Sometimes the anime series that you think will turn out to be just average can really surprise you.
[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control looked to be one of your more predictable series. A college student enters a strange world called The Financial District, a parallel reality to our own, wherein all-out matches called "deals" take place and black-colored notes known as "Midas money" are used as currency.
Kimimaro, an economics major, struggles to get by on a scholarship and two part-time conbini jobs when one day he is initiated into the Financial District. Players in the Financial District, known as "Entres" (short for entrepreneur), are initially given a large amount of capital to play with. However, in accepting the money, they are told that they will mortgage their "future." Going bankrupt in the Financial District means that you lose your "future" - an event that takes shape in various harrowing forms, seemingly individualized to the unfortunate Entre.
Another aspect of the Financial District is that Midas money has ominously begun to circulate in the real world - but only Entres can recognize the black notes. To everyone else, they look like ordinary currency.
I thought the art design for [C] was dazzling and then found out [C]'s director is Kenji Nakamura, who directed the wild art style of Mononoke - so that certainly makes sense. ;)
[C] is visually arresting, but its most compelling aspect is its examination of the power that we give money: how money holds such primacy in our minds, how its absence or presence can warp individuals and destroy souls. Each episode so far has been a surprising think piece. Early on, Kimimaro tells Souichiro Mikuni, one of the prime movers of the Financial District, that he only wants what he calls a normal life for himself in the real world someday: a decent job, a nice family life with a wife and child.
We expect Mikuni to accept this, maybe even praise the young man for his humility and modest goals; but instead he chides Kimimaro, telling him that the money he, Mikuni, has made and circulated throughout Japan has helped countless others - implying that Kimimaro is actually selfish in setting his sights on taking the middle road through life.
You know, I thought about that scene all week.
