FX Fighter Kurumi-chan Episode 5 Recap & Characters (Spoiler-Free)

Episode Summary

Long? Short? Which Do I Choose?

Kurumi teaches Mebuki how to close a profitable trade while fighting her own urge to sell, and Mebuki, her profits growing, declares that following Kurumi's advice is a guaranteed win.

Kurumi tries to quit, but returns to trading when the rise she predicted for Mebuki comes true. She admits to Mochiko that she trades against Mebuki's usually wrong calls, and when Mochiko welcomes their relationship of using each other, Kurumi replies that she will use Mochiko too.

Mebuki's friend Yasuko comes to the university to pull her away from a bad upperclassman, but after revealing her dream of becoming a designer, she agrees to trade only with low leverage. Mebuki proposes a race to get rich first, and the narration warns that the calm forex market is about to turn turbulent.

• Profitable trade and bragging

  Kurumi explains how to close a trade while resisting the urge to sell herself, and Mebuki declares that following Kurumi's advice guarantees a win.

• Yasuko's warning and Kurumi's return

  Mebuki's neighbor Yasuko objects to her trading and warns of high leverage, while Kurumi struggles to quit but is drawn back into trading after the rise she predicted for Mebuki comes true.

• Mutual use with Mochiko and Yasuko's entry

  Kurumi trades against Mebuki's mostly wrong predictions, and Mochiko welcomes this and accepts a relationship of mutual use; meanwhile Yasuko, who came to the university to pull Mebuki away from a bad upperclassman, reveals her designer ambition and agrees to trade only with low leverage.

Recent Timeline

• Mother's death after FX loss (Episode 1)

  Kurumi's mother lost 20 million yen trading foreign exchange and hid it from her husband. After failing to return home, she died by jumping, and Kurumi was left blaming herself. Kurumi's first trade briefly earned 24,000 yen, but a sudden market shift began eating her savings and left her panicking.

• Leveraged 50-lot position reversal (Episode 2)

  Kurumi bought 50 lots at roughly 59 times her available funds. When the price fell, her gains disappeared and the rate moved toward her forced-liquidation threshold of 94 yen. Rather than cut the loss, she decided to inject her father's saved cash into the account to push the threshold lower.

• Position recovery and profitable close (Episode 3)

  Kurumi added 250 lots to her long position to recover unrealized losses. She survived a new low near forced liquidation and closed the position with a realized profit of 1.3 million yen. In a flashback, another investor who had bought Australian dollars at a high and kept delaying the closing of her losing position bet everything on a steep decline with a short position, but the market reversed upward against her.

• Confession of the stolen household money (Episode 4)

  Kurumi's father discovered the missing household money and threatened to call the police. Kurumi admitted she had taken it to win back her mother's lost twenty million yen through foreign-exchange trading. Her father begged her to stop trading, and she resolved to quit and earn money through ordinary work. Mochiko accepted her retirement but asked her to teach Mebuki, a beginner who had heard Kurumi turned 300,000 yen into 2.1 million yen in three months. Kurumi reluctantly agreed to give Mebuki her first lesson.

• Mebuki's winning streak and Kurumi's return (Episode 5)

  As prices fell, Mebuki closed her profitable short on Kurumi's instructions and declared that Kurumi's method was a guaranteed win. When Kurumi, doubting her own intuition, predicted a rise, Mebuki immediately went long, and her account passed 500,000 yen. Kurumi, who had already put money back into her account despite quitting, returned to trading herself, using Mebuki's mostly wrong predictions as a contrary indicator. Mebuki's neighbor Yasuko, who had warned against high leverage, agreed to trade with low leverage, and Mebuki proposed a race to see who gets rich fastest.

Character Graph

Kurumi's father

Kurumi's father, who arranged to commute from home after his wife's death and has set aside cash at home every month since. When he found that money gone, he identified Kurumi as the one who took it and, while promising to stay on her side, begged her to quit trading, asking why she should have to make up for her mother's failure.

• Commute change

  After Kurumi's mother's death, he arranged a change in his work assignment so he could commute from home.

• Missing household money

  Noticed that the money he had been saving at home was gone and said he would call the police, then pointed to Kurumi as the one who took it; he promised to stay on her side but begged her to quit trading.

• Kurumi (Family, Affinity)

  His daughter, whom he warned after her mother's death that she could live happily without foreign-exchange trading.

  When he learns she took the household money to win back her mother's losses, he tells her he will always be on her side, asks why she should have to make up for her mother's failure, and begs her to stop trading.

• Kurumi's mother (Family, Neutral)

  His wife, who hid her FX loss from him while he was working away from home, and died. Since her death he has set aside cash at home at the end of every month.

Kurumi

A university student who took up FX to win back the 20 million yen her late mother lost in it. She had resolved to quit at her father's plea, but found she had already put money back into her account, and when the rise she predicted for Mebuki came true, she went back to trading. She now trades against Mebuki's mostly wrong predictions, using them as a contrary indicator.

• Resolve to recover the loss

  After her mother's death by apparent suicide, she vows to prove her own efforts could have made it unnecessary, and later begins trading with 300,000 yen of savings.

• Closed with profit

  Closed the position with a realized profit of 1.3 million yen after the market rebounded

• Confession to father

  Admitted taking the household money to win back the twenty million yen her mother lost, and reported total profits of 1.8 million yen.

• Resolve to quit

  Told herself repeatedly that she must quit, and later struggled again with temptation after watching a successful trade.

• Return to trading

  Found she had already put money back into her trading account, and after the rise she predicted for Mebuki came true, she resumed trading, deciding she was allowed to continue.

• Kurumi's father (Family, Affinity)

  Her father, who arranged to commute home after her mother's death and warned her she could live happily without trading.

  When he discovers she took the household money, she confesses why and, at his plea, resolves to quit trading.

• Mochiko (Friend, Pact, Neutral)

  Friend who calls to check on her position and urges her to check the outcome

  Accepts their relationship of mutual use and retorts that she will use Mochiko in turn.

• Mebuki (Mentor, Mixed)

  Reluctantly agreed to teach her trading; warned that Mebuki bears full responsibility for her decisions and losses.

  Her predictions are used as a contrary indicator; Mebuki's usually incorrect predictions become a useful signal for Kurumi's own trading.

• Kurumi's mother (Family, Mixed)

  Her mother, who lost 20 million yen in FX and died. Though Kurumi blamed her for the loss, she takes up FX to prove that her own efforts could have kept her mother alive. When her Australian dollar–yen position, in her mother's main currency, is cornered, she holds on, refusing to let mother and daughter both lose. On the night she believes she has been liquidated, she breaks down, thinking she is just like her mother.

  She confesses to her father that she has been trading to win back the 20 million yen her mother lost, but he asks why she should be the one to make up for her mother's failure. She still tells herself she has lived to recover that money.

Kurumi's mother

Kurumi's mother, who lost 20 million yen trading FX when Kurumi was in middle school. She hid the loss from her husband and took on work to make it up, but died in an apparent suicide by jumping on the day he came home.

• 20 million yen lost to FX

  Lost 20 million yen trading FX at home, insisting it was not her fault because she had been told the price would definitely rise.

• Hiding the loss from her husband

  Asked Kurumi to keep it a secret from her father, said it was her own responsibility, and started working, coming home later and later.

• The day her husband came home

  Told Kurumi it was impossible when Kurumi promised to win the money back, then apologized when Kurumi asked whose fault all this was. She left home while Kurumi was out shopping and died that day in an apparent suicide by jumping.

• Main currency

  Her main trading currency was the Australian dollar; according to Kurumi, Australian dollar–yen fell from the 90-yen range to the 50-yen range in her time.

• Kurumi (Family, Affinity)

  Her daughter, whom she asked to keep the FX loss a secret from her father; she told Kurumi to focus on her studies instead of working, and used to ask her for help with arithmetic.

  In a flashback, she asks young Kurumi, who is drawing, what she wants to be when she grows up.

• Kurumi's father (Family, Neutral)

  Her husband, working away from home, from whom she hid her FX loss.

Mebuki

A beginner who wants to get rich without working, trading through an overseas FX broker with up to 500x leverage. Trading on Kurumi's calls, she has pushed her account past 500,000 yen and insists that following Kurumi's advice is a guaranteed win, though her own predictions are mostly wrong. Expecting to reach one million yen next month at this pace, she proposes a race to see who gets rich fastest.

• Kurumi (Mentor, Mixed)

  Learns trading from Kurumi after Mochiko asks Kurumi to teach her; Kurumi warned that trading is at Mebuki's own risk and that she cannot blame Kurumi for any losses, and Mebuki accepted this.

  Treats Kurumi's predictions as a guaranteed route to winning, profiting from them while Kurumi earns nothing.

• Mochiko (Other, Neutral)

  School acquaintance who introduced Mebuki to foreign-exchange trading as a shortcut to passive income.

Mochiko

An investment friend Kurumi met in her first year of university, with more investing experience than Kurumi. She welcomes Kurumi's return to trading, and on hearing that Kurumi trades against Mebuki's mostly wrong predictions, calls their relationship of mutual use healthy. When Kurumi retorts that she will use Mochiko in turn, Mochiko tells her to go ahead.

• Hoped for volatility

  Hoped the price would break below 94 yen because she wanted a more volatile market

• Private resentment

  Suspected Kurumi had obtained extra funds and resented her profit while congratulating her outwardly

• Stance on retirement

  Argued that Kurumi could become a billionaire and dismissed trading as a battlefield where only money is at risk.

• Kurumi (Friend, Colleague, Pact, Neutral)

  Friend whom Mochiko calls to check on and privately judges for greed, while privately resenting Kurumi's success

  When Kurumi explains that she trades against Mebuki's mostly wrong predictions, Mochiko welcomes it, calls their mutual use a healthy relationship, and half admits she means to use Kurumi; when Kurumi says she will use her in turn, Mochiko tells her to try.

Yasuko

Mebuki's neighbor and friend of the same age who dreams of becoming a designer. She opposes Mebuki's foreign-exchange trading and comes to the university to pull her away from a bad upperclassman, but in the end agrees to trade only with low leverage and low-volatility currencies.

• Warning to Mebuki

  Ran into Mebuki on her way to the arcade and brought her along, then scolded her for starting foreign-exchange trading and warned her about high leverage and the volatile pound.

• Joining the race

  Introduced herself, admitted envy at Mebuki's earnings, revealed her ambition to become a designer, and agreed to trade with low leverage and low-volatility currencies.

• Mebuki (Friend, Mixed)

  Her neighbor and friend of the same age, whom she scolds for starting foreign-exchange trading and warns about high leverage and the volatile pound; after seeing Mebuki's earnings she admits envy and joins Mebuki's race to riches with low leverage.

World Memo

• Extreme leverage at overseas brokers

  An overseas broker permits exceptionally high leverage on trades, which is characterized as essentially gambling.

• Automatic forced-liquidation rule

  A broker automatically closes a trader's position once the price reaches a broker-prescribed threshold, intended to protect investors from excessive losses.

Battle Record

Following Kurumi's prediction of a rise, Mebuki went long and her account passed 500,000 yen; she had earlier closed her pound-yen short at a profit on Kurumi's instructions.

Leveraged Australian dollar–yen position closed

Margin squeeze on the Australian dollar · Episodes 2–3

Location: Foreign-exchange market (AUD/JPY)

Trigger: Kurumi used family money to keep her Australian dollar–yen long position alive and needed to recover unrealized losses before month-end

Kurumi vs. the AUD/JPY market

• Kurumi — leveraged trader: Kurumi
• Market — counterparty: AUD/JPY market

Outcome: Kurumi closed the 300-lot Australian dollar–yen position with a realized profit of 1.3 million yen; the narration describes this as good luck that was, viewed another way, bad luck for her

Aftermath

• Believing she had been liquidated that night, Kurumi concluded her earlier wins had been luck and doubted her trading ability
• Mochiko privately suspected Kurumi had obtained extra funds and resented her success

Mebuki's pound-yen debut

Short sold on Kurumi's first impression · Episodes 4–5

Location: Foreign-exchange market (pound-yen)

Trigger: While teaching Mebuki, Kurumi said her first impression was that pound-yen would fall but wanted to watch longer; Mebuki sold before Kurumi could stop her.

Mebuki vs. the pound-yen market

• Mebuki — novice trader: Mebuki
• Market — counterparty: pound-yen market

Outcome: Mebuki closed the short at a profit on Kurumi's instructions and declared that following Kurumi's advice was a guaranteed win.

Aftermath

• Watching Mebuki profit, Kurumi was shaken by an inner voice saying she would have earned too if she had sold, and asking whether she really meant to quit.
• Kurumi, who had earned nothing herself, was left frustrated.

Mebuki's long on Kurumi's call

Account passes 500,000 yen · Episode 5

Location: Foreign-exchange market

Trigger: Kurumi, doubting her own intuition, predicted a big rise, and Mebuki immediately opened a long position.

Mebuki vs. the market

• Mebuki — novice trader: Mebuki
• Market — counterparty: currency market

Outcome: The price rose as Kurumi predicted, and Mebuki's account passed 500,000 yen; she expects to reach one million yen next month at that pace.

Aftermath

• After the rise she had predicted for Mebuki came true, Kurumi returned to trading herself.

Music Releases

• FX Senshi Kurumi-chan (OP)
• $・¥・€ (ED)