Rating: B+
With this episode, this take on the source novels begins its adaptation of the second novel. It equates to episode 8 of the original series, since the original episode 7 was only released on DVD and adapts a short story which comes up later in the novels (but chronologically happens between novels 1 and 2). More importantly, it introduces a character who will play a major role throughout the second arc: the shepherdess Noa.
Actually, “introduces” may be overstating the case, since she only briefly appears at the beginning of the episode as an enigmatic cloaked figure and then again at the end as she encounters Lawrence and Holo – and in this version, she doesn’t even have a line of dialog. Still, bringing her into the picture explains her prominence in both the opener and closer. It also makes for an interesting reveal: she is the kind of human that Holo hates the most. Given who Holo is, it’s not hard to understand why, but this also carries a double meaning. Proclaiming shepherds to be the basest enemies of wolves is not a stretch, but the fact that this one is female – and a very young, pretty woman at that – was almost certainly not lost on Holo, too. Wise as she may be, Holo is also a very emotional being, so petty, unfounded jealousy would certainly not be out of character for her.
Some of the gossip that Lawrence and Holo hear prior to encountering Noa is also interesting here. Tales are being spread of a sorcerer in the area who controls wolves. If “keep wolves at bay” can be interpreted as controlling them, then a skilled shepherd could, to those not knowledgeable about the profession, seem to have almost mystical abilities. Shepherds also traditionally exist at the fringes of society because of the nature of their occupation, and throughout the real Middle Ages individuals on the fringes were the ones most commonly targeted by accusations of witchcraft. Hence supernatural traits being attributed to a shepherd is quite believable. Or is there something more about Noa than immediately meets the eye? One of the main characters is the human form of a giant wolf, after all.
But future episodes will deal more with that. More immediately, Holo gets another opportunity to help Lawrence put one over on a merchant, this time one who was using a slightly tilted table to reap an advantage in a trade agreement concerning Lawrence’s pepper. While it is another opportunity for both characters to be clever, the merchant’s reaction to Lawrence’s insistence on taking his new goods in armor seems a little suspicious. Lawrence takes the armor with the intent of selling it in the city of Ruvinheigen, where annual crusades against pagans start, but that’s not the only vague inkling that something may be going on market-wise that Lawrence doesn’t know about. A second clue comes in the presence of mercenaries moving south from Ruvinheigen. This version does not elaborate on the significance of this point like the original does, but still, the fact that mercenaries would be moving south when, theoretically, a crusade should be gathering also seems suspicious. This smells like the seeds of an upcoming crisis, as does the not-so-casual reference to packs of wolves in the area. Holo can likely deal with them without issue, but that also seems like a significant point.
On the whole, this version covers the same territory and major points as the original adaptation, but here we start to see more variance in the details. This version includes some details from the source novel that the original skipped over (such as the bit about Holo having met “Saint” Ruvinheigen long in the past) but omits others that the original version does include (such as the aforementioned elaboration on the significance of the mercenaries). It also presents some of the same information in different ways and under different circumstances, though these differences are not meaningful to the overall story. Most notably, the scene where Lawrence and Holo are talking in the room in the inn before going to see the merchant about the pepper continues a trend in this adaptation of portraying Holo in a more playful, cutesy fashion. That gives Holo a bit of a different allure here compared to the original, but in this case it’s not a negative.
What opportunities will arise with meeting the shepherdess? And what seemingly-innocuous details spilled in this episode are going to become important later on? Come back next week to find out!
USA Anime 