We seem to be gearing up for the endgame.

Unbelievable! There used to be a Caribbean Republic! Wait, you say, there’s no such thing as the Caribbean Republic. There are just a bunch of islands there. But of course! — the South American District failed and it altered reality forever. We simply forgot the Caribbean Republic ever existed!

And now, the Southeast Asian District is in trouble. People are disappearing, those who remain are catatonic for some reason, and there’s despair all around — it’s as if we’re approaching full moon in a Persona game. If only there was a shounen to do battle in some strange alternate reality to set things straight.

…

Oh well!

Mikuni and a bunch of people I don’t recognize are determined to do whatever they can to save the present. This means carrying out some plan called “C.” Unfortunately, it’s a little too late for Singapore (it’s a good thing the writers didn’t pick, like, Korea to disappear but considering the Nanking incident, there’s enough whitewashing to go around!).

Meanwhile, Kimimaro finds that the world’s future is slowly turning to misery as the result of everyone trying to prop up the present (hmm, sounds kinda familiar). He is especially concerned about Prof. Ebara, and when Ebara dies in an accident, Kimimaro comes to the conclusion that he must sacrifice his present (Midas Money, essentially) for everyone else’s future. According to Ms. Sato, however, a gesture like this is all too tiny in the grander scheme of things.

Kimimaro has a talk with Mikuni again about their differences; the former begins to doubt the latter’s motives. Nevertheless, Mikuni warns Kimimaro to not interfere as he and his buddies carrying out that “C” thing. The gigantic gold counter in the Financial District hits zero and Assets (I think) appear to be screaming out in pain across the world.

Clearly, I’m no economist. All I know is that a couple of years ago, a bunch of greedy people in suits screwed the pooch and put the entire world into a recession. Despite my clear lack of expertise of economics, [C] is so transparently inspired by these recent events. Having said that, I feel as though I’m no closer to gaining a deeper understanding of anything after watching episodes of this show.

The anime boils down to two diametrically opposed philosophies: 1) Mikuni’s “[i]f there is no present, there won’t be a future,” and 2) “[t]he present exists for the future.” The seventh episode completely undermines Mikuni’s position, however. He isn’t making an ideological stand; Mikuni’s beliefs are so clearly shaped by his imouto trauma. Likewise, Kimimaro opposes Mikuni mainly because of how his friends are faring.

I see the use in analogizing a complicated world-changing issue into something personal and relatable, but I think [C] might have possibly gone too far in that direction. The conflicts are too personal to both Mikuni and Kimimaro that the ideological war between them has been reduced down to mere platitudes. When there are earth-shattering consequences that aren’t tied to either of the two main characters, we only learn of them through cold, dispassionate declarations like how countries are simply disappearing and, well, that strikes me as a weakness for [C].