C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control / First Impressions / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「マトリョーシカ」 (Matryoshka) by NICO Touches the Walls
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼

「complication （複雑）」 (Fukuzatsu)

Money is power. Money is the root of all evil. That’s the theme in this supernatural finance series. At least, that’s the impression I got seeing a debt-ridden businessman making a deal with devil at a bank ATM, complete with an evil sounding machine voice, 666, and demonic taxi driver. I didn’t really know what exactly I was getting into before this episode, since the subject matter was unusual, but the potential is exciting. Mikuni Souichirou, who looks like some slick salesperson, is introduced along with Q who just seems like a hungry elf girl for now. Not too much is actually explained in the episode, but I’d posture that the “financial district” they are in is some futuristic alternate universe where the invisible hand of the market works and money is manipulated. It also happens to be where the man is sent to “make a deal” with Mikuni, which apparently involves debit card battles and fighting with monsters. It sounds weird (and is weird to watch) but looks something like an analogy for predatory market competition since we all know that bankers have no souls. Fighting each other for money seems fun to me, but the unfortunate anonymous man loses his stake and commits suicide shortly after. Thinking about it, gambling with stocks probably has the same effect when one goes over their means and loses it all.

There’s a lot of showing and not that much talking, so nothing about the setting or background of the story is revealed, though the synopsis Divine wrote in the preview explains some of it. I did enjoy this kind of setup, and after the action-packed beginning scenes, the main character is finally shown: Kimimaro the economics student, who to me seems like the generic poor and down-on-luck but hardworking protagonist. Then there’s also the purple-haired Hanabi who tries to help him pass his classes, but unfortunately for him, she’s going out with a richer guy (for now). And so as Kimimaro lives normally day to day, his life suddenly gets turned upside down (seems like a standard start).

On the other hand, some of these other characters are far from normal. What I assume to be the devil, Masakaki, a creep who looks like a cross between the Mad Hatter and the Joker, comes to his apartment, doing some teleportation tricks then taking Kimimaro to an alternate space. As soon as he showed up, it was clear that whatever deal he’s offering and that Kimimaro shouldn’t take it unless he has no use for his soul. And indeed, Masakaki wants his future in exchange for the position of “entrepreneur” in the Financial District. He is surprisingly calm at what he saw, largely ignoring the clown’s shenanigans, but unfortunately the bait of 500k yen randomly showing up in his bank account is too tempting and he gets whisked away, Back to the Future style. He’s still more honorable than me though, as the thought of having access to unlimited sums of money is probably too alluring for my greed, even given the consequences.

However, I do look forward to seeing what the position of entrepreneur entails for Kimimaro, and it’s probably similar to what Mikuni does (i.e. beating up people for their money). Minor aspects of production are also positive, and there are nice effects such as the fractured sidebars that Masakaki uses to talk, the wacky effects in the fight scenes, and the cash from various countries in the opening sequence. All in all, this should be an interesting show.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「RPG」 by School Food Punishment
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70 Comments

  2. Dohoho, I finished watching this 5min ago. Awesome show, the animation was a bit wonky here and there but it was overall really great. Raged a bit at the golddigger with purple hair.

    illusion
    Reply

  3. This was really confusing at the start then slowly started to make sense towards the middle of the episode.

    Also
    Back-the-the-future ….Back-to-the-future =)Grammar nazi ftw

    Derrragons
    Reply

  5. Ehhhh….. I wouldn’t say Kimimaro is that generic. I mean, he does wish to have a generic lifestyle in the future, but that makes a bit special. Plus he’s not completely one-dimensional compared to say…. the characters in Hidan no Aria. So far though, this series looks pretty good.

    Click
    Reply

  11. Was looking forward to seeing this one… glad that you’re covering it, Proof

    I do hope there’s much more to the story than the Digimon-like card battle scenes which looks great, but the concept is not exactly very enticing

    PS: Not all bankers have no soul. We work very hard to make a living like everyone else 🙂

    Renminbi
    Reply

  15. Selling your soul for essentially 500,000 pennies? Too cheap, Mr. Generic Broke Protagonist. Hold out for at least 500,000,000. (Which is really still too cheap, but you’re generic and broke.)

    You can only afford a broken-down ride with the kind of scratch you just scored off of B grade Joker, and you won’t even have enough left over for a burger afterwards.

    Man, I could get this guy to paint my house for $50, I bet. 😀

    Holding out hope it gets better because it’s Noitamina, but right now it looks like a generic battle series with Money Juice all over it.

    sarcastic_weasel
    Reply

      1. I couldn’t remember his name if you came at me with a dog, a knife, and a gun. He’s as memorable as any other average anime protagonist (not very), and you can buy him in bulk at Costco.

        So he IS the definition of Mr. Generic Protagonist.

        sarcastic_weasel
        Reply

    3. did he actually commit his soul in the end? – i was unclear as the howls moving millenium earl pinku dude said that the first cash was an incentive to get involved?

      though i guess having got the ultimate debt debit card kimi is now a member of lloyds tsb…. i mean hell bank….

      did enjoy this opening episode a lot!

      defunkt_bots
      Reply

  17. Stock exchange traders playing a children cards game.

    Hehehe so I’m not the only one who thought of Back to the Future seeing the taxi scene. “The potential is exciting”, this is exactly what I’m thinking, since when I first heard the atypical name of this show, it always picked my interest and I’m glad to see I wasn’t wrong keeping my eye on it. I’m expecting something really good from this.

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  18. The triple 6 mad-hatter creeps me out.

    Not gonna lie, I went from the ‘one-eye-brow-raised-wtf-face’ to the ‘WHOA-double-eye-brows-raised’ as the episode progressed from start to finish. I think they did a good job of creating that ominous atmosphere as he made the ‘pact’, especially with the creepy, electronic voice speaking to him.

    Dawn
    Reply

  24. Masakaki was the best part. And the ATM.
    Didn’t really impress me as much as it seemed to for other people, so I don’t know where this will go. It’s too early to say considering how little info we have to go on with an original story such as this one.

    Aisu
    Reply

    2. There’s nothing about this that suggests anything like a collectible card game anime. They’re using Debit cards, which makes sense since debit cards take funds from your bank account. I assume they’re using their cards like a source of power, more money makes you stronger, and losing a battle makes you lose funds from your account, weakening you until you lose all your money and you just kill yourself in disgrace.

      Airon
      Reply

  26. Willy Wonka’s gotten a new style. I like the new acid look.

    In the beginning of Bakuman, Mashiro and Takagi made a story about Money and Intelligence. This reminds me of that. Also, Yoga struggling as he is with school and two jobs is all to familiar. I think more than most can relate to him easily- making the show easier to watch. Though that doesn’t seem like it’ll last long. Either way, I’m sticking with this one.
    (..and yet another one for the list. Great. I have no life.)

    “Yes. [My Lord..]”

    Shirt
    Reply

  28. thanks for covering the show, Prooof!!
    can’t wait to see more of it, and I really like the evil sounding ATM with that english voice 🙂
    is it just my sub or Masakaki actually said that entre are supposed to use the money in the financial district? If so, then really this deal is more evil than it seems…
    at least we have an bad ass antagonist…

    jrj
    Reply

  29. I like where this show is going, Kimimaro’s gonna have a tough choice to make later for a love interest…(unless I’m VERY wrong)

    another thing, the battle system…refreshingly away from the norm of the other similar shows…

    info600
    Reply

  30. lol Mad hatter! Anyways, I didn’t realize this was gonna be a cardplaying-esque show too. Still, it looks promising.

    And this is one of the first anime shows I’ve watched in a long time where the English voice over didn’t have a heavy Japanese accent. I was a bit surprised lol >.<

    Require
    Reply

  33. I just finished watching it and oh god, the art is… no wait, those character faces are HIDEOUS! Plus, I dislike CG unless I, myself believe they have used the CG innovatively. D:

    Although I can’t seem to find anything to like about this episode, I don’t see myself dropping it as well. I’m going ot give it another episode and hopefully it will be better…

    If that clown was real…. I’m going to have nightmares now. “OTL

    The sad fact is I had my expectations from “Money and Intelligence” which was a name created in Bakuman. Having that in mind, I was no prepared for the battles, soul possessing credit cards and much more.

    Tofu
    Reply

  36. Ive never read anything from you before, so I’m pretty surprised with this impression. I’m grateful that you picked this series up since I was worried that someone would not cover this show.

    The show have a strong premise, one of the better shows this season.

    skylaris
    Reply

  37. As promising this series seems to be, the direction style annoyed me a lot. It’s like they tried to make up for the basic “fight for your life” plot by tacking on the money concept and being as edgy as they can.

    Kagekyuubi
    Reply

  38. Money and the power, power and the money… so the song goes.
    Interesting metaphor for the lure of easy money in RL…
    But this isnt Madoka level of Faustian deal, still it can be fine plot.

    ewok40k
    Reply

  39. Comes to think of it… Masakaki is like evil-looking version of Kyubei…

    He’d lured you in with money, saying you only need your ‘future/soul’ as collateral, not fully explaining anything, drag you into alternate space…

    Serapita
    Reply

  40. Hmm, between a Willy Wonka/Mad Hatter mix? So Johnny Depp in anime?
    This looks like an interesting anime, if it doesn’t go into multiple episodes of monster battles. In the end though, what is the anime going for. Is it only striving to show that Greed isn’t good? While it is a unique setting, the message is rather typical these days.
    Our average working-man Joe gets corrupt by money, becomes a success in the Financial District, probably dethrones Souichiro at the climax, then finally his deal with the devil is cashed in and he loses everything. I hope it doesn’t go that route because it’s just soooo predictable.

    Airon
    Reply

  43. Hmm, I’m going to bet that at one point the MC is going to attempt to win the purple-haired girl over with money, gets rejected, and does something stupid. Which I’m going to guess is going to be either lashing out against the Financial District, or uses the logic “It’s because I don’ have enough money.”

    Oh, and the blue-haired elf is cute.

    Avalanche
    Reply

  45. Basically C is like Pokemon + finance stuff.
    (Or you can say its like Digimon or Persona/Megami Tensei)

    Entre = Pokemon trainer
    Asset = Pokemon

    I guess it might have the potential to be developed into a game.

    iron2000
    Reply

    1. Wonder how money come into the system?
      As mana? As the asset power points?
      Or as the entre’s weapon when they turn black?

      Wonder whats the big coin-like district total assets counter spinning above the Financial District?
      Is there some last boss above Masakaki (and taxi driver) and also some grand scheme to this ‘game’?

      I love mysteries 😛

      iron2000
      Reply

  46. All I can say is, this smells like Shin Megami Tensei based on Money (Epic).First thing I thought about when i first saw Masakaki was Willy Wonka merged with the Mad Hatter (no idea how that works).Netorare action in play here, Protagnist’s love interest is off with another guy (sad and rage inducing to those not used to the genre, but Epic to me).

    Also, dare i say that I felt some No More Heroes vibes coming from this, the MC is definitely no Travis, and there wasn’t any comedy going on, but as far as the fights go and how they’re set up by Masakaki I see some similarities.

    Nico Touches The Wall and School Food Punishment (Overkill and Epic).

    Can’t wait till next episode.

    anishuma
    Reply

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