Face of the people who sank all their money into the FX

About

The face of the people who sank all their money into the FX (Japanese: FXで有り金全部溶かす人の顔) refers to a series of parody illustrations inspired by a facial expression of desperation which appeared on Japanese TV anime for a yonkoma manga Ai Mai Mi^[1] written by Choborau Nyopomi. Since 2013, this facial expression is a sort of icon representing net trading on the Japanese web.

Origin

This facial expression is struck by Ponoka-senpai, a high school girl representing the dark side of this manga, in the 9th episode of the 1st TV anime season aired on March 1st, 2013. She appeared with this face after Mai insisted that she wants to watch that face on online live streaming programs by people trading FX. Mi explains that the senpai looks like she couldn’t distinguish between Japanese hiragana characters “Nu” (ぬ) and “Ne” (ね).

Background: FX Trading on the Japanese Web

In Japan, retail foreign exchange trading^[2] is usually called as FX, an abbreviated name of Foreign eXchange. Some of hardcore FX traders are streaming their home trading on Nico Nico Live, a live-streaming service by Nico Nico Douga (NND), and this kind of live-streaming programs is called FX live (FX実況, FX Jikkyo).

Meanwhile, there is an atmosphere of despising those people who earn a living by online trading without a job among Japanese people, and thus, traders failures that sometimes lost all their money by FX are popular subject for mockery. Among affi-blogs, weblogs summarising online topics for the purpose of earning advertising revenue via Google Adsense or Amazon Associate Program, cries of despair by FX traders which are posted to 2channel‘s threads or streamed on FX lives in real time are one of the popular topics to satisfy people’s heart of schadenfreude.^[3]

Therefore, Mai’s seemingly ridiculous remark is a caricature of this vulgar desire widespread among the Japanese internet users.

Spread

By a large impact of Ponoka-senpai’s glassy look, the 9th episode in the 1st season is the most popular episode in the anime. Shortly after the airing, her impressive facial expression became to a subject for parody among Japanese amatuer illustrators due to its ease of mimicking. More than 300 of illustrations tagged under the name “The face of the people who sank all their money into the FX” had been posted to pixiv^[4] and Nico Nico Seiga^[5] in its first year. And dozens of parody videos are posted to NND as well.^[6]

Besides, the presence of Ponoka-senapi’s face isn’t limited among fans and anime Otakus, nowadays it’s widely known as the iconic look of miserable loser in FX trading.

Official Merchandise & Collaborating Campaign

Against a large backdrop of the online presence, Ponoka-senpai’s glassy look is utilized in the official merchandising for the manga. By the official, her facial expression is named as “That Ponoka-senpai’s Face”, and T-Shirt, Sleep Shade and Wallet printing that face have been released since the middle of 2013.

On August 7th, 2014, DMM FX, a Japanese online FX trading service which has the world 2nd largest trading volume, launched a promoting campaign featuring Ai Mai Mi.^[7] And Ponoka-sempai’s “Let’s Begin FX!” T-shirt was provided as a special item for new customers during this campaign.