C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control - Episode 9

The South-East Asian Financial District is about to collapse, wiping out the likes of Singapore with it, and there isn't a single thing anybody can do it about it.  However, what is still possible is the opportunity of minimising the effects of this collapse upon other Financial Districts, and so Mikuni and the rest of his Starling Guild look to save Japan from the worst of the "C" that is rapidly heading their way.

The trouble is, minimising any effect of this collapse on present day Japan is an expensive business, and the only way to fund it to any useful degree is with a significant amount of collateral - in this case, the country's future, which Mikuni readily sacrifices to avoid any huge effects on his homeland in the here and now.  While this action saves Japan from a disastrous crisis, it also has huge ramifications of its own as the debt Mikuni has created is settled, quite literally robbing the country of its children and thus its "future", while even the likes of Hanabi seem to be on the brink of being snatched away as part of this repayment.

Away from all of this, Kimimaro is initially focused on more personal matters, as he frets about Hanabi and perhaps more importantly learns about the likeness between his father's Asset and his own Mashu - a resemblance which suggests that they both held decidedly similar futures.  Still, such concerns become almost secondary in the light of what's happening to Japan, which leads to Kimimaro joining forces with Satou in a bid to "take back the country's lost future", again prompted questions of whether the present or the future is more important, not least from Mashu herself.

After rather a damp squib of an episode last week, this was a definite improvement - okay, it had some ropey English ("I've heard of it" followed by "nobody has ever heard of it" from the same character in subsequent lines) and the impact of "C" wasn't exactly a visual or emotional tour de force, but the question of present versus future remains a fascinating one that is being tackled from both personal and political angles and the series has finally reached a point where it can ram these two ideologies against one another at full force for the remaining pair of episodes.  It's still frustrating that Kimimaro isn't the strong lead character the series could have done with, and the lack of visual polish is disappointing in the extreme, but at least [C] has the possibility of a strong finish to paper over some of its cracks.