Do you like Economics? No? Me either, but do you like anime economics with the power of capitalism used for good? Well, that’s a whole hell of a lot better.
We switch focus to primarily Masato, the prodigy entrepreneur as he goes into town with Elk. When he sees the monopoly on trading and the awful way the head of the trading post treats Elk and decides not only to start his own trading company, but also bring down the monopoly before the end of the week.
With these goals in mind, he also brings in a small cat girl named Roo who seems just as obsessed with money as he is to help them.
With Shinobu’s help gathering information, Masato gets a license to do business in the city. The next step is getting the merchants of the town to sell under the Elk trading company. He offers to host them for a mere ten percent of their profits, of course, these are simple farmer folks and he has to explain what taking ten percent of their profits would entail to them.
With that deal on the table and the merchants set to make more profit then they would normally. They open for business.
It takes a bit, soon they are reaping in the profits. They sell the items that the merchants provided and eventually they begin selling the mayonnaise that the town is making with Tsukasa’s help.
This attracts the attention of someone important, I’m going to be honest. I missed who this guy was and why he was so important to the town’s trading economy because I was too busy thinking about how attractive he was.
They cut a deal, a deal that was previously cut with the large monopoly and for the first time. This guy, who had been dismissing them as a small venture and didn’t see any harm in letting them operate begins to see them as a threat.
On the subject of the guy in charge of the trading, I know they were trying to make him come off as evil and immensely greedy but it was just a tiny bit heavy-handed to have him literally sleeping on a pile of gold.
I missed a lot of names and titles in this episode, I couldn’t tell you the name of the town or the name of the company that was running the monopoly or the name of the guy at the top. All I can tell you is the moment that Masato may have slipped up on my favorite character list.
At the very end of the episode, The guy in charge of the monopoly decides they are an issue and goes to declare war against Masato. When he reveals to Elk that he knows what the plan is and he walks over to the window. A group of people below, he declares them as instrumental in his plan and his promise.
The evil smile.
It does it for me every time. These kids are all so nice so long as you’re kind to them. We saw it first with Tsukasa in the first episode and how his attitude changed when dealing with the corrupt soldier and we’re seeing it again with Masato. I think the real lesson of this show is ‘Do unto others’ so far, because so long as people have been kind to these kids. They’ve been kind in return, but if you do something to them or someone they care about or owe a favor too. Well, it’s not going to be a very good time.
I’m excited to see how this economic adventure ends and I’m excited to see who the focus will be on next. Personally, I’m kind of hoping for the nurse or the swordswoman.
Fun facts the anime left out:
Ringo the inventor girl made a makeshift cellphone tower using the remains of the crashed airplane’s radio/wifi transmitter. This allows the gang to contact each other with their phones. Due to lack of other signal interference and her super-inventor skills, the call radius is very wide.
Elk is Winona’s son. Masato is also a MILF-lover; Winona’s his type.
Masato gets the sales permit by bribes the mayor with his wristwatch, and subtly convinces the mayor he’s pulling a fast one on the evil merchant, whose group has constantly bribed the mayor to keep their monopoly.
Spoiler Also, Elk’s late dad had been a travelling trader who’d heard the basic story of the 7 Heroes legend in the southern lands and told his wife about it. Unfortunately the Empire that runs the country has banned all mentions of the legend and its associated religion.
Who doesn’t love a good economics war? This show has an interesting way of making things that seem mundane super engaging. I’m so hooked and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the group use their talents!