Story-
Yoga Kimimaro is a college student who works two part time jobs and wants to get enough money to live a modest lifestyle for himself, his future wife, and future children. His father committed suicide, leaving Kimimaro and his mother to fend for themselves, causing Kimimaro to hate him. Later his mother died, leaving him no parents to help support him in his goal. He returns to his apartment one day where he is approached by Masakaki, the administrator of Midas Bank, located in a mysterious dimension known as the Financial District. In the Financial District, Entres (short for Entrepreneur) are allowed the opportunity to earn huge sums of Midas money (the currency issued by Midas bank) while putting up their “future” as collateral. Every week, an Entre must participate in a Deal using his Assets, creatures that fight for the Entre and were born from the futures put up as collateral. In these deals, money can be lost or won and if too much is lost the Entre goes bankrupt. The consequences of going bankrupt is a lost future for the individual and there’s no way to escape it.
Writing-
The anime contains many economic terms and references. These references are seen in the names of the attacks and in explanations of the system of the Financial District. The main conflict is centered around the Midas Money flowing into reality. What effect does it have, if any, and if that effect is harmful, what would happen if the Midas Money is eliminated completely? One side wants to eliminate it completely while the other feels that it’s harmless and can help the world get out of it’s tough economic situation. Both sides have support for their arguments which are rooted in some deep philosophical ideas, so the conflict isn’t black and white. The anime makes the viewer sit down and ask, “which is more important, the present or the future?”
Art-
Production I.G., the animation studio behind Ghost in the Shell and other high quality anime, certainly delivers animation worthy of its reputation. The art is clean and the animation is very high quality and fluid. The attacks are exciting to look at. There are some parts where the characters (usually Masakaki) appear as 3D models. Sometimes this looks a little awkward and movements can be unnatural, but overall adds to the mood and looks cool.
DVD Features-
The DVD has extra features including explanations of all the economic terms and concepts used, textless opening and ending credits animations, promo videos, original trailer, and episode commentaries.
Age and Warning-
The series is rated TV 14 for violence, violence against women, brief nudity, and alcohol use. The main character’s Asset, MYSU (mashu), also wears very revealing clothing throughout the course of the series.
[C] Control — The Money and Soul of Possibility: the complete series
FUNimation, 2012
directed by Kenji Nakamura
275 minutes, Number of Discs: 4
Company Age Rating: TV14
