[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something.” – Jackie Mason.

[C], an anime series with one of the shortest titles around (unless you count the extra-long subheading) is something of a mixed bag. Bits of it are great, but other moments can be a tad annoying. There is one notable thing about this show however, in that this is the first title to be streamed on Anime on Demand that has not been released by Kaze. Could MVM handle a release better than them?

The series follows 19-year-old student Kimimaro Yogi, who just wants a normal life. At the moment he is at an economics school while holding down two part time jobs, so money is an issue. One day he is visited by a mysterious white-faced, top-hatted man called Masakaki, who works for the Bank of Midas. He offers Kimimaro the chance of becoming one of the bank’s entrepreneurs (Entres for short) and gives him a considerable sum of money, using Kimimaro’s own future as collateral. When Kimimaro withdraws some of the cash, Masakaki takes him to the otherworldly “Financial District”.

In this realm, Entres fight each other in “Deals” using “Assets” – various different monsters with different powers. Kimimaro’s Asset is Mashu, a horned girl, who controls fire. The object is to come out with the most money at the end of the fight. The more you have, the better your future will be. But if you lose, your future becomes worse. If you lose everything, you become “Bankrupt”, are expelled from the Financial District, and all hope of a good future is gone. This usually results in either death for yourself or people close to you dying or not even existing.

As Kimimaro continues to makes deals, he discovers the influence the Financial District and the Bank of Midas have in the real world, as Midas Money flows into our world. Eventually the entire economy begins to become unstable, which could result in not just the economy, but the whole of Japan having no future at all.

In terms of plot, [C] does make for an interesting story. The idea of this other world having a destructive influence on our own is a good one. Also, the competition element is clever too. I recently wrote about “Death Games” and that this series is one of them. However, in this story rather than just simply dying yourself, a wide range of different things can happen if you lose. Friends and family can vanish from reality, or just leave you as relationships break down. However, death is still the usual end result for the loser, whether it is suicide, an accident or some other method. In terms of other plus points the soundtrack is good, and certain aspects of the animation, especially the more traditional parts or the more cyber-like sections (for want of a better term) are good.

However, other aspects of the animation are very poor. The worst is the 3D digital animation. The characters, especially Masakaki do not move realistically at all. Watching these bits is a drag.

In comparison to other AOD releases, there appear to be no problems with the subtitles as with past Kaze releases. The only issue is one slight jump in the animation in the third episode, but it is nothing major. It is certain better than past Kaze releases I can think of.

Regarding extras, there iare clean opening and closing sequences, U.S. trailers, and two episode commentaries.

[C] is not perfect by any means, but the things it gets right outweigh the bad moments. It is worth putting the effort into watching.