Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” is quite the revelation of an episode. Not really for us, but for Kraft Lawrence. For this is the episode in which he finally realizes what his feelings for Holo truly are.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve”: Details

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF NA key visual.
Alas, Holo barely appears in this episode at all.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” is the 18th episode (you can check out my reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, Ep. 10, Ep. 11, Ep. 12, Ep. 13, Ep. 14, Ep. 15, Ep. 16, and Ep. 17 here) of season 1 (which hopefully won’t be the only one) of this economic fantasy reboot anime series by studio Passione (Citrus, Mieruko-chan, Yuri Is My Job!).

Said anime series is the reboot of the 2008 anime Spice and Wolf by studios Imagin (season 1) and the duo of Brain’s Base and Marvy Jack (season 2). Said original anime series (along with this reboot) are the anime adaptations of the light novel series of the same name by Isuna Hasekura (World End Economica, Magdala de Nemure). Crunchyroll is the company licensing this anime for its NA release.

Production Credits

Kuzuma Ogasawara is the director behind Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve”, with Yukito Kizawa as the writer, and Takeo Takahashi as the storyboarder. As for the Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF anime as a whole, we do still know that Hijiri Sanpei is the director. Takeo Takahashi is actually returning from the original 2008 anime series as the chief director. Tatsuhiko Urahata is the overall writer, with Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss, Tower of God, Bye Bye, Earth) as the composer for the music you hear in this reboot anime.

Voice Cast

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” features the voices of  Jun Fukuyama (J. Michael Tatum in English dub) as Kraft Lawrence and Ami Koshimizu (Brina Palencia in English dub) as Holo the Wise Wolf. Other notable voices in this episode include Akeno Watanabe (Colleen Clinkenbeard in English dub) as Dian “Dian Rubensm, Rikiya Koyama (Ian Sinclair in English dub) as Marc Cole, and Saeko Chiba (Ryan Reynolds in English dub) as Fermi Amarti.

When and Where to Watch

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on July 29, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this reboot anime as a whole only on Crunchyroll for now. If you want to watch the original 2008 Spice and Wolf anime for comparison, then you can do that on Crunchyroll as well.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve”: Synopsis

We barely even see anything of Holo’s face in this episode.

Alas, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” only just made its debut yesterday as of this writing. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis from Crunchyroll instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can read that synopsis below:

Lawrence seeks help from Mr. Batos to acquire pyrite from the alchemists. When he speaks with Diana, she makes him an offer…

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve”: The Good

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 "Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve" episode visual by Jū Ayakura.
Thankfully, Jū Ayakura pulls through for us once more, even if neither of them look happy in this art.

Once more, it’s the story of Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” that keeps me glued to the screen. All because of the high-stakes economic drama of this episode. No, it’s not like the world will be destroyed if Kraft loses this economic duel. However, what he will lose is the love of his life. Yes, this is the episode in which Kraft finally realizes that he’s in love with Holo, and about time too. It’s been 17 episodes, after all. Only on the 18th does he realize that Holo is the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with. By now, you can tell that Isuna Hasekura likes playing the long game when it comes to romance stories, which this most definitely qualifies as.

Fortunately, the animation of this episode is a great complement to that story. Passione continue to maintain a pretty high level of animation quality in this episode. It’s not quite feature-length anime film levels of quality like Black Butler -Public School Arc-. However, it’s pretty close. I can even excuse the low-ish quality of the food here since it’s all distant shots. You can excuse low quality animation for those shots.

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve”: The Bad

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 "Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve" screenshot showing Fermi and Holo standing together.
Well, this is definitely not a good scene.

Alas, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF Ep. 18 “Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve” is not the episode for action junkies. In fact, much of this anime isn’t for anyone who likes high-intensity action. If you want that, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, and/or The Elusive Samurai. Those anime series would satisfy any action junkie out there.