(L) C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (w/Kenji Nakamura)

[Deconstructor]

Msyu is cooler... and far more difficult to pronounce. Miss you? Let's go with mah shoe.

Spoiler for MEZZOFLATION:

Mezzoflation is also a unique and cool sounding word. Looks like a combination of mezzo (meaning middle) and inflation. It seems like a general skill, as I remember some viewers in the Financial District saying "That was quite an incredible mezzoflation." So, mezzoflation is just the "investing" step Kimimaro performs in order to give his asset some power. This is supported by how Kimimaro's enemy would always say "Micro" before the dollar amount. Maybe microflation is just strange of a word to say.

I was also disappointed to see Msyu do all the work for Kimimaro. I was hoping Kimimaro would use his instincts instead of relying solely on his asset. They also won in one move, whereas the "veteran" tried several times but failed to do any damage to Kimimaro. Not much of a fight.

[Tempester]

This episode had problems that made it worse than the first.

Oh boy, that conspicuous CG animation turned me off. I don't mind CGI in my anime, but not used on actual characters to this extent. It's uncanny and distracting. I know Masakiki is supposed to be uncanny from the start but if so he should have been animated like this all the time for consistency. I applaud this show for being ambitious in terms of cinematography, but it's a pity the animation studio couldn't handle to properly animate the drafts prepared for them. This was a result of two possible situations:

1. Tatsunoko Productions planned to completely animate the characters with traditional animation from the start, but fell behind schedule and resorted to CG models to deliver their more 'difficult' shots. Has a chance of being fixed with traditional animation in the BD release, but I won't hold my breath.

2. Tatsunoko Productions decided from the start that they couldn't afford the time or money (oh, the irony... ) to animate everything decently and systematically chose which scenes to pull the plug on. Less likely to be fixed in the BD, unfortunately.

Kimimaro was a decent character for most of this episode until near the end. I found his reluctance to give the customer a high-value bill despite how he knew nobody could tell the difference anyway very frustrating to sit through. It stank of an unnecessary idiot ball protagonist scene. I was so relieved when Souichirou conveniently saved the day, because I was honestly getting second-hand embarrassment from Kimimaro.

All that said, it wasn't a bad episode, just a disappointing one. We finally have some character exposition for Souichirou and his future relations with Kimimaro. Mashu's behavior made me think about having a Pokemon that could speak. Her upfront and tough personality is likable and ideal for a battle familiar. I hope Kimimaro doesn't stay stuck in his confused mode too long and learns to make the best out of his situation, because at the moment it's almost like he's being spoon-fed.

Where will this plot take us? It's still very difficult to tell. I'd personally enjoy seeing Kimimaro develop negatively and become a greedy fool in the end, but this anime doesn't seem to be that dark, and TinyRedLeaf's insight speaks otherwise so it's probably something else.

Here's an extra from yours truly:

Spoiler for image:

[Seihai]

I was unsure (more like confused) after the first episode but now that I watched the second episode I'm much more convinced. The story is quite thrilling, I don't really mind that there won't be too much economical technicalities and relevant explanations as I'm not too interested in that stuff generally. If it's one thing that put me off guard it was that "Micro". lol The situation kinda looked serious and the fight cool but that "Micro" sounded kind of hilarious.

[JediNight]

I kept waiting to hear "FLASH MOVE"

Interesting tidbit: The kanji for Mashu's name seems to have a double meaning. Dunno if they were both intended, but knowing the Japanese and the symbolism in the show: It can both be read as "pure red/vermillion" ... which is her color palette to be sure. But also "evil influence" or "demon worker" etc.

[Flo]

The rules of the Financial District

Spoiler for Size:

How to make (and lose) money in the Financial District

Spoiler for Size:

In another news, this official artwork by Nakamura reeks of Canon OTP all over. Kimimaro and Msyu doing the heart shape gesture together, hell even Msyu's hair tries to make a heart shape too.

[SaintessHeart]

I finally had time to watch this anime, and I just thought of how ironic it is....it is so bloody true.

Currently the Japanese economy is heavy in sovereign debt, and technically speaking, the ones that are propping up the economy are the Yakuza. It is weird that it actually happened.....though the scenario within sounds rather unusual.

The OP has alot of stuff ;

1. The equations given are all basic finance equations, like future value, current value, depreciation, etc.

2. The president portrayed is Obama.

3. US is depicted by spending alot on war.

4. The first thing depicted is the construction sector, which is one major sector that kills economy because of the high-value profit and incredible risk it carries.

And the dream of fixed income and a fixed lifestyle is pretty unrealistic. Money depreciates faster in this day and age as it flows faster in this economy, so how can one have a fixed lifestyle without constant financial management?

This seems like an anime hitting out against investing and trading as the real crashers of economy. The real thing that crashes economies is "speculation", which means unchecked and unresearched trading with hedges, leverages and margins. From the 1st episode, Masakaki already points out that "using future as a collateral" is the name of the game, and that is the very premise of trading. It is not gambling, it has worse consequences as gambling because you are using money that you don't have.

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And I compiled all the terms based on what little trading knowledge I have (none of which is learned in my biz school, damn bastard syllabus, so if there is any mistake PLEASE point it out. Thank you!) :

Open deal : Taking up a trading position.

Direct : Controlling your trade without stop losses or take profit - scalping.

Go bankrupt without defending : Stop loss, or simply willingness to let go in terms of trading psychology.

Micro : Pour money into position, increase the size of the trade. I believe it means to increase the position size through margin or leverages based on beginning capital. Most likely it takes from "micromanaging a position".

Veterans have larger margin : Since they are better at trading, they have significantly better credit worthiness than rookies. It's called margin trading.

Attaching a cost to a profit : Set a take profit point. Usually in trading it is in percentages based risk-return ratios.

Mezzoflation : LEVERAGE. It allows you to use what little money you have, and use it as though you had many times more. It is different from margin because margin means to borrow, while leverage means to use the broker's money directly. Kimimaro used a 1:20 leverage, assuming his capital is the original 5 grand.

Macro : Significantly increasing the size of the trade through margin AND leverage. Incredibly risky, but very high returns too.

Closing : Close of the daily trading cycle, or when the stock market closes. I need to watch more episodes to see if the closing refers to a single trade, or a daily trade (day trading), or a weekly trade (swing trading).

Asset : Capital. Kimimaro's attachment to his asset is going to get him into alot of trouble later because he refuses to risk anything to gain more.

Second tactic to winning : having the higher increase to total profit : Scalping. Opening an immediate position when the candlestick changes direction due to news, then letting the profits run by itself before closing the trade. Receiving a counterattack means to that the opponent goes the opposite way of your position (while going long, he opens a bigger position on a short, driving prices down) and if he succeeds, you get bankrupted because you have no stop loss.

Black money : Credit. Because it isn't real money at all.
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When Mashu pointed out that he took a little loss, it probably meant that his opponent had the market going against his position, i.e it went long but the stock went down. He went on to increase his trade size to 3m in order to cover his loss (that is more than 3 times the amount of his previous position, no matter how you look at it, it is insane).

Though I can't wait to see this anime pun at naked short selling. Fighting without money yet winning....sounds interesting.

Nonetheless, the part where Masakaki pointed out about entrepreneurship to Kimimaro is certainly a good jab at Economics students - plenty of them in my school have absolutely no idea what they are learning, and not many teachers know what they are teaching either, hence the term "dismal science".

Anyway, I want to ask a question for those of you living in Japan, does the currency rate still applies in this anime? Like when Kimimaro gets 500k into his bank account, he is getting 5 grand of any other currency since the Japanese denomination of a dollar is 100yen? Also, 5 grand is also pretty much the standard most brokers accept as a minimum trading capital, like Think or Swim or Interbank.

P.S Btw, Kimimaro won a 6R trade. Meaning which he had earned 6 times of what his original capital is. That is the power of mezzoflotation, namely, leverage.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

since the Japanese denomination of a dollar is 100yen?

We're long past the days when a dollar was worth 100 yen. Right now it's in the low eighties, though it's been below 80 yen to the dollar recently.

[Random32]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

We're long past the days when a dollar was worth 100 yen. Right now it's in the low eighties, though it's been below 80 yen to the dollar recently.

not the exchange rate, but how its treated by the people.

We have dollar stores, the Japanese have 100 yen stores, thus the yen is treated like we treat the cent.

[Deconstructor]

The rules are reminiscent of Death Note, but there many more and they're quite specific. Now, if only Kimimaro had the rulebook before he started battling with a veteran... looks like this show is going to have an intellectual backdrop to compliment all the typical fighting. This could be great.

I love the ominous time limit: 11 minutes and 6 seconds. Really is the devil's business.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Flo

The rules of the Financial District

Spoiler for Size:

How to make (and lose) money in the Financial District

Spoiler for Size:

In another news, this official artwork by Nakamura reeks of Canon OTP all over. Kimimaro and Msyu doing the heart shape gesture together, hell even Msyu's hair tries to make a heart shape too.

Those rules definitely make things more clear. At least now it makes sense that Mikuni has more than 1 asset. Probably wouldn't like to put Q into battles so was able to acquire others assets. Plus it would give more flexibility since I'm sure some assets are better suited to certain opponents than others.

Also nice to have a better view on how the battles work.

[Kismet-chan]

I liked the second episode. Mysu is really cool. Also nice to finally know the English translation of the lyrics to RPG (the ending song). It makes the song even better now.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Flo

The rules of the Financial District.

Lol. Am I the only who thinks they should have turned this concept into a video game (I can easily imagine Atlus producing something like this, and I would have loved it) rather than an anime?

Thanks for the rules. Were they from the official site?

[orion]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Those rules definitely make things more clear. At least now it makes sense that Mikuni has more than 1 asset. Probably wouldn't like to put Q into battles so was able to acquire others assets. Plus it would give more flexibility since I'm sure some assets are better suited to certain opponents than others.

Also nice to have a better view on how the battles work.

Actually, I thought it was Q because of the hair color.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Lol. Am I the only who thinks they should have turned this concept into a video game (I can easily imagine Atlus producing something like this, and I would have loved it) rather than an anime?

Atlus was acquired by a pachinko and mobile phone gaming company. They are not making stuff like Megaten properly anymore.

[Flo]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Thanks for the rules. Were they from the official site?

And translated by the wonderful people on 4chan

[Makender]

Its nice to actually have preset rules to deals, but I wonder how much the more intricate rules will actually come into play during the course of the series. Maybe we'll get some intense cost-benefit analysis in how much entres will invest into asset attacks. Extreme game theory, extreme economics.

[felix]

The rules are interesting. In particular, macro.

Originally Posted by Deconstructor

I love the ominous time limit: 11 minutes and 6 seconds. Really is the devil's business.

Is there a meaning to that time limit?

[Dann of Thursday]

Originally Posted by felix

Is there a meaning to that time limit?

666 seconds. You can that the two weird balls which seem to represent each Entre have a timer that starts at 666 and counts down.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Atlus was acquired by a pachinko and mobile phone gaming company. They are not making stuff like Megaten properly anymore.

??? Why'd you think so? They aren't going to drop a successful franchise just like that.

[orion]

Originally Posted by felix

The rules are interesting. In particular, macro.
Is there a meaning to that time limit?

The mark of the devil. 666