This was an exceptional episode, in that it managed to make the rest of the series look decent by comparison. It was plagued by the same problems that the rest of the show has suffered from: it’s filled with preaching about solutions to nonexistent problems, such as the great present vs. future debate, and the setting doesn’t make any sense. This episode was filled with deus ex machina like no other.

Let’s take it from the beginning. We start with a battle between Kimimaro and Souichiro. It was probably the most poorly animated battle in the show, and also the least interesting: there weren’t any cool powers or anything. The battle consisted of Kimimaro and Souichiro hitting each other with swords and screaming about how they’ll protect the people dear to them while asking if the other understood now. Unsurprisingly, no one understood because their entire argument was pointless. I think Kimimaro got cut and half at some point, but then the creators forgot. Mashu and Q fought at the same time and argued about what Souichiro’s sister would really want. The only enlightening nugget I gleaned from the entire battle was when Q told Mashu “I don’t care.” Motion seconded.

While the battle is ongoing, everyone panics and the Japanese Yen becomes worthless. Because of this, everyone can see the Midas money, and it becomes worthless too, for reasons that should be obvious. Of course, this causes Q to transform into Souichiro’s sister and Souichiro has a flashback. Then, as one would logically expect, the C wave hits Japan a second time and has no effect. For reasons that are well explained, the financial district shuts down. In case you couldn’t tell, I was being sarcastic.

The battle is a draw. Kimimaro reverses the printing press and the future comes back. Kimimaro and Mashu share a long (incestuous?) kiss, as some corny music plays in the background.The corny music plays for a really long time. The credits roll. Everyone is happy. Yay.

Kimimaro sees the happy children and his one-sided crush in the park. Everything is well with the world. Oh, and Japan became the 51st state and started using the dollar, because that would totally solve all their economic problems. The clown meets Kimimaro and invites him to come to the financial district. The clown will always be there when there is a future to take as collateral. *tear* Kimimaro looks at the picture he took with Mashu, Q and Souichiro after their battle. He mentions that he forgot to smile. The End.

Overall, C was a very disappointing showing for noitanimA. It had a creative setup, but executed it in such a way that the setting became a liability rather than an asset (ha ha ha ha ha) since it was fraught with deus ex machina, inconsistencies and half-baked ideas.