Spice and Wolf - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[X207]

those dirty dogs , i hope they get the punishment they deserve. ep5 e wont seem to have too much action. i feel that it will expose the medioh company and they'll be fine if the church lets them escape.

[Anh_Minh]

I still don't understand the scheme.

If they want to cause a panic and get the silver the merchants were hoarding for cheap - OK, I can see that, even though it seems like a lot of effort and risk for not that much profit.

But what does Milone's company gain by hoarding it too? And early, at that?

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I still don't understand the scheme.

If they want to cause a panic and get the silver the merchants were hoarding for cheap - OK, I can see that, even though it seems like a lot of effort and risk for not that much profit.

But what does Milone's company gain by hoarding it too? And early, at that?

Hmm well I may not have it fully grasped but will take my own guess. If you have all these merchants gathering a weakening currency. So they spend the money to get it. Eventually find out that the currency they gathered is losing worth so will want to get rid of it even at a loss, better than holding onto a currency that's losing value. All that is pretty easy.

Now maybe the plan is to hold onto the currency until it increases in value again. At that point you'll have a large amount of a strong currency and it cost you little to acquire it. A big company can probably afford to hold onto a weak currency until that time. Now can they encourage it so the currency gets stronger quickly? Or maybe I'm completely off base and my being unfamiliar with economics is coming back to haunt me.

Now something a little easier to understand. Death to those who cut Horo's hair !

[Anh_Minh]

Yes, that's what I understood too. That doesn't explain why the Milone company's trying to hoard it now, before its value takes a massive dive because of the conned merchants panicking. Because, even if it doesn't happen exactly like the Medioh company planned and the merchants don't panic, the value of the coins is still going to decrease because of the lowered silver content.

[X207]

who here aside from me thinks that they're bluffing about calling the church? they want to give lawrence a strong desire to come save horo and also the caped person wants to talk with her.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Now something a little easier to understand. Death to those who cut Horo's hair !

You say that, but if someone offers to sell you a fur coat made from her fur/hair for a low price of $10, what would you do?

Oh, and no killing and stealing allowed.

1. Kill the man and lose the coat. Horo's sacrifice is for naught
2. Buy the coat gladly and leave peacefully.

[Vexx]

The scheme is *supposed* to sound like the scheme often used with stocks that routinely sucks small investors dry.
1) Some analysts moan about a stock.
2) "Based on that" some institutional brokers sell a sufficient amount -- it triggers selling programs and other institutions also sell...price dives.
3) Then small buyers panic and sell at heavy losses.
4) Original institution scarfs up all the stocks at such a bargain that they *still* make a profit --- AND the value later returns ==the coinage can either be melted to a new coin).

Its a bit cagey... but otherwise I'd have to agree that hoarding coins *now* sounds a bit daft because they aren't exactly like stocks.

edit: The reason they're going on about the fur is that it is specifically wolf-colored (red, white, black elements). The marten pelts were a darker color. Of course, the problem with serenade's scenario is that you can't make a fur anything out of clipped hair - it requires the skin underneath. O.o So unless Horo can reinstantiate, I'd kill the sob and give the coat a funeral pyre.

[ApostleOfGod]

Every episode gets more interesting... I guess this the main story plot / arc? The fight against Medio Company... In any case, I think that caped person is probably one of the names she mentioned while talking about her dream to Lawrence, you know, one of those people that she doesn't see no more when she wakes up. Maybe a wolf companion, that's my guess, otherwise I don't know how the Medio company would know about Horo's identity.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

You say that, but if someone offers to sell you a fur coat made from her fur/hair for a low price of $10, what would you do?

Oh, and no killing and stealing allowed.

1. Kill the man and lose the coat. Horo's sacrifice is for naught
2. Buy the coat gladly and leave peacefully.

Damn that is evil. Must destroy those who take Horo's fur, but that is nice fur....*brain shut down*

*5 minutes later* Ok I'm back. Pretty simple plan. Considering the fact that the amount of fur to make a coat would be quite large. Just a small bit for a letter is bad, this is something unforgivable. So yes the man must die.

Besides if I actually took something that was stolen from Horo I'd have to destroy myself, and that's immoral . Be happy to have a coat like that if it wasn't stolen. It's only a sacrifice if it's voluntary.

[TooPurePureBoy]

The cloaked person is Chloe!! I don't know that to be true but something tells me not to trust those shifty eyes

[Serenity85]

Finally saw the sub^^ Once again excellent ep^^ Gotta feel for Horo, being alone for so long, having lost all th friends she knew and be forgoten, thats so harsh. She clearly isn't faking to tease Lawrence why would she set up such a plow like this. Lol gotta love those red eyes in the dark, and poor Lawrence^^ was so close to giving in^^

I was almost angry with Yuerh (or whatever his name is) the way he was just gonna ignore Horo, but it looks like he might be good guy still^^ I wonder how those goons were able to nab Horo? They seemed so scared of her when she was growling at them so its hard to believe they successfully nabbed her... or maybe...

Spoiler for Theory^^:

This was semi intentional? It was clear her plan got Lawrence savely to Milone but what if she wanted to get into Midoreh? Why? Maybe to find out why they are being targeted. If what Yuerh said is true they should know a hostage of her stats would not stop them, so why target Lawrence?

The clocked person is at least female that I think most can agree on. Who, well we won't know till nexted ep in a week, but we do know Horo knows her which doesn't provide anymore useful lol. It could be one of Horo pact mates (thou I dought this unless there really is more ppl like her ) and it could still very well be Chloe cause Horo would still reconise (she must of seen her on a number of occastions while watching the wheat)

This is one of a few animes I've seen where waiting each week is so hard^^ You just wanna know what will hap.

Ya I think the Coin ark will end at 6 like ppl have said (in this thread and others^^) and the next ark will most likely be about both their pasts and what Horo actually is (cause she really isn't a GOD^^ just a really unique person you can't help but love^^)

[Vexx]

Quite a few people are speculating it is one of her wolf companions. I can't quite rule that out but it just makes less storyline sense to me at the moment. However, Chloe specifically states she considers Horo a fantasy in ep 1 ... so we'll have to see if she got enlightened by the old gentleman at the barn door at the end of that ep or something.

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Vexx

The scheme is *supposed* to sound like the scheme often used with stocks that routinely sucks small investors dry.
1) Some analysts moan about a stock.
2) "Based on that" some institutional brokers sell a sufficient amount -- it triggers selling programs and other institutions also sell...price dives.
3) Then small buyers panic and sell at heavy losses.
4) Original institution scarfs up all the stocks at such a bargain that they *still* make a profit --- AND the value later returns ==the coinage can either be melted to a new coin).

Its a bit cagey... but otherwise I'd have to agree that hoarding coins *now* sounds a bit daft because they aren't exactly like stocks.

Something like this:

1. Spread rumors about the value increasing (opposite of the first step).
2. Get merchants to hoard their currency in expectation of profit, like Zeiren.
3. Wait for it to hit the fan. Once news gets out that the value has in fact decreased, relieve the merchants of their stockpile in exchange for a strong currency.
4. Hold onto it all until it increases in value again or an exchange system is offered, in the event that currency goes extinct.

The ones hoping to make a profit aren't holding anything now - they're waiting for the value to bottom out before swooping in.

Imagine buying a wheelbarrow full of American money with Canadian money now, while the exchange rate is nearly 1:1. If, in a decade or so, the American currency returns to its former recent value 1:1.47, buy a wheelbarrow and a half of Canadian money. Buy low, sell high.


I find it interesting that Chloe was talking to Lawrence about a good scheme only shortly before all this surfaced

[Echoes]

That certainly was excellent. Even more-so than I had expected.

Horo never ceases to amaze me. I was honestly surprised when she revealed her vulnerability and loneliness. I think they're doing a great job portraying a personality that has been molded over several hundred years, Horo has more sides to her than a dodecahedron.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Quite a few people are speculating it is one of her wolf companions. I can't quite rule that out but it just makes less storyline sense to me at the moment. However, Chloe specifically states she considers Horo a fantasy in ep 1 ... so we'll have to see if she got enlightened by the old gentleman at the barn door at the end of that ep or something.

Yeah having one of Horo's comrades show up out of the blue doesn't feel right to me. Besides I doubt they would organize something for her capture, unless they had worse experiences than she did over the years.

Does seem like Chloe may be part of this scheme. But uncertain about the Horo connection since as you say she wasn't exactly the one most believing in her. Even sneaking out when she was supposed to be in that barn. She should have plenty of knowledge about Horo, but information about her change of mind about her existence would need explaining.

Really can't help but want to see next week's episode right now.

[Ultenth]

By the way, just thought I'd mention, if you post something that is a spoiler, please put notes as to what it is in regards to so people can figure out if they should click it or not. I guess I should just stop reading this forums in general though, I've already had tons of stuff spoiled about this show that I'm pretty upset about, by people who have read the manga/novel and don't use spoiler tags properly (and a couple times not using them at all).

[Masanori Ota]

Originally Posted by Ultenth

By the way, just thought I'd mention, if you post something that is a spoiler, please put notes as to what it is in regards to so people can figure out if they should click it or not. I guess I should just stop reading this forums in general though, I've already had tons of stuff spoiled about this show that I'm pretty upset about, by people who have read the manga/novel and don't use spoiler tags properly (and a couple times not using them at all).

Oops, sorry dood. I know what you mean. We just get caught up in the excitement, that's all.

[Darklightz]

That was a great episode.

I'm not surprised the Milone company refused to help Horo, they probably still won't even after hearing she's the Horo of legends. After all they're a foreign company who will probably be disliked by many local merchants if the Medioh company has anything to say about it.

As for Horo getting nabbed, remember that this is DBZ or anythign like that. She may be a sort of protector wolf-god, but it's not like she had a wide range of magical powers. So she'll definitely need Lawrence to get her out of this jam. And I"m pretty sure it's Chloe that showed up at the end. Who else would Horo recognize and be involved in a merchant company?

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Darklightz

As for Horo getting nabbed, remember that this is DBZ or anythign like that. She may be a sort of protector wolf-god, but it's not like she had a wide range of magical powers. So she'll definitely need Lawrence to get her out of this jam. And I"m pretty sure it's Chloe that showed up at the end. Who else would Horo recognize and be involved in a merchant company?

I don't think DBZ would be related. But remember she has some wheat with her. All she needs to do is eat some and she can take those guys apart. Though perhaps she doesn't want to use any if she can help it. Best would be Lawrence coming to get her out, but if she has to take things into her own hands she may decide to.

[Holy Knight]

For looking like such a mischievous person, Horo's ears are a total give away. Thats cute.