There’s always been more than a dash of political allegory in C, whether people wanted to admit it or not. I’ll give them credit – I haven’t seen the notion of “mortgaging our children’s futures” depicted quite so literally as it has been here.

Of course, things are still insanely rushed. It’s NoitaminA syndrome, the dark side of this format – what it can do to big ideas when the concept outstrips the planning. But I at least know pretty much where this is going and what Nakamura-san is trying to do now.

Lots of exposition again. We know now what “C” refers to – it’s the phenomenon that occurs when the present is saved using the future as collateral. It’s what happened to the Caribbean Republic years earlier, and it’s also what happened to Singapore now (heh – the traders already have no idea what the Straits Index is). As C swept across Asia in a wave of panic in the markets, Mikuni desperately raced to use his capital – and the assets raised by leveraging Japan’s future – to save what he could. That apparently amounted to about 80% of the country’s infrastructure, and Shanghai and Hong Kong were winged but escaped Singapore’s fate.

One philosophical question the show is asking, of course, is this – is it worth saving the present at any cost? Based on what was apparently given up it’s pretty dubious – people disappearing left and right (Shimoda for one) leaving empty classrooms and Hoovervilles where playgrounds once buzzed with life. Only three babies born in all of Japan for an entire week. Was it worth it? Well, in the end the real truth of the matter is that the Midas game is a no-win scenario – RL is screwed either way, and the house wins every time. Mikuni is a sap – he’s playing by the house rules. He’s trying to fight the disease by treating the symptoms.

Kimimaro seems to have a grasp of the futility of what Mikuni is trying to do – and may have an ally in the perpetually hungry Jennifer and her Engrish-mangling corporation. Details are unclear, but there seems to be a plan afoot to put an end to Mikuni’s self-defeating if well-intentioned activities – and perhaps take on the Midas system itself.

Chuuuu!

Meanwhile, hopes for a Kimimaro-Mashu pairing appear to have taken a major blow, as he concludes that she’s probably his daughter. Thus, he responds to her vamping for a smooch with a kiss to the forehead – something she seems to know instinctively if not intellectually is not what she was looking for. The revelation that Kimi’s father had an asset that looks almost exactly like Mashu – but with black hair – could be taken any number of ways. The simplest explanation presented is that it means that Kimi and his father had similar hopes for the future. Whatever, he seems to have in mind to win the future back, and have Mashu be a part of it – albeit as his daughter. It’s too early to take that at face value, but in any case she seems much happier to keep things as they are. That, alas, is an impossible dream.