both attacks (first the hatchet then the knife), and then launches into Lelouch mode.

Lawrence then handcuffs Fruhl and explains his realization. While Fruhl may not have outright lied to him before, she hadn’t told him the whole truth. The big revelation was that the "stone statues" were really just a front for smuggling rock salt, which allowed her and the church to reap huge profits, eventually leading to her getting connections with the bishop. It was during this time, she and the church realized that the ones who could make the most from a cash-only dealing of furs was the church. So Fruhl began scheming. But when the church started to cut her out, she realized she needed a partner to keep them honest. I’m not completely sure about the logic behind that, but I think it’s because she’s guessing that the church isn’t going to risk snuffing her out if they know there’s another person who can capitalize and make the deal happen. But Lawrence realizes the size of the deal has driven her mad. And that she planned to buy out the furs using her secret stash of money and scam him out of his sack of money. Lawrence wonders why she’d be risking herself to do, even if it was for a substantial amount of money.

I was very impressed by Lelouch’s Lawrence’s deduction powers. He definitely figured out the smuggling plot in advance of the deal, but I wonder if he would’ve been as suspicious about Fruhl if he hadn’t seen her sneaking the secret sack into her bag. Either way, it’s interesting he didn’t reveal any of this to Horo. Would she have gone through with her part of the deal if she had known that?

I am much less impressed by Lawrence’s ability to stay out of harm’s way. Although I wonder if he let himself be robbed. He didn’t seem distraught about losing the massive sack of gold, and later suggests that through various wheelings and dealings he was able to secure the Innkeeper’s building. Was he intending to use that as collateral to buy Horo back from the beginning? Did he not want to keep the gold, because he knew if he still had the Inn, Horo would then leave him? So then, was this whole exercise about making sure he chased his dream and failed, so that Horo could continue traveling with him with no regrets? If so, it seems like a very convoluted and dangerous method to go about doing that. And I assume Fruhl left behind the deed to the Inn for Lawrence. Was that her final good deed for him? Or was there a possibility for him to not have gotten ownership of the Inn?

When Lawrence returns to tell Horo that the deal has fallen through and that he has been robbed, Ami Koshimizu puts in the perfect amount of rage and disbelief behind Horo’s voice. Also, while the animation of the episode was slipshod, I thought the attention to Horo’s tail was fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that puffed up and large. I know that puffed up tails mean the tail-owner is angry, shocked or nervous based on Calvin & Hobbes. Horo then thinks Lawrence wants her to use her wolf form to get his money back.

Until he stops her. He reveals to her that he was able to trade the Inn to buy her back. We get a true confession, where Lawrence admits he loves Horo. And that in the end, all he wants is to escape the town with her. Horo’s reaction is a mix of anger and sorrow. I think partly out of frustration knowing that Lawrence’s dream is shattered for now, and also in knowing that she’s going to have to continue to face her fear. Again, I thought Koshimizu did a fantastic job portraying just the perfect mix of emotions.

And then we finally get a long-awaited kiss scene between the two, although it’s a little surprising how anti-climactic they made what should be a huge event. I didn’t dislike the way they set it up, because I think I actually prefer how they downplayed it versus having like a swell of romantic strings in the background, but I was disappointed with the animation of that scene. Not that I want to see a big sloppy kiss in excruciating detail, but the way they drew it, it just looked like Lawrence’s face was resting on top of Horo’s face. They really should’ve put a little more effort into animating that.

Of course, Horo plays it cool to the end. But lines like, "you have to take responsibility" serve as a kind of double entendre to show that she is indeed in Lawrence’s hands.

I do love how they animated Horo and Lawrence’s final scene. The sound direction in this anime has been tremendous. The soft lights, the falling slow, the lack of dialogue, the clanging bells and the environmental sounds ended the show on such a deliciously moody note. I also got some lulz out of seeing barmaid-chan in anti-government spook pots and pan gear, barricading the door. I’ll miss her.

Color me shocked. They actually were able to wrap this storyline up without it feeling rushed. And it was full of surprises along the way. This has been a wild ride of a season, with great performances by the cast, crazy, convoluted stories, and some very strong character and relationship development between Lawrence and Horo. If a third season does come along, they’re going to have some tough shoes to fill. The best part about Spice and Wolf is the relationship and dialogue between Horo and Lawrence. But like Horo mentioned a couple episodes back, everything’s electric in the beginning, but eventually, it all fades away until all you’re left with dull memories. The challenge with Spice and Wolf will be continuing to evolve the relationship between Horo and Lawrence and not letting it get stale or formulaic. I hope we get a chance to see them take their best shot though.

Bravo to Brains Base for a fantastic season! Much thanks to Mazui for being so quick with the subs. And much love to everyone that stopped by to read my posts and leave comments. The community really does make watching anime a more fun experience. I’m going to miss this show, it’s been a great ride. See ya in season 3! (I hope )

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.

So here’s my understanding of the deal. This trading guild "pays" 2000 silver trenni for Horo. Lawrence and Fruhl go and use that to buy up all the furs in town. They then run a monopoly and make a considerable profit. Later, hey come back and buy Horo back at a higher price. The guild profits, Lawrence profits, Fruhl profits. Everyone wins. Who knows, maybe this would’ve even worked out well. But I don’t know about Horo and Lawrence, but beady-eyed, old guys rarely turn out to be reputable characters. I could just sense those geezers in the background, chomping at the bit, waiting to ravage Horo’s nubile body the second they got the chance. Damn, dirty old geezers.

Fruhl said what everyone’s thinking, but isn’t actually happening. Congratulations to Fruhl for being so blunt. Lawrence, can you take a big, glowing, neon "hint"?

It was interesting to see Fruhl’s backstory. It’s a little strange to hear the characters talking about buying and selling people so easily, I was glad to see a bit of the human cost behind those transactions. Fruhl’s a tough woman. I wouldn’t want to cross her. I also really liked the direction during this scene, especially when the camera was panning in on the boats in the background and simultaneously panning out on Fruhl in the foreground. That affect always gets me. I also have to give credit to the music. I think the sharp, staccato strings did a good job conveying Fruhl’s feelings.

If I was Lawrence, laying on the bed with Horo, I would’ve "accidentally" rolled over on top of her. However, failing that, the tail touch scene was flat out awesome. I could watch this 5 second on an endless loop.

However, the conversation takes an abrupt turn to the serious, as Horo says she wants this to be the end of the road between the two. While everything between the two is fun and exciting right now, she’s worried that over time, their repartee and their relationship would become old and stale, leaving them nothing but memories. I wonder how much of this was her simply being melodramatic, how much of it was her rationalizing moving on and letting Lawrence open his store, and how much was based on previous experiences (or lack thereof). Her fear, I would argue, sounds somewhat immature; something you’d expect from someone who’d never been in a long-term relationship.

But I’m glad the melodrama was over pretty quickly. You could argue they left the issue unresolved, but I think it’s one of those things that can’t be resolved until it’s completely over. As much as Lawrence may try to stop Horo from leaving, all it takes is a quick moment for her to disappear into the nether.

Later, Horo and Lawrence return to Rigolo’s to return the books and to check out some more. Interestingly, Rigolo’s been called out to an emergency meeting, leaving Lawrence and the cute nun to engage in enlightening discussions about Rigolo’s garden. Horo may not have seen it, but I saw Lawrence and Horo standing by that tree, not Lawrence and a store. Also, Lawrence discovers that Fruhl’s stone statues are actually made of salt, although I’m not sure what the significance of that is. It’s not unexpected after what they revealed about Fruhl last episode, but I wonder if this is a plot point that’ll go unresolved considering what happens next…

Rebellion! Whoa, that was unexpected, and I don’t think those sharp pointy objects are for chopping wheat or any farming deeds. It’s actually nice to see something blow up in Lawrence’s face that doesn’t involve either him or Horo getting personally screwed over. While this is bad for their profit-making schemes, and for Lawrence’s dreams of opening a store, I think it’s probably a good thing if he wanted to stick with Horo. Furthermore, since no money or goods was exchanged with the trading guild, he shouldn’t be indebted to anyone. Now the only question is whether Lawrence and Fruhl’s names slipped out and if that angry mob is coming to kill them… Yep, it’s looking like a cliffhanger ending to the season. The only question is whether it’s a "oh, where will Lawrence and Horo go next" type of cliffhanger or a "OMG, THE CHURCH IS KILLING WOLF HORO AND LAWRENCE IS LAYING ON THE GOUND BLEEDING TO DEATH!!!" type of cliffhanger. Mmm, I’m hoping for the former. My heart couldn’t take the latter. Oh, I’d also be remiss not to mention the fantastic music during the rebellion reveal. The cacophony of strings was another perfect fit to play up the pandemonium and "what comes next" mood.

It looks like we may be in for a surprisingly action-packed season finale to Spice and Wolf next week.

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.

After his talk with Fruhl and the Innkeeper, Lawrence spends the night tossing and turning, before waking up in a sweat. I wonder if they were head hairs or tail hairs on the cloth she gave Lawrence to wipe himself off with. The 50-man meeting has declared that selling furs is ok, but it needs to be bought using cash. Seeing as how most of the traveling merchants carry that much cash when they travel, Fruhl comes up with a scheme to "sell" Horo, in order to get cash to buy up all furs and control the market. Lawrence, burnt by his last experience, is understandably uneasy about selling Horo – even if the plan is to buy her back.

An interesting development is that the Innkeeper is planning to go on a pilgrimage. I don’t know if the understated premise is that the Innkeeper is going to die, or that this pilgrimage is permanent in some sort of way, but if Fruhl and Lawrence can swing the deal, Lawrence is going to have an opportunity to take over the Innkeeper’s building and set up shop. When Lawrence reveals his hesitation to Horo, she snaps at him, chiding him to chase his dream and take the risk.

Having received Horo’s permission, Lawrence does some detective work around town to find out a little more about Fruhl and her former connections with the church. He learns that the quality of the bishop’s character is perhaps dubious, and that Fruhl was the only merchant to have had some sort of relationship with the town’s bishop. However, Fruhl was cut off, once the bishop was able to set up a strong enough foundation to stand on his own and gain enough support of his own. Even Fruhl later mentions that it was a smart decision on the bishop’s part, as she would’ve taken advantage of their connections had he continued to rely on her. Lawrence’s informant also reveals a surprising bit of information about Fruhl, claiming that he thought she traded in salt, not only stone statues.

Spicy barmaid-chan returns and does not disappoint, quickly picking up on Horo’s scent and inviting her over for a threesome… maybe. In between her advances and flirting, she gives Lawrence some info on the church. They’ve been building up their reputation, but also silencing opposition in the town. All of this seemingly to prepare for the bishop’s ascent to an archbishop position. The town is clearly held captive to the strong influence of the church, and the reason why Fruhl wants to leave the town becomes obvious.

In the end, Lawrence agrees to move forward on the deal with Fruhl, but as they shake hands in agreement, both Lawrence and Horo instinctively notice Fruhl’s shaking hand. I don’t think that either Fruhl or the Innkeeper have any devious plans or double-crosses in mind, but I do think Fruhl’s shaking hand was intended to show the risk of her scheme. When she talks about it, it all seems pretty logical and relatively easy to accomplish. But as we’ve seen plenty of times before, when Lawrence throws himself into some sort of odd arrangement, things are never as simple as they appear to be.

I’m starting to get the picture that Lawrence overvalues the possible benefits and undervalues the possible risks of his deals. On face value, the benefit of this possible deal and a rare opportunity to achieve Lawrence’s dream – to open a store. But there’s two things that I don’t think he’s considering: 1.) his hesitation to leave Horo and let her travel back to Yoitsu on her own and 2.) the church’s heavy influence making this town a risky place for Horo, if she did choose to stay behind with Lawrence. When you take those into account, it means even if the deal is a success, I’d put the likelihood of him opening a store to be less than 50/50. So the real benefit is some additional money in his pocket for the future. However, the risk of this deal – again – is losing Horo and perhaps losing everything he has or being persecuted by the church. Maybe I’m a little conservative, but that seems like a bad deal to me. Limited upside, unlimited downside.

Hopefully they can wrap everything up in the next two episodes, but I get this sneaky feeling that the season might end on a cliffhanger.

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!)

The whole jealousy discussion and the color of each other’s souls was quite the sight to see. The first 1/3 of the episode consists merely of Horo and Lawrence going back and forth. Is Horo a jealous, possessive one? Or is that how Lawrence wants Horo to be, as Horo claims. But the again, the episode did start off with Horo racing past Lawrence in a jelous huff. And what color is Lawrence’s soul? Is it died the color of Horo? And what of Horo? What color is her soul? She replies that it’s probably various colors and eggs Lawrence on, pestering him about how many partners she’s had. Lawrence doesn’t bite at first, perhaps disappointing Horo who no doubt seemed to be looking to raise a jealous ire. But eventually, he breaks and asks in a fit of jealousy, perhaps taking Horo back a bit.

The talk between the two was just fascinating to watch. Now, I don’t really care how many partners Horo’s had (that depends on if you’re counting her wolf partners according to the MAL forums – where’s a convenient Horo facepalm pic when I need it?), but I did find it interesting to watch Horo claim she wasn’t the jealous type, and then try to reverse roles by trying to get Lawrence jealous of her partners. Perhaps this is a fair game to play considering that Lawrence has had friendly relations with Chloe, Nora, Dianna and now the latest bishoujo, Fruhl. Horo can’t help but be in a constant state of competition, while Lawrence tends to get somewhat of a free ride, depending on what you thought of Amati. This season seems to be all about building the bond between Horo and Lawrence by stressing it to the max.

And just as they wrap up their conversation about jealousy, Horo’s ire is raised by another cute girl, this time a nun. This is all unbeknownst to Lawrence, but it doesn’t stop Horo from comedically stomping his foot in a jealous rage.

I must say, Rigolo looked considerably different from what I expected based on Fruhl’s description. Who knew she was such a jokester. Still, I think it’s telling that Rigolo trusts Lawrence and Horo so much based on Fruhl’s word. We’ll have to keep this in mind for the revelation at the end. While, there’s little revealed about the 50-man meeting, Horo does get to check out some books and legends to take home for bedtime reading.

It’s remarkable that these two haven’t kissed yet. Lawrence is either a superman or a eunuch to be able to have resisted Horo’s smexy charm for so long. Even her less smexy moments like when she flops over on the bed aren’t really a turnoff. However, I do wonder if Lawrence was simply playing along when Horo talked about what she was most afraid of, or if he really had no idea. It’s hard to fathom how he couldn’t know what her fears are, considering all that happened in the last arc, but he doesn’t give any sign in this scene or in the next that he’s aware.

Which leads us to the final portion of the episode. A benign conversation between Fruhl, Lawrence and the reticent owner of the Inn takes a very interesting turn when Fruhl asks Lawrence if he’s willing to sell Horo. Amati again? Probably not. But I loved how they directed the last scenes with the pan out from Horo onto the town. I don’t know what Fruhl’s got in mind, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt based on Rigolo’s and the Innkeeper’s faith in her character. But still, her situation with the stone statues and being cut off by the church, would lead me to think that she might be in desperate straits, so we can’t completely rule out more sinister motives.

For anyone that’s been hoping for movement in the plot, things should get very interesting next episode.

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.

The new town looks much less morose when it’s not raining. Even Lawrence thinks so, as he and Horo share mugs of wine (actually looked more like mugs of frothy beer). But Horo shows off her supernatural listening skills by revealing some of the conversations that are going on between the various merchants by the dock. Apparently, while everything looks fine on the outside, there’s quite a bit of friction between the fur traders and the townspeople.

Horo, drunk once again, heads back to the inn, where she makes a halfhearted attempt at keeping Lawrence from leaving her. However, Lawrence reassures her and puts her to bed, before leaving.

I gotta say, this new barmaid was quite the saucy one. I need to find a bar with gals like her. If women were as attractive back in medieval times as they are in Spice and Wolf, I think history would’ve had a much brighter perspective. Lawrence stops by to get some beaver tail (cue the dirty jokes) and to find some information about what’s going on in the town. The banter between Lawrence and the barmaid is quite crackling in of itself. Definitely to the point where Horo would’ve gotten upset if she’d been around. However, Lawrence learns that the town’s 50-man meeting is a debate about whether they would allow fur to be sold, since the Northern Expedition had been cancelled, but until the meeting is over, all fur sales are prohibited – thus, the gaggle of merchants right outside the town gates. However, saucy-chan lets Lawrence in on a secret – she believes the town will decide to prohibit fur sales. And then tells Lawrence to get drunk and tosses an indirect marriage proposal his way. Seriously, this barmaid is awesome. I guess when you create a character as perfect as Horo, you have to create strong competition to keep things interesting.

The fun of Lawrence and Horo isn’t just the dialogue, it’s the way they’re also able to read each other perfectly. When Lawrence heads back to his room, Horo’s waiting for him, clutching her tail, because she thinks he has a look like he’d sell anything at that moment. Meanwhile, Lawrence responds truthfully and smoothly, telling her he’s not a hunter nor a gatherer, and only sells what’s been sold to him. A perfect read on Horo’s part. Obviously she knew Lawrence wasn’t going to sell her tail, but she sensed from the outset that Lawrence’s gears were turning after receiving the tip from saucy-chan and played it perfectly, but Lawrence provides a more than fitting comeback in return.

The Lawrence x Horo hug/scent scene may have been the sweetest, most endearing scene I’ve seen in Spice and Wolf yet. Whether or not anyone actually says the L-word seems to be a pretty moot point, because their feelings are clear as day. I was also struck by Horo telling Lawrence that he could settle down and start a store if he wanted to. I think the unstated point is that she’d continue on her own, but it was a very magnanimous gesture, even though she knew there was no chance that Lawrence was going to accept it.

Ah, Sheik gets unmasked and… she looks different from what I expected. She looks like a man, although I don’t doubt that she could be a looker if she had her hair up and the right look on. What’s unique about Spice and Wolf is that even when nothing happens, time flies and it’s still interesting. It’s similar to Aria in that sense. A good 10 minutes was spent on Lawrence talking with Harold the innkeeper and Fruhl the somewhat masculine looking, female merchant. And there’s really nothing much of significance they talk about. They talk about life, travels and merchantry, but there’s nothing revealed that you’d consider a possible major plot point. At the end, Fruhl agrees to introduce Lawrence to Rigolo the chronicler, but that agreement was a natural result of their conversation. It wasn’t as if Lawrence spoke to Fruhl for that reason, or vice versa (and Fruhl points that out outright, admitting that she couldn’t just say "let’s have small talk" and used Rigolo’s name simply as an in). I can see how some people might consider this boring, but I think if you’re the type of person who’s ever enjoyed watching people, or just eavesdropping on a conversation just for the fun of it, there’s something about Spice and Wolf that really draws you in. And this episode was as good an example of that as I’ve seen so far.

After a long break, Horo is back in full force, taking over every scene with moe moe kyun and rapier wit. Hanging with witty people naturally makes you wittier. So there’s no doubt that smooth talking Lawrence owes his new slick style to hanging with Horo.

It’s crazy that even though nothing really happens during the first third of the episode, besides some affection and clever banter between Lawrence and Horo, the show’s still mesmerizing and time flies by. Horo really steals every scene that she’s in. I especially liked her mimicking the dead fox – although it’s a little freaky that it still has its head attached. On their way to Renose, a city known for its fur trade, Lawrence asks Horo if she feels badly seeing the furs of her former wolf kin. She responds by telling him that it’s hunt or be hunted. And there’s no pity for the hunted. That is the natural way, unlike say slavery, which she considers to be much more egregious, although Lawrence thinks they serve an economic purpose. To be fair, it’s medieval times. Not exactly the most progressive of times.

Every once in a while, I watch an anime and think "hug her" or "kiss her" right now damn it! Glad to see Lawrence has the same feelings. However, he punks out of actually doing it. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s much harder once you’re actually in the situation. But that’s no excuse!

Renose is a very dark, dingy town with a cast of less-than-friendly looking characters. Quite a contrast to the bright lights and celebratory Kumerson. As they’re being patted down before receiving permission to enter the town, there’s a bit of a false alarm when an inspector finds Horo’s tail, but dismisses it as a cheap wolf pelt. Predictably this doesn’t make Horo happy, although I was surprised she didn’t fuss about it more than she did. In fact, she seems to admit that her fur isn’t the highest of quality. But it seems to be good enough for Lawrence.

Did I say nothing really happens in the first third of the episode? Well, actually nothing really happens for the whole episode. Not necessarily a bad thing, considering all the drama in the last few episodes. Instead we just get some more cute Lawrence and Horo scenes. Horo sucking on a finger was somehow both adorably cute and sort of naughty.

Lawrence really has gotten wittier, and because the closer the two have gotten, the more whimsical and back and forth their relationship has become. While Horo can now seemingly can make Lawrence blush at will, Lawrence shows off his silver tongue and chivalry, sweeping Horo off her feet with a simple kiss of her hand. For a second, I thought someone was going to interrupt to tell these two to get a room.

Towards the end, we do get a little bit of plot movement, as Lawrence and Horo sit down with the owner of the inn, to try to get a lead on a Chronicler to find more information about Horo and Yoitsu. They learn that the only good source is a man named Rigolo, who unfortunately seems to be stuck in a strange situation going in the town – a problem with the furs apparently. And while Lawrence talks big about not wanting to get into a fight, the scent of trouble is too seductive for him to refuse. As they leave the building, they run into a strange person that Lawrence has already seen a couple times. Horo says it’s a girl, I think it’s actually Sheik, but based on Spice and Wolf’s track record, there’s no doubt that this new mysterious girl is a beauty.

However, before Lawrence starts sticking his head into other people’s business, he shows that he’s learned a lesson from before and takes Horo out to see the town.

There’s not much to say about this episode. It was just your typical Spice and Wolf episode doing what it does best: putting Horo and Lawrence together and letting them carry the episode. Like I mentioned, it was a nice, slowed-down change of pace, especially compared to the surprisingly cliffhanger-heavy last few episodes. With that said, this episode still put a bug in my head, wondering what the "50-man meeting" was, why the town seems so dreary, and what Princess Zelda is doing away from Hyrule.

This is not a fair question to ask. But the answer is always yes, right? What? Not tonight? Nooooo!!! Horo, you tease!!!

Have you ever been in a situation where by circumstances you knew you were going to see a girl (or guy) you liked (if life were like anime, you’d probably be meeting seeing her and her friends at an onsen, or a summer trip to the beach), and so the night before, you spend all night planning out what will happen. You think about the opportunities where you might get a moment alone with her, or maybe you think of some ways to create those opportunities as well. You think about all the cool, suave things you’re going to say. Then you plan out responses for all her possible responses, all of which get her more and more hot and bothered under the collar. And then, the momentous day finally comes!… and then goes away. And at the end of the day, you realize you didn’t get a single moment alone with her. You said zero cool things. And if you even got to say something, you’re sure you sounded or looked like a total tool, and you realize all that planning you did – total waste of time.

I mention this, because that’s the way Lawrence probably felt about the last couple days, and that’s the way I sort of feel about the last couple eps. While it’s certainly no surprise that Horo ended back up with Lawrence. And I suspected that she was the one who’d bought the pyrite from Deanna. I was disappointed to learn that she was just really trying to screw over Amati as much as possible, and all of Lawrence’s insane scenario planning would’ve been unnecessary, if he hadn’t simply overreacted to Horo’s "I’m sorry." I would’ve much rather have learned that Horo struggled with her decision to stick with Lawrence, and was only won over by his frantic efforts.

I’m disappointed because it sort of invalidates all of the drama from the last couple episodes. While there was definitely some important developments – particularly Lawrence’s realization of what Horo means to him (even though he still can’t put it into words – freaking tsundere) – it cheapened both the main deal that Lawrence had with Amati, as well as the side deal as well. Which took up the bulk of the last couple episodes. Oh and by my final scorecard, Lawrence got KO’d by Amati, and then Amati got surprise TKO’d by Lawrence’s manager, Horo.

Ultimately yes, the decision was never not Horo’s to make. Amati could’ve won the side deal, the main deal, ruined Lawrence, but still lost Horo if she decided to stay with Lawrence. Or conversely, Lawrence could have pulled off a miracle, beat Amati in both the side and main deals, but still lost Horo to Amati. So the bets themselves – at least for the true reward – were meaningless. But when you build up 2 and a half episodes around those bets, building up a economics-driven showdown, but then you don’t play that out at the resolution, it makes the ending feel random and a little hollow. It’s sort of like repeating time 15,532 times and then finally breaking through by having a group homework day… Of course, it’s not nearly that bad.

Still… I’m happy that Horo and Lawrence are back together. While I like the economics stuff in this show, I was seriously suffering from Horo withdrawal. So getting a lot of Horo screen time in the second half was like finding a well in the middle of a desert. I love how Horo’s tail gets all fuzzy when she’s upset, I like how her ears flop down when she’s sad, and I, of course, missed her teasing as well.

But I’m glad we’re moving to the next arc. This one started off real strong, was really interesting in the middle, but then whimped out at the end, but I still enjoyed it. I got a kick out of Lawrence’s wild imagination of Horo and Amati. And I cracked up when Lanto confessed about Horo as well. Hopefully we get to see a little more of Deanna in the future too. I’m curious about her background and would like to see her in bird form as well.

I laughed and facepalmed at Lawrence referring to Horo as "cargo." I suppose it was a cute way for him to avoid mentioning his feelings for Horo directly. Otherwise, the lack of Horo continued in this episode – and I think I’m suffering from Horo deficiency – but it was an important episode, because Lawrence finally realizes his answer to a very important question.

Lawrence approaches Bartose for help, hoping to speak with Deanna in order to get at the alchemists’ pyrite stock. I suppose Lawrence comparing Horo as cargo he absolutely doesn’t want to abandon is a novel way to spin the tale. And I appreciated the flashback memory of seeing doe-eyed Horo (although if they were really stuck, couldn’t she just have turned into a wolf and nudged the wagon forward?). But I wondered if Lawrence referring to Horo as "cargo" was his way of masking his feelings for her, so he tell the story to Bartose without being too rabu-rabu, or whether that was how he actually felt about Horo – not a real companion, but someone just temporarily along for the ride. I also really liked the sound design as Bartose is mulling Lawrence’s request over – the rising roar of the crowd, then the cut to silence. Definitely a nice tact to increase the drama.

Bartose agrees to help out Lawrence and provides him with a special passphrase, which Lawrence uses to get the foot in the door to Deanna’s. Again, Lawrence tells Deanna his story about not wanting to lose his cargo, to try to convince her to help him out. Amused by Lawrence’s story, she agrees to sell him pyrite, but informs him that someone’s already beat him to the punch and bought pyrite themselves, albeit on credit. This immediately pops thoughts of Amati in Lawrence’s head (and to be fair, in mine as well), and he pressures Deanna to tell him the buyer’s name, although she quickly smacks him down, telling him that she’d be in charge of negotiations. I gotta say, I really like Deanna. I think Spice and Wolf has had some really interesting and independent women – from Nora and Chloe in the first season, to Deanna, and obviously Horo. These are not your typical housewives.

As Lawrence leaves, he asks Deanna about legends of gods and humans mating. I wonder what Lawrence has in his mind. Hmmmm.

With Lawrence’s fortunes completely in the hands of Deanna, he returns back to Mark’s stand to catch some Z’s, and prepare for watching the market when it opens. Mark turns out to be a really good friend for Lawrence. And because Lawrence is so blissfully self-unaware, Mark astutely points out how Lawrence probably doesn’t think of him as just another convenient town merchant. He also points out that Lawrence is running around town, trying to do everything he can for his female companion, something he probably wouldn’t do if Mark was in a pinch. If Lawrence hadn’t completely realized it before, It’s in this moment where he seems to finally realize what Horo means to him. And perhaps it’s in this moment where Horo graduates from "cargo" to something more.

As Lawrence continues to wait for Deanna to arrive with the goods, he heads out to watch the pyrite prices continue to soar. So many buyers, and no sellers. He then notices Amati. And then is shocked to find Horo standing by him. Amati walks over and smugly consummates his contract with Lawrence – no doubt believing that he has the girl and a crapload of money to boot. I’d probably be smug if I was him too. And to be perfectly honest, even though he looks like a little kid, I think Amati’s merchant skills are heads and shoulders better than Lawrence’s skills. If they were to engage in a merchant duel 10 times, I would bet on Amati to win 9 times. He’s calm, collected, he thinks ahead and plans things out. Maybe he’s a little reckless, and his lack of connections hurt, but I have no faith in Lawrence beating Amati on his own… Which brings me to an interesting observation – the white feathers on Horo’s cloak. I’m guessing she may have been the secret buyer and will ultimately manipulate who wins the duel, based on what she sees from Lawrence. I really doubt that she’s doing this just to make Lawrence sweat. I think she really wants to see some sort of commitment, or at least an answer to her question from Lawrence, otherwise, I think she would stay with Amati. Now clearly she’s going to end up with Lawrence, since the show isn’t called Spice and Wolf and Amati, but if I didn’t know that, I’d think Amati has a 50/50 chance of winning.

Here’s hoping for a Horo overdose next week, because I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more Horo.

For an episode that had basically no Horo (I refuse to go by Holo), and focused mostly on Lawrence’s schemes and deals with Amati and Mark, it flew by. That’s what not having mid-episode eyecatches will do for you.

The episode starts off with Lawrence wandering the streets, imagining the worst between Horo and Amati (or Amarty or whatever the hell is name is). Clearly Lawrence has some sort of romantic attachment to Horo, otherwise, he wouldn’t be imagining them kissing. But he curses himself for having such foolish thoughts and heads back to the inn, where he notices Horo looking longingly at a flamboyantly bowing Amati.

He then heads inside to find that Horo’s left two letters for him. One being an accounting of all of Amati’s assets, which gets Lawrence’s hopes up that Horo’s pulling some tricks on Amati, and then the other being a marriage or engagement certificate – which basically provides insurance for the contract that Amati signed with Lawrence in the last episode. It prevents the likelihood of Amati paying for Horo’s freedom, and then having her skimp with Lawrence. It’s possible that she could tear up the marriage contract, but I imagine that comes with some sort of penalty. Essentially, Horo’s given Lawrence a big middle finger and told him to not count on her saving his ass for making a stupid deal.

Lawrence then begins his wheeling and dealing. This is where things get a little fuzzy, and I may be mixing some stuff up about the deal, but here’s my understanding. Amati buys 10 pyrite pieces (for example) from Lawrence for 500 Trenni. If the value of pyrite doubles, Amati gets 500 Trenni from Lawrence in return for 5 pyrite. So he gets an opportunity to profit on the other 5 pyrites. If the value of pyrite halves, Amati would lose, and need to spend some of his savings to buy 10 more pieces of pyrite in order to pay back Lawrence 20 pieces of pyrite. But Amati’s pretty sharp and notes that all he needs to do is sell his pyrite while the price is high, and he can still make out even if the pyrite market crashes. Which is why Lawrence refers to the deal as a duel. Lawrence believes that he can make a crash happen. Amati thinks he can make a profit even if a crash occurs.

If I were Amati, knowing I had the assets to buy out Horo, I would’ve turned down the deal. Who gives a crap about mercantile pride when you’re sharing a bed with Horo. But Lawrence challenges Amati’s manhood, by talking about how Horo’s cried in his arms, and Amati takes the bait.

So Lawrence heads back to his fried Mark, and asks him to participate in making the market crash happen spreading a rumor about the value of wheat going up,and by purchasing some pyrite (with the 500 Trenni Lawrence received from Amati) so that Lawrence can flood the market. Mark is willing to spread the rumor of wheat prices going up, but turns down the offer of buying up all the pyrite, since unlike Lawrence who only needs to worry about profits and losses, Mark has his shop’s and his family’s reputation on the line. But since he’s a good friend of Lawrence’s, he lets him in on a secret. The alchemists that Deanna is so well connected to, have a large supply of pyrite that’s basically off the market right now. In actuality, assuming that slum’s market prices are completely distinct from the Kumerson’s market prices, this should work out even better for Lawrence than initially planned, since he’ll be able to buy even more pyrite at lower prices, without any impact on the Kumerson pyrite market. And because Amati’s a loner, he’ll be completely unaware that there’s going to be a huge surplus of pyrite to hit the market.

Lawrence was banking on the wheat rumor, and his own savings catching Amati by surprise, but I think the plan he originally had was pretty much a 50/50 toss-up. Because all of his dealings would’ve been within the Kumerson market, the price increases/decreases would’ve been more gradual than instant. I think Amati probably could’ve stayed abreast with the developments and either prevented his losses completely, or kept them to a minimum. The likelihood of him getting caught completely off guard and getting wiped out was pretty small – which is probably another reason why he was willing to take the risk. But like I mentioned above, because Lawrence can now make deals outside of the Kumerson market, he’s able to stockpile a supply and then dump it on the market to drop the price instantly.

It’s a clever plan by Lawrence, but he clearly lucked out in getting that piece of information from Mark. Lawrence still has some risk, because now he’s got to get Deanna and the alchemists bought out in less than 24 hours, but if he’s able to do that, he should pretty much be able to guarantee wiping out Amati (unless Amati screws Lawrence by selling his pyrite before Lawrence can get everything together, but that’s probably against some kind of merchant pride code or something).

Even if he’s able to outmaneuver Amati, I’m looking forward to him having to deal with angry Horo again. Lawrence is still a long way from winning.

The range of emotions Horo displays in this episode is incredible. From the flirty, teasing moments in the beginning when she finds out about Amati’s contract, to the playful exuberance during the festival, to her complete emotional breakdown at the end – all of it exudes such an intense and energetic vibe, it’s part of what makes Horo such a great character.

The episode is as follows. Amati’s desire for fool’s gold last week wasn’t due to ignorance, in fact, he recognizes a tremendous opportunity to profit and jumps on it, fueling the frenzy. When Lawrence races out to meet Amati, he finds that Amati has pulled somewhat of a double-cross. He’s made an offer to relieve Horo of her debt, in order to make a love proposal to her. And he’s done it in a way where it’s almost impossible for Lawrence to turn down without losing some respect from the crowd (as Horo so sagely guesses). So Lawrence makes the deal with Amati, confident that he’s going to get the 1,000 trenni from Amati, and that Horo will choose to stick with him anyway. This is what you’d call a scheme. Amati’s proven himself to be a smart cat, but I’m surprised he didn’t tread a little more carefully. But as they say, if you want to get a man to stop thinking, put a woman in front of him. But now there’s a wager on whether Amati can come up with the 1,000 trenni, and another wager on whether or not Horo will stay with Lawrence.

Lawrence explains the situation to Horo, who’s amused and figures to play along. The scenes in which she pretended to act out her response were just a perfect mix of cute and funny. I was actually chuckling for the first 1/3 of this episode at Horo’s reactions and Lawrence’s scheme. I’ve mentioned it before, but the Horo-Lawrence chemistry is so fun to watch.

Later Horo soaks in the sights and sounds of the festival, dancing and getting drunk off red wine (again). After the festival, Lawrence is on his way out the door to meet his merchant friend, Mark, when he receives a letter from Deanna with more information about Yoitsu. Horo asks about the letter with the "female" scent in his jacket pocket, at which point, Lawrence comes clean about meeting Deanna and finding more information about the location of Yoitsu.

He leaves the letter behind with Horo and heads out. Once he meets Mark, he learns that the fortune teller’s story and the Church’s subsequent demand for the pyrite has skyrocketed the prices for it. Mark has already made a large profit from it in a short time, so he concludes that Amati’s probably raking it in. Lawrence, who repeatedly shown himself to be a mistake-prone merchant at-best, and disastrous at-worst, curses himself for not recognizing that fact and getting in on it soon. He gets a small pouchfull of pyrite and heads back to the Inn with it. This is where the fireworks begin. Probably the most intense scene in Spice and Wolf history so far.

If I was chuckling at the earlier lighthearted part of the show, I was completely mesmerized by each and every one of Horo’s words and actions during the final scene of the episode. Lawrence comes back to find Horo standing in the shadows, holding the letter in his hands. The moment he realized that she could read, the atmosphere just went *POP* and drove into crazy intense.

Although Lawrence didn’t read the letter, he’s not surprised to hear from Horo that Yoitsu no longer exists. Horo’s fury at his deception could burn a hole through a thousand suns. As Hashime writes, Ami Koshimizu gives a tour de force. She starts off with sadness at finding out that Yoitsu no longer exists. Then berates herself for not knowing this and acting so freely. She then attacks Lawrence, accusing him of misleading her all this time. Letting her believe in a lie, only to laugh at her pitiable ignorance behind her back.

I don’t know that Lawrence ever really knew how deep her fear of being alone was. If it wasn’t clear before, it should be clear as day now (unless he’s an idiot – which he is). Because she becomes totally unhinged, driven insane by her fear. Going as far as asking Lawrence to mate with her so that they could have a child together (I’m curious if this is even possible) until Lawrence cuts her off. At this point, she’s furious with Lawrence, because she knows that he’s going to get 1,000 trenni for her anyway.

The animation was uneven throughout this episode, but they did a great job animating Horo’s expressions in this last scene. Although there’s darkness shrouding all her movements, the intensity of her face, the erraticness of her movements and the sharp, glowing red eyes all add such a layer of depth to Koshimizu’s performance. You could feel the burning fire from every one of her emotions. Normally, Horo asking you to mate with her would be a turn on. But I was so startled by the shakiness of her voice and the strangeness of her movements, that I was really disturbed by that part. I’m not gonna give Lawrence much credit, but it was a good decision to cut her off there. Although it was harsh, she was headed down an insane path.

A couple other thoughts popped into mind.

One: F— Amati. There wasn’t technically anything wrong with what he did. But it felt very underhanded. Little punkass.

Two: LAWRENCE IS A DUMBASS. Why is it that every time he tries to scheme something, it always backfires disastrously in his face? Furthermore, what kind of idiot just walks out of the room after all that? I mean yeah, maybe there’s not much he could say, but the least he could do is sit in silence with her. She’s just spilled her heart out about her fear of being alone, and he just walks out? Geez, I don’t think even Welkin is that daft.

All in all, great, great episode. Horo’s clearly not going to end up with Amati, even the preview featured the faded Horo imagination colors, but next week’s episode can’t come soon enough. I hate leaving arguments hanging, and I just need to see how this gets resolved.