Based on: Shinobu Kaitani’s manga Liar Game
Directed by: Hiroaki Matsuyama
Broadcast in: 2009

Overall rating: B+

In a world where lies are more prevalent than truth, Nao Kanzaki (played by Erika Toda) is the black sheep among us. Not only is she truthful, but she is also gullible: believing everything everyone tells her without a spec of mistrust. In the first series, we learned that the Liar Game brings out the greed in its players and is the main force behind their lies. The game forces everyone to become liars in order to trick their opponent out of 100 million yen making one person richer and everyone else in-debt of said 100 million yen. Nao finds herself in the game when she receives an invitation to play and opens a mysterious black box at her door-step. The box contains the huge amount of money (in cash) and by opening the box, she thereby agrees to play and refusal at that point will not be accepted. They never said what will happen but I imagine it won’t be pleasant. Throughout the game, Nao teams up with Shinichi Akiyama (Shota Matsuda) who is a master swindler skilled at mind games and tactics. They make an odd pair, but seem to feed off each other’s energy and ideals. In Liar Game II, Nao is once again invited to join in the game she thought she had already won. Lucky for her, Shinichi is also invited. The two, along with a past rival Yuji Fukunaga (Kosuke Suzuki), battles against the Liar Game organization (also known as LGT office) and a new adversary: Ryo Katsuragi (Rinko Kikuchi). Ryo is as cunning as Shinichi in manipulating the situation to her favor. Besides that, she also has a past connection to Shinichi. Can the Liar Game be won this time around?

I was really captivated with the first season. The story is really interesting and the characters are fun to watch. In this second season the main characters are more-or-less still the same, but I find the opponents really weak. The only one that could stand up against Shinichi is Ryo and the show makes a point to always highlight her as the main enemy this time around. In season 1, both the opponents and the LGT members who run the Liar Game tournament were equally frightening and made Nao’s journey out of the game more strenuous. This time around, Nao is more familiar with the LGT members and the only person she truly worries about is Ryo. In a sense, Nao is a bit stronger this season and shows less fear…which somehow makes it less entertaining for me. Another thing that s..l…o…w…l…y annoys me this season is all the slow-motion walking that keeps happening. Yes, it’s very dramatic whenever anything walks in slow-motion, but doing it constantly just loses its effect. Acting wise, Kosuke Suzuki who plays Yuji Fukunaga still made his character one of the most memorable figure in Liar Game. His constant fickleness with trespassing on the side of good and evil is both entertaining and endearing to watch. Erika and Shota both also revived their character to great effect. Although Shota’s character, Shinichi, is noticeably less vengeful and dark this season. This is my first time seeing Rinko Kikuchi who plays the manipulating Ryo. Her character is cold and selfish yet she never comes off as evil which I find really interesting.

The Liar Game is a game that facilitates and entice lying, but Nao won the first tournament being her truthful self (any trickery was done by Shinichi mostly). In season 2, Nao still holds onto her mantra of being truthful and willing to help her opponents out of their debts at the end of the game. Despite some aspects of this season really annoy me, the main theme of the show is still kept intact and I was still up in the dead of night watching “one more episode.” To lie or not to lie, that is the question. However, lying is the underbelly of the true evil that the Liar Game brings out: greed. Money makes people do many evil things and lying is but a small sin to commit in order to attain that which makes the world go round. In this sea of greed, Nao represents the good will in people (albeit a few) that can withstand all sorts of injustice but still hold true to their kindness. Being a good person might not bring the big bucks, but it can still inspire evil doers to be good or warms a bitter heart. This drama shows good can still exist and in a way the LGT office is somewhat wishing for the same thing. Liar Game II does not mark the end of the franchise. A movie came out in March of 2010 continuing the saga.

Liar Game also has an amazing insert soundtrack whenever something good is about to happen. It’s quite addicting actually =P