I really had no idea what to expect from this series, a series about money and finance? Only minimally so. There exists a realm called the "financial district" in which people can bet their future as collateral in exchange for "black money", which looks like ordinary money to people not involved with the financial district. Members of the district, called entrepreneurs (or entre for short), take advantage of this money for reasons ranging from personal gain to utilitarian purposes. Money is "exchanged" between entre through "deals", which are really battles with black money as hit points and bank cards that remind me of the pokemon/yu-gi-oh days. What is the catch? The fine print is that if an entre loses all their black money, they become bankrupt and the chaos bank that runs the financial district takes its collateral, the entre's future. Depending on the individual, this could have a catastrophic chain effect on the real world, up to and including the disappearance of people and entire nations.
C is a funny watch, if just because of the ironic reference to the debt crisis of many nations in the early 2010s and the ridiculous usage of business terminology including attack names of assets (think a trainer's pokemon; and also a play on words). All in all, it was a fair watch that leads to some interesting philosophical questions, but also along with a lot of unanswered plot holes and questionable story elements. This is a fairly involved watch with a lot of dialogue and concepts to digest. It's very fast paced but won't be of interest to everyone. There's some action, a touch of romance, and a lot of politics and internal character conflict. That being said, those looking for good action or deep romance will be thoroughly disappointed. Not much real comedy here either unless you count the irony behind the whole theme.
Animation:
The animation is quite well done, though not without flaws. There's an interesting contrast between the normal world and the eerie, red-colored financial district. The characters are well drawn though some of the assets can only be described as bizarre. And Mashyu, well, it's pretty hard to draw her wearing anything less w/o putting this as an H series. Facial expressions are average and the main character tends to hide under his hoodie. The action scenes need better choreography as certain scenes deteriorate to flashes of colors clashing against each other, which is disappointing. Battles are typically won through using attacks of mass destruction such as "overheated economy"(*chuckles*). There is considerable blood/dismemberment though assets (and the buildings in the district) apparently have very rapid regeneration. There's a lot of CGI used such as flowing black money and when people disappear but these are done well and aren't distracting. Finally, what was Yoga thinking when he bought those shoes?
Sound:
Neither the OP nor the ED impressed me. The OP is a rock-based piece whereas the ED is a more minimalist light-rock piece. The BGM is also not very memorable, except for a piece in episode 10 after the OP. The most memorable part in this category would be the usage of English words and inclusion of English-speaking VAs (the kind I can understand w/o subs).
The VAs do a good job as this is a dialogue-heavy series. There are some scenes that require pausing as there is just too much sub to read/screen time. However, the secondary VA staff wasn't as convincing, though their performance is also less critical to the main plot.
Story:
The underlying theme in this series, and probably original concept, lies with money. What exactly is money? Is it a means to glory, a means to exert power, a form of trust? And underlying even money, what is really important in the world?
In essence, the world is in pretty poor shape with many countries on the verge of collapse. There are multiple groups trying to gain control of the financial district; most with reconcilable ideologies and means but an equivalent goal, to save the real world; not terribly off as a parallel to the US government as of July 2011. Yoga is thrown into this mess as a randomly-chosen entre. Whether by luck or some other unstated reason, he's saved by his strong asset and he soon is in contact with all the leaders of the multiple groups, all trying to influence him. What path will the college student, with a humble goal of an average life with an average family, choose?
While C successfully creates a compelling setting in the early episodes, it leaves too many unanswered questions and elements. Certain relationships and elements are used early on in the show but not later on, when they would have been useful. As others have noted, the second half of this show felt rushed; the series should have been a bit longer. I also get this feeling from characters that had more explication than they needed considering their usage in the rest of the series.
There are a lot of recycled elements from other shows used here leading to a predictable plot progression, which is not helped by an overly-revealing OP (skip it if you don't want to be spoiled). In all honesty the plot progression wasn't terribly good, and outright confusing at times near the end of the series. The climax is exactly what you'd expect it to be though calling the falling action brief is a huge understatement. It's not a very satisfying closure and leaves way too much unanswered.
Character:
Yoga is a poor guy. His parents are either dead or missing and he barely makes enough through two part time jobs to pay for his education and living expenses. Furthermore, his love interest has been stolen by a guy who has more money than him. Due to his past, he wants an average, secure life with an average family. However, unlike most average anime guys, he actually has guts and a willingness to take action. He's often suffering from internal conflict as he wrestles with multiple ideologies. While I wouldn't call this outright character growth, he eventually finds "a" path and sticks with it till the end. Assets are supposedly a personification of a person's future (not sure what it means when a person's future is a giant bee...), Yoga's asset Mashyu is unique in that she behaves much more like a human than other assets, to the extend of harboring feelings for her entre (though this aspect is underdeveloped).
The major shortfall in this series is the underdevelopment of the secondary characters; though it is true that many of them end up as victims of losses in the financial district, you never have a change to grow attached to them so their loss doesn't leave much of an impact. Finally, you don't get any final resolution as the falling action is just way too short.
Value:
This show is packed full of interesting political and philosophical questions, however the team should have paid a bit more attention to the actual execution. Certain elements are overused while other things are introduced but then never really utilized (stocks?). The plot line was predictable and supporting characters were beyond shallow. The show's primary redeeming characteristic is the irony of using "black money" to finance further debt and the concept that you can take something as unpredictable as the "future" as collateral, let me know if you find any bank that actually takes that. It is a decently enjoyable watch if you're willing to sift through the dialogue and terminology associated with the setting.
