Glance Through: [C] The Money of Soul Possibility of Control

Yoga Kimimaro is working extremely hard. He's making his way through college (economics) all the while studying for the civil servant's exam. And despite working two part time jobs, he's still flat broke. Really all he wants is a normal, stable lifestyle with a wife and kids. As it turns out, though, the "Commercial District" has other plans for him. Masakaki (some half chesire cat half mad hatter sort of creation) informs Kimimaro that he is a new Entrepeneur or "Entre" for short. An Entre is able to earn and draw on substantial amounts of Midas money, provided they sell their "future" as collateral. Kimimaro must, with the help of his "Asset", Mashu, a representative of his future with battle capabilities, engage in weekly "Deals" (sort of money based battles). At the same time other characters try to determine the nature of the Commercial District's effect on the world at large.

As you can tell, this series has a very involved and unusual premiss. Originality is extremely important, but on this level it can risk all out silliness. This series has managed(amazingly) not to fall off that cliff yet. there is some actual emotional involvement here and I'm genuinely impressed. There is a Its-us-or-them tension behind the Deals, and this adds to the complexity of the narrative. We are given very good, clear reasons why Kimiaro can't just go bankrupt and quit. This series already shows signs of an exploration of what money really means to people. If this series follows through with this ambition, this is going to be an odd little treat. 

Art wise this series is okay. The eye shape is a little strange, but it doesn't particularly bother me. Sometimes there are moments in which I'm pretty darn sure  they're using CG because the weird texture, and it completely throws me off. The Assets are very well designed and interesting. 

The music for this series stood out right away. Not in the way you just hear a sound track and hum it for days later. I actually can't remember a single bar. The reason I knew that this had a great score was how effectively I was drawn into the suspense and mystery of the series' opening moments even though nothing was going on. This series has moments that shouldn't work, but I can get through them without cracking up. Mashu shouting "Sell my stocks" comes across as epic instead of just silly, and I'm almost certain this is a result of the music. The opening credits have a pretty standard j-rock sound, but you forget this pretty quickly because of the visuals (some running stuff, but also lots of interesting and pertinent money imagery.)

There is, so far, only a sub. I'm somewhat looking forward to it's being dubbed if only for the random patches of very distracting Engrish. Although, I must admit, there is a conversation in which it is clear that at least one of the actors knows what he's saying

I'll definitely be watching more of this and giving it the full review treatment. So far, [C] gets my seal of approval.

Bear in mind this opinion is based off the first 4 episodes. (that's why it's a glance)