INVESTOR-Z

A manga about Dojuku Academy where the top student of each grade level are inducted into a secret investor club that is in charge of funding the school. The newest member, Takashi Zaizen, dives into the world of investing to learn about the importance of money.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

Oh, boy. Where to start.

I’ve read a few of Norifusa Mita‘s different manga like Archimedes no Taisen and enjoyed them. Mita is not a great artist but he’s decent at storytelling so his creativity has garnered fandom. Unfortunately INVESTOR-Z is really hampered with an really awful premise of investing, and therefore money. This series puts a strong emphasis on the importance of money, for usually the worst reasons. While it does a good job explaining things like venture capitals and real estate, Mita doesn’t put any emphasis on how these capitalist systems are exploiting others or why this is bad. The ultimate message of the series is “Love Money” and I could write a whole essay on why that message is problematic.

The fact that early on they say “Money was invented and people began to trust each other!” should say everything about this. I recommend you try reading something else by Mita.

Available from in English from Cork.

~dakazu