Recap: Shiroe implements Phase One of his devious plan: opening a food stall.

Iro’s Thoughts:
Did you still think this show wasn’t going to be about money and economics? You were wrong! We have a rather fun episode this week as the Crescent Moon Alliance opens their food stand, causing the entire Akibahara player base to explode into a frenzy of eating. It’s rather funny how something as relatively mundane as proper food is treated with such gravitas, but it also makes sense in context. I can’t think of many better ways to make money in-universe (other than the exploitation the Hamelin guild is doing), considering this is exactly what restaurants do in real life; people are willing to pay a premium for decent food. It also draws an noteworthy contrast with Sword Art Online, wherein cooking worked like you might expect it to in an MMO (that is, picking ingredients from a menu), making the entire question of food mostly a non-issue.

What I’m not sure sure of is the end goal of Shiroe’s plan. Of course, the audience has to be kept in the dark thanks to the sanctity of unspoken plans (in short, if we knew the plan it would be a spoiler). Considering the emphasis placed on every building in the game being up for purchase, my best guess is that Shiroe plans to buy the building that seems to have access to all of the guild halls, thus giving him control over all of them to lease out. Does that make a ton of sense? Probably not, but it seems plausible. I’m interested in seeing where this goes.