Why? Because you are not solely whining about the fact that there was not enough Holo(Ugh!) in this episode like in other forums, but rather appreciate the complex transactions and trading strategies taking place. *Thumbs up*
For those who are still confused, these were the best explanatory notes so far imo:
Spoiler for Explanations regarding the transactions:
Quote:
Originally Posted by velvet nightmare
wanted to summarize the transactions this episode for those people who got confused by it, took me 3-4 watches of their discussions to figure out what they did.
ok so initially with amarti owes 1000 silver to lawrence for 'buying' horo. therefore he has to raise funds.
lawrence's current contracts
+500 -received now with the promise to pay back amarti with 500 worth of pyrite the next day
-500 -uses the 500 he received to buy the pyrite he will eventually have to pay back to amarti the next day. he tried to get mark to do it for him using his connections but he refused to stake his reputation, so now lawrence has to do it him self with alchemists. purchase has to be made discreetly as to not destabilize the market with a massive 1 time purchase of 500 worth of pyrite
+500 - 500 = 0, today lawrence's net position is 0 and has 500 worth of pyrite in his pocket
therefore next day:
1) lawrence fails and prices go up -he will have to give back 500 worth of pyrite even though he could have sold it for lets say 1000 if he were not in the contract. therefore lawrence gets nothing and amarti gains 500 and horo
2) the rumor succeeds and pyrite prices plummet. -lawrence gives the 500 pyrite to amarti now worth 0 let's say. lawrence's net position is still 0, and from amarti's perspective he gave away 500 silver the night before for nothing
the clincher is that amarti still owes lawrence the 1000 silver for horo though he is now short 500 from his original position
based on the letter horo left for lawrence, it said that amarti had 700 silver in assets. so if market prices for pyrite goes up, it'll (should) push him over 1000 mark easily without him doing anything, however, if prices go to 0, he's now at 700-500=200 way below what he actually needs
i'm 70% sure this is what's going on though i could be mistaken because lawrence doesnt make actual 'profits' as he is reducing someone else's
in any case after watching the middle part again where lawrence gets the message from horo, i can say that she effectively 'raised the stakes' for all parties. so lawrence now knows more about amarti's position allowing him to take advantage of it, but at the same time he will lose the ability to ever be with horo again b/c she will be locked into marriage (compared to before where she was just freed?)
Quote:
Originally Posted by bladeofdarkness
lawrence promised him 500 worth of pyret at its CURRENT price on credit
if the prices drop then lawrence gives him something worth LESS then 500 (because it was originally worth 500, before the price drop)
and he gets 500 anyway because its the promised figure
but if the prices raise then lawrence gives him something worth MORE then 500 and only gets 500 for it
and the reason why i think he is doing this is because that way he takes away Amarti's OTHER means of payment (money) , and making him depend entirely on pyret (merchandise)
so if the value of the merchandise drops, Armati cant pay up
Quote:
Originally Posted by golthin
the 500 in credit is part of his strategy but not all of it. lawrence also will sell pyret to lower the price so it cuts in the profits of amati and helps him because he only need to give the set amount of pyret regardless of the price. the only reason Amati accepted this lousy deal was out of pride, as lawrence baited him into anger. much like Amati baited lawrence before with his contract.
I enjoyed this episode a lot since it concentrates on the sesond "main pillar" of this show, the business of a traveling merchant in medieval times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wOoOzZy
Horo ftw. It'll be a cold day in hell before I write Holo.
Well, you know that there is this theory that "hell" is actually bitterly cold, since its the place farthest away from god, which in turn represents the brightness of life and love.
If the series were simply 'fox girl ecchi', that can be found many other places. A story driven by WHAT the people are doing (trading/smuggling) and how their personalities mesh (romance/friendship/companionship) while they're doing it is simply much more interesting any day of the week than "o look her skirt is up again" or "whee, she's onscreen!" done ad nauseum.
btw did she sign the contract with her name using 'R' or 'L'
rofl, should that settle the way to spell horo's name? (i use R)
she signed as "HOLO". It is spelled Holo in English and Horo in japanese.
It sounds "Horo" in the japanese sound, so we will see when it is released on US DVD how the English Dub will pronounce it.
she signed as "HOLO". It is spelled Holo in English and Horo in japanese.
It sounds "Horo" in the japanese sound, so we will see when it is released on US DVD how the English Dub will pronounce it.
No, it doesn't. Japanese phoneme used in ロ is neither English "r" or "l", but it's similar to either, so both romanizations "ro" and "lo" are used, and both are valid. There is no single correct way to write it. Personally I prefer Horo, but that's because I'm used to Hepburn romanization method. In the original materials they seem to prefer "Holo" romanization. Well, It's one of those "whatever rocks your boat" kind of things.
Location: In the frozen wastes of the Province of Quebec, Canada.
Age: 48
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nenkitsune
god I feel stupid. It took me a half hour to figure out exactly how his plan works.
Don't beat yourself up over it, plenty of people didn't get it at first. I might not have if I hadn't known of this beforehand. The economics of the show are simplified but it's still economics.
You know what'S the bauty of it? Lawrence didn't even have the Pyrite he sold Amati yet.
Let's take Nenkitsune's example. Say the rocks dropped to pennies-in-price tomorrow. Good. Now Lawrence has enough to buy a whole bunch of rocks; however, let's say he only purchases 4 and keeps the rest of the of the remaining 4 dollars to himself. He's made a lot of money while Amati has been ripped off.
On the other hand, if the rocks rise in price, then Lawrence will be hard-pressed to even purchase 4 rocks with the money he has. He can't pay Amati back tomorrow, hence he's in debt. So basically, Lawrence loses if he isn't able to crash the pyrite market by tomorrow.
So, does that mean Lawrence's plan is to basically use the 500 silver he got from Amati to buy pyrite cheaply from the alchemists, and then flood it in the market to reduce the prices dramatically before tomorrow?
Last edited by Yuutsu; 2009-08-04 at 20:44.
Reason: Small error in one of the sentences.
Location: In the frozen wastes of the Province of Quebec, Canada.
Age: 48
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yuutsu
So, does that mean Lawrence's plan is to basically use the 500 silver he got from Amati to buy pyrite cheaply from the alchemists, and then flood it in the market to reduce the prices dramatically before tomorrow?
Almost. There's also the bit about spreading rumors that people should start selling wheat soon.
See, the Pyrite isn't why the merchants are flooding the city, it's just a profitable sideline, a bubble, and everyone knows it. Merchants are there for the foodstuffs. Flour and wheat are the main event.
If Lawrence can drive down the price even a wee little bit, other merchants will start selling too to gather much needed capital to buy what they really came for. This would have the effect of driving the price down even further, so others are then forced to sell their own stocks to cut their losses. Prices go down even faster. The beauty of this plan? Lawrence isn't doing the heavy lifting, the market is doing most of the work for him.
Lawrence is basically trying to make an entire city dance to his tune. Working with an half-formed plan, borrowed capital and pure ballsiness. In the course of a single night.
No, it doesn't. Japanese phoneme used in ロ is neither English "r" or "l", but it's similar to either, so both romanizations "ro" and "lo" are used, and both are valid. There is no single correct way to write it. Personally I prefer Horo, but that's because I'm used to Hepburn romanization method. In the original materials they seem to prefer "Holo" romanization. Well, It's one of those "whatever rocks your boat" kind of things.
But regardless it should still be pronounced like Horo. But I highly doubt they will.
I can picture it now. They will Rap the introduction to it. GOTO GO GOTO GO! HEAD NORTH, don't give up HOLO, go NORTH DON'T GIVE IT UP HOLO YOITSU, ITS STILL THERE HOLO! DON'T GIVE GIVE IT UP GIVE IT UP! HERES HOW THE STORY GOES WE FIND OUT HOW THERES A WOLF GODESS in PASROE THERES NO DOUBT, THERE'S A MERCHANT NAMED LAWRENCE YOU KNOW WHAT HE'LL SING I'LL BE KING OF THE MERCHANTS, I'M GONNA BE KING! HER NAM'E'S HOLO SHES JUST LIKE A WOLFY GOD and M-E-R-CHANT LAWRENCE ISN'T SHY!
But anyway I just love the quiet intensity that builds in this episode.
...
I can picture it now. They will Rap the introduction to it. GOTO GO GOTO GO! HEAD NORTH, don't give up HOLO, go NORTH DON'T GIVE IT UP HOLO YOITSU, ITS STILL THERE HOLO! DON'T GIVE GIVE IT UP GIVE IT UP! HERES HOW THE STORY GOES WE FIND OUT HOW THERES A WOLF GODESS in PASROE THERES NO DOUBT, THERE'S A MERCHANT NAMED LAWRENCE YOU KNOW WHAT HE'LL SING I'LL BE KING OF THE MERCHANTS, I'M GONNA BE KING! HER NAM'E'S HOLO SHES JUST LIKE A WOLFY GOD and M-E-R-CHANT LAWRENCE ISN'T SHY!
ARRRGGHH.... anything but no rap please!
I would rather expect a "gospel song", "chants" or a similar prayerful song.
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