spice and wolf, helpless partner and wolf
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“Your face is all sticky now.”
Episode four of Spicy Wolfgasm features no (new) nudity, and, gasp, it was a great relationship episode for Lawrence and Horo. I’m not sure where this series is headed, but it seems to have a bit of everything yet a bunch of nothing… much like modern options trading. The show is definitely carried by Horo, who’s putting up a fantastic LBJ-like effort, only the team around her is much like LBJ’s as well. Lawrence is at best an average male lead, and none of the other characters are developed enough to be interesting. Though if Chloe returns to skin Horo, that would be a great development.
Market Report and Wolf
UP The Melancholy of Horo… “I always have the same dream. When I wake up, there is no one around.” Definite change in personality for Horo, and, for near and far reasons, reminds me of Kallen. Remember the Kallen that was usually defiant and rebellious? And the Kallen that was willing to do anything for Zero, even when not Geassed? The past three episodes, we’ve seen the spirited Horo, but this episode, we see a more vulnerable side of her. And gratz to Lawrence for at least trying to take advantage of her in her weakened state– that’s what real men would do!
DOWN Foul ball… well, he does cop a huge, but he gets denied on the kiss. Why? Manufactured plot contrivance! Remember at the beginning of the episode, the first night, Horo tells Lawrence that she had something on the tip of her tongue and forgets? She has the hangover the next morning, they engage in trading and negotiations, and then that night she gets melancholistic and sneaks into Lawrence’s bed? It’s a day after! Were the guys standing outside the door the previous night as well?
DOWN REC… remember what I wrote about Matsumaru and Aka? “Non-spineless, opportunistic male lead 4tw!” I think at that point, Matsumaru didn’t care too much about Aka and more about getting laid. Aka was vulnerable. Similar circumstance here, only a very, very angry mob were involved. So I think the better analogy would be…
UP The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya… only if Kyon had more of a spine, Mikuru was less vulnerable, and Haruhi was a bit nicer. Since, you know, she’s definitely more punishing than an angry, lynching mob led by Lawrence’s other love interest. I don’t think there’s any doubt that anime original character Chloe is involved, and I don’t think there’s any doubt either that everyone who has read the light novels are going “…”.
UP What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger… I did enjoy this episode because it shows more of a natural evolution on Lawrence’s and Horo’s relationship. Horo is willing to open up more and sees Lawrence as a valuable companion while Lawrence no longer views her as a nuisance and is actively trying to get into her skirt. These are good developments. Toss in a stressful situation where Horo sacrifices herself, and a nice tense ending that screams, “Haha suckas! You have to wait 7 days!” and it’s a pretty good story developing. But, what I hate most is that we’ll get a showdown between Chloe and Lawrence and Horo, Lawrence will more or less pick Horo, and the two will continue on their way trading more sheeps for bricks without anything happening. I just hope Spice and Wolf doesn’t turn into Catan crossed with Aa! Megami-sama.
EVEN IMAGIN… because the animation quality is now “average,” especially compared to other shows this season. Yikes. At least it’s not distracting me, which is more than I can say for They Are My Noble Masters, Gunslinger Girl, and Rosario + Vampire. Sadly, for all fanservice shows, Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun has set the bar high for all future fanservice series. If you can’t even come close to 70% of the pixel goodness of Mayu and Reika, I’m just not interested.
(Plus, I’m constantly delighted by the Merry and Pippin music. It’s probably the most appropriate BGM since Gurren Lagann.)
UP “I believe in you.” Horo pulled out some fancy talking to let Lawrence let her go her way (and possibly stupidly get caught), but I’m sure it was the “I believe in you” that she dropped that finally got Lawrence to agree to the plan. There’s no better way to fill a man up with spiral energy except the full “Believe in you who believes in yourself!” speech.
UP Snuggly in bed… is it teasing, valid plot points, or both that we see Horo curling up in bed so much this episode?
(And when Lawrence found her in his bed, was he thinking, “Jackpot! Giggity giggity goo! All riiight.”?
UP Drunk Horo… Drunk Horo is amazing. I can’t remember the last non-JC Staff anime that dropped so many “sugoi’s”. I wonder if Horo is more amazing than Haruka… I wish there existed some sort of lame, overrated, stale, unoriginal polling competition to figure this out.
(Horo goes to sleep with a beer mug? I think Lindsay Lohan does this now, and maybe Kana Minami in ten years. And, guys, if a girl brings a beer mug with her to bed, does that mean she’s a keeper or a stayaway? I think we need a ruling on this one.)
UP “I once banged Raquel Casull, Lina Inverse, and other true stories.” I think another step in Lawrence’s and Horo’s relationship is that they started nonchalantly throwing out their pasts trying to casually fluster the other. It’s like that Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei episode about casually mentioning shocking things. I definitely liked Lawrence’s expression after Horo compared him with the other guy, but I also liked how Horo curled up after Lawrence mentioned taking the profits to open a shop and find a wife… while dropping a Chloe bomb.
DOWN Deficit spending… when I saw the federal government’s plan to “boost” the economy, I went OH GEA$$ NO! I’m a fan of free money, but no money from the federal government is free. It will come from somewhere. Maybe the me from ten years from now will be paying off this “free” money. There’s two things I don’t like about the spending proposal to “boost” the economy. The first is that we are not in a recession! We might be in a recession six months from now, but a recession is six and more months of negative GDP growth. So far, the US economy has had 0 months of negative growth, and the GDP has been growing albeit slowly. The second is that with the interest rates low, energy and Bandai Visual DVD prices high, and more money being injected into the US economy, there is a high possibility of inflation. Is inflation worse than a recession? Usually, yes, because the only way to stop runaway inflation is to cause a recession by hiking interest rates. Most of my readers were probably not alive in 1980, but that’s exactly the government did to stop the inflation caused by a similar interest rate lowering policy of Jimmy Carter. Oh, let’s not forget that it was lowering the interest rate back in 2000-1 to stave off the tech bubble that caused this housing bubble.
UP beaver_cheese…
beaver_cheese: Horo’s appetite + Yakitate Japan = ?
Lana: I’d say Lawrence is putting up quite a good show of NOT hitting on Horo. He probably ain’t too sure if it’s safe to hit on a thousand year old carnivorous goddess.
I thought about this, and I came to the conclusion that if I were in Lawrence’s situation, I’d risk it. I think he came around as well to that conclusion. It’s the same rationale that allows Britney Spears to still get plenty of men even in her, uh, time and space-bending train wreck status. Those guys are probably think, “Hey, I’m sleeping with Britney Spears!” and ignoring the reality of the situation. Much like Lawrence thinking, “Hey, she’s a very hittable goddess of harvests!” and ignoring that she could rip his arms out of his shoulder sockets if she had a whee bit of wheat.
(But I’d pass on Britney. Think Lawrence would too.)
newt0311: The US has a massive trade deficit (and has had one for over 2 decades). It may be cheaper to export but all those gains are lost and then some when the imports are counted. Japan improved with a cheaper currency because they had a completely export based economy then (and to a large extent, still do).
Japan has a much larger national debt as a percentage of GDP than the US, and % of GDP is more important than raw figures. The trade deficit doesn’t directly correlate with currency strength as the yen has been weakening with the dollar, and the dollar was the strongest even with massive trade deficits. Fortunately, when Japan was in China’s role twenty years ago, they stupidly got caught in their own real estate bubble and burst and submarined their economy to today. Even though they are the world’s number two economy, they are powerless to assist the world market with a weakening US economy. Why? Crippling (even more than the US and Europe) debt and an already low 1% interest rate (up from 0%, but probably will not stay at 1% for long) prevents the Japanese banks to do much at all. And with China rising up, Japan’s trade status is weakening. After all, Japan depends heavily on the outside world for oil and food even more so than the US as a % of GDP.
(The biggest loser, of course, will be the world. The US economy, if it goes down, will bring down China and Europe with it. Keep in mind that 100’s of billions of dollars of subprime loans are still floating, and a large majority of those are now in European and Chinese banks hands since the American banks tried to write them off quickly hoping for Congressional bailout. UBS just wrote off $14 billion, rivaling the largest write-offs of American banks, and there will be a lot more to come. The Chinese banks probably won’t be truthful about this matter.)
newt0311: Nice article and nice episode but don’t use this show as a way of educating yourself about currency values. Silver or gold content in the currency is usually not a good indicator of exchange rate.
Think back like more than a few hundred years. And think about the Middle East and Asia. Currency was strongly about silver and gold content. Maybe not in medieval Europe, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. So what if the trading system is old? Monopoly is old, yet a still very enjoyable game. Remember, in the world of Spice and Wolf, bartering is a new concept. They’re not exactly keen on iso stock options and SarBox.
Sheba: Our president Sarkozy is too busy banging Carla Bruni to save France’s LOL economy. And strikes doesn’t help the situation.
Sarkozy is the Tony Romo of world leaders. Carla is Jessica (right down to the breasts), and the Giants are the French economy. Probably not a good sign.
Zzz…: Strictly speaking wolves, and every other canine out there, are actually omnivores.
They are as much of an omnivore as Tony Siragusa.
Epi: Wow you mentioned my favorite board game, AND the NYTimes article I was telling people about last night in the same post. Get out of my head!
I’m in your head, trading your sheep for bricks.
Fat Cat Lim: The 10th image of Horo eating that piece of bread…I just couldn’t help but imagine that it was a photoshopped image over something…inappropriate. And that all it was lacking was a “DELICIOUS CAEK, YOU MUST EAT IT†speech bubble next to it.
Yep… these are my readers.
21 Responses to “spice and wolf, helpless partner and wolf”
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So… let me get this straight. They have coinage, mints, currency, and currency exchange system (also multinational corporations) and bartering is new to them? Bartering came before currency and was driven out by currency because currency is more efficient.
True but with some minor corrections. The value of currency is not affected by trade deficits. Trade deficits are affected by currency value (though many would argue not in the long run. Also currency futures are starting to reduce this effect). % of GDP is usually much more important than raw numbers. The problem with Japan is much bigger than just a real estate bubble. Their biggest problem is import restrictions as well as monopoly control of large markets. Japan’s interest rate is indeed far too low.
I’m still struggling with my inability to neatly pigeonhole Horo’s personality via a few overused loanwords. It’s refreshing.
If my history is correct, during the reign of Henry VIII the gold content of English coins continually dropped (Henry VIII’s idea of increasing available funds involved issuing himself more coins with less gold in them). Because of the . . . less distinguished metals which replaced the gold, the coins began to turn red, prompting lots of jokes about the currency itself blushing for shame.
And yes, I find the idea of a world unaccustomed to barter rather hard to swallow too. Is there some kind of ‘transferable account’ idea involved (as in the development of banking systems allowing pilgrims to travel to Jerusalem without carrying large amounts of hard cash)? I usually let the economic stuff pass me by anyway, so I wasn’t really listening.
one of the best ways to simulate the economy, tell NASA their resuming moon flights, there was this study done, every dollar the government spends on NASA results in 3 somewhere else
Barthering as a Business concept. Lawrence isn´t Barthering because his trading partners don´t have any money, he does it because he figured out the overall advantages for him.
The thing is that economics are a young science, at Lawrences times it wasn´t one at all. That leads to curiositys like currency value determined by the metall – silly for us today.
In a defense of fiscal stimulus, the US GDP numbers released the other day are within one standard deviation of negative growth. Further, they don’t include any of the early-January impacts, which is when most of the really big subprime hits started to be exposed.
On the topic of inflation, the US is actually pretty safe right now, and the Bernanke Fed knows that. Here’s some some commentary on inflation worries.
The key thing is to avoid a Japan-style decade-long deflationary spiral. And maybe in service of that in the short-term, I could live with a little fiscal stimulus.
@SCC: Unfortunately, NASA isn’t a good choice. In the long-run, government can’t grow the economy – what the government spends has to be taxed away. Sure, we can run deficits, but eventually that blows up. In the short-run, NASA takes a long time to spend the money – organizing a Mars mission is not something you can do overnight, and is thus not a good choice for fiscal stimulus.
@Japan’s interest rate: I’m not wholly convinced it’s too low. The one thing they need more than anything is more spending by consumers. How else do you motivate them?
a woman that get drunk and come to my bed at night? How can she not be a keeper?
This was a very good episode. It develops Horo and Lawrence’s relationship a lot, shows us a new side to the wolf-goddess and, somewhat unexpectedly, gives us a tense chase scene – although mostly to serve their relationship however. Chloe seems to have done an awful lot behind the scenes which unfortunately gives it a slight taste of deus ex machina.
Like IKnight, I’ve been happy to notice how developed Horo’s personality is. Horo the Wise, she is clever and somewhat abstruse (did I really use that word?) yet there’s a coy side to her. Also, the Melancholy of Horo: droopy wolf ears. When she talked about her friends, I didn’t really grasp what she meant. Is she implying fellow gods, like she seems to?
As for the odd time-lagged bit about what she forgot to tell Lawrence the previous day, I assume she noticed they were being followed, and was reminded of that when she heard people outside their door.
Any girl that looks that cute in bed drunk is a definite keeper. The fact that shes a thousand year old goddess of the harvest, and has a cute tail is just a bonus.
Probably a keeper, but I think it mainly depends on what happens after she brings the beer to bed.
I’m reading the Scrapped Princess light novels and Raquel getting banged just seems, I don’t know, inherently wrong somehow. Unless the guy was wearing a Soupie-kun costume.
Don’t touch Raquel you dirty bastard!
How in the all-loving name of baby Jesus does that make it LESS wrong!?!
I meant less wrong in the sense that it seems more plausible. In the sense that I’d break space-time and send the bastard into an eternal nightmare of Lovecraftian horrors for doing that to Raquel it’s still very, very wrong.
On the other hand….
*runs off to make Soupie suit*
Scrapped princess light novel? And it depicts sex? Fascinating… Is that available in N. America bookstores?
Sorry, no sex (at least not as of the second volume). That was just my fevered wishing hypothesizing. There is costume rape, though.
Sadly, it doesn’t look like any more Scrapped Princess novels will be coming out in the US.
I’d be her helpless partner any day
> Horo goes to sleep with a beer mug?
Reminds me of a classic first-person shooter … now what was it called again? “Wolf and Stein?”
*ducks*
These comments are going to scar me forever. Soupie-kun and sex, sleeping Horo and leering cyber-Hitler… all now intrinsically linked.
Great, thanks to the last bunch of comments, I now have an image of Lawrence in a Soupie-kun costume being chased by Horo with a gun and she recovers HP by eating bowls of leftover Nazi dog-chow…
i think i wouldnt take a pass on britney… doing a wolf is pure bestiality.. at least with britney it still is half-animal.. so at least ur F***ing a half-human
@beaver_cheese: Here, watch this clip to work with that image you have…
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvn88kkcEGg