God, this show got dark really fast. Kurumi’s mother, who isn’t good at basic arithmetic, probably got some bad tip somewhere and put way too much money into foreign exchange margin trading. She ended up losing 20 million yen. Unable to cope with her husband finding out and potentially divorcing her, the woman ended up committing suicide instead. Christ. So what does her daughter do? Kurumi blames herself. And as soon as she turns twenty, she is determined to win back the 20 million yen in the exact same way. She wants to prove that she could’ve been stronger for her mother even though it’s too late. No, no, no, what the fuck are you doing? There is so much wrong with this. There are so many unresolved red flags, too.

First, dad was never around. Like a typical salaryman, he was rarely ever home to help and support his wife. Second, why was mom so afraid to confess? Yes, 20 million yen is a lot of money, but it’s also not that much either. C’mon, let’s be real. Depending on the industry, it can be a year’s salary, i.e. hardly worthy of divorce. On the other hand, time with your daughter is priceless. I’d never leave my child behind over 20 million yen. If loan sharks were after them and would’ve targeted Kurumi, I’d understand it. But Kurumi’s mother’s mental state must have been in a bad way for her to even consider suicide. And she never felt as though she could talk to anybody about it? Not her husband, not her family, not her in-laws, not her friends — not anybody? The woman grew more and more haggard by the day, and there wasn’t a single person to check up on her? Third, why didn’t the couple have an established agreement like “Hey, any financial decision that involves more than 100K yen should require joint agreement between husband and wife.” I wouldn’t even consider buying a new washing machine without consulting my partner, much less throw down 20 million yen!

My point is, there’s a cavalcade of problems to address, and none of them have to do with FX margin trading. And yet, because anime series have to be novel nowadays to stand out, what we’re going to get is Kurumi burning her hard-earned cash on something as finicky and unreliable as market speculation. Personally, I’d rather see a show where Kurumi confronts her dad for being a shitty absentee husband to her mother. I’d like to see Kurumi explore why her mother didn’t have a social safety net to fall back on. I’d like to see Kurumi figure out why a woman with bad math skills would tempt fate by messing with something she doesn’t understand. Did she get tricked? Did she read a terrible book by some snake oil TV personality? Or maybe she just has the gambler’s blood in her, and Kurumi grows up to be the same. It can be like a drug, after all. You win once and you keep chasing that high. Any of these aforementioned topics would be a lot more compelling to me than CGDCT but with stonks! But alas, it looks like Kurumi’s turbulent adventure with stonks is what we’re going to get. There are even other cute girls involved.

Oh yeah, we even get jiggle physics when Kurumi slumps back in her chair after losing a bunch of money. She’s 20 now, so unlike a lot of shows, at least we’re not ogling a teenager. Still, this level of fanservice is rather crass for a story where a parent just committed suicide. Then another terrible thought came to mind. I hate to think it, but her mother was working long nights to try and get that money back, wasn’t she? Do you think she might have gotten desperate and tried selling her body? I’m not sure if I want to keep following this show if it’s going to stay this dark.