They are really pushing the philosophical stuff in this episode. I think that is a better pick for the genre and feel that they are going for in this anime. They are finally setting things into motion for the climax of this anime, though it feels like it lacks much direction based on the shaky build-up these passed few episodes.
 |
| Wow, the only mention of the Daddy Issues this episode... Unpossible! |
So, things started to take shape as the episode is devoted to indirectly talking about the collapse of the South East Asia Financial District. We get to see mass amounts of people disappear from Japan. At this point, with a major intersection of people just disappearing, you would think that more people in the Financial District would care. I guess the only rationale behind it is that those people are addicted to money and don't care what happens anymore in the real world.
What I largely dislike is that, in the span of maybe 2-3 weeks, Kimimaro has already lost sight of his goal. He had wanted to win over a girl that has thus taken a backseat to the story. At this point, the anime is most likely shipping Kimimaro X Msyu over his initial love interest. I'll be pissed if we learn that Hanabi, for no reason, can tell that people are disappearing, which they seem to be implying.
I hate to go WTF, but...WTF?!?!?!? Do they really have no originality? Q is Mikuni's sister as an asset. Msyu, at this point, looks to be Kimimaro's sister... SERIOUSLY!?!?!? I was half-joking about the entire bestiality/incest relation between them, but I think that they are actually going to go ahead with this shit. A combination of a lack of creativity and the need to ship all main characters again has lead to this... ~Sigh, sigh~
We then got a professor that tried to commit suicide. To be honest, Kimimaro should have just let him jump. Japan is screwed anyway, with the Financial District too deeply rooted in the economy. It would just mean that he died a bit earlier than the rest of the Japan. Either way, I am 100% sure that they are going to pull a Deus Ex Machina to "fix" everything. There is no logical way to fix the economy that is in such a state already; if there was, then we wouldn't still be in a recession. Even now, the fix that was proposed was only a quick fix and will blow up later to really sink the economy down, but that is a whole different topic in itself.
I guess I should touch on the main point of this episode: the discussion of trust and money. I think this is the first time that they did a very good job explaining one of the concepts of money. Money, in itself, is worthless; it's just a piece of paper. It is a trusted medium to exchange goods with. For example, I'm a farmer and grow vegetables, but I need a new bed to sleep in. You could technically trade your vegetables directly to a carpenter to make you a bed, but instead you sell it for money to then use to buy the bed. The money is not a necessity; it is just a trusted medium with which to conduct your trade, since the carpenter might then decide the value of your vegetables are crap and say they are worthless. That would imply that the vegetables lack worth from the carpenter to trade with. It's just a simple example to show how trust relates to money. Random good moments like this make me question if it is a fluke, since their economics knowledge is flimsy at best. They should just label this anime more philosophical, if anything. Also, to point out, Jennifer is right; burning the Midas Money does nothing... Way to show off your failure as an economics student...
I guess we will finally see what Mikuni's fabulous solution to fixing the Singapore Crisis is. My prediction right now leans on Kimimaro taking down the guild and then have some crazy Deus Ex Machina kick in that fixes the world, so everyone lives happily ever after. I have no real hope for an anime like this... not with what they have done so far.
~Pearz
