Yeah, this was rushed, but then again, it already was clear that C was too ambitious for Noitamina. At the very least though, it hasn’t followed the same path as Eden of the East: this series has not slowed down, and instead of skipping things, it’s trying to do as much as possible in the time it has remaining.
But heck, this show is rushed, but at the very least it’s still able to get its messages across. That for me puts it ahead of shows like Eden of the East which too was ambitious but just got its entire pacing wrong when trying to fit its story in its limited time, and Kuragehime which just gave up at the final episode.
But I have to praise everything around Mikuni in this episode: this episode showed him sacrificing the country’s future (read: children) in order to catch the shock-wave that was caused from the south east Asia market. It was both wonderfully directed and it continues to flesh out the whole setting here. And heck, loaning out your future sounds very abstract, but what most people are doing here is actually loaning out their children for money. There still are many questions here, for example it keeps getting hinted that Mashu is Kimimaro’s daughter, but then it makes no sense that his father walked around with one as well.
The weak point of this episode was the drama around Kimimaru, or at least that’s what I thought when watching this episode. Thinking back, it’s just poorly acted. The reason the kiss felt weird was because the animation was very wonky and the dialogue clunky. In terms of character development they did exactly what they needed to and strengthened the plot by showing what Mikuni did to the people of Japan. The acting is still bad, but I’m really surprised that this show hasn’t fallen apart under the weight of its own plot yet. And that’s the thing it needs to remember: yeah it’s flawed, but as long as it doesn’t run into a wall it can still end up as a really worthwhile series. The big pitfall for this one right now is leaving a bad aftertaste: the final episode will be crucial for this one.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
The part that spoils things for me on this episode is the prologue, with the english dialogue. I wish they spoke japanese with subtitles to show that it’s an adaptation of english or some other foreign language. The lines are actually seem gramatically correct, but somewhat poorly written and awkwardly acted. “Bureaucrat”? “Agent” would have worked alot better. And that last line. I would have preferred something like “The time may have finally come.” Really awkward. I liked the realistic references though. The STI, CTI, DAX.
The Shanghai voicing was the weirdest. Didn’t sound like chinese at all.
this episode showed him sacrificing the country’s future (read: children)
Well, Mikuni didn’t get to choose what kind of damage would be done. It was all chosen by Masakaki. In fact I could have sworn he was supposed to take the collateral from Mikuni’s own future. Yet the damage was so widespread. And the counter hasn’t even started reducing yet. Perhaps what Masakaki meant was 20 years of Mikuni’s future worth of collateral, whether it was his own or not. Chosen by Masakaki to accelerate the collapse of the district so the city could be devoured.
Thinking back, it’s just poorly acted.
Hm. I kind of get this scene though. Togo is trying to convince Myu to support him in his endeavour even though it means Myu as she is now would be destroyed. And there’s a wide gap between what he expects for their future and what she does. She’s obviously not keen on being his daughter and on Togo’s part, he’s all hesitant because he doesn’t know what he’s getting them into either. And refusing to kiss her the way she wanted, i get the feeling that to Myu, Togo was rejected her as a lover. The bond between them is straining. She might even outright rebel. Man, as if the odds against them weren’t bad enough.
I feel that the show is trying to make mikuni look like the bad guy in kimimaros eyes so that the creators can have them fight at the end (As is spoiled by the op) this seems like a cop out at least, and could have been avoided is kimimaro just talked to mikuni to figure out that the 20 years was supposed to be from mikunis but had such a large effect on society as a whole…that could have made the story go into deeper territory once kimimaro realizes that he isnt just gambling with his own future but, also how his future effects the futures of everyone else. but instead they seem to be artificially trying to set up some good evil battle nonsense… and really the drama with yoga and his asset was plain retarded…I mean wtf hes in college already! what does he need to be afraid of kissing someone for…that was just extremely un-realictic…like all of a sudden it turned into some high school drama….that whole exchange made kimimaro look very weak. This episode really make sme not want to watch the final 3 eps, unless they do something drastically awesome and veer off the super cliche route theyve laid out…Ill just have to wait for your further reviews to see if it is worth watching the rest or not.
I feel that the show is trying to make mikuni look like the bad guy in kimimaros eyes so that the creators can have them fight at the end
I don’t know. It seems to me like Mikuni is trying to do the best he can to save Japan the way he knows how. Unfortunately, the best he can do are stop-gap measures that, while buying time, increase the amount of midas money in reality, and by doing so, increase the power it has to destroy it. (Masataki is only too happy to oblige him, of course.) Mikuni’s even willing to sacrifice his own future to do it because he’s simply not aware of any other alternative and will try to stop anyone who gets in the way, including Kimimaro, at least until he realizes otherwise, I hope. I presume that’s the setup for their coming conflict, although I’d like to think that he, and indeed all the entres will need to cooperate with Kimimaro and Cindy to defeat the district mechanism.
I mean wtf hes in college already! what does he need to be afraid of kissing someone for
That’s not why he refused to kiss her. He was just being honest with Myu about his own feelings. She was important to him but he couldn’t return the feelings that she wanted him to and had to let her know straight out. He sees her as his future baby, not a girlfriend. If you cared about someone but didn’t love that person the way he/she loved you, would you do the deed even though it would be leading him/her on? There will of course be consequences, but I think I see what he was doing there.
I actually thought this was a really great episode. I’m kind of surprised at the negative reviews. Yeah, sure, it could have been better with 24 episodes, but this could have been SO MUCH worse with 13 episodes. They are still doing a great job at bringing this to an interesting and exciting conclusion. That’s a lot better then tons of series out there. As for the acting, I actually think it’s quite good. And yes there is a conflict between Mikuni and Kimimaru, but that conflict makes sense, has been fleshed out, and supports both of their characters and their perspectives on life.
Hm, I didn’t mean it to be a bad review. I guess I was just pointing out weak points in an otherwise great episode. Psgels gave it 2 stars too. This is kind of a calm before the storm episode. I expect the 2nd to last to end in a cliffhanger. And I’m still holding out for a happy ending that everybody lives through, including Mikuni.
what you guys are missing here was the fact that Mikuni has been investing in a lot of the companies beforehand, thereby when another 20 years of HIS future was taken away to save the present time, it affected EVERYTHING…
it also explains why Mysu’s in pain as well (he bought one of Mysu’s stock iirc)
From an Economics perspective, it looks a lot like this show is taking on Keynesianism vs. Austrianism. Mikuni is effectively printing money through his introduction of Midas money, so he’s basically trying to stimulate the economy through inflation. But that devalues the currency and steals away the future…thus the effects that his actions are having, just as printing money in real life steals our future away slowly.
another thing, Mikuni might – just might – be regretting on what he had done with that conversation with Masakaki (and thats one scary looking face just before Miluni wakes up)
Marisu. I’m afraid that’s the message it is going to leave. That Keynesian economic policy destroys our future, and that the only way to preserve the “future” is to just adopt strict monetary policy and just accept that the poor are going to suffer now and there’s just nothing we can do for them… As a liberal, if the show ends with that overt political message, I will be quite annoyed.
…I don’t think you get what the whole implication with the picture of Yoga’s father with his asset. It’s not saying that assets are recycled from person to person. It’s saying that Yoga’s father sacrificed one of future daughters for his family, that he sacrificed one child for personal gain just as Yoga is doing now with Msyu.
Also, I don’t see the message of the show as “just leave the poor to rot.” If it was, then Sennoza would have died in horrible fashion as a means of condemning his relief efforts. Rather I see it as condemning easy solutions without self-sacrifice. Economics states that sacrificing the future in hopes of short-term gain is always detrimental in the long run. While efforts by Mikuni (which amount to rampant inflation) are well-intentioned, they doom the future. Mikuni is preserving a self-destructive system that is only maintained by artificially propping it up with inflation. Sure, the collapse of that system is going to be horrific, but until it does complete restructuring is going to be impossible.
I think that the 20 years, drawn from Mikuni himself, was as an activation fee for the rotary press, and the current situation experienced by Japan is a result of such a large amount of Midas Money being printed.