WORLD END ECONOMiCA is a visual novel written by Isuna Hasekura of Spice and Wolf fame and developed by Spicy Tails. On June 24th, the Spicy Tails Youtube channel uploaded a promotional video for the anime adaption.
WORLD END ECONOMiCA takes place in a future, where Earth has been ruined by pollution. Humans have since terraformed the Moon and are thriving in futuristic cities with booming economies where stock trading is the key to reaching the heights of society. The story revolves around a boy named Yoshiharu or “Hal,” a runaway making his living through his knack for playing the stock market. He is taken in by a woman named Lisa that rescues him from being arrested by the authorities. Under Lisa’s care, Hal meets a girl named Hagana, a math genius who is also lacking in social skills. The two of them use their unique talents as they discover both the tragedies and blessings that await in the world of economics.
The short 4-minute promotional video conveys the themes in WORLD END ECONOMiCA through the contrast of the beautiful, looming lunar skylines juxtaposed with the depictions of raw emotion. While it is unclear what the story itself is about exactly for people who are unfamiliar with the source material, the trailer is captivating enough through its unique setting and its portrayal of the high risk world of investing. The series is sure to be of interest to fans of drama and human psychology as well as for the rare individual who has been waiting for an anime that focused on the world of finance and its related socioeconomic effects.
However, as of now, there is no release date or a confirmation that a series is in production. This is due to the nature of the origin of this project which was originally a Kickstarter started by writer Isuna Hasekura last year. Hasekura’s plan to turn WORLD END ECONOMiCA into an anime series can be found on the Kickstarter page as he describes how he met Akira Katayama, a personal investor and a fan of the visual novel who was willing to fund the creation of the anime himself. While he did not turn down the offer, Hasekura feared a loss on Katayama’s investment due to limited resources in the anime production industry and the inability to guarantee whether or not an anime could even be produced. The Kickstarter was then created both as a way of gauging the potential interest of a WORLD END ECONOMiCA as well as securing the necessary resources to produce a promotional video as a pitch to potential anime studios that would take on the project.
As of June 19th of this year, the Kickstarter has managed to crowdfund ¥5,919,682. Updates on the WORLD END ECONOMiCA project can be found on the official Twitter account in both English and Japanese.
