Just finished: Liar Game

Yes, we have spoilers.

This series based around games of bluffing and bargaining ended on a very open note, clearly pointing towards a second, darker series. And, by episode 10, I thought that this series would increase the tension for the series finale. At the end of that episode, one contestant was last seen trapped in an elevator, apparently free-falling to his death. But at the start of the next episode, nobody seemed to be that bothered that he wasn’t around to film the next game or even answer his phone. They just carried on without him.

The other drawback of the final episode of this series was the amount of talking that went on. The motives and events behind everything that happened were explained in quite a bit of detail, and I was somewhat disappointed to see the old storyline of “we were all in an orphanage together but I forgot” to explain why nobody had realised the link between the contestants until the end. This was a plot device I last saw in Final Fantasy 8, and I remember thinking at the time that I hope I never see it again.

Then there was the kidnapping of the main contestant’s father. This sub-plot really came out of nowhere, and wasn’t terribly well thought out. It ended with a rather silly fight between a good guy and a bad guy while the father, tied to a chair, wobbled about a bit in the foreground. I suppose he must have forgotten that he was doused in petrol and he was about to knock a lit Zippo lighter onto the pool of liquid around him. An easy mistake to make.

So that’s the bad news.

The good news is that this remained entertaining despite the slightly shaky finale. And it was better than the Japanese version, by quite some distance in the end. The real life setting of a TV reality show meant that events of the game had some kind of repercussions outside the game. I liked the scenes about debt collectors and how the public were reacting. It put everything in a world I recognised.

I enjoyed the games, too. The Contraband game was far clearer in Korean version. The Japanese version involved taking out the opponents' money and then making them think they were smuggling it back in again. The Korean version was mostly about who to trust and how to trick the game. Plus, it had this shot in it.

It was far better, too, to have the enemy as another contestant instead of some faceless group of enigmatic criminals. Shin Sung Rok was great as the evil mastermind determined to destroy his rival. He was by far the most interesting character in the series – a seething pit of hidden disgust at those around him. Nicely underplayed.

And, perhaps the Korean version’s biggest triumph over the Japanese drama concerns the final episode. In the original Liar Game, it was a two-hour recap of the previous ten episodes followed by a fifteen minute epilogue stuck on the end. You can’t imagine how disappointed I was when I first saw that. I was expecting a feature length Battle Royale to end the fantastic first series. The Korean Liar Game at least sticks to one hour per episode and doesn’t waste too much time with flashbacks.

So, although it wasn’t perfect, I really enjoyed this series and I look forward to the next.

Currently Watching: Liar Game

With all the debate about the Korean remake of Nodame Cantabile, I didn’t notice that there’s another J-drama remake airing on Korean TV this season: Liar Game. I was baffled by this, not because I thought there was anything wrong with Korean TV remaking another Japanese series, but because Korean TV has, effectively, already remade this Japanese series. I’m talking about The Genius, of course.

The three bad guys. Top, the Japanese TV original. 

Middle, The Genius version. Bottom, the Korean drama version.

So I watched the first two episodes, and it was interesting to see what had changed. Clearly, since The Genius took the faceless leader, emotionless dealers, and techno soundtrack from the Japanese Liar Game, the Korean version had to rethink things a bit.

This time, the battle of wits does not happen in a strange industrial wasteland but is played out as part of a reality TV show. Also, the bad guy is not hidden behind a mask behind a TV screen, but is a real person who interacts with the other players.

In that sense, at least, I think it’s an improvement. And with each episode of the Korean version being almost half as long as the Japanese one, there’s more time to explain the games and explore the consequences. It also explains more about the lives of the people involved, which is nice.

In another sense, though, this is much like a lot of other Korean TV dramas. A ditzy but good-natured woman falls in love with a cold, distant man. Strings play in the background, people throw things when they argue, and there are hardly any crash zooms like there were in the Japanese original (every five minutes, as I recall).

It’s too soon how things will progress, and it’ll be interesting to see how they fill up 20 or so hour-long episodes. I assume they’ll be using games from the manga which weren’t in the Japanese drama, or maybe they’ll remake series one and two together. Otherwise, it's going to be awfully slow. [EDIT: Actually, it looks like there'll be only half that. That's a bit of a relief.]

The Japanese version was one of the first J-dramas I watched and it was an early favourite. But, on balance, I think the Korean version might actually be slightly better. At least for the first two episodes.

Re-watching: Liar Game

Just before Christmas I felt the need for a bit of geeky mathematics-related action, so I dug out Liar Game and watched a few episodes. It quickly captured my interest with its cleverly devised plots and endless double crossing. I started to regret watching it at half past eleven in the evening, because before I knew it, it was one o’clock and I’d seen the first three episodes, and I was eager to see more.

On the down side, a lot of the show's fast-pace is a bit of an illusion. For example, twenty minutes of episode four involves a long explanation of how one person cheated the game. Each revelation was accompanied by crash zooms on each of the competitors. This streches out a scene that could've been done in five minutes.

Apart from the constant stylistic interruptions, the storyline is intriguing. A mysterious organisation sets up a game of chance for randomly selected competitors that will either make them rich or put them into massive debts. As the stakes get higher, the opponents become more and more cunning. Each game involves clever manipulation of people and probabilities to ensure success in what seems like a game of pure luck.

It’s a huge shame, then, that the last episode should be a feature-length recap of the whole series before the final scenes are played. The first time I watched it, I was puzzled at why they started with such a long, detailed flashback until I realised it wasn’t a flashback – they were telling the whole story again. Nevertheless I do recommend this to people, if they like mathematics and if they can sit through the director's endless reliance on the same shots and zooms.

Then, today I discover that a new Liar Game film is being made: Liar Game Reborn, so I thought I should write about it so I look up-to-date and relevant. The last time I wrote about Liar Game, I expressed a wish that the film would be the end of the series. However, now there's a new chapter in the story, I'm quite excited to see what happens next.

Judging by the trailer, it looks like more of the same, despite the lack of Toda Erika. There are a lot of familiar faces in the trailer and the music and directing style seem identical to the original TV series. Plus, Lair Game Reborn also features Ashida Mana, who seems to be in more things than AKB48 these days!

Liar Game Reborn is released on 3rd March 2012

Just watched: Liar Game: Final Stage

So this successful series gets a big-budget cinema send off to finsh the story. Except it's clearly not that big a budget, since it looks just like the TV version. And, just like the TV version, the storyline is mostly pushed forward by surprise results of each round followed by people laughing just before they reveal their fantastic strategy. And then being amazed when it doesn't work.

It's all fairly predictable, and the game was simple enough to follow and allowed for lots of back-stabbing so that was nice. Unfortunately, that was as far as it went. Nao filled her role as the perky optimist and, as always, Akiyama was the moody puppeteer, pulling the strings.



The story lacked a rival for Akiyama Shinichi. The idea that one of the players was a plant was nice, and kept me interested but it didn't have the same attraction as the battles of series one and two. The performances were fine. Seki Megumi (Sunao ni Narakute) stood out as a potential enemy, and Hamada Mari was great as one of Nao's allies.



After that, some of the characters were kind of anonymous. That's a problem with basing scripts on game theory: Sometimes the games need more people than you can write for. In fact, when one of the minor characters suddenly spoke towards the end of the film, I was quite surprised.

But now it is over, and the Liar Game is complete. A nice idea which perhaps went on a bit too long but kept me going to the end.

And I hope that was the end.

J-dramas that should be shown in the UK

I sometimes try to work out which J-dramas would make it onto British screens. Unlikely, since UK television has an aversion to any foreign shows with only Wallander from Sweden having a series on BBC3, although an episode of the Italian detective series Montalbano was shown once in 2008.

Given the nature of British TV, of course, most Japanese stuff simply wouldn't make it. The female characters are often too subservient or girly, or in the case of hard-hitting dramas, the bitter pill of social injustice is smothered by a sweet sub-plot, in which the teenage thug really does love his mother, or the murderer was trying to avenge the honour of his father.

So, here's my list of shows that would comfortably make it onto British screens. Not necessarily prime-time on a major channel, but they could find a home somewhere and not look out of place. I've put them in order from “no changes at all” to “needs quite a bit of work done to it”. And I've added where in the schedule they might fit. Ah, I missed my vocation – I should've been a programme planner.

1. Jikou Keisatsu
I've only recently started watching this, which is why I haven't mentioned it before. This is a detective series in which a policeman has a hobby where he investigates crimes that happened over 15 years ago and so cannot be brought to trial. Directed by Satoshi Miki and starring Odagiri Joe and Aso Kumiko, it's very funny and intelligently written. I'd put this on instead of Atami no Sousakan (same director, same cast) because Atami's constant Twin Peaks references would have people complaining it was just a rip-off, but this stands on its own two feet and I think it needs no changes at all to work abroad.
Channel: BBC2 or Channel 4, around 9 or 10 o'clock

2. Ueno Juri no Itsutsu no Kaban
No need for explanations, since I've written about this before. This series of short dramas is quiet and quirky, and would work fine pretty much as they are.
Channel: BBC2, after Newsnight. 11.15 ish

3. Galileo
I watched this ages ago, and keep meaning to write about it, but never seem to find the time. A scientist genius is used by the police to solve seemingly impossible crimes. The writing is great, and the explanations never disappoint in their ingenuity.
Channel: Late night ITV3, I reckon

4. Ashita no, Kita Yoshio
When people think of the Japanese, they tend to think of high suicide rates so I do wonder if this show (about a man who's decided to commit suicide in eleven days) would only reinforce that stereotype. But the series is so good that I'd take that risk.
Channel: BBC3 or 4 perhaps?

5. Akihabara@Deep
Definitely not prime time, but would easily fill a gap for cult movie-watchers and otaku. Some of the jokes may not make any sense to the British, but what the hell. Put it all on. Its energy and originality should be enough.
Channel: E4... or perhaps it could just make it onto Channel 4

6. Camouflage
While this show is excellent, I can't se your average UK viewer sitting through the intro and outro of every episode. So with a bit of editing, I think you've got a very strong four part series.
Channel: similar to Itsutsu no Kaban, so again BBC2, after Newsnight. 11.15 ish

7. Lost Time Life
The first J-drama I ever watched and still one of my favourites. But let's be honest, not all of the ten episodes are great and the one about food is simply too Japanese. People will ask themselves: what's so great about sukiyaki? Cut it down to a six-parter and you've got something special.
Channel: late night BBC3

8. Anego
Another series I haven't written about yet. Hmmm, I feel like I should apologise. Anyway, this show is about an office lady who hits 30 and has no husband and no sign of any coming soon. A sort of Japanese Bridget Jones. Shinohara Ryoko is fantastic in the lead role, and while the storyline may be a bit wobbly in places, this could work. Just about. A bit of editing, maybe?
Channel: Hmm... E4?

9. Puzzle
This series is great. Funny and mysterious. Unfortunately, episode one relies on a word puzzle that most British people would get in seconds, thus making the audience wonder what all the fuss is about. Not sure how you'd get round that. It'd need a lot of editing. After that, though, this would work fine.
Channel: E4

10. Liar Game
This would need a complete remake. The female lead is too passive for British audiences, and the number of crash zooms in an average scene is ridiculous. But if they do make it for British audiences, I think it would work well. Geeky things are in vogue just now.
Channel: Hey, if you give it to Steven Moffat, BBC1!

Just finished: Liar Game 2

This techno-driven semi-surreal drama closes on a cliffhanger for the forthcoming film. With this in mind, it could hardly have a satisfying ending, but even a fan like me felt a little disappointed about the way things wound up.

The final two games were beaten mostly by manipulating people rather than probabilities and so didn’t offer the same level of geeky joy as series one. Plus, I’ll be honest, I had a hard time following the last game. I just let all the double-crossing wash over me while I watched the advantage swing back and forth. It was a little let down that the last game was won by exploiting a flaw in the game rather than exploiting the game itself but I suppose there’s only a limited number of mathematical theories that lend themselves to storytelling.

On the other hand, it is very addictive and I watched the last three episodes in one evening because I had to see what happens next. Luckily, the final chapter Liar Game: Final Stage is released in Japanese cinemas while I’m actually in the country! While I’m tempted to go, my Japanese is nowhere near good enough to follow the storyline. The best I could hope for is to watch people getting happy, then angry and then happy again, and try to work out why.

Currently Watching: Liar Game 2

So, I got hold of the subbed version of episode 1 from Sars Fansubs, and gave it a go. It more or less starts where the other left off, with its style of crash zooms, menacing electro soundtrack and constant drip-feeding of ever more ingenious explanations as to what’s really going on.

Just one episode in, and not much can be said about the direction the storyline is going to take, but I’d like to voice my approval of putting a future adversary in a top hat and black cloak. And to note that everyone seems to be exactly the same as two years ago, except that Toda Erika has nicer hair.

Waiting for: Liar Game 2

Fingers crossed that this one will scale the same heights of geekiness that the first series did. If so, this should be a real treat. While Galileo solved crimes with science, and Puzzle solved crimes with... well, with puzzles, then this uses probability and game theory to win the day. Based on the manga, the story in the first series revolved around a mysterious set of high risk games that our unsuspecting heroes are mixed up in.

I was a big fan of series one, despite the almost unbearable directing style. In an attempt to heighten the tension, almost every notable event was followed by crash zooms on each of the people in the room accompanied by an ominous exploding noise. If the room was full, this took a while. Still, I sat through them patiently to get to the explanations of the mechanics behind each scam, and was rarely disappointed.

The characters are, truth be told, fairly mundane. There’s the optimistic perky female and the brooding, enigmatic male who make an unlikely team etc etc. Although this allowed a nice twist in the first series is that the optimistic female finds her naïve trusting way of life is mathematically the most productive, as they discover that the only way for no one to lose the final game is if every one plays honestly.