It's true. There are idiots everywhere.
Hello and welcome to our week. There yet an exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.
I'm an anime expert, d hollander.
And I'm brenda mccullough. You're oregano chipmunk.
That's a spicy chipmunk.
We heard you come up with that one in real time.
Association. Okay, what are two related things?
What's a seasoning and a woodland critter.
Got it.
Sweet chip and dale.
I'm covered in honey. I got the handcuffs, the cuff links. Those are different things.
I don't know. It all depends.
Why are we talking about seasoned creature?
Why are we scrambling? Someone tell us that's. Because this week we have a recommendation from conan J on Twitter. This is a show we've briefly touched upon in our beloved segment anime god or anime dog.
Right.
We're watching this week spice and wolf. Yeah.
I couldn't think of an obscure 80s reference, so I just went with a word association for my intro.
Sometimes it does the job, sometimes it's better, but yeah. So my only knowledge of the show is looking up, what are anime gods and or anime dogs? And then I found that this is considered one of the best furry animes. So very scared. Scared number one. But do either of you know about this show?
I sure do. I actually watched the first couple or a few episodes a very long time ago.
Insider trader for me.
Yeah, because at the time, I don't remember how old I was, but I felt that it was like a very mature anime. So I wanted to watch it to feel sophisticated, old.
Sipping on brandy.
Yes. This furry, it amuses me.
I drink my ramune carbonated shoes from a wine cup. Wine cup? Wine glass. I don't know. I don't drink wine.
Whatever.
I got a big old for 711. I've been riding for four years. I don't know what the fuck class is.
I keep taping the straw, I keep springing leaks, but I'm not throwing it out.
It's still good.
It still bulls suction. Then that's all I need. But yeah, the fact that you stopped after a couple of episodes, not a great sign.
Well, I was also young, so who knows, maybe it is for more sophisticated anime palettes.
I mean, there's plenty of anime I loved as a youth that I can't stand now. And there's plenty of anime I couldn't stand as a youth that I'd probably love now. So taste changes. Yeah. sarah's on me. Would have freaked me out as a teenager, but I love it now.
Freaks me out now too much.
But stuff. I'm not gay.
I mean, what.
But yeah. Brendan, is this a show you are aware of? I know it has a little bit of a reputation, but I don't know your knowledge of it.
I'm aware of the show. I'm not sure what the reputation is. I just know of it and a buddy of mine back in the while ago. Actually got like really into this, apparently. I don't know how much content there is of it, but I know he went through all of it and read the manga and bought it and stuff, so it was captivating to him.
Interesting.
But that's about all I know on the scale of furry to not furry. I think this is light furry stuff, just because I've seen the girl and I know she's got ears in the tail, but I think that's it as far as I know.
Yeah, an easily cosplayable furry character and not requiring a fur suit, which reassuring a little bit. So we'll see how far it goes, but I don't know. Shall we spice this wolf? I got nothing either.
Let's see.
This is not a very creative episode for us.
Pop it in the oven, spice it with a little bit of bam little emerald lagosi.
Emerald Lagoshi.
The second Patrick rothfuss reference in two episodes. God, this is all about economy.
It's by the third episode, I was like, I took one class of microeconomics. I'm not here for this. This is a lot to take in.
I mean, I'll give it this, it started strong for me, a little too horny, but I wasn't liking it. But we just got into just economics, so another repeat of prodigies from another world. Just economic lessons instead of story. But we'll get into it.
Thankfully, there is no baby birding or a central plot revolving around mayonnaise this time, so it's already doing better.
Plot relevant, mayonnaise.
Add it to the bingo card. So, yeah, we start out, we see we see a small village, it's a little farm in town. And we get some voice over of the legend of the wolf that hides in the wheat fields and is a pagan god that helped these villagers develop their society and grow into like a healthy, stable town. But once they became self reliant, they didn't meet her anymore.
No gods, only farm masters.
No gods, only farmers.
That's my farmers only website. Sorry I stepped on it. But yeah, so we see a traveling vendor coming through the fields and he's talking with a guard in one city and he's like, oh, yeah, in that neighboring town, they're getting ready for their pagan festival. So we got our guard up a little bit and the vendor is like, oh, cool. Party town. That's where I'm headed. Because he's familiar, he's frequently coming through these lands, so he has a relationship there. So he goes and sees the village all setting up for the festival. It's like a wheat based economy here. So they have like straw, pigs and all the typical farmer pagan festival stuff. Like your hometown pagan festival.
Yeah, the usual.
I've seen you be doing the witches, ghosts. I know what pagans are.
Yeah, I've seen potsfield and over the garden wall, I know what's up. So, yeah, he goes in and asks about the merchant. He knows in town, chloe, who's a friend, and the mayor, I don't know. He's not important. Sure is like, oh, she's still harvesting the wheat. Oh, she's she's going to be our sacrifice this year. ominous. Okay. But with the vendor, his name is Lawrence. He goes and sees chloe in the fields. It's kind of a party atmosphere. Everyone is finishing up the harvest for the year, and the last bundle of wheat is right in front of chloe. So everyone's like, you got to do it. Say it. Do the thing, do the thing. And she's like, okay. And she harvests it. And everyone's like, ha ha. You're our honorary wolf god. This festival. Time to lock you in a barn for a week.
Yay.
Great.
Everyone's favorite part of the festival.
But yeah, so she gets locked up. Don't worry, she's fine. And Lauren sets up camp for the night. But first, our first hint that there's going to be economics coming up. He goes back and talks to the mayor village leader, and they're like, oh, yes, we got a new lord in these parts, and we're going to be switching currencies soon. ooh, we hope to be like, a big city one day now that we're incorporated with a big lord. Okay, cool. But yeah, that night he's setting up camp outside of the city. He doesn't really have lodging, so he has his horse drawn cart. He's just setting up, but ooh, what's that? He senses arrestin in the back of his cart. And Naked Wolf Girl.
Preparing yourself.
Okay, here's the here's the furry nonsense we we got here, but yeah, there's there's a Naked Wolf Girl. And he's like, hey, why are you stealing my stuff? Get out. Go, go, will go.
She won't get.
But when she wakes up, she's like, oh, weird. Do you got a booze? You got a food?
And he's like, get fucked up.
Yeah, you like to party down. And he pulls a knife on her and is like, okay, you're stealing my stuff. Time to leave. You're not getting any leniency here. But sees, you know, the wolf ears, the wolf teeth, the tail graciously covering up the butt crack. Thank you for that. nudity is, I don't know, kind of subjective. She's got, like, barbie going on. No actual features, just clearly naked woman. So I don't know if that's a stylistic choice or just I'm a god. My body is whatever I want.
I don't want any more bumps than it needs.
Yeah. I want to be smooth.
I need to be aerodynamic. But yeah. So he's like, I sense there's something godly going on here. And he's like, you are correct. My name is hollow. I am the wolf god that they're throwing a festival for. So we get a little bit of a backstory. She's from a northern land that had, like, rough winters and things didn't really grow, so she was bound to this southern land where she made a pact with the villagers to help them grow their wheat and honor in turn of just, like, partnership and giving her a place to live. But she isn't super needed around these parts anymore, so she asked him to take her with them, and he's like, a likely story. Obvious wolf god. You're not wolfy enough for me. How about you get wolfier transform into your wolf form fully?
It definitely isn't for me because I'm a furry, and I want to see your wolf form.
You're too human for me. Get hairier.
Yeah, fuzz it up. Come on. But she's super reluctant. Like, I'm pretty clearly not a human. Can you just take me on my word? And he's like, no, got to prove it to me. And so she's like, okay, here's the deal. I need a little bit of a sacrifice option. A, give me some human blood, or much more costly, give me some wheat. Yeah, I got wheat. There's wheat in the cart. Yeah, obviously I'll do that one. So give some wheat and transforms. But we don't see it. We cut, and she's gone.
Tease.
So he decides, oh, wolf gods roaming around. Let me go to an inn for the night. Let me not be out here in the woods. So he's at the inn, and in the window is a wolf. Don't worry about it. It's just chloe wear wolf mask. And she's like, yeah, I broke out of the barn. It's fine. I wanted to see you. It would be rude of you to come all this way to my village and then me going, oh, yeah, let me hide in this barn for a weird tradition. So, yeah, let's go grab a drink. So they're talking. They're starting about how the village is growing and big business is on its way. So chloe is like, yeah, we have a really good partnership. We've worked together. I kind of see you as a mentor. You kind of shown me the ropes of all this stuff. What do you think about joining forces, if you know what I mean? Hair flip. And he's like, clearly, you're just talking about business and nothing romantic, so that's kind of risky. I don't know. You're a little green. I don't know if you can handle this sort of business. And she's like, no, come on. I know what's up. But clearly she's dropping all the hints, every hint dropped, saying, like, oh, but if you stay in this village, you could, I don't know, settle down and get married with, like, a cute girl named chloe.
Just throw it out there.
Yeah, don't think about it too hard. But he's like, no, my life belongs to the road. I can't give up my trading. So she goes over to the other side of the room, to the hay pile, and just throws herself in it. And it's like, you stupid idiot. I'm literally throwing myself at you, and you're not picking up the hint. I guess you're just nod into me and just rides a little bit. No, I'm not.
That would be correct.
Yeah.
He also mentions he used to trade with her father, so I think there's, like, a noticeable age gap.
Yeah. Finally, someone showing restraint in an anime about age differences.
You love to see reference. It's so rare.
This episode. Very horny, but also not, like, respectable in a respectful way. But yeah, so he's like, all right, time to go, I guess. What's going on? Go back out and see his cart. And sensing that there were expectations of him to stay, he's like, oh, got a bug out. Got to leave. So he leaves town without saying goodbye and decides to take wolfgirl hollow with him. Sorry, lady, you're not furry enough for me. But yeah. So they leave and get a little bit more well, I went into the backstory. Sorry, I'm all over the place with my notes. Ha ha. Have fun editing this dipshit.
Cell phone.
Yes, future dugan.
But yeah, so get a little bit more backstory. She's like, yeah. When I was a god helping the original settlers of this village, they were getting a little greedy. They wanted an excellent harvest every year, but that takes a toll on nature, like crop rotation and stuff. We know this now, but at the time they were getting a little too greedy. Thought I wasn't helping them enough. And eventually I became a legend and stayed hidden. And the wheat so essentially when all the wheat was cut down, her godly form jumped to the closest bundle of unharvested wheat, which is the one in his cart. So that's why they are together. And she's like, since I'm not needed in this land anymore, would you mind taking me home to my northern homeland? And he agrees. So leave. And she finally gets dressed, thank God. Just starts wearing his clothes, and he's like, okay, I'll help you. But it's a partnership. You got to pay for your own food. I'm not going to just give you free room and board on my cart. That's not the right terminology. But they they leave. And that ends our first episode. I also forgot to mention the songs in the show are pretty dang. Good opening. Good. Love this closing. Little diddy just super cute.
When I heard it, I actually remembered I used to like when I made playlists on YouTube, I used to listen to the song, like, all the time.
Hell yeah. I don't blame you.
Yeah, that's happened to a few times now with shows we've watched where I'm like, I don't know anything about this show. And then we watch. I'm like, oh, I've heard the song before, though, just from compilations on YouTube.
Yeah, I like the music in the show, too, because I've been very nostalgic for the renaissance fair lately. The music and the vibe is very.
Renaissance fairy, just very chill. It's such a relaxed nothing chaotic happens, which is pretty good, except for naked furry showing up.
It's the most chaos.
So in episode two, we open with hollow saying that she can hear lies. She's going on about how cool she is. Pretty much.
So what are the full extents of your god powers?
Well, I'll tell you. And Lawrence says that she's got a fine coat. And she's like, well, you must be a good judge of character then, if you like me. And then she says it seems like it's going to rain. So it does rain. And they pay a guy to stay. I guess it's kind of like an in. Is it a church? I don't know. It seems like there's enough rooms to be an inn.
It's a church, but sometimes they'll allow travelers to stay and stuff. That was common practice back then.
Yeah, only back then, not anymore. No churches.
Go, bring me your poorer no. So they pay a dude to stay at the church and hollow. hollow, hollow, hollow. She's wearing a cloak, and the guy is like, is this your wife? Why is she wearing a cloak? And Lawrence is like, oh, she has bad burns on her face. So they're in the room drying off their clothes. And Lawrence asks her for advice on the wheat, kind of, but he's asking if he can thresh it and she'll still be okay.
Yeah, I didn't fully go into it, but her godliness is now bound to this wheat, and she'll disappear if it's destroyed. So he's like, what can I do to this? Because right now it's just some loose threads that will get lost. So how do we make this better?
And he's kind of like, will it die if I just leave it? Like, is it going to get dry and you'll go away? And she's like, no, as long as I'm around, it's going to be fine. So, yeah, he says he's going to thrash it. And then she asks if she can wear it around her neck. So then he asks if he can keep some to take to other places. And there's a lot of philosophical talk in this episode that I just didn't really process very well. But she talks about taking things to new places, and it not doing well, but that literally would happen to wheat if you planted it somewhere it doesn't belong. Yeah, she kind of just says, no, you shouldn't do that. She sniffs him and says the rain was a waste because he's still stinky. She also says that he's good looking, but that he needs to take better care of himself and that she should he should grow out his beard making a joke about whiskers.
Do you get it? She's a wolf. She likes that.
She likes cowboys. Who doesn't?
So they're going out to meet with somebody, and he tells her to be careful. And she's like, you know, I've been in this body before, and I've been around for much longer than you have. I'm going to be okay. So they're at like a business meeting with a peddler. And it was at this point I was like, oh no, they're talking about shit I don't care about. And Lawrence was pretty much just explaining that he trades goods instead of exchanging money because it's better for traveling merchants because then they won't lose their money or get it stolen.
The good old barter system makes sense.
So the peddler is like, oh, interesting. That sounds a good method. Maybe next time you're around you can come to my winery or whatever. And while they're having this conversation, his wife is falling asleep. The peddler's wife. And I was just like, yeah. So they leave, hope that God will bring us together again. There's a lot of talk of one true God in this show.
Praise Jesus.
Praise jeepers. So some guy comes up to Lawrence and he says, oh my gosh, you're so good. I've been trying to get in business with that peddler for a long time. And Lawrence is like, yeah, I'm just experienced. peddlers can seem scary, and they still are sometimes, but most of the time you just got to try to get on their good side. So this guy introduces himself. His name is zarin.
Write that down.
He asks why lawrence's wife is all covered up. And he says that their meeting was the will of God, so he should get to see his wife.
This is real weird to me. I don't know. Hey, how's it going, buddy? Can I look at your wife for a while?
Maybe? He hasn't seen a woman in months.
I'd like to do business with you. Can I oggle your loved ones real quick?
Can I look your wife in the eyes?
Why?
And so up until this point, hollow has been silent. She hasn't said anything. But once Aaron asks that she again starts just saying shit. And she pretty much says, I'm not going to be as beautiful as you imagine, so just leave it to your imagination. And he's just like, yeah, I guess.
Okay.
And then Sarah says, let me tell you about an amazing opportunity. And I was like, it's a pyramid scheme bitcoin. Hey, girl boss, do you want to run your own business?
Get these essential oils.
Me and my friends are going in on a timeshare.
So we don't here yet, but it's dinnertime. And Lawrence brings some baked potatoes with goat cheese. But before he lets hollow. I keep saying hollow. hollow. I don't think it matters. But before she chows down, he gives her the wheat. He put it in a little sack with a string so she can wear it. And he's like, also, I had to donate a lot of money to the church for this cheese, so you better pay me back. And then she just stuffs all of the potatoes in her face and she almost chokes. And she's like, I actually almost choked in a potato before too. Maybe I just don't do well with this vegetable. She says that she finds human throats too narrow.
It's like, don't you get horny right now?
Keep it down.
So Lawrence asked to what extent she can tell when someone is lying. And she's like, I mean, I can tell. Like, I could tell earlier when you said you liked my tale, you didn't really mean it. So he asked what she thought of zaron and his story, and then we get a flashback to him talking about a new silver coin that will be worth more. And he pretty much is just trying to make a deal with Lawrence. Like, I'll tell you what coin it is, so you can get more of those coins, and then I get a cut of your profits, baby. And hollow says it was a lie. And she says, but the lie isn't what's important. It's why they're lying. And Lawrence is like, yeah, well, I knew that, obviously. I'm not an idiot. So she asks what he would have done about his deal if she wasn't there. And he says he probably would have just gone with it. Even though he knew that zarin was probably lying, he would still investigate the scheme. And hollow says, well, that's still what you're going to do, right? Just because you know it's a lie doesn't mean you won't investigate what's going on. So the next day, Lawrence wakes up, and hollow isn't in her bed. He goes out to a well to get some water to wash his face, and he sees hollow with a priest or whoever, and they're chatting. And then hollow goes up to Lawrence, and she says, I'll pray for my husband's strength. And then the priest, like, smiles at her and walks away. And when he leaves, she says that churches didn't used to be so prominent, and that the idea of a one true God making the entire world is kind of silly. She says, when exactly did the church begin handling comedies?
And I was just like, Damn sure roasted.
So she's kind of worried about what her homeland will be like. And Lawrence says, like, well, did you change? And she's like, no. And he's like, well, then count on your home not changing much. So they go tells Aaron that they'll do business with him and that they'll meet at this port town, and off he goes. They're not traveling together because him walking will be faster because the roads are muddy. So hollow asks if merchants are particular about time, and he says, yes, time is money. If you have time, you can make money. And hollow is like, that stupid. She says farmers didn't care about time. They just followed their senses. And I liked all of this stuff that she was saying. This time I was like, this is.
Nice, because she was, like, a very literary writing style to this. I really think a novelization version of this would be equally as enjoyable because animation wise, yeah, it's anime, but the writing is definitely the thing that is great about this show or good about this show.
It was actually a light novel. I'll double check real quick and not a manga. Yeah, Japanese light novel series. So light novels are essentially a novel, but occasionally there's like pictures throughout versus mango, which is like all pictures. So, yeah, you can kind of feel that presence in the writing, like, of the characters in these ways.
Yeah, so here she was pretty much I didn't write it all down, obviously, but she was just saying they celebrate the harvest. They know when the harvest is, so that's why they celebrate in the fall. They're not celebrating because it's fall, they're celebrating the harvest. And they know that they sense the cycle of everything. So she says that he'll be better established when he's older, and he makes fun of her for being old. And then she gets sinister and she tells him that wolves attack humans to eat their heads and get their power and that kind of like spooks him. And she was like, you've been attacked before? And he was like, yeah, I was attacked in the forest before by wild dogs and wolves. The wolves were scary and strong. And she says that it's probably because they'd eaten humans before and that really upsets him. And he tells her to stop talking about it. So they continue on in silence for a while and then eventually it was.
Like a clearly traumatic thing because seeing her in Wolfform also freaked him the fuck out so much so he had to get out of the woods and mentioned he was attacked eight times. Didn't really pick up any hints that this is probably not a playful thing.
Yeah, no. Eventually she asks if he's angry and he says he is. Please don't talk about that again.
Clear communication in an what the fuck?
You crazy. No, I'm not mad. And after they're through this town, you see them approach a town and then they're out of it. Set people through shows that they're making progress. So after they're through, she explains that wolves only know that humans hunt them and that's why they attack. So he asks if she's attacked anyone and she refuses to say. And she just told him so that he can understand where wolves are coming from. And now they're even and then that night, staring at the sky, she remarks that they live in two worlds and they're very different from each other. And that's the end of episode two.
Yeah. In the flashback, you think like, oh, I got attacked by wolf. Like they took his goods and he fought him off or something. It's like, no, we see him running with like, five other people. One of them goes down and then it's like, shit, okay.
Yeah, I watched my best friend get eaten by a wolf. Stop joking about it. Yeah.
Anyway, yeah, it's a good light novel series. What else is a good light novel series? Do rava.
Anyway, episode three, we have better writing. Sorry.
I have 30 more characters to keep track of. Episode three opens up with them getting to that town, the little port town they were talking about meeting up with, the young guy with I already forgot his name. I referred to with a zarin.
Zarin.
You know your favorite word, sara zany. Say the first two syllables with a Z and then you got it.
Cesar. So while they're traveling into town, like, oh, a poor town. And Lawrence ask hollow, why do you hide your face? Do the people got to that specific village? Do they know what you looked like? And she kind of tells them about the legend of like, oh, yeah, my legend used to tell from time to time would appear in a human form of a young adolescent girl with ears similar to this. I was like, ancient being in the child's body check. When she said semi adolescent, I was like, oh, there it is. And she basically just says, like, as long as I hide my ears and tail, no one really knows. They can see my face. We don't have to keep up with that burned face. Lie going so he's like, all right, simple enough. And they get into town and they're traveling through the streets and they see all the market stalls up. And hollow sees one with a bunch of apples. And she's like apples. And gets all excited. Lawrence is like, yes, that reminds me of a tale. And talks about a friend of his who is also a traveling merchant who invested a ton into apples. And he's like, it was a risky proposition. It's a high risk, high reward. He could have lost everything because of the season, but he actually made it up pretty well. I on her hand would have used a vessel. A vessel is a thing in the market caught. hollow and I are both just not listening and looking at the apples. She's like, I just want apples.
Shut up. Just beat me.
Basically. He's like, all right. He gives her a silver coin. He's like, you can buy here's a silver. Buy as many apples as you want. She's like, cool. Got it. And comes back with, like, 30 apples. And he's like, what the fuck? You said as much as you want. That's what I did. This is partially your fault. And he's like, Well, I was going to use that for our inn and food tonight. So your bill is getting bigger. Your tabs expanding. And he goes to reach for all apples. And she slaps away, going, no, mine. Damn, girl.
Okay, that was my money.
You haven't paid me back yet.
Yes, but now they're my apples. So we get like a little cut of them, like she's eating some. And then it cuts to them at the end they're staying at. And she ate all of them. And he's like, God, how did you eat so many apples? She's like, they're the devil's fruit. I was like, ha ha. The Bible.
Remember how she hates the one true God sort of thing? We love the devil, though.
And I couldn't tell if this is the next day or just later that day after they got a room. But they go to meet their client in town. They're meeting with a branch of a large trading company. It's like the third largest trading company in the country. And they have a branch office here. And they're saying, like, this will be good because they have such a large company and different branches, they're able to network with each other and get different information sources. So while we're making the deal with them, I'll also confer with him about the price of silver and if this coin is actually going to be more valuable, like the guy said it's going to be. So I double check on those rumors. So when he goes to meet with his client, he meets with a guy and he's like, look at all these furs from martin's, these weasel furs I'm going to sell to you all. And how about like and the guy's like, oh, what about like 110 silver?
He's like, these are pretty good furs.
They're pretty strong and they look pretty nice. How about a little more? The guy's like, all right, 140 silvers. And larry's like, yeah, that's a good deal. All right, I'll take that. And right before they go to make the deal, hollow burst. And he's like, wait a minute. These aren't just any furs. These are special furs. Smell them. And the client smells the furs. And he's like, oh, that's fruity. She's like, hell yeah, it's fruity. Because these martins lived in a forest full of apples. And they ate them because they were strong. And it took two men to skin them when they skinned them. And it took them all day to do just one. And they were so well fed and strong. And we killed so many of them. I was like, it's a weird I know it's first, but it's just a weird thing. It was so hard to murder all of these small rodents. But she pretty much is selling him on. Like, these were very well fed animals. They lived a strong, healthy life. So it made their furs even stronger. And they have these ingrained fruity sent to them, which makes it even more appealing to sell to your customers. And he's like, wow, shit, you got me there. Okay.
Can't argue with that.
It smells nice. I'm going to pay 200 silver for it. And she's like, what if it was three silver per pelt? So it was 210 silver? And he's like, I don't know. I was like, dude, you just offered 60 more silver than you were originally going to, what's, ten more at this point? And she's like, well, if you don't want them, it's a good season. We could just go elsewhere. And she's like, I'll pay the 210. She's like, deal. So after they strike the deal, they cut to them in, like, a little in restaurant, getting some wine and food and celebrating. Like, hey, we just hustled the shit out of that guy, right? And she's celebrating. And Lawrence kind of down in the dumps. She's like, oh, I'm sorry. Did I kind of, like, upstage you as a merchant? He's like, were you a merchant before? In a previous lifetime? Like, what the hell was that? And she's like, oh, I just saw a merchant do that in the village one time. I was like, hey, I could do that. That's easy enough. Humans are simple.
I love to lie.
Yeah, because his whole thing was like, yes, we need to have a good relationship with this company. They're new. They also want a good relationship with us, so let's establish that. And she's like, no mind if I swindle you money?
But he's kind of surprised. She's like, don't worry. You're still a good merchant. This is a one time thing. And maybe he learned his lesson. So he maybe he'll do that trick on someone else. And it's like, ah, great grifting.
We love to see this will never go bad.
This surely won't bite us in the ass in episode 14. And he's like, well, we slept on those first last night. Like, they didn't smell. She was like, oh, it's from all the apples I bought that they were just sitting on all day. So that just kind of gave them a light dusting of the smell that'll probably be gone by tomorrow once he realizes he got screwed over.
So we got to leave tonight.
We got to get out of here.
And Lawrence says that no one in the company are in the port where he was at. No one really seemed to know anything about the silver coins or the theory that they're going to be more pure and higher trade value soon. So he's like, we didn't really learn anything, but it was a good opportunity. And they meet up with Sarah Zadmi at a local bar, and they talk about the revaluing of the silver coin. And he says, here's the deal. I'll give you that information. All I ask is ten silver coins and then 10% of any of the profit you make off of this information. And Lawrence is like, how certain are you of these, like, revaluing? And the guy's like, I don't know. I'm from a mining town. We hear things. There's an increase in silver. Like they found, like, a new vein or this or that. He's like, it's a good hunch, but I can't promise you that. He's like, good. Because if he could promise to me it, I wouldn't have believed you. And I would have called off the deal. But since you show restraint, I trust you a little more. cheers. We'll go to a notary tomorrow and make this deal official. Get it in paper. So that night, after they drink a bit, they go back to the room and they're drinking a little bit more. So hollow's a little tipsy and trying to learn all the differences of the silver coins. So it's like the silver coins from this village, the silver coin is a fake version of that silver coin. Here's a different village and a different fake version of that one. And there's like ten or twelve different silver coins and different fake versions of them. And Lawrence is trying to teach Hollow all the nuances of them and all the differences. And at about this point, Hollow and I both checked out once again. This is a fucking lot like, I appreciate it because it's definitely great world building of showing. Like it's not just simple skyrim of like, here's my good, here's the money. Thank you. What a charmed life it is to be a peasant. It's like, no, here are the clear skills this guy has and why he is a merchant and not like a farmer or some other trade or profession. It takes a lot to keep up with this stuff. And it's like, I appreciate it, but it was overwhelming to watch it here. So I was like, oh boy.
Yeah, probably something okay to read in novel form. Not terribly compelling television.
Yeah. So while he's talking about going into the nuances of the coins again, she falls asleep. And he's like, all right, whatever. So they go to bed, and the next day they go to the notary to make it official. They strike a deal with the guy. They're like good business. I'll see you later. Why? And just leaves. So while they're walking around town, they're continuing to discuss the differences in coin. And they buy like, a little snack from the market. And he large quizzes Hollow again on the coins. Like what's? This coin. She's like, It's from this village and it's a fake one. He's like, Right you are. So he's like, training her on it and stuff. Talking about how if a new country can go to war, take over another country, that's one thing. But if a new country can kind of take over their economics and kind of like, flood another country with their own currency, they basically won that country without even fighting a war. And talking about basically the power of economics.
Isn't capitalism grand?
And lark is surprised by how fast holla is picking up on stuff. He's like, Let me explain that again. She's like, no, I got it. I'm not dumb. It's like, all right, one of us is. I didn't get that.
You threw yourself into bed and fell asleep last night. As I explained it, I didn't expect you to retain all of this info.
And Lawrence says, like, we're going to go meet a buddy of mine who's I forget the exact thing he said he was, but he's basically a finance broker and he can tell the market of the coins itself and can distill a coin down to its purity to figure out if it really is as pure as people are saying it is and stuff. So it's basically a coin inspector. So they go and meet his buddy. His name is weiss. For some reason I wrote his name down but not the other guy who's been in two episodes. And this guy's just horny as fuck. He's just like, yo, is that your wife? And learns just like, no, it's like, could she be my wife? It's like, down boy. And he says like, yeah. We've been having trouble determining the purity of these silver coins lately. Like some people are saying that it's going to be an increase, but that's just rumors and we haven't had anywhere proof of it yet. But we're still can't discount that because if they are, we got to get on that early on. And Hollow is like, hey, can I try and check this purity of the coins? He's like, yeah, go ahead. She picks up a few, puts them in her cups them in her hands and like shakes them up against her ear. And weiss is like, nice try. Like, that's like a master technique for testing purity. And even the masters don't get it most of the time, so I doubt some country bumpkin like yourself will get it. And while she's holding up the coins for her ear, we see the hood like shift a bit. And Lawrence notices that her ear flicked when she was listening to the coins because she got them wolf god ears. And she says, what? She says she doesn't know, but her ear flicks later. What the fuck did I write?
Like two wife? She's like, oh no, I'm just so beautifully dumb that I don't understand. Keep being a pretty faith.
Well, and then after yeah, lawrence and Hollow walk away and are chatting a bit. And he's like, so how pure are they? She's like, how do you know? He's like, I saw your ear flicker because I noticed things. And she's like, well, they sounded duller when I shook them. So it seems like the purity is decreasing, at least in the coins we had. So if the purity is increasing, it's not yet. So they're trying to figure that out. And she's like, you were scouting me up because you were jealous of Whiteheading on me. You like, me? And he's like, no, we got like, flustered. She's like, don't worry. Men are dumb for being jealous and women are dumb for enjoying being jealous over I don't know. And yeah, so she says like, basically the same thing they've been saying last two episodes of like the coins might be getting more pure, but they haven't yet. And we have no real information. It's like okay, cool. We've learned nothing in like three episodes.
Let's keep speculating wildly.
And they're trying to figure out like, well, why did the guy make the bet? That or why do they make that deal? It's like, well, if his information proves to be false, he'll give you back the ten coins you paid him, and he won't get any percentage your profit. So he loses nothing because the only thing he's losing is what you gave him. But if he's right, he got those ten coins and your profit. So effectively, he only has something to gain from this. He has nothing to lose at this point. So he did a low risk, high reward, or lowish reward, but still reward. So he's like, that's why he made that bet. But I think there's something more to it. And hala talks about how wolves will sometimes hunt their prey from like, cliff tops. They'll go up on top of mountaineer cliff and watch their prey move around and try and get a new angle to see where their prey is going to go. It's like that kind of plays a similar way that this guy is dealing with the market and rumors. He's like, ah, maybe they're suggesting that new money will inflation just to spread the rumor. So people get all of those coins to hope for an increase in the purity. But when those coins don't actually they can benefit from selling those coins to other people. Something like that. I got real lost here.
Yeah, at this point, I was like, we've talked about money so much this episode, and it's also the last episode. I don't need to retain much of this.
Show me more wolf titties.
If I actually had any idea about economics or accounting, do you think I'd go into some job in La and not be an actual accountant somewhere in a stable city? Anyway, sorry, that's my personal baggage for this episode. Anyway, I think they were insinuating that they were spreading rumors about these coins to try and do what they did here. We're either making profit off of rumors or by trading these coins to people who want to get in. It pretty much is like, bitcoin like we joked about it, but it essentially is like, hey, there's going to be a big increase in this specific coin. Buy in now and then everyone buys in, and then nothing happens with that coin while you reap the benefits of selling that coin earlier.
So would you like to invest in ye old gamestop?
Let me tell you about the blockchain and how it's destroying our planet. Anyway, Lawrence gets excited and runs off. So he's got an idea. He's either going to profit from it or find this guy and kick his ass and get his money back. I guess because that's where episode three ends.
It's definitely interesting. Definitely agree with noting that. Yeah, this is a more mature anime, but got way too bogged down by economics. I assume more entertaining stuff will happen later on, but I didn't hate this show. I just think it got a little too specific for something I wasn't super into.
Yeah, if this was just about Lawrence and Hollow traveling together and having a nice time, I'd be into it. But because they talk so much about economics and money, I'm like.
Yeah, it felt very reminiscent of sweetness and Lightning and Food Wars, where they got very into the nitty gritty of the food and the specific process of making the dish. And for us, that's interesting. We enjoy cooking. Well, you guys enjoy cooking. I am terrible at it, but it's this kind of same thing where it's like, I am interested in cooking to a point, and with some of it with Food Wars, it got to that point and beyond that where I'm like, I don't care anymore. So same thing with this. I'm interested in the economics and the world, building of this world to a point, but by episode three, it's exhausted at that point. It is cool seeing the detail they're putting in the world. And it isn't just a charmed. ah, to be a peasant merchant traveling around in a fantasy medieval times. Like, nah. You can kind of see the struggle of he's sleeping in his cart for the third night in a row. If it rains, he's fucked all the struggle. Then I'm like, that was kind of refreshing because I've definitely thought about just, what if I was a lumberjack in the woods? No, I would die. That can't happen. I would die immediately.
Realistic expectations.
Yeah. It also reminded me a lot of one of my favorite series, the Ancient maggots Bride, where I would say the difference is, instead of a sexy wolf goddess that's naked most of the time, the Ancient maggots is just a big old crazy bone monster teaching the girl about instead of economics.
Yeah, he is.
No, but instead of getting into the nitty gritty about economics, they get into the nitty gritty about magic, which is interesting because it has no real world application and it's just filling up space in my brain. But for some reason, that's more compelling to me. But it had very similar vibes to it, where they were very much building the world as much as they were of the characters. And I could definitely see the appeal of it. And if it hooks you early on and yeah, the light novel series might be more compelling than the actual anime. I could definitely see how you could get deeply invested in this world.
Yeah, the realism aspect was very good because I thought it was going to be more of like in the first episode, kind of set it up like, yeah, road trip, take me home. So I was like, okay, cool. Adventure. But, yeah, I've brought up Patrick rothfuss twice. Because I do genuinely enjoy the Name of the Wind and the King Killer chronicles. And a lot of that is just like, I have to pay off my student loans. How do I make money? God, I'm broke. I'm living on the street. I have this many of this coin turn into that coin and if I get two of those, I will be able to live comfortably. I like that to a degree. But when it turns into money speculation and it is definitely better done than, hey, yeah, capitalism rules. Fuck the man. Or fuck everyone except me. Seven prodigies. That was bad. This at least you can tell they're like building to something and isn't just like, yeah, I'm amazing at business, look at me. So they are setting up like this seems like this could be a plot of the trading company and it will get into that point. And we also have them discussing like, oh, time is money versus nature. inspires humans and sort of getting into like, yeah, society is advancing, the world is changing. We're becoming more money focused and less nature focused. What an interesting dynamic between a merchant and agriculture god. So I see what they're doing. I can tell they are building to something and it's written so well, I trust that they will be able to pull it off. But as of these last two episodes, it just got a little too bogged down.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see it's of another anime I enjoy. But it's like the difference of like sword art online where I was like, you got stuck in a video game, now you got to fight your way out and Log Horizon where it's like you got stuck in or you get stuck in a video game. Let's rebuild our society. Let's start a new form of government. And it gets similar situation where it gets bogged down in the weeds with the very nitty gritty details. But if you're interested in that, it's super compelling. If you're not as into the details, you can get turned off on it real quick. I think we agree we could see this working better as a book than an anime.
Yes. Because also so refreshing. The dynamic between Lawrence and Hollow is playfully flirting in a way that they both acknowledge like, yeah, we're not actually going to fuck. At least at this point. I assume they're falling in love later on. But it's just so refreshing that she's not every point being like, I saw you checking out my tails. They're all jealous idiots. It's what you do.
And.
She is just so well written and their dynamic is witty and playful. It was very refreshing to see this.
I expected this to kind of be like elfin lead, both less gore. Just from the pictures I've seen those spice wolf like she's going to be a very diminutive little please help and take care of me sort of thing. And then when she wakes up and say, yo, you got food or booze? Let's get crawled. I was like, oh, okay. She's party town. That's not the personality I expected. So, yeah, I agree. There was a refreshing take on this.
Yeah.
A reluctant I can see why this is popular, but a little too specific in details we in particular don't care about.
Yeah, not for me.
Yeah, not for me. Still good, though.
Will I look up fan fiction?
Well, hey, now, also, I did check off Edo on the bingo card because he's voiced by J. Michael tate.
Technically fanfare, I'll give you that.
He's in it.
Well, what do we have going on next week?
Let me tell you, it's special because not only are we having a guest, we're watching a big one. We're going to watch cowboy bebop with my good pal Matt swain, aka the yerba mateo on twitch. It is one of his favorite anime, so I wanted to have him on for it and he picked the episodes. We're doing something different. We're watching 117 and Five, in that order.
Weird. I'm so glad we can finally dick into some niche anime I've never heard of. So, yeah, this will be a fun time.
A real hidden gem. A real class.
I've never heard of it.
If you have any diamonds in the rough that you want us to watch, you can send your recommendations to us, our email is arwibaria@gmail.com, or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram at rweebeveryet on both. You can brain buffered for a second. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan and listen to my newest podcast. Besides, now you can find me on.
Instagram at honey, period. D on Twitter at honey D. Eight and Honey dart or on twitch at Honey D. And Honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E.
You can find me on Twitter. abts Brendan. It stands for Almost Better Than Silence, which is a video game podcast where I lament about playing Binding of Isaac for the last two months. Nothing else.
Lament about all those hours you loved.
It's like, 830 now. It's a great game.
Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork, and thank you to Louisong for our theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.
Woof. woof.
Where'S my furry account of.