The Destructive Power of Greed - C:The Money of Soul and Possibility Control Review

Frequently when it comes to sorting through animes, Funimation is one of the studio's that I turn to to find good english dubbed anime. They've really been kicking ass in that department given their dubs of Baccano!, Rebuild of Evangelion, and Steins;Gate. (Steins;Gate is awesome as anyone who reads my stuff will know) This time they've come up with C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control or C for short. I found C thanks to a trailer that came with the Steins;Gate DVD that I recently purchased. (view here) In my watching of it I found it to be an incredibly unique and interesting anime that isn't without it's shortcomings.

The plot of C revolves around Kimimaro Yoga, an orphaned college student who is stuck in the middle of financial hell in Japan. The Japanese economy was bailed out by an organization called the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Despite this, the country is still in economical hell as unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are all rampant. Kimimaro's life is pretty shambolic as well, his mother dead and his father missing. All he wants is an ordinary, stable life, a dream which is quickly dashed when a strange man (veeerrrryyy strange man) enters his life. This man, named Masakaki offers his a large sum of money (incredibly hard to come by in Japan) if Kimimaro's offers up his "future" as collateral. Kimimaro is easily manipulated by the fact that the girl he likes, Hanabi, wouldn't want anything to do with him if he's not rich (or at least thats what Masakaki tells him is true) and accepts the offer. At first Kimimaro just receives a massive amount of money, it's only later that he realizes that this money comes at a great cost. He is sucked into a realm known as the Financial District in which he competes in weekly "deals" which are basically like dogfights except with creatures called "assets". The asset is supposed to embody their owner's (or entré, short for entrepreneur) futures. (Kimimaro's is named Myshu, pronounced Mushu, and she comes out like this) The money one can earn in the financial district is unless you go bankrupt in which the bank literally takes away your future. This leads Kimimaro into a moral dilemma as he can't afford to bankrupt himself but at the same time realizes that bankrupting his opponents means ruining their lives in exchange. In addition to the moral dilemma there seems to be suspicious activity going on all around the district as well and so the plot develops. The audience is introduced to the shady Souichiro Mikuni who obivously has his own hidden agenda (and is quite obviously revealed as the show's final villain in the opening) and the IMF's undercover agent, Jennifer Satou whose just trying to get to the bottom of what's going on.

The Financial District

C is only 11 episodes which certainly doesn't help for when the plot really begins to get going. The pacing is incredibly slow at the beginning, mostly due to Kamimuro's indecision as to what side he's on in the early going. The plot does prove to be pretty powerful emotionally, really emphasizing how desperate many of the people that fight in the deals. For example, at one point in the show Kimimuro bankrupts his schoolteacher who had entered the deals in order to support his three children in the barren economy. His bankruptcy resulting from his deal with Kimimuro leads to his children disappearing. Kimimuro realizes that he doesn't actually know why he's fighting the deals. However, this character focused early plot neglects to answer most of the questions that the show asks. This proves to be a problem later in the show because the series doesn't explain much in early episodes and even in later episodes the viewer doesn't really know that much about the Financial District or why whole COUNTRIES are disappearing. You could probably start a drinking game based on the amount of unresolved plot lines or scenes that make you go "why is this happening and why is it relevant to the plot?". However, the final episodes do remain super compelling even if you're a little fuzzy on the details. The ending is hardly satisfying either mostly because it's incredibly confusing and the climax is a little convoluted and confusing. (to be honest though, the deal in the final episode is absolutely phenomenal) It's a shame really because the show's plot is definitely compelling and certainly conveys many contemporary social concerns. A second season would certainly do this show some good though I'm not entirely sure where it would even begin from. All plot holes aside, the plot and themes of the show are certainly original and it's a refreshing change from the recycled giant robot animes or shounen works.

An entré (left) and his asset (right)

The shows characters are rather bland and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't really that interested in them. Kimimuro was a fine protagonist but he wasn't anything groundbreaking or different from the norm. At first I thought his whole indecisive attitude was annoying in a very Shinji Ikari kind of way but I came to appreciate him towards the end. The characters that surrounded him were rather bland too. The show's entire conflict was between preserving the present or risking the future in order to save the future which are both incredibly valiant points but you never felt like the former option was ever right. I didn't really feel any impulse to care about the "villain" Mikuni because the show makes it painfully obvious as to which option it wants you to choose. One weak character is Kimimuro's "love interest" Hanabi. She's introduced as a major character and Kimimuro's main love interest but her character development is rather weak. Rather than playing a major role she gets relegated to the sidelines and begins to go emo in later episodes without any real explanation as to why she's beginning to feel this way. Instead we get incredibly weird sexual tension and "will they won't they" feelings from Kimimuro and Msyu which just feels a little wrong. Once again, I can't help but think the fact that C runs for only 11 episodes is the main reason why this happens. We get some solid development from Kimimuro and I guess that Mikuni's character has a sympathetic backstory but overall the main cast of characters is rather bland, surprising for a show with such a unique plot.

Deals themselves are simple on the surface, each attack (dubbed flations) that the asset uses costs money. It's up to the entré to determine how much money they want to spend on; the more money they pay for an attack, the more powerful it is. Assets can target each other or they can go for direct attacks on an entré. Entrés can also perform direct attacks on each other. To win you must bankrupt your opponent or run out of time in the deal (deals last 666 seconds). The deals are certainly impressive affairs and it's here that C really stands out from the crowd. Theres some really impressive animation in each deal, including some intense Nightmare Fuel. C certainly is shy about getting incredibly dark at some points and it uses the deals especially to try out some super creepy animation. It's very Digimon Tamers-esque at points and it serves the show incredibly well. The Financial District is what makes this anime so unique in it's nature. It's interesting to see each entrés asset as they are embodiments of their user's future.

C's English dub, having been done by Justin Cook and Funimation is solid. Tom Haberkorn and J. Michael Tatum both lend their voices to the series and both give performences worthy of their reputations. I wouldn't say that Tatum's Mikuni character is as memorable as his performances as Okabe in Steins;Gate or Issac Dian from Baccano! but it's not as if it's subpar. The rest of the cast is rounded out by some other Funimation voices and do enough to be enjoyable but not fantastic. The show's soundtrack is phenomenal, Funimation certainly did a great job with the A/V aspects of the series. Each deal is accompanied by an epic soundtrack that sets the mood, knowing when to mellow out for the slow moments and when to ratchet things up when the action gets intense.

Part of me wants to say that I'm disappointed with C but at the same time I have very little reason to be. The show is short, has an interesting plot, and some really amazing animation. Sure theres a couple plot holes here and there but I don't think they severely affect your enjoyment of the show. Theres just a couple things after the series ends that makes you say "man I wish they'd explained this" or "I wish they'd explored more of this plot line" Overall though, C has a lot to offer and isn't a huge time commitment. It's a show that you can easily start and finish in an afternoon. Overall, I say go check C out if you're looking for something new and interesting.

My Score: 4/5