Control: The Money and Soul of Possibility

The Anime Poster.

[C]: Control: The Money and Soul of Possibility is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Production under the direction of Kenji Nakamura with Noboru Takagi as script supervisor. [C] premiered on Fuji TV's Noitamina programing block on April 14, 2011. Funimation Entertainment simulcasted the anime every Thursday, beginning on April 21, 2011. It finished airing on June 24, 2012.

Plot

The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of a financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro, raised by his maternal grandmother after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, is a scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life. One day, however, he meets a man who offers him a large sum of money if he'll agree to pay it back. From then on his fate is radically altered as he's drawn into a mysterious realm known as "The Financial District."

Characters

Kimimaro Yoga (余賀 公磨Yoga Kimimaro^?)

Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)

A 19 year old second year college student who studies economics. He seeks to merely have enough money to have a normal life with a home, wife, and children, until he is roped into the Financial District and becomes one of its Entrés (short for Entrepreneurs). He is then scouted by Souichirou to join the Starling Guild, as his disinterest in money interests him, and that Souichirou sees his younger self in Kimimaro. He is trying to unravel the mysteries behind his father's disappearance and apparent death, and also trying to win but not hurt others as much as possible. It is unknown as to why Souichirou wants to groom him. Several people have noted that Msyu being a very powerful Asset, is a blessing for Kimimaro as she is the reason why he is still able to survive in the game.

Msyu (真朱Mashu^?)

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)

Kimimaro's Asset, who takes the appearance of a beautiful girl and has the ability to conjure up fire based attacks. She is a weird Asset in the sense that she does things that are unusual for an Asset, such as behaving like how a normal human does, and even asking Kimimaro to give her some of his ramen even though Assets do not know the definition of "eat", out of curiosity. Rather than a mere Asset/object, Kimimaro views her as a partner and as such, even went to the extent of trying to shield her with his own body when he first fought. She is curious about Q, as seen from her reaction when she saw her for the first time. Kimimaro named her after the 4-letter unique code that appears on the bottom right corner of every Midas Card. Her Flation ability is "Scorched Earth", a widespread flame attack which is high in attack power when used as a Mezzoflation.

Souichirou Mikuni (三國 壮一郎Mikuni Sōichirō^?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Hosomi (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)

The owner of Tokyo's Financial District, who holds a strong influence over the Japanese Government and the whole of Japan's finance market, and takes an interest in Kimimaro's potential. It is said he used to be very similar to Kimimaro, having tried to save Q in his first Deal as well. The founder of the Starling Guild, he aims to control his Deals to win by small margins so that his victories do not affect reality. He was from a wealthy family, but his father's business starts to crumble as a result of the financial crisis, while his sister got terribly sick at the same time. His father chose to pump all his money into the company so as to save it, while his sister ended in a coma because of lack of treatment. Souichirou bought up his father's company with the money he earned from his first victory in the Financial District, in an act of revenge in order to take everything from him.

Q (キューKyū^?)

Voiced by: Saori Goto (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)

Mikuni's main Asset, as well as partner. She, like Msyu, appears to act more human-like compared to other Assets, though not to Msyu's extent. She is known as the strongest Asset in Financial District. She has a penchant for money and eats bank notes as snacks. She always appears to be sleepy, and has a guardian called Aurol, which is another of Mikuni's Assets. Her Flation ability is unknown yet. Her presence seems to have an effect on Mikuni's other Assets in Deals.

Kakazuzu (カカズズKakazuzu^?)

Voiced by: Shūsaku Shirakawa (Japanese), Bradley Campbell (English)

Mikuni's most frequently used Asset in his Deals, he takes the form of an old butler with an Anubis head as a helmet which conceals the upper part of his face. Relatively strong for an Asset, one of his Flation ability is "White Knight", in which his face becomes a skull and his torso extends to reveal a hole, that summons out another Asset.

Aurore (オーロールŌrōru^?)

Another of Mikuni's Asset. She takes the form of a woman who usually stands by Q as her guardian. She has the nickname Sleeping Beauty. One of her Flation abilities is also called "Sleeping Beauty", which she sucks out the power directly from her opponent's Asset, which powers her indefinitely. Her face distorts when she uses her Flation ability.

Masakaki (真坂木^?)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Scott Freeman (English)

A mysterious man from the Financial District, who invites people to become Entrés and gives them advice. There also exists "Masakaki"'s in other districts, who all look a little different in color from each other depending on which country's district they represent.

Hanabi Ikuta (生田 羽奈日Ikuta Hanabi^?)

Voiced by: Yui Makino (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)

Kimimaro's best friend and classmate. Kimimaro has feelings for her despite the fact that she already has a boyfriend.

Jennifer Sato (ジェニファー・サトウJenifā Satō^?)

Voiced by: Mayumi Asano (Japanese), Martha Harms (English)

An agent working for the International Monetary Fund who is investigating the Financial Districts and somehow was invited to become an Entré, she is also curious about Mikuni's sudden interest in Kimimaro, and made a comment to herself that Kimimaro could be an ally, or an enemy depending on the choices he make. She likes sweet stuffs, and tends to talk with a weird Western intonation when speaking to others, even though she could speak Japanese fluently and normally. Like Kimimaro, her Asset's incredible strength is the reason why she has not lost the game yet, even though she is inexperienced in Deal-making.

Terminology

Financial District

An alternate reality where Entres make transactions using Midas Money. Once a week, each Entre is summoned to take part into a Deal, but other sources of income include gambling on the outcome of another person's Deal or information exchange or even voluntary Deals. It is said that there is a Financial District at each of the world's main economic centers.

Entre

Short for Entrepeneur. These are people chosen to join the Midas Bank and participate in Deals in the Financial District. They are given large sums of money with their "future" as a collateral, while their power are dependant on how much money they have. Entres who lose all of their money and become Bankrupt are banished from the Financial District. Since the "future" taken as collateral varies from person to person, so does the outcome of an Entre's bankruptcy, with tragic consequences to them or their loved ones in reality.

Asset

A creature that fights alongside an Entre in Deals. They basically represent the Entre's "future" that was taken as a collateral, as the asset is the embodiment of the Entre's money. By wagering money, these Assets can attack their opponents. Their attacks are called "Flations", and are categorized in three levels of power, "Micro", "Mezzo" and "Macro". The power and type of attack of each of these levels differs from Asset to Asset. also, it seems that the terms used for the names of the Assets' flations are economic-based.

Deal

A battle between Entres using their own Assets along side. Each Deal lasts 666 seconds (11 minutes, 6 seconds), with hits and damage effecting how much money is gained or lost. Dealers use their money to summon their Assets' attacks, or perform "Direct" attacks by creating an energy blade to confront their enemies by themselves. Each Entre is obliged to take part on a Deal once per week, even more if they wish.

Midas Money

A type of money used in the Financial District that has entered the flow of money in reality. Only people chosen as Entres have the ability to diferentiate Midas Money, shown to them as black notes, from ordinary cash. It is unknown what effect it has on the real world, but there is also much concern about what could happen with the world's economy if Midas Money's flow into it suddenly stops, as the real world has relied on it quite a lot. With each different country, the currency type of the Midas Money also changes to match that country's currency.

Theme Music

The episodes use two theme songs: one opening and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Matoryoshka" (マトリョーシカMatoryōshika^?) by NICO Touches the Walls and the ending theme is "RPG" by School Food Punishment.