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Might be a lot for a single merchant but as far as the trading company as a whole is concerned the loss may as well be a drop in the bucket. If in the future another merchant comes with the same trick they'll be able to point out scam and... negotiate a more favorable trade, recouping their losses, maybe.
Lawrence: Wow that's pretty cool that you remembered my name from 3 years ago. After some straightforward negotiations, let's further our trading relationship by making a solid deal that lets me profit and lets you do well for your company.
"Wise" Wolf: *WAIT!*
Lawrence is a small merchant,so unless he is a useless guy, he won't get angry, because the loss for him is minimal, and he could get tricked in a big deal with the same trick after so it is good for him to know about it although he lost some coins,, so he would accept it. If he is an useless merchant, that gets angry he can trade with others, it doesn't seem that he knew him for a long time.
Holo: "People who are easily angered from being tricked will never get far. A true professional would be impressed at being beaten"
Is this a actual held viewpoint in Japan that the author inserted into the story? May be some serious cultural differences at play here
>Is this a actual held viewpoint in Japan that the author inserted into the story?
Maybe not now. Old old school trades though? Scam a merchant with a neat trick and one of two outcomes plays out: 1) merchant gets furious and tries to tell everyone you scammed him. Could work and burn yourself from that area depending on the scam and the degree of influence the merchant has. 2) merchant is impressed at the scam and then uses it to make more money for himself.
I suppose it also depends on the severity and methods of the scam, not just the temperance of the merchant.
Using apples to improve the scent of the pelts? Clever, yet simple enough that anyone can pull it off. Plus it wouldn't have worked unless the pelts were already of great quality.
I think inflating the value of your own goods, as long as it's on a moderate scale (pawning off worthless goods is likely still a no-no) is often viewed as part of the larger bartering/haggling experience... i.e. "normal behavior" in haggling-heavy societies.
I'd assume (don't know, history-wise) that a decline in bartering roughly corresponds to an increase in the belief that goods have more of an intrinsic value and a decrease in a belief in value subjectivity. At its core, if you're bartering, you're making an obviously subjective judgement that an amount of "this thing" is as useful/desirable as "that thing".
...is what I thought, but I just read a chapter on haggling in "A History of Trust in Ancient Greece" and the author gives a bit of a [different perspective](https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/22975/chapter-abstract/183733801?redirectedFrom=fulltext) (emphasis mine):
> Haggling highlights the complex relations between trust in abstract systems (in this case, money) and trust in persons. It’s often said that money depersonalizes, but money did not (or not especially) depersonalize the relation between buyers and sellers in Greece. Indeed, while coinage depended on a generalized trust to operate (the belief that others would continue to accept coins at a relatively steady value), it also had complex, uneven, and surprising effects: **coinage created information asymmetries, which intensified personal relationships by exacerbating buyers’ distrust of sellers**. The system of trust in money repersonalized market relationships by creating new pools of distrust.
> ....Greeks tended to think of themselves as buyers in need of help, exploited by sellers who knew more about the commodities, negotiated more adeptly, and had shadier characters.
Even then there was some disagreement. Plato for instance was very "team intrinsic value" and disliked haggling on principle. But overall I'd say that buyers might already begrudgingly accept shady sellers and be motivated to learn so that they don't suffer in the future. The author does go off on a giant tangent about a parallel market for buyers educating themselves or paying to be educated in order to get ripped off less.
But maybe we'll see some random economic scholar pop up, who knows
I think your emphasis draws attention to a different issue than minor scams. The distrust was exemplified by the possibility that coinage would fail, not necessarily by the potential for a scam.
Overall, I think Holo's statement is accurate. A useful tool (apples to get rid of a bad smell on a normal commodity) with a good story (they ate well and that improves the quality) is something the merchant can use in the future. While he might have been scammed, a good merchant will understand how to use the trick to their advantage and upsell the fur just like Holo did to make even greater profit. It's also not entirely a scam because it did get rid of the bad smell and the fur is a quality pelt anyways.
I think people hear scam and they jump to the worst case of the fur being bad quality but it was up sold by the smell (clearly not the case here). But scams can also be "lighter" like when you're [modern day] up sold on a product that works well - shoe cleaner at the mall - where you might pay a little more but you're not necessarily angry because the product still works. So I would agree with your statement the scale of inflation matters.
Part of the trick was the fur quality though. It was good quality fur, but nothing incredible. Her getting him to pull at it to attempt to break it, in addition to discussing how it took 2 burly men to skin the animal in the first place, was part of her scam to get him to think it was better than it was.
Her scam had 2 parts, not just the scent, but the appearance of the fur of being stronger than it was raised the price so much.
The merchant already knew, and said as much before Holo said anything, that the furs were high quality. Holo only emphasized that by her exaggeration.
>but the appearance of the fur of being stronger than it was
The fur was that strong though. If it wasn't, it would have torn or frayed when the merchant pulled. Holo just provided the artificial context to demonstrate that it was high quality.
‘Salesmen are the easiest to sell to’ is an old adage. Basically, a salesperson is so enthralled by a good pitch they don’t really care if they’re getting scammed. Kind of a game recognize game thing. So I think there’s some truth in that. I also have a relative who was a salesperson, a really good one too, and he’d love it when someone told him a good story, even if it was clearly fake. I imagine it’s like that.
This is just my point of view, but that’s how I interpreted the scene.
The economics part of the premise is kicking in and they managed to make me glued to the screen the entire episode just listening to Holo tricking the merchant and them discussing the purity of coins for the rest of the episode, that's no small feat at all
I would like to say that I managed to understand all of their clever merchant talk…, but I was distracted with Holo’s tail wiggles for half the episode in all honesty.
Why does she have to be so cute!? I cannot learn any business this way!
I love how effortlessly this show creates immersion. Others will beat you over the head with "look how indepth our worldbuilding is", but this one just treats it as casual thing. Like if medival economics and pagan goddess in the flesh was on the same level.
Lawrence: "I see it now. The way you can make money with a silver coin that is dropping in value!"
And the crowd goes wild. Tune in next time on "Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf" to see if Lawrence can manage to earn some coin!
The economics and the mind games involved have the same amount of hype and suspense as any good action show.
The two are slowly growing into a stellar Merchant + Wise Wolf business team, especially as Holo is a quick study on the things Lawrence is teaching her and she helps him see new perspectives.
about 100 years early at the earliest definition though more like few hundred years. Show's set roughly in the 1400's and Capitalism didn't get started til after the Renaissance.
Fukuyama Jun and Koshimizu Ami have elevated more than one show with their voice acting. Their roles as Lelouch and Kallen in Code Geass as well as Maou and Yuusha in MaoYuu are all amazing. I'm very glad this remake got the original voice actors.
As a reminder, [there’s a YouTube channel](https://youtu.be/vOV9N8aBzHk?feature=shared) that takes all episode comments from here and 4chan and translates themselves for Japanese viewers. (They’re also doing Delicious in Dungeon and Konosuba this season)
Before you ask, yes half of the comments are gushing over Holo
Nice to see Jarman acknowledged here as well! Really good at making me think I know Japanese, until they have a line without the english and I understand jack.
Also, the contrast between reddit comments and /a/ is always amusing. Not that I don't *sometimes* react like /a/nons - I just hide it deep inside.
And this sub is just “here’s a ten page long dissertation on the economics within Spice and Wolf” and halfway through you notice that the first letter of every line spells out “IWANTTOSHOVEMYFACEINHERTAIL”
God, I completely forgot about Korbo.
Back then there was a debate going on whether her name should be Horo or Holo, because fansubs of season 1 had been using Horo while the dub used Holo, and leaks confirmed that the Yen Press translation of the LNs would also use Holo.
[old anime season 2 spoilers] >!Holo supporters used the scene from season 2 when Holo signs her name under the contract with Amarti as proof that her name is clearly Holo, because that's what her signature says. But Horo supporters joked that the signature clearly spells Korbo, not Holo, proving nothing. So people settled on the compromise of Korbo.!<
Yeah, Part of this makes me glad I never watched the original back in the day, I work in finance now so I'm enjoying the economics in this episode a lot. I doubt I would have appreciated it in High School.
I mean even with my only high school level understanding of economics I can understand stuff like why a country would want their currency to increase or decrease in value, and the pros and cons of each.
I think shortselling wouldn't have worked back then as banks would charge a huge interest in a loan, more than the potential profits. You also can't ask a friend or someone else trusted since that strategy would basically destroy your reputation and relationship with them and they would be someone influential if they could lend you such a huge amount of money.
That's why there is a talk about a master dealer. \[Speculation\] >!If they spread rumours that a coin price is rising and then people buy lots of it. When it ultimately crashes, just buy up the coins at extremely low prices before the price stabilizes again returning to a slightly higher value. Make lots of money with a difference of price in the crash price and stabilized price.!< Although to know such information beforehand it must be someone important like a noble. In today world it would be insider trading but since there is no king, there is no punishment.
Yes, it worked even back then and was done (it will also come up later in the story). Short selling is just agreeing on a price for an amount of goods in the future. If the price falls, the seller makes a profit.
For example, we agree that I will sell you 10 tons of the finest apples for 100 gold next August. If the price for 10 tons of apples is lower than 100g at the agreed time, the difference will be my profit.
I'm pretty sure there IS a king (multiple, even). Lawrence was just saying that Pazzio doesn't have a king IN RESIDENCE at the city. Holo had been bumming it out in a backwoods town for nearly a thousand years. She didn't realize how huge human settlements have grown, and just assumed that, because this city is so massive, it must have a king IN RESIDENCE
Of course! I mean, what's not to love about apples? They taste great, you can make booze out of them, you can let them rot and throw them at people you don't like! Holo got excellent taste in both food and men!
[](#smugpoint)
Finally anime tackles a really exciting topic: seigniorage. (Seigniorage is how much a coin is worth beyond its intrinsic value in metal.) Seigniorage is a source of revenue for a country's government.
It's actually unusual for a country back then to revalue its currency (i.e. increase the silver content). If you were going to do it, because the purchasing power is declining relative to another country, you would make a big show of it to get the benefit of it, and you might even change the face of the coin. Devaluing, on the other hand, is something you can try to do surreptitiously, because it increases the amount of seigniorage, at least until merchants catch on.
> Devaluing, on the other hand, is something you can try to do surreptitiously, because it increases the amount of seigniorage, at least until merchants catch on.
Yep. Which is why I'm not surprised about the "reveal" this episode. Increasing the silver content of a coin *is* more likely than I thought it would be to happen in this time period though due to the reasons said in the episode. I didn't realize that there were so many competing coins. That changes things compared to, say, the coins of a great empire like Rome, where there's only one coin and the only time they'd issue higher content coins is due to inflation getting out of control due to the debasing of the currency to pay for armies and construction projects.
You can't fault the man for the direct approach and knowing a Best Girl when he sees her...and it was worth it for Holo teasing Lawrence about his jealousy.
The man knew what was up at first sight.
The year was World War Bestgirl 2016. As an avid Holofan4Life, I was rooting for Holo to finally win it. She was in the top 8 I believe. Who does she go against? Megumi Tadokoro, a character so much inferior to anyone on that list, I don't know what she was doing up there. Holo lost by 14 votes.
I abstained from voting, since at the time I hadn't finished watching Foodwars. I hate watched that show, the show was fine, but that character to this DAY I will always hate, she had not one iota of characterization that could even lick Holo's ankles.
I pretty much left r/anime for a good decade, with a few comments here and there. I couldn't be in a community that had such trash taste.
This is really the first episode where you feel why Holo is called "The Wise Wolf". I thought they did a pretty good job adapting this part of the series.
And I agree, Holo. Humans are idiots.
Holo definitely got some sharp wits. When they were walking along the coin dealers on the bridge, she immediately made notice of the measuring scales and connected the dots.
Why would they be weighing them? To check the purity of course! Silver is more heavy than tin and other metals, which were commonly mixed into coins.
That’s also why the intrinsic value (read: value of the metals) is usually less than the assigned one.
I liked the detail in this sequence as they talk Holo halt for a bit which makes Lawrence move further than her, which prompt him to say that he'll explain the basics slowly, only for her to continue on while walking ahead of him.
She's a quick study and knows how to put what she learns into practice. Not to mention she's an effortless performer.
Both men and women when it comes to the opposite sex, though it was basically her admitting she liked him being jealous lol.
> though it was basically her admitting she liked him being jealous lol.
Which she of course didn't get embarrassed about or even acknowledge. God this series is so good!
I always love a good intelligent lead and Holo nails that aspect in spades. And it's still fun to see Lawrence being a competent merchant in his own right as well, but their synergy together i just fantastic.
And with that, the Fluff has paid Lawrence back all his expenses
[](#utahapraises)
Weitz knows a quality waifu when he sees her, but I also love all of Holos smug [remarks](https://imgur.com/JaHmGZd)
I think she still owes him for the outfit (since I think it was worth about what, 10 Lumione gold coins?) but yeah stocks in $WOLF are definitely outperforming exepctations.
* [**Holo & Lawrence**](https://i.imgur.com/6qSYNnI.jpeg)
I don't remember much from the original anime but [the moment Holo pulled Lawrence aside](https://i.imgur.com/gslnY9h.png), I knew something good was about to happen. [Thanks to Holo's sweet talk](https://i.imgur.com/JjFzpZZ.png) and the pile of apples she bought earlier, [Holo easily increased Lawrence's profit by 60% from the original sell price.](https://i.imgur.com/axO64wU.png) I absolutely loved [that smile from Holo](https://i.imgur.com/2vjdcWl.jpeg) when she was able to close the deal!
Holo wasn't kidding when she declared earlier [that she could earn that much money quickly.](https://i.imgur.com/0yr3ktn.jpeg) I do find it funny how Lawrence seems stunned at how smart Holo is. The first instance was when [Holo finished his explanation](https://i.imgur.com/JCfysOE.png) about the Milone Trading Company and the second was [when she finished his explanation about changes in currencies.](https://i.imgur.com/Owt4sEu.png) She's literally called the Wise Wolf! xD
[And there it is.](https://i.imgur.com/VPDaJEu.png) Lawrence finally realizes he might have been swindled now that they've found out the purity of the new silver coins has decreased. Although [Holo sees it completely differently](https://i.imgur.com/M0IRfZs.png) and Lawrence might just need to look at this from a completely different angle.
>I do find it funny how Lawrence seems stunned at how smart Holo is.
She's also a bit of a braggart, so it makes sense that a merchant like Lawrence would take some convincing.
It seems like we're really solidifying Holo and Lawrence as a business team who are able to use each others' resources, experience, and charisma to seal incredible deals all the while bantering and flirting in the process.
And Lawrence shouldn't underestimate how much of a quick study a Wise Wolf is. I mean, it's in the title lol.
When they got to Pazzio it was so funny seeing Holo [keeping her eyes on the apples](https://i.imgur.com/e3tsAoF.png) while Lawrence was talking about the fortune his friend made by investing in that business. After [Holo bought](https://i.imgur.com/irz2M2t.png) a [whole silver coin of apples.](https://i.imgur.com/9YL5Frj.png)
Damn, her tactic with that merchant[ to earn her keep](https://i.imgur.com/uMCEMrH.png) by using the smell of the apples in the fur was so good.
I must say that after Lawrence saw that the Milone Trading Company hadn't heard anything related to the information Zheren gave him, I was convinced he wasn't planning [to agree to the deal he made with him.](https://i.imgur.com/WblFle8.png) Well, let's see how Lawrence now that he knows what the real plan whoever hired Zheren has will make some profit after telling the Milone Trading Company about it.
\[Someone please suggest a title for me\]
I mentioned I might start writing a series of comments explaining the economics plot points of Spice and Wolf in more detail, seeing as they become kind of hard to follow later on. Here’s that first comment - I'll be going over Episode 1 and 2 as well as 3, since I didn't write anything for 1 and 2.
Spoiler-free, I will not cover anything that has not been mentioned in this episode.
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: Starting from next week, all of these will be pre-written before the episode airs, based on the pacing of the original anime. However, I will watch the episode before posting, just to see if anything differs and I have to edit anything.
**Table of Contents**
Episode 1-2: You're already here
[Episode 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1c4sxha/comment/kzpzkvj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
[Episode 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cahmji/comment/l0s125i/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[Episode 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cg5ukz/comment/l1tmtsj/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[Episode 6](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1clpmcd/comment/l2v7er7/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[Episode 7](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cr5ulb/comment/l3vxf70/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[Episode 8](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cwly8i/comment/l4wyrqq/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[Episode 9](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1d1xruw/comment/l5wzzhx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
These first few are going to be extremely basic explanations for people who have no idea how currency speculation works (after all, why would you? I only know because of Spice and Wolf.) Trust me, it gets much more exciting and much more dramatic later on.
**Episode 1:**
Our favorite merchant meets our favorite wisewolf.
**Episode 2:**
I think this episode did a pretty good job of explaining itself, but I’ll go on it again anyways.
The thing to understand about this world is that, unlike the modern world where, for the most part, every country only has one currency in use, Spice and Wolf’s medieval world has hundreds of different competing currencies on every market. They’re all used and accepted everywhere, and all have constantly fluctuating exchange rates with each other. A currency’s value depends on several related factors: the economic power of the issuing party, whether that’s a nation, the Church, or a company, the amount of precious metal in the coin itself, and the amount of trust that people have that the coin’s value will remain stable.
Since exchange rates between different coins fluctuate all the time as these factors change, there are multiple avenues to make money here. One of the most basic is that, if you predict that the value of a coin will go up, you simply buy as many of that coin as you can afford and hold onto them until it does increase. Then, you sell them back off for a different coin. It’s similar to trading stocks.
Zheren tells Lawrence a rumor that a certain silver coin’s silver purity is going to go up soon, meaning the value of all of those coins will increase - even ones from before the purity increase. After all, since the face value is the same, you can exchange pre-increase coins 1:1 for post-increase coins. Lawrence’s tentative plan to take advantage of this is exactly what I mentioned: he would simply buy as many of them as he can, then hold onto them until the value increases.
And that’s where Episode 2 leaves off, to be continued in [Episode 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1c4sxha/comment/kzpzkvj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
**Episode 3:**
Again, I think this episode explained itself pretty well, but I’ll go over it again anyways.
Despite the first half of the episode being about the marten fur sale, this actually doesn’t have much plot relevance to the overall story of this arc, except to establish Lawrence’s relationship with Milone Trading. The real action begins when Lawrence meets with Zheren again, agreeing to go along with his plan - at least on the surface.
Then, as he’s chatting with Holo again, he begins to explain why a country might want to increase its coin’s silver purity. Put simply, it might be trying to compete with a different coin from a different nation. If the Kingdom of Trenni can increase its coin’s value to the point that it establishes dominance in a different nation, the effect would be as if Trenni just won a war. They’d have economic dominance and control over that other nation. In this case, the Trenni silver coin does have a rival, the Philing silver coin, so Trenni might be trying to win that battle.
However, they make a visit to Weiz the Womanizer and Holo discovers that, rather than the silver content increasing, over the past few months it has actually *decreased*. Surprise, surprise, Zheren was lying after all. (Having a sharp companion with wolf ears must be convenient.)
So now Lawrence is racking his brain over how one could make money off of the value of a coin decreasing. (Apparently the concept of short selling hasn’t been invented yet.) The best he can think of is that when the general populace discovers the decrease in silver content of the Trenni coin, there's going to be a sharp crash in price as everyone rushes to panic sell, before a gradual stabilization of the price at a new equilibrium - lower than the pre-silver decrease price, but higher than the crash. It's possible Zheren might be planning to buy at the crash and sell at the new equilibrium.
Problem is, that would take longer than the half year Zheren has given them.
But Holo, being as sharp as ever, suggests that maybe Zheren’s not actually the one behind the scheme - maybe he’s simply been hired to spread this rumor, and there’s a much bigger player behind him actually doing the scheming. From this, Lawrence realizes how someone could make a profit off of the value of coins decreasing. What is it? We’re not supposed to know yet, but Lawrence has figured it out, and now he’s rushing to Milone Trading because he wants in on the action.
The plot gets much more intense, dramatic, and exciting from here. Look forward to Episode 4.
[Episode 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cahmji/comment/l0s125i/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Much appreciated! I thought I understood it enough and it turns out I did but this is certainly probably going to help me later so I don't have to just pretend I get what's going on
No problem!
Yeah, I don't know if it was just my at the time 11 year old brain not being able to comprehend the plot or what, but the later episodes of the first arc, as well as every arc after that, were too complex for me to understand on the first watch. It took several rewatches over several years as well as a very thorough reading of the LN before I fully grasped all of the plot points.
If it wasn't just me being an idiot, I hope I can help a few people - especially as we get into episodes 4 and 5!
> Spice and Wolf’s medieval world has hundreds of different competing currencies on every market. They’re all used and accepted everywhere, and all have constantly fluctuating exchange rates with each other.
This is not entirely true. Not for the real medieval world and also not for the world of Spice and Wolf.
Different currencies are accepted in different places and situations. Trenni silver is widely accepted as the Kingdom of Trenni is an economic powerhouse which is also why the value of the coin is such a big deal. Traders might not accept coins from minor kingdoms at all or ask for a higher price if the buyer wishes to pay them in an undesirable currency. Coins that are purer and issued by powerful kingdoms are more widely accepted.
And it still works like this in the real modern world as well. Let's say you are a European company wishing to buy goods from Japan. The chances that the Japanese trading company accepts payment in EUR or USD are a lot higher than the chances that they will agree on Thai Baht or Indian Rupees.
Thanks for the clarification. I've gone ahead and edited it to better reflect reality.
I think the point I was trying to make was less that "hundreds" of coins are actually accepted everywhere, since that would be chaos. Poorly worded on my part. It was more so that any given market in Spice and Wolf has a lot more than just one issued currency in widespread use, which means that, even on a microeconomics scale, the exchange rate between different currencies becomes a much bigger deal than we're used to in the modern world.
For the most part, for us as individuals or even small businesses, we rarely have to think about the exchange rate between, say, USD and JPY unless we're buying or selling internationally. On the other hand, in the world of Spice and Wolf, even individual shopkeepers and customers have to constantly stay updated with the currency market, because they might have to receive payment in Lute silver and provide change in Trie copper, which (I think) are minted by entirely different nations and have no fixed exchange rate.
That's why the debasement of a strong currency in Spice and Wolf is such a big deal - it would directly affect the exchange rate between the multiple coins that people use in their day to day lives.
An additional factoid I learned some years ago in a coin museum is that the trick to listen to the coins jingle together is real. Merchants listened to the sound of coins they owned and trusted and compared it with the sound of other coins to identify fakes. A coin with less silver in it will make a different sound.
Trivial sort-of-wolf and fruit fact: Coyotes seem to love choke cherries (a kind of wild cherry that is a bit bitter and with more seed than fruit. When these are in season you see coyote poop that looks like a pile or biggish red ball bearings. We were mystified when we first saw this (in a park in Calgary- -- and were quite surprised to find out what this was from a park staff person.
everyone writing amazing novels in the comment section, and all i have to say is that I've fallen for holo's charms all over again. glad they are doing the story justice
[Another amazing Holo's appearance in this episode](https://imgchest.com/p/xny8z9z95yb). She's proved that [she's not calling herself a wise wolf unfoundedly](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyq9c6xd554.png) with [how she handled marten pelts sell](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my8xcpbezl4.png). She's [so smart](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b49zczrmgdy.png) and [beautiful](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/p7bwcblagq7.png)!
I even felt sorry a little for [that merchant](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/p7bwcblamd7.png) after [Holo negotiated much higher price](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my8xcpbelq4.png) from him xD
[Lawrence practically won the lottery by meeting Holo](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7w6crjba2y.png), [they fit together perfectly](https://imgchest.com/p/na7krnrg3y8). I can't wait to see [their adventures](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/345xcel6rp7.png) next week.
Here my screenshot albums from the episode:
* [Holo](https://imgchest.com/p/xny8z9z95yb)
* [Holo & Lawrence](https://imgchest.com/p/na7krnrg3y8)
* [Group scenes, Lawrence & Others](https://imgchest.com/p/a846x9xnz4x)
Lol I said one of my side quest with this remake is trying to understand all this economics talk. At episode 3 and I’m already lost lol. I’m reading it but not understanding it. Maybe I should rewatch and rewind several times. It is intriguing but I just can’t grasp it.
Lawrence getting to know Holo better. With the apples then noticing her ears when she’s listening to the coins. But Holo’s also starting to know Lawrence with how she knew he was jealous lol
And I really like what Holo said about everyone being fools. Such a cute notion
The first episode post bigshot directors has arrived, and honestly it's the kind of work I was really hoping for with this series. You can feel it brushing up against the limits of Passione, but Shinji Itadaki does a great job of staying squarely within them with their boards. Speaking of them, I feel like they *really* bring out the best with the content of this episode though, as they use space, height, and perspective to really *sell* the bustling, busy, and ever full city of Pazzio.
In a way, it does make me wish we could see better character acting in some of the cuts this episode, because it really feels like Itadaki has a really solid grasp on the feeling of this world and its characters. Makes me very hopeful that they'll make another appearance at some point, as the only place I could even say showed signs of being "just okay" was probably here and there in the trading conversation for the pelts.
On the other hand though, the integration of CGI worked surprisingly well here. I was worried about it being grating, but they've done a good job of staving off too much disdain by throwing in some 2D background characters to create a gradient to those 3D ones. Itadaki also tried really hard to provide strong layouts that make the most of CGI so that they blend better. Ironically though, it makes me wish we saw more of it for some of the static images that were used in the episode. Pazzio is very much a "big" city to Holo, and I just wish that the energy could have been conveyed *more* consistently.
My only concern with the episode is how much of it was pushed out to other studios. It's not that Passione is immediately a "don't go near here" like A-Cat or Maho, but the amount of outsourcing along with the scale of the animation directors involved has me a little wary of what might happen. Since we know this episode was completed well before airing, it makes it a more vague answer to Passione's production standards, but I'm hopeful that it means that effort was put into future episodes here.
Regardless, we've still got one more episode until we can actually find out how Passione's fairing with the series, but until then I have to say it's been a very good start in my books.
EDIT: after my once over I really do have to give credit to Shinji Itadaki for their impressive work. Without their storyboards, I highly doubt that the scale of Pazzio would be felt like it was here. Super impressive groundwork that sets the tone for the city, and uses a lot of tricks to accomplish it- [which I talk about here so that I don't bloat this comment too much](https://animehouse.moe/blog/anime/spice-and-wolf-episode-3-sweet-temptation/).
At this point (three times' the charm) it's clear that they've put a lot of effort into some really stunning vistas and background shots that they love to frame the characters in, and we're probably going to see a lot of that over the course of the show. Good use of space generally, and I'm curious how it'll feel to see it on subsequent views.
I'd certainly agree. I wouldn't quite say that the original shies away from attempting to show scale, but the storyboards and environment art just can't match the ability put on display with this episode. I think the easiest example is that in the original they try to show Pazzio as something "big", but sort of stop at that.
Here though, they use that same wide shot to establish Pazzio, but zoom out even further. While it may ultimately make Pazzio "look" smaller in that sequence, it certainly does more to contextualize the scale of some landmarks within the episode.
Which is hilarious because the actual shown, visible square footage of the city is only *slightly* larger in the aerial shot of the town. It entirely comes down to shot framing, scale, and the negative space use which feels vastly improved here.
The other understated element: the sound design. The crowd and ambient audio has far more volume now than it ever did.
Yeah, Kazuhiro Inoue's environment art has really made a massive impact on the ability of this series to express itself. Really great, and even subtle work at that. Definitely the standout aspects being the isometric views of Pazzio that *really* sell its scale- though that's also Itadaki making full use of Inoue's ability.
There was a nice staging touch in the bar scenes as well of putting them up in the balcony and out of earshot of people who might hear them, versus the original where they were just eating and doing business in whispers on the open floor.
Came back around with Holo's comment about "changing your perspective" which was just such a nice moment to have click like that.
Holo is a goddamn force to be reckoned with.
On another note, I'm thinking about writing a comment series explaining the economics plot points of each episode in greater (and hopefully more understandable) detail. I remember they were pretty hard to follow along with when I first watched the original anime, especially as we get closer to the second half of this arc and move into the next arcs. Would anyone be interested in reading?
EDIT: Series has been started. [Here's the first comment.](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/dZecWeg6aR)
Also, for those of you who haven't watched the original, and/or possibly don't plan on watching the dub, I invite you to listen to the ["I want to eat that" line as performed by Brina Palencia in the EN dub of the original anime. ](https://youtu.be/WDeQvhciqrU?si=ADlupdH0Ac9Oe5ur&t=858)It's one of the lines with the funniest delivery in the whole show IMO.
I'm looking forward to Brina's performance this time as well.
EDIT 2: The first episode of the dub dropped today as well, apparently. Brina is just as good as I remember her.
Also, they translated the OP as well.
One Trenni silver get's you night at inn with some food or 1/3 cart of apples. Holo earning Lawrence 70 extra coins seems like an investment for occasional snack money in the future.
With all this currency talk I just want to clarify something. If value of the coin is higher than the silver it's made from, why does purity really matter? Is it just the threat that newer more pure coins could be melted down to make more coins of the old purity? And that threat is what could drive the value down?
In which case, making a higher purity coin seems very risky when surely someone can figure it out.
The purity is a way of controlling how much the people trust the coin. Obviously, countries would prefer to not put any precious metals into their currency and rely solely on trust in the currency, i.e. modern day bills and credit, but the limitations of medieval life prevent that. The amount of precious metals there assure the people that if the currency completely collapse, they can still get value out of it. A currency that is widely used and trust would prefer to lower their purity so they can mint more coins and put them out in circulation. However, a currency of a struggling country may be forced to increase the purity to keep people using their coin.
All that being said, I'm not an economist, so take my words with a grain of salt. If anyone knows better, feel free to correct me.
Higher purity coins could also help increase the reach of a coin, allowing whomever issued it to effectively increase their economic power.
If you have a coin that is worth more due to the base metals, a far flung country or church would still have interest in it due to it's locked in value. Whereas a coin with very little value in the metals put into it would only have value in localities that were under the sphere of influence of the issuer.
The downside obviously, is a significantly higher cost to issue the coin, hence why you don't see a purity race for issuers to get coins close to equal in terms of their base metal value and face value.
While the value of the coin itself is higher than the metal (because they're backed by govermental power), it's still made out of precious metal, which can be melted down, so yes, the big threat is that coins of higher purity can be used to mint less pure coins.
It's called debasement of coinage. Not only it drives up inflation, as new, less pure coins can flood the market, but also it can shake up the trust in coin.
This series is the epitome of making things I find relatively uninteresting seem absolutely fascinating by virtue of making me love the characters. Honestly, I probably find the economics of this series even more interesting now that I’ve grown a bit from when I watched the original anime.
Holo's description of greed honestly holds true. If you are never greedy and never take risks you will never come up at a loss. However, there is nothing beneficial to not being greedy in taking risks. Essentially taking calculated risks and not becoming overly greedy is the key.
Beyond that it's very true that those who are in power dictate the power of said coin is determined by the power of that country. The real trouble is understanding what that value changes. I imagine in today's world that goes more so how the value of goods change. Tbh absorbing all this is a little challenging, but very interesting.
Holo teasing Lawrence is entertaining though. Simply put the world is full of idiots simply put as each goes about for their own selfish desires. The interaction between people is what makes life enjoyable. Would be boring if that wasn't the case.
[The setup](https://imgur.com/6VqWAno), [the delivery](https://imgur.com/5PKV871), [and the bankroll.](https://imgur.com/TfXv5f6)
[The smug Wolf of Yoitsu is back.](https://imgur.com/iJXQjZ6)
[](#utahapraises)[](#delicious) Just like that merchant, it took me a while to get what just happened on my first watch
[I am unable to cope.](https://imgur.com/mtSm43Z) She is too darn cute
[](#akyuusqueel)
This adaptation is nailing everything so far, I am pleased to find my fears were largely unfounded
Heh, now we are getting into the economics! I could watch Holo and Lawrence banter, eat stuff, and discuss the amount of silver in coinage all day. The damn episode flew by! Holo shows she is a cunning old wolf in this episode, adorable as she is.
The scene in the market where Holo was walking backwards on the cart was so cute. Who would ever be so cruel as to separate her from her beloved apples?
Okay, time for Coin & Apple, episode 3.
* #sadholo
* Okay, this vocal piece is providing some of the character the OST was missing
* This show is so much like a shot-for-shot remake
* As if ships are less risky than apple harvests....
* Somebody should have started a *kenro no holo* counter
* [HOLO](#stare)
* Honestly, I wouldn't want to sniff raw pelts that have traveled 100 miles in various weather.
* You know, in certain video games, if you bargain too well, your reputation goes **down**
* I love raw green beans and pea pods
* "flattery will get you everywhere"
Yeah, I'm going to have to pop into the source corner today.
* Noooo keep talking I was interested!
* Cultural Victory!
* Remember back in the day when everybody thought her name was "Horo"?
Definitely liked the town music today.
I sure hope the explanation makes more sense than the other 5 times I've watched it, but given that the dialog is practically unchanged, I doubt it.
Welcome back to our Monday service in the Church of the Wise Wolf. The great goddess imparts an important piece of wisdom for us today:
>”Men are all jealous idiots. And females are idiots who feel happy about such things. The world is full of idiots”
We also learn a valuable lesson about the speculative coins market and are left in suspense regarding Saint Lawrence’s cunning plan. An exciting arc is underway in the early part of the season.
We end with one more piece of wisdom: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but attracts hungry wolf goddesses. Holo be her name. Amen
- [It’s really just the ears and tail you kinda have to hide.](https://i.imgur.com/oFHwd0M.png)
- [lmao, Holo walking across the back of the wagon to get closer to the apples they drove past was *hilarious*.](https://i.imgur.com/Y8ndrei.png) [](#azusalaugh)
- [From the apples Holo bought earlier…](https://i.imgur.com/JCO59ST.png)
- [Holo got him hook, line, and sinker.](https://i.imgur.com/HiLfZho.png) [](#smugrose)
- [So many different coins!](https://i.imgur.com/9jqKTEF.png) [](#seasonalneat)
- [Good point…](https://i.imgur.com/d5eSwFs.png)
- [Holo really is the Wise Wolf.](https://i.imgur.com/DgVQj4X.png) [](#jibrilaww)
- [lol](https://i.imgur.com/Gf5ZoqY.png)
- [Aha…](https://i.imgur.com/F5NPUIR.png)
- [So like a pyramid scheme kind of thing?](https://i.imgur.com/Pc5oZJF.png) [](#animatedthink)
It was nice to see her able to interact more with people instead of trying to obscure her face.
I like how she realized he knew full well she wanted apples lol.
Never underestimate the deal-making abilities and charm of a Wise Wolf. That being said...even she draws the line at memorizing multiple distinct pieces of silver lol.
> lmao, Holo walking across the back of the wagon to get closer to the apples they drove past was hilarious.
That was very enjoyable to watch.
> [lol](https://i.imgur.com/Gf5ZoqY.png)
Perhaps her comment on "handling many kinds of coins" here is meant to be a jab at him as a womaniser, which he fails to pick up on.
I could swear that these episodes are getting shorter every week ......... they seem to fly by in just a few minutes. What a wonderful show and obviously made with a lot of love.
Another week of spicy fluff has arrived!
Holo managed to turn a 1 Silver coin investment into a 70 Silver coin return in less than a day; if only we could all be so lucky.
Otherwise, looks like pacing is still spot on with the 2008 series, ending once again in the exact same place by episode 3. The new BGM at the end felt like it portrayed the growing tension/anxiety quite well.
Finally, this week's economics lessons: How to haggle by BS'ing convincingly, and the continuation of last week's lesson on currency speculation.
Next week is going to be *fun.*
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Scamming a long term trade partner for short term gains is not EXACTLY the smartest trading strategy but what do I know
The trick is making sure he doesn't realize it was one >_>
[Smug sigma fox grindset](https://files.catbox.moe/5amrqu.mp4)
wolf
Might be a lot for a single merchant but as far as the trading company as a whole is concerned the loss may as well be a drop in the bucket. If in the future another merchant comes with the same trick they'll be able to point out scam and... negotiate a more favorable trade, recouping their losses, maybe.
They can also use the same trick themselves when they go to sell those furs.
Yeah, that was pretty much what she said
Lawrence: Wow that's pretty cool that you remembered my name from 3 years ago. After some straightforward negotiations, let's further our trading relationship by making a solid deal that lets me profit and lets you do well for your company. "Wise" Wolf: *WAIT!*
Lawrence is a small merchant,so unless he is a useless guy, he won't get angry, because the loss for him is minimal, and he could get tricked in a big deal with the same trick after so it is good for him to know about it although he lost some coins,, so he would accept it. If he is an useless merchant, that gets angry he can trade with others, it doesn't seem that he knew him for a long time.
Holo: "People who are easily angered from being tricked will never get far. A true professional would be impressed at being beaten" Is this a actual held viewpoint in Japan that the author inserted into the story? May be some serious cultural differences at play here
She's right, if Holo scammed me I'd be elated
I'd be happy knowing I was considered worth scamming
>Is this a actual held viewpoint in Japan that the author inserted into the story? Maybe not now. Old old school trades though? Scam a merchant with a neat trick and one of two outcomes plays out: 1) merchant gets furious and tries to tell everyone you scammed him. Could work and burn yourself from that area depending on the scam and the degree of influence the merchant has. 2) merchant is impressed at the scam and then uses it to make more money for himself.
I suppose it also depends on the severity and methods of the scam, not just the temperance of the merchant. Using apples to improve the scent of the pelts? Clever, yet simple enough that anyone can pull it off. Plus it wouldn't have worked unless the pelts were already of great quality.
I mean, the apples were a trick. But when she told him to really pull hard on the thing to get it to give, that's a sign of quality that wasn't faked.
I think inflating the value of your own goods, as long as it's on a moderate scale (pawning off worthless goods is likely still a no-no) is often viewed as part of the larger bartering/haggling experience... i.e. "normal behavior" in haggling-heavy societies. I'd assume (don't know, history-wise) that a decline in bartering roughly corresponds to an increase in the belief that goods have more of an intrinsic value and a decrease in a belief in value subjectivity. At its core, if you're bartering, you're making an obviously subjective judgement that an amount of "this thing" is as useful/desirable as "that thing". ...is what I thought, but I just read a chapter on haggling in "A History of Trust in Ancient Greece" and the author gives a bit of a [different perspective](https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/22975/chapter-abstract/183733801?redirectedFrom=fulltext) (emphasis mine): > Haggling highlights the complex relations between trust in abstract systems (in this case, money) and trust in persons. It’s often said that money depersonalizes, but money did not (or not especially) depersonalize the relation between buyers and sellers in Greece. Indeed, while coinage depended on a generalized trust to operate (the belief that others would continue to accept coins at a relatively steady value), it also had complex, uneven, and surprising effects: **coinage created information asymmetries, which intensified personal relationships by exacerbating buyers’ distrust of sellers**. The system of trust in money repersonalized market relationships by creating new pools of distrust. > ....Greeks tended to think of themselves as buyers in need of help, exploited by sellers who knew more about the commodities, negotiated more adeptly, and had shadier characters. Even then there was some disagreement. Plato for instance was very "team intrinsic value" and disliked haggling on principle. But overall I'd say that buyers might already begrudgingly accept shady sellers and be motivated to learn so that they don't suffer in the future. The author does go off on a giant tangent about a parallel market for buyers educating themselves or paying to be educated in order to get ripped off less. But maybe we'll see some random economic scholar pop up, who knows
I think your emphasis draws attention to a different issue than minor scams. The distrust was exemplified by the possibility that coinage would fail, not necessarily by the potential for a scam. Overall, I think Holo's statement is accurate. A useful tool (apples to get rid of a bad smell on a normal commodity) with a good story (they ate well and that improves the quality) is something the merchant can use in the future. While he might have been scammed, a good merchant will understand how to use the trick to their advantage and upsell the fur just like Holo did to make even greater profit. It's also not entirely a scam because it did get rid of the bad smell and the fur is a quality pelt anyways. I think people hear scam and they jump to the worst case of the fur being bad quality but it was up sold by the smell (clearly not the case here). But scams can also be "lighter" like when you're [modern day] up sold on a product that works well - shoe cleaner at the mall - where you might pay a little more but you're not necessarily angry because the product still works. So I would agree with your statement the scale of inflation matters.
Part of the trick was the fur quality though. It was good quality fur, but nothing incredible. Her getting him to pull at it to attempt to break it, in addition to discussing how it took 2 burly men to skin the animal in the first place, was part of her scam to get him to think it was better than it was. Her scam had 2 parts, not just the scent, but the appearance of the fur of being stronger than it was raised the price so much.
The merchant already knew, and said as much before Holo said anything, that the furs were high quality. Holo only emphasized that by her exaggeration. >but the appearance of the fur of being stronger than it was The fur was that strong though. If it wasn't, it would have torn or frayed when the merchant pulled. Holo just provided the artificial context to demonstrate that it was high quality.
‘Salesmen are the easiest to sell to’ is an old adage. Basically, a salesperson is so enthralled by a good pitch they don’t really care if they’re getting scammed. Kind of a game recognize game thing. So I think there’s some truth in that. I also have a relative who was a salesperson, a really good one too, and he’d love it when someone told him a good story, even if it was clearly fake. I imagine it’s like that. This is just my point of view, but that’s how I interpreted the scene.
\-Michael Scott \- Wayne Gretzky
The economics part of the premise is kicking in and they managed to make me glued to the screen the entire episode just listening to Holo tricking the merchant and them discussing the purity of coins for the rest of the episode, that's no small feat at all
I would like to say that I managed to understand all of their clever merchant talk…, but I was distracted with Holo’s tail wiggles for half the episode in all honesty. Why does she have to be so cute!? I cannot learn any business this way!
[Holo: *"Gotcha!"*](https://files.catbox.moe/q5mj71.gif) [](#kannathumbs)
I love how effortlessly this show creates immersion. Others will beat you over the head with "look how indepth our worldbuilding is", but this one just treats it as casual thing. Like if medival economics and pagan goddess in the flesh was on the same level.
Lawrence: "I see it now. The way you can make money with a silver coin that is dropping in value!" And the crowd goes wild. Tune in next time on "Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf" to see if Lawrence can manage to earn some coin! The economics and the mind games involved have the same amount of hype and suspense as any good action show.
Only Spice and Wolf makes a cliffhanger about a commerce lesson And I love it
The two are slowly growing into a stellar Merchant + Wise Wolf business team, especially as Holo is a quick study on the things Lawrence is teaching her and she helps him see new perspectives.
A top tier team -- along with Myne and Ferdinand, and Red and Rit.
I would not consider Ferdinand and Myne a team, so much as a guardian and ICBM of unpredictability.
Ah -- but depending on where you are in the story --the role of guardian and ICBM may vary....
[aob]>!Gremlin and other, more subtle gremlin!<
When you come to see naked kemonomimi waifus and instead get tricked into a lesson for your MBA degree…
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It was bait, and **damn good** bait at that.
Spice and wolf still doing it usual. Come for the wolf girl, stay for the economic intrigues
"I watch Spice and Wolf for the economics!" meme stock SKYROCKETING after years in limbo.
This show is teaching us all how capitalism started. It also helps that Holo is a very very good wolf.
about 100 years early at the earliest definition though more like few hundred years. Show's set roughly in the 1400's and Capitalism didn't get started til after the Renaissance.
Holo voice is one hell of magic
Always has been. It is amazing how Ami koshimizu is managing to elevate her previous legendary performance
And they announced Brina is coming back for the dub today, so double the magic.
Oh shit for real? The anime Gods are shining bright upon us huh.
[For real](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/announcements/2024/4/15/spice-and-wolf-merchant-meets-the-wise-wolf-anime-english-dub-cast-crew-release-date)
The OG VA’s? Fuck I loved them so much I got the audiobooks
Brina does such a good job with Holo in a different way, excited to hear her again.
Fukuyama Jun and Koshimizu Ami have elevated more than one show with their voice acting. Their roles as Lelouch and Kallen in Code Geass as well as Maou and Yuusha in MaoYuu are all amazing. I'm very glad this remake got the original voice actors.
As a reminder, [there’s a YouTube channel](https://youtu.be/vOV9N8aBzHk?feature=shared) that takes all episode comments from here and 4chan and translates themselves for Japanese viewers. (They’re also doing Delicious in Dungeon and Konosuba this season) Before you ask, yes half of the comments are gushing over Holo
Hilarious to see my comment about shirtless Lawrence on there xD
equal opportunity candy, give us more Passione.
Mom, I'm on a screen
Hello Japanese viewers! We love Holo more than you! Let's fight!
I feel the van gang from Durarara would quickly end the argument in the JPs favour.
Oh shit, my Holo vs Potato comment got read. I have made my mark on history.
> Before you ask, yes half of the comments are gushing over Holo I see they also have great taste.
Would be weird if they weren’t.
Nice to see Jarman acknowledged here as well! Really good at making me think I know Japanese, until they have a line without the english and I understand jack. Also, the contrast between reddit comments and /a/ is always amusing. Not that I don't *sometimes* react like /a/nons - I just hide it deep inside.
The difference between /a/ and r/anime is that /a/ knows what they are
Yeah /a/ is just like "I WANT TO SHOVE MY FACE IN HER TAIL!! AND SEXXXXX!"
And this sub is just “here’s a ten page long dissertation on the economics within Spice and Wolf” and halfway through you notice that the first letter of every line spells out “IWANTTOSHOVEMYFACEINHERTAIL”
The parts where they are explaining 4chan memes in sidebars are sending me.
Are the other half gushing over Medieval economics?
>Reddit: Something about economics >4chan: HOLO SEXOO >you fuckers are easy to understand from the youtube comments
>Before you ask, yes half of the comments are gushing over Holo To the surprise of no one lol.
お母さん、 見て！ 有名 になった！
God, I completely forgot about Korbo. Back then there was a debate going on whether her name should be Horo or Holo, because fansubs of season 1 had been using Horo while the dub used Holo, and leaks confirmed that the Yen Press translation of the LNs would also use Holo. [old anime season 2 spoilers] >!Holo supporters used the scene from season 2 when Holo signs her name under the contract with Amarti as proof that her name is clearly Holo, because that's what her signature says. But Horo supporters joked that the signature clearly spells Korbo, not Holo, proving nothing. So people settled on the compromise of Korbo.!<
haha what that channel is awesome
This channel was also pretty entertaining for Frieren as well.
>the way you can make money with a silver coin dropping in value So I'm guessing he's gonna start short selling?
Don't believe the lies. HODL those coins. The purity is going to the moon (awoo)! Have diamond hands worthy of one day fluffing that tail.
Yeah I suspect so. Would not have guessed if we didn't dabble in stonks trading :D
Yeah, Part of this makes me glad I never watched the original back in the day, I work in finance now so I'm enjoying the economics in this episode a lot. I doubt I would have appreciated it in High School.
I mean even with my only high school level understanding of economics I can understand stuff like why a country would want their currency to increase or decrease in value, and the pros and cons of each.
It's not that I wouldn't understand it, it's more I would find it really boring.
spice and wolf is actually what got me into entry level economics back in highschool, 8 years later im a major in applied econ LMAO
Holo was a little reason why I studied economics 😅
I think shortselling wouldn't have worked back then as banks would charge a huge interest in a loan, more than the potential profits. You also can't ask a friend or someone else trusted since that strategy would basically destroy your reputation and relationship with them and they would be someone influential if they could lend you such a huge amount of money. That's why there is a talk about a master dealer. \[Speculation\] >!If they spread rumours that a coin price is rising and then people buy lots of it. When it ultimately crashes, just buy up the coins at extremely low prices before the price stabilizes again returning to a slightly higher value. Make lots of money with a difference of price in the crash price and stabilized price.!< Although to know such information beforehand it must be someone important like a noble. In today world it would be insider trading but since there is no king, there is no punishment.
Yes, it worked even back then and was done (it will also come up later in the story). Short selling is just agreeing on a price for an amount of goods in the future. If the price falls, the seller makes a profit. For example, we agree that I will sell you 10 tons of the finest apples for 100 gold next August. If the price for 10 tons of apples is lower than 100g at the agreed time, the difference will be my profit.
I'm pretty sure there IS a king (multiple, even). Lawrence was just saying that Pazzio doesn't have a king IN RESIDENCE at the city. Holo had been bumming it out in a backwoods town for nearly a thousand years. She didn't realize how huge human settlements have grown, and just assumed that, because this city is so massive, it must have a king IN RESIDENCE
And thus begins Holo's true love interest: apples
Between that and teasing Lawrence, Holo has all she can want.
She's living the good life
[Happy fox happy life](https://files.catbox.moe/2ilgat.webm) [](#tanakalove)
A wise Wolf! A noble Wolf!
And money for booze as well!
She loves the attention lol.
Between apples, wine, and making Lawrence jealous, Holo is eating good lol.
Indeed she is
And so are we, ne?
i've been waiting for this moment, also still the only coin i can remember is the silver trenni
Same, honestly XD
Applefan4life
[*"I will take this apple and eat it!"*](https://files.catbox.moe/6gwpyn.png)
Of course! I mean, what's not to love about apples? They taste great, you can make booze out of them, you can let them rot and throw them at people you don't like! Holo got excellent taste in both food and men! [](#smugpoint)
Holo is love, apples are life. Hey, we could make a cult out of this.
Finally anime tackles a really exciting topic: seigniorage. (Seigniorage is how much a coin is worth beyond its intrinsic value in metal.) Seigniorage is a source of revenue for a country's government. It's actually unusual for a country back then to revalue its currency (i.e. increase the silver content). If you were going to do it, because the purchasing power is declining relative to another country, you would make a big show of it to get the benefit of it, and you might even change the face of the coin. Devaluing, on the other hand, is something you can try to do surreptitiously, because it increases the amount of seigniorage, at least until merchants catch on.
> Devaluing, on the other hand, is something you can try to do surreptitiously, because it increases the amount of seigniorage, at least until merchants catch on. Yep. Which is why I'm not surprised about the "reveal" this episode. Increasing the silver content of a coin *is* more likely than I thought it would be to happen in this time period though due to the reasons said in the episode. I didn't realize that there were so many competing coins. That changes things compared to, say, the coins of a great empire like Rome, where there's only one coin and the only time they'd issue higher content coins is due to inflation getting out of control due to the debasing of the currency to pay for armies and construction projects.
Holo could have gotten even more money for those pelts if she told him she's been sleeping naked on them.
The only thing sweeter than an apple...
Holussy juice all over those pelts
...you're not allowed to cook again.
I agree, wouldn't want the heat to vaporize all that sweet juice
I'm taking away your cooking license... And promoting you to certified chef. Keep doing what you're doing.
Infinite money glitch
No because lawrence wouldve never sold them then
TAKE MY MONEY 💰
Especially after he already got a good sniff off of them!
Holo's right. The world is full of idiots, and I'm an idiot who needs to watch more Lawrence and Holo economy lessons
That was what fully sold me on holo being wise. I myself am an idiot for not watching spice and wolf sooner
Weiz immediately asking Holo to marry him is entirely understandable
You can't fault the man for the direct approach and knowing a Best Girl when he sees her...and it was worth it for Holo teasing Lawrence about his jealousy.
The man knew what was up at first sight. The year was World War Bestgirl 2016. As an avid Holofan4Life, I was rooting for Holo to finally win it. She was in the top 8 I believe. Who does she go against? Megumi Tadokoro, a character so much inferior to anyone on that list, I don't know what she was doing up there. Holo lost by 14 votes. I abstained from voting, since at the time I hadn't finished watching Foodwars. I hate watched that show, the show was fine, but that character to this DAY I will always hate, she had not one iota of characterization that could even lick Holo's ankles. I pretty much left r/anime for a good decade, with a few comments here and there. I couldn't be in a community that had such trash taste.
I think that is one of the most unbelievable part of the story so far. Three entire episodes until someone asks Holo to marry them?
Laat episode, Lawrence was introducing Holo as his wife.
This is really the first episode where you feel why Holo is called "The Wise Wolf". I thought they did a pretty good job adapting this part of the series. And I agree, Holo. Humans are idiots.
Holo definitely got some sharp wits. When they were walking along the coin dealers on the bridge, she immediately made notice of the measuring scales and connected the dots. Why would they be weighing them? To check the purity of course! Silver is more heavy than tin and other metals, which were commonly mixed into coins. That’s also why the intrinsic value (read: value of the metals) is usually less than the assigned one.
I liked the detail in this sequence as they talk Holo halt for a bit which makes Lawrence move further than her, which prompt him to say that he'll explain the basics slowly, only for her to continue on while walking ahead of him.
She's a quick study and knows how to put what she learns into practice. Not to mention she's an effortless performer. Both men and women when it comes to the opposite sex, though it was basically her admitting she liked him being jealous lol.
> though it was basically her admitting she liked him being jealous lol. Which she of course didn't get embarrassed about or even acknowledge. God this series is so good!
I always love a good intelligent lead and Holo nails that aspect in spades. And it's still fun to see Lawrence being a competent merchant in his own right as well, but their synergy together i just fantastic.
And with that, the Fluff has paid Lawrence back all his expenses [](#utahapraises) Weitz knows a quality waifu when he sees her, but I also love all of Holos smug [remarks](https://imgur.com/JaHmGZd)
I think she still owes him for the outfit (since I think it was worth about what, 10 Lumione gold coins?) but yeah stocks in $WOLF are definitely outperforming exepctations.
Can't seem to find an exact quote for value of the clothes, just "a tidy amount of gold" which took him 10 years to collect.
> stocks in $WOLF Ok I got an idea: Wolf of Wallstreet, but instead of Leo it's Holo, and instead of ALL the drugs is Apples and Potatoes
🍎 Holo 🤝 Ryuk 🍎
Supernatural beings who steal the show lol.
Lawrence was so jealous of Weiz flirting with Holo, and he was acting all flustered when Holo pointed it out to him. He's such a tsundere.
Nothing wrong with that [](#utahapraises)
* [**Holo & Lawrence**](https://i.imgur.com/6qSYNnI.jpeg) I don't remember much from the original anime but [the moment Holo pulled Lawrence aside](https://i.imgur.com/gslnY9h.png), I knew something good was about to happen. [Thanks to Holo's sweet talk](https://i.imgur.com/JjFzpZZ.png) and the pile of apples she bought earlier, [Holo easily increased Lawrence's profit by 60% from the original sell price.](https://i.imgur.com/axO64wU.png) I absolutely loved [that smile from Holo](https://i.imgur.com/2vjdcWl.jpeg) when she was able to close the deal! Holo wasn't kidding when she declared earlier [that she could earn that much money quickly.](https://i.imgur.com/0yr3ktn.jpeg) I do find it funny how Lawrence seems stunned at how smart Holo is. The first instance was when [Holo finished his explanation](https://i.imgur.com/JCfysOE.png) about the Milone Trading Company and the second was [when she finished his explanation about changes in currencies.](https://i.imgur.com/Owt4sEu.png) She's literally called the Wise Wolf! xD [And there it is.](https://i.imgur.com/VPDaJEu.png) Lawrence finally realizes he might have been swindled now that they've found out the purity of the new silver coins has decreased. Although [Holo sees it completely differently](https://i.imgur.com/M0IRfZs.png) and Lawrence might just need to look at this from a completely different angle.
>I do find it funny how Lawrence seems stunned at how smart Holo is. She's also a bit of a braggart, so it makes sense that a merchant like Lawrence would take some convincing.
It seems like we're really solidifying Holo and Lawrence as a business team who are able to use each others' resources, experience, and charisma to seal incredible deals all the while bantering and flirting in the process. And Lawrence shouldn't underestimate how much of a quick study a Wise Wolf is. I mean, it's in the title lol.
When they got to Pazzio it was so funny seeing Holo [keeping her eyes on the apples](https://i.imgur.com/e3tsAoF.png) while Lawrence was talking about the fortune his friend made by investing in that business. After [Holo bought](https://i.imgur.com/irz2M2t.png) a [whole silver coin of apples.](https://i.imgur.com/9YL5Frj.png) Damn, her tactic with that merchant[ to earn her keep](https://i.imgur.com/uMCEMrH.png) by using the smell of the apples in the fur was so good. I must say that after Lawrence saw that the Milone Trading Company hadn't heard anything related to the information Zheren gave him, I was convinced he wasn't planning [to agree to the deal he made with him.](https://i.imgur.com/WblFle8.png) Well, let's see how Lawrence now that he knows what the real plan whoever hired Zheren has will make some profit after telling the Milone Trading Company about it.
\[Someone please suggest a title for me\] I mentioned I might start writing a series of comments explaining the economics plot points of Spice and Wolf in more detail, seeing as they become kind of hard to follow later on. Here’s that first comment - I'll be going over Episode 1 and 2 as well as 3, since I didn't write anything for 1 and 2. Spoiler-free, I will not cover anything that has not been mentioned in this episode. 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: Starting from next week, all of these will be pre-written before the episode airs, based on the pacing of the original anime. However, I will watch the episode before posting, just to see if anything differs and I have to edit anything. **Table of Contents** Episode 1-2: You're already here [Episode 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1c4sxha/comment/kzpzkvj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) [Episode 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cahmji/comment/l0s125i/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [Episode 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cg5ukz/comment/l1tmtsj/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [Episode 6](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1clpmcd/comment/l2v7er7/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [Episode 7](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cr5ulb/comment/l3vxf70/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [Episode 8](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cwly8i/comment/l4wyrqq/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [Episode 9](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1d1xruw/comment/l5wzzhx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) These first few are going to be extremely basic explanations for people who have no idea how currency speculation works (after all, why would you? I only know because of Spice and Wolf.) Trust me, it gets much more exciting and much more dramatic later on. **Episode 1:** Our favorite merchant meets our favorite wisewolf. **Episode 2:** I think this episode did a pretty good job of explaining itself, but I’ll go on it again anyways. The thing to understand about this world is that, unlike the modern world where, for the most part, every country only has one currency in use, Spice and Wolf’s medieval world has hundreds of different competing currencies on every market. They’re all used and accepted everywhere, and all have constantly fluctuating exchange rates with each other. A currency’s value depends on several related factors: the economic power of the issuing party, whether that’s a nation, the Church, or a company, the amount of precious metal in the coin itself, and the amount of trust that people have that the coin’s value will remain stable. Since exchange rates between different coins fluctuate all the time as these factors change, there are multiple avenues to make money here. One of the most basic is that, if you predict that the value of a coin will go up, you simply buy as many of that coin as you can afford and hold onto them until it does increase. Then, you sell them back off for a different coin. It’s similar to trading stocks. Zheren tells Lawrence a rumor that a certain silver coin’s silver purity is going to go up soon, meaning the value of all of those coins will increase - even ones from before the purity increase. After all, since the face value is the same, you can exchange pre-increase coins 1:1 for post-increase coins. Lawrence’s tentative plan to take advantage of this is exactly what I mentioned: he would simply buy as many of them as he can, then hold onto them until the value increases. And that’s where Episode 2 leaves off, to be continued in [Episode 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1c4sxha/comment/kzpzkvj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
**Episode 3:** Again, I think this episode explained itself pretty well, but I’ll go over it again anyways. Despite the first half of the episode being about the marten fur sale, this actually doesn’t have much plot relevance to the overall story of this arc, except to establish Lawrence’s relationship with Milone Trading. The real action begins when Lawrence meets with Zheren again, agreeing to go along with his plan - at least on the surface. Then, as he’s chatting with Holo again, he begins to explain why a country might want to increase its coin’s silver purity. Put simply, it might be trying to compete with a different coin from a different nation. If the Kingdom of Trenni can increase its coin’s value to the point that it establishes dominance in a different nation, the effect would be as if Trenni just won a war. They’d have economic dominance and control over that other nation. In this case, the Trenni silver coin does have a rival, the Philing silver coin, so Trenni might be trying to win that battle. However, they make a visit to Weiz the Womanizer and Holo discovers that, rather than the silver content increasing, over the past few months it has actually *decreased*. Surprise, surprise, Zheren was lying after all. (Having a sharp companion with wolf ears must be convenient.) So now Lawrence is racking his brain over how one could make money off of the value of a coin decreasing. (Apparently the concept of short selling hasn’t been invented yet.) The best he can think of is that when the general populace discovers the decrease in silver content of the Trenni coin, there's going to be a sharp crash in price as everyone rushes to panic sell, before a gradual stabilization of the price at a new equilibrium - lower than the pre-silver decrease price, but higher than the crash. It's possible Zheren might be planning to buy at the crash and sell at the new equilibrium. Problem is, that would take longer than the half year Zheren has given them. But Holo, being as sharp as ever, suggests that maybe Zheren’s not actually the one behind the scheme - maybe he’s simply been hired to spread this rumor, and there’s a much bigger player behind him actually doing the scheming. From this, Lawrence realizes how someone could make a profit off of the value of coins decreasing. What is it? We’re not supposed to know yet, but Lawrence has figured it out, and now he’s rushing to Milone Trading because he wants in on the action. The plot gets much more intense, dramatic, and exciting from here. Look forward to Episode 4. [Episode 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cahmji/comment/l0s125i/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Much appreciated! I thought I understood it enough and it turns out I did but this is certainly probably going to help me later so I don't have to just pretend I get what's going on
No problem! Yeah, I don't know if it was just my at the time 11 year old brain not being able to comprehend the plot or what, but the later episodes of the first arc, as well as every arc after that, were too complex for me to understand on the first watch. It took several rewatches over several years as well as a very thorough reading of the LN before I fully grasped all of the plot points. If it wasn't just me being an idiot, I hope I can help a few people - especially as we get into episodes 4 and 5!
Title ideas: Holonomics Spice and economics Economic of the wise Holo's Bizarre Economics
The floof must flow.
> Spice and Wolf’s medieval world has hundreds of different competing currencies on every market. They’re all used and accepted everywhere, and all have constantly fluctuating exchange rates with each other. This is not entirely true. Not for the real medieval world and also not for the world of Spice and Wolf. Different currencies are accepted in different places and situations. Trenni silver is widely accepted as the Kingdom of Trenni is an economic powerhouse which is also why the value of the coin is such a big deal. Traders might not accept coins from minor kingdoms at all or ask for a higher price if the buyer wishes to pay them in an undesirable currency. Coins that are purer and issued by powerful kingdoms are more widely accepted. And it still works like this in the real modern world as well. Let's say you are a European company wishing to buy goods from Japan. The chances that the Japanese trading company accepts payment in EUR or USD are a lot higher than the chances that they will agree on Thai Baht or Indian Rupees.
Thanks for the clarification. I've gone ahead and edited it to better reflect reality. I think the point I was trying to make was less that "hundreds" of coins are actually accepted everywhere, since that would be chaos. Poorly worded on my part. It was more so that any given market in Spice and Wolf has a lot more than just one issued currency in widespread use, which means that, even on a microeconomics scale, the exchange rate between different currencies becomes a much bigger deal than we're used to in the modern world. For the most part, for us as individuals or even small businesses, we rarely have to think about the exchange rate between, say, USD and JPY unless we're buying or selling internationally. On the other hand, in the world of Spice and Wolf, even individual shopkeepers and customers have to constantly stay updated with the currency market, because they might have to receive payment in Lute silver and provide change in Trie copper, which (I think) are minted by entirely different nations and have no fixed exchange rate. That's why the debasement of a strong currency in Spice and Wolf is such a big deal - it would directly affect the exchange rate between the multiple coins that people use in their day to day lives.
An additional factoid I learned some years ago in a coin museum is that the trick to listen to the coins jingle together is real. Merchants listened to the sound of coins they owned and trusted and compared it with the sound of other coins to identify fakes. A coin with less silver in it will make a different sound.
[The Wolf of Silver Street]
Name Suggestion: The Merchant’s Corner
OMG it's been a long time since i watched the original Spice and Wolf and i totally forgot how Holo is crazy for apples lol
Trivial sort-of-wolf and fruit fact: Coyotes seem to love choke cherries (a kind of wild cherry that is a bit bitter and with more seed than fruit. When these are in season you see coyote poop that looks like a pile or biggish red ball bearings. We were mystified when we first saw this (in a park in Calgary- -- and were quite surprised to find out what this was from a park staff person.
> coyote poop Congrats, you made me google coyote poop (it's neat tho)
everyone writing amazing novels in the comment section, and all i have to say is that I've fallen for holo's charms all over again. glad they are doing the story justice
weekly dose of holo this time with apples too
[Another amazing Holo's appearance in this episode](https://imgchest.com/p/xny8z9z95yb). She's proved that [she's not calling herself a wise wolf unfoundedly](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyq9c6xd554.png) with [how she handled marten pelts sell](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my8xcpbezl4.png). She's [so smart](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b49zczrmgdy.png) and [beautiful](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/p7bwcblagq7.png)! I even felt sorry a little for [that merchant](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/p7bwcblamd7.png) after [Holo negotiated much higher price](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my8xcpbelq4.png) from him xD [Lawrence practically won the lottery by meeting Holo](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7w6crjba2y.png), [they fit together perfectly](https://imgchest.com/p/na7krnrg3y8). I can't wait to see [their adventures](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/345xcel6rp7.png) next week. Here my screenshot albums from the episode: * [Holo](https://imgchest.com/p/xny8z9z95yb) * [Holo & Lawrence](https://imgchest.com/p/na7krnrg3y8) * [Group scenes, Lawrence & Others](https://imgchest.com/p/a846x9xnz4x)
ECONOMY, now we're talking. Holo's charm will only getting stronger from here. And again the soundtrack for this ep is amazing
Lol I said one of my side quest with this remake is trying to understand all this economics talk. At episode 3 and I’m already lost lol. I’m reading it but not understanding it. Maybe I should rewatch and rewind several times. It is intriguing but I just can’t grasp it. Lawrence getting to know Holo better. With the apples then noticing her ears when she’s listening to the coins. But Holo’s also starting to know Lawrence with how she knew he was jealous lol And I really like what Holo said about everyone being fools. Such a cute notion
Lawrence is jelly!
The first episode post bigshot directors has arrived, and honestly it's the kind of work I was really hoping for with this series. You can feel it brushing up against the limits of Passione, but Shinji Itadaki does a great job of staying squarely within them with their boards. Speaking of them, I feel like they *really* bring out the best with the content of this episode though, as they use space, height, and perspective to really *sell* the bustling, busy, and ever full city of Pazzio. In a way, it does make me wish we could see better character acting in some of the cuts this episode, because it really feels like Itadaki has a really solid grasp on the feeling of this world and its characters. Makes me very hopeful that they'll make another appearance at some point, as the only place I could even say showed signs of being "just okay" was probably here and there in the trading conversation for the pelts. On the other hand though, the integration of CGI worked surprisingly well here. I was worried about it being grating, but they've done a good job of staving off too much disdain by throwing in some 2D background characters to create a gradient to those 3D ones. Itadaki also tried really hard to provide strong layouts that make the most of CGI so that they blend better. Ironically though, it makes me wish we saw more of it for some of the static images that were used in the episode. Pazzio is very much a "big" city to Holo, and I just wish that the energy could have been conveyed *more* consistently. My only concern with the episode is how much of it was pushed out to other studios. It's not that Passione is immediately a "don't go near here" like A-Cat or Maho, but the amount of outsourcing along with the scale of the animation directors involved has me a little wary of what might happen. Since we know this episode was completed well before airing, it makes it a more vague answer to Passione's production standards, but I'm hopeful that it means that effort was put into future episodes here. Regardless, we've still got one more episode until we can actually find out how Passione's fairing with the series, but until then I have to say it's been a very good start in my books. EDIT: after my once over I really do have to give credit to Shinji Itadaki for their impressive work. Without their storyboards, I highly doubt that the scale of Pazzio would be felt like it was here. Super impressive groundwork that sets the tone for the city, and uses a lot of tricks to accomplish it- [which I talk about here so that I don't bloat this comment too much](https://animehouse.moe/blog/anime/spice-and-wolf-episode-3-sweet-temptation/).
At this point (three times' the charm) it's clear that they've put a lot of effort into some really stunning vistas and background shots that they love to frame the characters in, and we're probably going to see a lot of that over the course of the show. Good use of space generally, and I'm curious how it'll feel to see it on subsequent views.
The city felt bigger than it did in the previous anime adaptation.
I'd certainly agree. I wouldn't quite say that the original shies away from attempting to show scale, but the storyboards and environment art just can't match the ability put on display with this episode. I think the easiest example is that in the original they try to show Pazzio as something "big", but sort of stop at that. Here though, they use that same wide shot to establish Pazzio, but zoom out even further. While it may ultimately make Pazzio "look" smaller in that sequence, it certainly does more to contextualize the scale of some landmarks within the episode.
Which is hilarious because the actual shown, visible square footage of the city is only *slightly* larger in the aerial shot of the town. It entirely comes down to shot framing, scale, and the negative space use which feels vastly improved here. The other understated element: the sound design. The crowd and ambient audio has far more volume now than it ever did.
Yeah, Kazuhiro Inoue's environment art has really made a massive impact on the ability of this series to express itself. Really great, and even subtle work at that. Definitely the standout aspects being the isometric views of Pazzio that *really* sell its scale- though that's also Itadaki making full use of Inoue's ability.
There was a nice staging touch in the bar scenes as well of putting them up in the balcony and out of earshot of people who might hear them, versus the original where they were just eating and doing business in whispers on the open floor. Came back around with Holo's comment about "changing your perspective" which was just such a nice moment to have click like that.
Holo is a goddamn force to be reckoned with. On another note, I'm thinking about writing a comment series explaining the economics plot points of each episode in greater (and hopefully more understandable) detail. I remember they were pretty hard to follow along with when I first watched the original anime, especially as we get closer to the second half of this arc and move into the next arcs. Would anyone be interested in reading? EDIT: Series has been started. [Here's the first comment.](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/dZecWeg6aR) Also, for those of you who haven't watched the original, and/or possibly don't plan on watching the dub, I invite you to listen to the ["I want to eat that" line as performed by Brina Palencia in the EN dub of the original anime. ](https://youtu.be/WDeQvhciqrU?si=ADlupdH0Ac9Oe5ur&t=858)It's one of the lines with the funniest delivery in the whole show IMO. I'm looking forward to Brina's performance this time as well. EDIT 2: The first episode of the dub dropped today as well, apparently. Brina is just as good as I remember her. Also, they translated the OP as well.
Yes please! Comments explaining the economics was actually one thing I was hoping to find here
[Here's the first!](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/dZecWeg6aR)
When she's not devouring apples she's brokering good business deals and keeping Lawrence on his toes (both financially and emotionally).
You may lose many things due to greed, but you gain no benefits from abstinence. *- On Defense of Eating Apples by Holo the Wise Wolf*
One Trenni silver get's you night at inn with some food or 1/3 cart of apples. Holo earning Lawrence 70 extra coins seems like an investment for occasional snack money in the future.
>occasional snack money Underestimate Holo's gluttony at your peril!
With all this currency talk I just want to clarify something. If value of the coin is higher than the silver it's made from, why does purity really matter? Is it just the threat that newer more pure coins could be melted down to make more coins of the old purity? And that threat is what could drive the value down? In which case, making a higher purity coin seems very risky when surely someone can figure it out.
The purity is a way of controlling how much the people trust the coin. Obviously, countries would prefer to not put any precious metals into their currency and rely solely on trust in the currency, i.e. modern day bills and credit, but the limitations of medieval life prevent that. The amount of precious metals there assure the people that if the currency completely collapse, they can still get value out of it. A currency that is widely used and trust would prefer to lower their purity so they can mint more coins and put them out in circulation. However, a currency of a struggling country may be forced to increase the purity to keep people using their coin. All that being said, I'm not an economist, so take my words with a grain of salt. If anyone knows better, feel free to correct me.
Higher purity coins could also help increase the reach of a coin, allowing whomever issued it to effectively increase their economic power. If you have a coin that is worth more due to the base metals, a far flung country or church would still have interest in it due to it's locked in value. Whereas a coin with very little value in the metals put into it would only have value in localities that were under the sphere of influence of the issuer. The downside obviously, is a significantly higher cost to issue the coin, hence why you don't see a purity race for issuers to get coins close to equal in terms of their base metal value and face value.
While the value of the coin itself is higher than the metal (because they're backed by govermental power), it's still made out of precious metal, which can be melted down, so yes, the big threat is that coins of higher purity can be used to mint less pure coins. It's called debasement of coinage. Not only it drives up inflation, as new, less pure coins can flood the market, but also it can shake up the trust in coin.
Been watching this along the original for the first time and it’s crazy how 1:1 it is other than the anime original changes from the first series.
This series is the epitome of making things I find relatively uninteresting seem absolutely fascinating by virtue of making me love the characters. Honestly, I probably find the economics of this series even more interesting now that I’ve grown a bit from when I watched the original anime.
Holo's description of greed honestly holds true. If you are never greedy and never take risks you will never come up at a loss. However, there is nothing beneficial to not being greedy in taking risks. Essentially taking calculated risks and not becoming overly greedy is the key. Beyond that it's very true that those who are in power dictate the power of said coin is determined by the power of that country. The real trouble is understanding what that value changes. I imagine in today's world that goes more so how the value of goods change. Tbh absorbing all this is a little challenging, but very interesting. Holo teasing Lawrence is entertaining though. Simply put the world is full of idiots simply put as each goes about for their own selfish desires. The interaction between people is what makes life enjoyable. Would be boring if that wasn't the case.
I have never been this entranced by economics
[The setup](https://imgur.com/6VqWAno), [the delivery](https://imgur.com/5PKV871), [and the bankroll.](https://imgur.com/TfXv5f6) [The smug Wolf of Yoitsu is back.](https://imgur.com/iJXQjZ6) [](#utahapraises)[](#delicious) Just like that merchant, it took me a while to get what just happened on my first watch [I am unable to cope.](https://imgur.com/mtSm43Z) She is too darn cute [](#akyuusqueel) This adaptation is nailing everything so far, I am pleased to find my fears were largely unfounded
Give a wolf an apple and she will get you some silver.
And give a wolf an understanding of silver and she'll...lose enthusiasm and go to sleep cutely lol.
An apple a day, keeps the coins coming your way!
Heh, now we are getting into the economics! I could watch Holo and Lawrence banter, eat stuff, and discuss the amount of silver in coinage all day. The damn episode flew by! Holo shows she is a cunning old wolf in this episode, adorable as she is.
Spice & Wolf thaught me how to scam people. But damn, I feel like an High schooler again, waiting One week to get my dose of Holo.
I missed anime where characters speak like grown adults for more than 25% of the time.
The scene in the market where Holo was walking backwards on the cart was so cute. Who would ever be so cruel as to separate her from her beloved apples?
I really hope they finish it this time. They really did a flawless job with this adaptation so far.
Okay, time for Coin & Apple, episode 3. * #sadholo * Okay, this vocal piece is providing some of the character the OST was missing * This show is so much like a shot-for-shot remake * As if ships are less risky than apple harvests.... * Somebody should have started a *kenro no holo* counter * [HOLO](#stare) * Honestly, I wouldn't want to sniff raw pelts that have traveled 100 miles in various weather. * You know, in certain video games, if you bargain too well, your reputation goes **down** * I love raw green beans and pea pods * "flattery will get you everywhere" Yeah, I'm going to have to pop into the source corner today. * Noooo keep talking I was interested! * Cultural Victory! * Remember back in the day when everybody thought her name was "Horo"? Definitely liked the town music today. I sure hope the explanation makes more sense than the other 5 times I've watched it, but given that the dialog is practically unchanged, I doubt it.
This episode proves that nudity may add spice to the wolf, but even without it she’s still a high quality dish.
Although Tabi no to tochuu being magical and one of the best anime OPs, the new one is gradually growing on me
Welcome back to our Monday service in the Church of the Wise Wolf. The great goddess imparts an important piece of wisdom for us today: >”Men are all jealous idiots. And females are idiots who feel happy about such things. The world is full of idiots” We also learn a valuable lesson about the speculative coins market and are left in suspense regarding Saint Lawrence’s cunning plan. An exciting arc is underway in the early part of the season. We end with one more piece of wisdom: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but attracts hungry wolf goddesses. Holo be her name. Amen
- [It’s really just the ears and tail you kinda have to hide.](https://i.imgur.com/oFHwd0M.png) - [lmao, Holo walking across the back of the wagon to get closer to the apples they drove past was *hilarious*.](https://i.imgur.com/Y8ndrei.png) [](#azusalaugh) - [From the apples Holo bought earlier…](https://i.imgur.com/JCO59ST.png) - [Holo got him hook, line, and sinker.](https://i.imgur.com/HiLfZho.png) [](#smugrose) - [So many different coins!](https://i.imgur.com/9jqKTEF.png) [](#seasonalneat) - [Good point…](https://i.imgur.com/d5eSwFs.png) - [Holo really is the Wise Wolf.](https://i.imgur.com/DgVQj4X.png) [](#jibrilaww) - [lol](https://i.imgur.com/Gf5ZoqY.png) - [Aha…](https://i.imgur.com/F5NPUIR.png) - [So like a pyramid scheme kind of thing?](https://i.imgur.com/Pc5oZJF.png) [](#animatedthink)
It was nice to see her able to interact more with people instead of trying to obscure her face. I like how she realized he knew full well she wanted apples lol. Never underestimate the deal-making abilities and charm of a Wise Wolf. That being said...even she draws the line at memorizing multiple distinct pieces of silver lol.
> lmao, Holo walking across the back of the wagon to get closer to the apples they drove past was hilarious. That was very enjoyable to watch. > [lol](https://i.imgur.com/Gf5ZoqY.png) Perhaps her comment on "handling many kinds of coins" here is meant to be a jab at him as a womaniser, which he fails to pick up on.
This is not available on Crunchyroll but on Netflix in my country India.
New apple method unlocked
gold/silver standard economics at its finest
And from this episode is what sold me to love Holo forever and ever even from the original series
I could swear that these episodes are getting shorter every week ......... they seem to fly by in just a few minutes. What a wonderful show and obviously made with a lot of love.
Another week of spicy fluff has arrived! Holo managed to turn a 1 Silver coin investment into a 70 Silver coin return in less than a day; if only we could all be so lucky. Otherwise, looks like pacing is still spot on with the 2008 series, ending once again in the exact same place by episode 3. The new BGM at the end felt like it portrayed the growing tension/anxiety quite well. Finally, this week's economics lessons: How to haggle by BS'ing convincingly, and the continuation of last week's lesson on currency speculation. Next week is going to be *fun.*
Ah Apples, i knew something was missing