[Deconstructor]

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

You have banana. I want banana. I bigger monkey. I take banana. But you annoying monkey. You hurt me. I not want hurt. You want banana. Thus deal.

Haha, monkey logic... wait, if you're the bigger monkey, why are you getting hurt by the smaller one? In addition, why aren't you retaliating against the annoying monkey, being bigger and all?

And are you saying you split the banana evenly between yourself and the other monkey? I mean, being bigger and all, you could just probably beat up the other monkey. I believe that's how nature works: To the victor go the spoils. Perhaps you're suggesting beating up the other monkey would take more effort and cause more trouble than sharing the banana and living in peace. Even so, I think your example is very much akin to an elementary school bully taking a smaller child's lunch money. The bully takes the money not necessarily because he requires the money (although impoverishment often leads to such personalities) but rather because he wishes to impose his own dominance. Yet in the economic realm, entrepreneurs are simply there to make as much money as possible. So if the bigger monkey can eliminate a competitor with brute force and take all of his assets... it's going to happen. In the past, monopolies were probably enforced by physical means. And in some countries, I think brute force marketing is still how it works today. I know in America it's pretty hard to eliminate opposing companies by killing their employees... or is it?

While the people chosen by Masakaki are random selections, many of them go on to be prominent figures in the real world's economy. Mikuni, Sennoza, that old pharmaceutical dude are some examples. When these affluent investors make a deal, it's almost as if two business CEOs were settling market conflict with an honorable duel. Somewhat of an homage back to the shooting duels of the Wild Wild West, or samurai dueling under the Bushido code. As most people fight to completely take over the opponent, the loser usually ends up bankrupt and the victor takes all of his financial value for himself.

However, Mikuni tries keeping everyone afloat in normal society by keeping the deal as even as possible. I liked Mikuni, if only because he was a rich person trying to take responsibility for his own excessive wealth. Inequalities in wealth may be inevitable, but the people holding the money should be thinking about how their existence impacts the millions of others who are far less fortunate. And I actually believe Mikuni's philosophy is very admirable; his actions seem to have keep Japan quite stable and prosperous. The problem noted by everyone else is when Mikuni is faced with the impending doom of [C]: He panics, and starts printing out absurd amounts of money. There's no way uberinflation will save Japan. You may as well be saving today's people, in exchange for having the apocalypse happen tomorrow. Kimimaro's role, then, was to take responsibility; he sees Mikuni going out of control and stops him. Doesn't mean Mikuni was on the wrong path leading up to episode 11, but he was certainly wrong in episode 11.

I digressed... and made a big mess. Still the above monkey example seems very off to me.

I do think that's what they intended to address, but by having an everyday economy student as the protagonist they sort of muddied the water. Theme demands and characterisation demands were at odds, I feel.

I don't know. I think everyone would have still been critical of the show if Kimimaro were some random bum in the slums of Japan, only because the show is centered around finance and the economy. Personally, I don't believe the show is aiming to satisfy even the most basic ideas of economic theory (not even supply and demand, haha). I've heard the show was going pretentious about knowing about how a real-life economy actually works. I suppose I don't even see the economy of [C] as realistic, given all the black money and fictitious elements. Heh, then again I do have an extremely willingness to suspend my own disbelief. Yet I can see how someone taught about economics in a classroom would spend all day poking fun at [C]'s blunders and mishaps. My physics teacher showed us The Core so he could point out all the theoretical "travesties".

Again, I do think the show has a point if they're saying that financial speculation is akin to fighting, and that it's in danger of robbing money of its purpose. But I don't see that coming across very well. If that's not the meaning of their metaphor, I can't see any other, and I'd be tempted to assume they just rolled with a popular anime cliché.

I usually limit myself to one page per post... anyway, remember the gold-toothed information broker? He believes money only has value because people place their trust within coins and pieces of paper. Indeed, I am reminded of the stock market - people invest in stocks only because they have faith in a stock's ability to profit. I would say trust is a plausible interpretation of why money is valuable.

I wouldn't take the deals too seriously, given the Midas Money is printed by some higher power anyway. The entrepreneurs are essentially fighting each other for black pieces of paper coming out of Cthulhu's rotary press. The Financial District has a different economy with different rules, so the meaning of money in the real world is probably also different from money in the Financial District. There you can get the most money because your asset fires out the biggest laser. So no, I wouldn't assume the writers are imposing any beliefs on real financial speculation.

To conclude, I liked [C] for some the same reasons I liked Moshidora. Yes, the baseball manager anime, which you may or may not have seen. Similar to Minami, entrepreneurs have the role of not just making loads of cash but also to impact social change. The majority of each episode deals with how hyperaffluent people should use their money in relation to those at the bottom - the deals are more of a sideshow attraction. Take [C] as one of those anime which isn't too serious about real economics, and you might enjoy some of what you see. But if you're too busy pointing out all the theoretical travesties, maybe it's best to loosen up a bit. Give anime the benefit of your doubt.