C is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Production. The story follows Kimimaro Yoga, an economics student who is introduced to the alternate reality of the Financial District, where people bet their own futures in battles. Entres—the series' term for the fighters—can accumulate large quantities of money by winning but they will have their futures altered if they lose. As the story proceeds Kimimaro starts to perceive the effects of the Financial District's existence in the real world.
The anime was directed by Kenji Nakamura, who was given the opportunity to create a storyline for an original series. Nakamura was affected by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers—one of the key events of the 2008 financial crisis—and envisioned a story about economic battles. He was moved by stories he heard during the interviews he conducted with people related to the economics field, and the series became darker in tone during its development. Through macroeconomics jargon, the series addresses trust and the need to act to ensure a better future.
The series was broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between April 15 and June 24, 2011, before being released on DVD and Blu-Ray discs by Toho. C was Tatsunoko Production's first original anime television series to air on Fuji TV in 27 years, following 1984's Okawari-Boy StarzanS. It was simulcasted with a week's delay by Funimation Entertainment in the United States, by Siren Visual in Australia, and by Anime on Demand in the United Kingdom. The anime also aired in the United States on the Funimation Channel and on Pivot in 2013. Its home media distribution was handled by Funimation in the United States, by Siren Visual in Australia, and by MVM Entertainment in the United Kingdom.
Cs premise and core concept have been praised by Western reviewers, who were nonetheless disappointed by the execution of the story and the development of the characters. One of the critics' main concerns was that the story was inconclusive and that some plot elements were not fully worked. Its art received mixed responses but was highly criticized for its use of 3D computer graphics, while the musical score was mainly praised. The series has also been highlighted both as a good action show and as a series that can arouse reflective discussions on economic philosophy.
Plot C is set in a world where Japan goes through a financial crisis that causes high rates of unemployment, crime, and suicide. The series revolves around Kimimaro Yoga, a 19-year-old man raised by his aunt after his father disappeared and his mother died. A scholarship student of economics, his only dream is to live a stable, ordinary life. One day he meets Masakaki, a mysterious man who offers him a large amount of money if he will allow his "future" to be held as collateral. When Kimimaro accepts the money, he becomes an "Entre" (short for "entrepreneur") and is drawn into the alternative reality of the Financial District, where Entres make transactions using a special currency called Midas Money.
In the Financial District, each Entre is paired with a special creature who personifies their futures known as "Assets"; Kimimaro's Cousin designed and Asset called "raned", an asset that allowed for other users to make their own "sub-assets". Kimimaro is designated to be accompanied by Mashu, a horned girl who can conjure up fire-based attacks. Entres are summoned there once a week to compete against each other, betting their money in a battle known as "Deal". Entres who lose all of their money and become bankrupt are banished from the Financial District with tragic consequences to them or their loved ones in reality. Kimimaro first discovers this when he defeats one of his professors, Daisuke Ebara, who entered Deals to support his family. Daisuke's punishment for bankruptcy is the erasure of his children from history.
Kimimaro discovers that bankruptcy led his father to commit suicide and he finds a reason to continue there despite his disinterest in money and his fear of hurting others. Kimimaro's attitude attracts veteran Entre Soichiro Mikuni, who wants him to join the Starling Guild, whose members' aim is to win by small margins so their victories do not greatly affect reality. Mikuni has a great influence over both the Japanese Government and the whole of Japan's finance market and aims to own Tokyo's Financial District. Born into a wealthy family, Mikuni was a rebel who wanted to be a musician; as his band broke up, Mikuni became a personal assistant to his father. When the elder Mikuni's corporation started to crumble as a result of the financial crisis, he chose to save it, denying his terminally ill daughter Takako the funds she needed to undergo a medical procedure unavailable in Japan. Swearing vengeance on his father after Takako fell into a coma, Mikuni bought out his father's company with the money he earned from his first victory in the Financial District to take away the thing his father held most dear. Because of this, Mikuni's Asset, Q, is modeled after his sister.
It is later revealed the risk is not limited to the individual Entres' futures. Kimimaro starts to notice a few buildings disappearing in Tokyo. Later, the Southeast Asian Financial District goes bankrupt and starts disappearing, along with Singapore, and parts of Hong Kong and Shanghai. Mikuni uses his ability, "Darkness", to protect Japan from the effects of the district's collapse. In exchange for 20 years of Mikuni's future, Masakaki allows a large quantity of Midas Money to be printed and deposited into Mikuni's account. Mikuni and his colleagues use the Midas Money to invest in failing institutions in Japan. Artificially propping up failing banks and enterprises spares the Japanese economy but causes unintended consequences. People begin disappearing, poverty increases, birth rates decline, and morale drops as the Midas Money starts to invade the real Tokyo.
To investigate the nature of Financial Districts, the International Monetary Fund sends Jennifer Sato to become an Entre in Tokyo. Seeing the effects of Mikuni's actions, Sato and Kimimaro try to stop him from using up his remaining future to print more Midas Money. Mikuni defeats Sato after she passes her Asset, George, to Kimimaro, who confronts Mikuni when he is about to use the Midas Money press in exchange for rest of his future. With the help of Masakaki, Kimimaro realizes he is in possession of a black card, giving him the means to revert the press. A struggle for control over the press ensues, and Mikuni and Kimimaro engage in a Deal. The battle is concluded when Midas Money disappears from the world along with Mikuni's powers, allowing the crisis to pass through Japan without influence. Declared the winner, Kimimaro orders the reversing of the presses and the return of the futures to their original places. With the Assets disappearing as a result, Mashu kisses Kimimaro before she disappears. Kimimaro then returns to reality to find that US dollar has become Japan's official currency and everyone's futures have been returned to them. However, Masakaki appears before Kimimaro and explains to him that the Financial District can reappear.
Voice cast Characters Japanese English Kimimaro Yoga Kōki Uchiyama Todd Haberkorn Mashu Haruka Tomatsu Brina Palencia Soichiro Mikuni Daisuke Hosomi J. Michael Tatum Q Saori Gotō Monica Rial Masakaki Takahiro Sakurai Scott Freeman Jennifer Sato Mayumi Asano Martha Harms
Production Staff C was produced by Tatsunoko Production and was directed by Kenji Nakamura. The script was chiefly written by Noboru Takagi, who was helped by Manabu Ishikawa, Shinsuke Onishi and Kenji Sugihara. Character designs were handled by Mebae, animation character design was done by Takashi Hashimoto, while Yuuho Taniuchi was in charge of art design, and Keiichi Sato was the conceptual designer. Kōji Yamamoto was the main producer, working with producers Makoto Kimura, Daisuke Konaka and Takeshi Yoda. Hashimoto was the main animation director, Hiroshi Itō was the art director, and Yuzo Sato was the CGI director. Taku Iwasaki composed the musical score and Yukio Nagasaki was the sound director.
Development The idea of a money-themed anime arose after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, an event that resulted in the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history and is considered one of the key events of the 2008 financial crisis. At first, however, the anime's focus was not on money itself; its premise involved economic battles taking place around the world and the plan was to create something lighter than the final result. The premise changed around January 2010 at the culmination of the recession, when Nakamura perceived a common feeling that Japan would not recover from the crash. After researching the history of currency, between February and August 2010 he conducted over twenty interviews with retired politicians from the Central Bank, finance professionals, college professors, nonprofit organization (NPO) members and other experts. He expected to find a broad consensus but was frustrated by obtaining too many divergent opinions and to know there was no such consensus in economics because it involves human action.
Nakamura was moved by the stories of two interviewees; a trader impressed that U.S. CEOs were dealing with billions of dollars at the same time the Japanese economy was in poor condition, showing his concern for his country on the world stage; and the story of the Future Bank Business Association, an NPO that provided loans to individuals to upgrade their old refrigerators to more efficient models and that received the payment with the difference in energy savings. For Nakamura, both interviews showed the interviewees' desire to help Japan despite their divergent opinions on how to do it. The interviewees made clear Japanese people should act and that they could choose between having stability and poverty or chaos and wealth. Nakamura concluded that not deciding which path to take led to ruinous consequences, that waiting was not an option, and that people should design the future in the present. At the same time, he was worried the Japanese were abandoning their concern for the future generation by pushing financial risk into the future. By hearing inspiring stories, Nakamura pondered why people would try to help someone they had never met; he considers this question and the necessity to act to build a better future to be the main themes of C.
Nakamura appointed Naoki Osaka, the editor-in-chief of economics publisher Toyo Keizai, to be the anime's advisor and concluded he could not make a "light" economic story. Nakamura purposely made the Financial District setting seem other-worldly, although it is connected to the real world. This way he could fulfill one of the missions an anime has in his opinion; to present a difficult and specialized theme in a soft way to an unfamiliar audience. He kept the story as a battle anime as a means of keeping it entertaining, which also gave him the possibility of changing it into a more in-depth media, gradually introducing finance and macroeconomics jargon metaphorically through the battles. On portraying the characters and their reasons to battle, and after reading the gambling-themed manga Kaiji, Naoki and Nakamura tried to avoid depicting money as something that would unequivocally make people crazy, and felt this path should be avoided.
Themes and analysis