Engrish Attack Names and Business Models in [C]

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Control: The Money of Soul and Possibility

I came across a fan translation of the rules of the Financial District over at animesuki forums and I must say that I’m impressed on how they made a rather believable battle system utilizing business ideas.

Safe for those who haven’t watched the series yet, unless you are afraid of business jargon.

Rules of the Financial District 2

First, let me correct a few things. Micro starts at 100,000 yen, Mezzo at 1,000,000 yen, and Macro at 10,000,000 yen. Also, based on episode 2, there seems to be no upper limit on the amount invested on each attack, meaning that you can invest 3,000,000 yen on a single Microflation and so on.

Now for the good stuff: I have done a bit of research on the English terms used on the anime, particularly the assets’ attack names. Why? I have learned from Madoka Magica that Engrish is not to be taken lightly.

Scorched Earth

On episode 2, Msyu (yes, it’s spelled that way) performed a Mezzoflation attack called ‘Scorched Earth.’ Now this sounds like a very generic magical attack that you would find in many fantasy anime, but  upon looking up Scorched Earth, I found out that it is actually a military strategy that involves cutting off enemy resources by means of destroying them. Also, according to the guide above, Mezzoflations are special attacks that have additional effects aside from ordinary physical damage. In a business-oriented view, Scorched Earth is a very powerful tactic as it limits the capabilities of the Entrepreneur hit with it. The thing is, there is no such business model as Scorched Earth. So is this an incorporation of a rather radical, if not nonexistent, business plan into the system that makes Msyu special?

Poison Pill

The above concept is also applicable for the other attacks such as ‘Poison Pill,’ another name for a ‘shareholder rights plan’ which aims to defend the company from a takeover by potential hostile stock buyers (those who buy an insanely large amounts of shares from a corporation, thus having enough influence to make changes in management), by making the company less financially attractive. In real life, this is done by giving existing shareholders more purchasing power than non-shareholders, among several other techniques. As used in the anime, it put a sort of restriction on Kimimaro by being a literal poison, which can be interpreted as a real life Poison Pill in the sense that Kimimaro cannot make his Direct Investment due to diluting of the buyer’s (Kimimaro’s) ‘interest’.

Other Mezzoflations include episode 3′s “Freeze Out” and “EBO (Employee Buyout)” as well as episode 4′s “Pac-Man Defense” and “White Knight.”

Freeze Out

Employee Buyout

A Freeze Out is a rather dirty tactic that compromises the minority employee shareholders in the company to force them to sell their shares, while an EBO is an effective counter to Freeze Out tactics. In an Employee Buyout, employees buy the majority of the company’s stakes and often done in a financial crisis.

Pacman Defense

White Knight

The all too famous Pac-Man Defense is a popular defense tactic against hostile buyers. The target of the takeover employs Pac-Man Defense to make a turnaround to take over (buy) the hostile firm. It also doubles as an offensive tactic, albeit being a high-risk move. Mikuni’s counter, the White Knight is almost as literal as it can be. It is a friendly company buying another in face of a hostile takeover in an attempt to save it. It is a particularly effective as it also possible to nullify a takeover when a White Knight tactic is employed (seen as an attack to the old man’s asset). Also, Q may be considered as Mikuni’s strongest Asset, the Sleeping Beauty. A Sleeping Beauty is a firm that is at it’s best to be taken over, but still not bought because of its undervalued merits (suppressed power). So yeah, Q will be very powerful indeed.

Sleeping Beauty

And yes, THESE WERE ALL MENTIONED IN THE ANIME.

So far, C is very impressive in the use of real business models and incorporating them into a battle system that I find very entertaining. I suggest that after reading the rules, go watch the previous episodes again. You will be more than pleasantly surprised.

All that said, I’m very interested in seeing a Macroflation at work, and what it does to the actual national economy. Also, I WANT A C GAME!

20 thoughts on “Engrish Attack Names and Business Models in [C]”

  1. now this is one interesting research. never occurred to me that the attack names they use have real life meaning in the field of business. it was a long read but I enjoyed it :D

  2. Wow this I surprising. To me it just sounded like regular shounen attack jargon. This show seems to be more intelligent than most shounen series.

    I also want to play a C game though it seems like it would be complex. Would it be a card game or miniatures or both?

    Great post. =)

    • I imagine [C] to be a Megaten-ish RPG. With the mindscrewing complexity and the subtle references to the occult, I think C would work very nicely as a game.

      I suppose a card game with miniatures would be nice too.

  3. I knew there were extra meanings to the attacks xD I’m glad that u actually went and did research on this and wrote such a great post about it. I’m waiting to see what other business references will pop up as the series continues. Good job! =D

    • My research just scratched the surface of the real deal. Check my reply to baka~ above for some really good articles about the more important things in [C].

  5. Never really knew that they’re using real business terms, it sounds so fancy, that it fits so well to be used in anime. Thanks for the info. And indeed, C is becoming impressive.

    • I’m honestly surprised by how well-thought the series seems to be at this moment. Making a concrete set of rules that follow a specific theme is no easy task, especially when they try to incorporate an untapped concept such as business. As of now, [C] oozes wisdom and fine research in my opinion. Too bad people don’t feel much for middle-aged men losing all of his children compared to cute little girls, and won’t really give this series much thought.

  6. Very interesting, this is a great series but I never really thought about the attack names before. Now that I think about it I was aware of the military “scorched earth” strategy. It is currently banned by the Geneva Conventions. The other attacks I wasn’t aware of and it’s cool to see their ties to business strategy. Thanks for the good read.

    • Scorched Earth is a very effective military strategy, but yes, it’s banned in the Geneva conventions for being an “inhumane” battle strategy. And yes, I kind of expected the attacks to have some meaning, especially how they were used.

      I first became suspicious when a Mezzoflation was named EBO. Then I looked it up and saw employee buyout. Then I started looking them all up thinking that it can’t be just a coincidence, and I was right.

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  9. i knew all the other econ/finance terms except dead man’s trigger. because they have used all econ/finance terms throughout i would assume this is one too. but i have never learned/heard about this one. any ideas?

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