Liar Game Episode 8 Discussion

There it is again "I fell for it, again" face.

Why would none of the other six mention they could just talk to Nao and force Fukunaga out of the game? Surely round 2 with Nao is safer than round 2 with Fukunaga.

Why can Fukunaga use violence, wouldn't this just turn into a fist fight? Which I assume Fukunaga will take advantage of the smaller numbers and use her fighting skills. I don't like the trade offer rule, as it just forces people to put money on who they voted for and not let them lie.

Honestly kinda disappointed in this game so far. Fukunaga reminded everyone about there being more rounds, but they completely forgot about this when they used the "not vote for Nao" plan. Don't blame Nao falling for this trick for the 67's time, but the other six following along makes just as stupid to fall for Fukunaga a second time.

The only saving grace for this game is how much of a mastermind fivehead Akiyama would have to be to bring Nao back in the game. I swear if it's another "but what the other rounds" idea, this game is like going to be bland.

Episode 0/5

I'm tired of this silly girl playing the victim and not knowing how to think at all. She's a real dumbass. This anime makes me think that only two characters actually know how to think; Everyone else is completely clueless. It's a poorly written, trashy story with characters who don't think and fall for silly tricks like this. Ugh, I hate all of this! I can't wait for it to end soon

and sincerely? I want her to get any worse from now on, even a 6-year-old child doesn't act like her, the woman Honestly doesn't know how to think, I HATE it all, rubbish episode of terrible quality and story with characters who don't think the basics

Is it explained in the manga that Fukunaga is non-binary or cross-dresses for some specific reason? Because in the episode where he revealed that he was actually a man, he just made it sound like it was a matter of convenience, to disguise himself for the game. But… here he is wearing fake boobs and makeup again. It’s a very weird decision.

Also, Nao is so abysmally stupid I want her to lose. When Fukunaga ‘tricks’ her, she should just tell the truth. Her friend lost big in the last game and she’s playing to save him. That would make her extremely sympathetic and remind everyone that most of them can blame Fulunaga (whether rightly or wrongly) for their being in debt.

He calls himself a "new half" in the Japanese script. It's a word that refers to men who present as women. Liar Game provides no explanation beyond that.

I feel like more folks would be able to enjoy this if they just accepted that Nao is the way she is, and that she is going to get duped, like I knew Nao would be tricked by Yuji here, and lo and behold, she did, but I’m not mad that Nao fell for it, instead I was looking forward to seeing her reaction to being tricked and how exactly Yuji did it. Idk if this is how it is for anyone else, but this is how I get my enjoyment from the show, figured I’d throw it out there lol.

But yeah all that aside, this game is looking to be possibly even more interesting than the Minority Game, it just has one loser but it’s already proved to be really intense with the use of the M Tickets and Yuji’s deception, and as much as I enjoy the lying and the betrayal, I think this is the most bad I’ve felt for Nao so far, yeah she fell for Yuji’s trick hook, line and sinker, but seeing her crying and alone was really sad to see, not having Akiyama around means she has no one. Well at least mohawk dude went against Yuji and told Nao what was going on (at the cost of his face being kicked in unfortunately lol), but because of the conditions of the M Tickets, I’m not sure if knowing the truth is gonna help her much or not.

Now I know Akiyama is rushing to find Nao, but I think it would be best if Nao could somehow turn this around on her own, I have no idea how she could manage it as of rn but it sure would be an insane feat if she could.

Daily reminder Liar Game is the most underrated anime in history. Goodbye

@TheColonel76 I would love to have this mindset but it is not like she is getting scammed or duped by a different scheme each time. She is falling for the same mistake. Oh the lawyer you put your trust in betrayed you and made you join the second game even though you were saved. Sure listen to him and join the game for a third time after being saved twice over. Oh the cross dressing villain you teamed up with back stabbed you and everyone in the second game, sure listen and trust that person fully again and act shocked when they back stab you. Just her existing at this point hurts this story and makes it agony. If it followed any other character this show would be better off. Nao is coming off boarder line mentally challenged and it is not even fun to watch her since she just does her stupid surprised pikachu face and waits to be saved.

Anyone else getting tired of how stupid Nao is. This isn't even in the realm of foolishly honest, this is just idiocrasy. You had a way to heavily penalize her so she wouldn't betray you AGAIN (M tickets) and Nao just trusts her.... at this point, I want her to lose.

This show has some of the worse writing I have ever witnessed... It all hinges on Nao being so stupid and naive that she puts 0 thought into what she is being told and why. The saying fool me once shame on you, fool twice shame on me means nothing when faced with the same scam 4 times over. At this point I am only watching to see how much of a dumpster fire this turns into. No amount of character development can save this show for me after this dumb bitch joined for a third time to be put into the same loser position by a character who just betrayed her in the last game.

i'm so sick of her. you could put a 3 year old in place of her and they'd have more success. it's pathetic and irritating. never have i wanted a character to die and suffer more. she deserves it

@Zarutaku I am not really holding out hope for that because it looks like Akiyama is literally running to the rescue.

@pixelante Some manga reader said she will redeem herself in this game, so I suppose we are in for some surprise.

She’s so dumb it’s unbearable I suddenly recalled why I dropped the manga when I love these type of games.

If Nao is going to get stronger she should do it soon!
Of course I would have had her out after the first game and work with Akiyama to destroy LGT then her being so stupid would make more sense.

But what bothers me more is the greed of the players in general they are so baseline human, we know nothing about most of them,
so what stops them from all being manipulated from LGT to destroy the innocence of Nao for she is the chosen one!

It's almost as if the author wants to destroy any faith in humanity anyone might have.
I get that this is a cartoon but the plot armour is strong and we don't have a reason to care about Nao especially because of her simplicity.

It’s Nao unable to think or something

Why is bro defending this show so hard though

Why is bro defending this show so hard though

@YorForgersSlave
I'm eternally obliged to its creators to let it finally happen.

Liar Game is the Mastodonte work which inspired a lot of series which built huge fanbases by itself (Squid Game, Tomodachi Game, Danganronpa, Cote by the looks of it - personally can't confirm) and TV shows, dethroned Death Note in a process, brought Poker and Finance/Economics to the uneducated audience, set a lot records along the way and kicked Nao haters to the curb. I think that's literally the best thing ever.

For those who actually been involved in Contracts/Gambling/Teams Positioning, it's also can be a playbook of a sorts, though it's something from another planet compared to casual level people tend to watch the shows. Liar Game has the best game & tournament design period. If you have a play-to-win mentality and able to follow through all the situations, hidden possibilities and rules loopholes never shown in the show, etc. Its a grand sandbox. I mean I don't think people just able to follow it closely.

Round 3 is non-mahjong game yet the game is so hard you'd find manga readers don't understand it fully (so for them it's like a Mahjong). That's an achievement by itself in this genre. I mean from the non-lethal non-mahjong games Liar Game is undisputed top 1, and including lethal ones it's top 3 (together with Kaiji and Usogui), both of which are manga only mostly

For shonen fans, maybe this analogue works better. I'd argue Liar Game is same level as Steel Ball Run but that's because of characters who yet enter the fray. One hell of a journey for sure

@Crogan247 The main thing is that it does not matter what Nao could have done after Fukunaga had her talk with the other guys, she would have lost. Fukunaga could have literally written different names in the ballot in front of her face and voted it in and she would still be stuck because what Fukunaga did was ensure that there would be no votes for Nao. And since Fukunaga already is swapping votes with Miura, she does not need Nao's votes anymore. She'll win without them regardless. All Nao's votes did was add security to her position as the first.

@Crogan247 The main thing is that it does not matter what Nao could have done after Fukunaga had her talk with the other guys, she would have lost. Fukunaga could have literally written different names in the ballot in front of her face and voted it in and she would still be stuck because what Fukunaga did was ensure that there would be no votes for Nao. And since Fukunaga already is swapping votes with Miura, she does not need Nao's votes anymore. She'll win without them regardless. All Nao's votes did was add security to her position as the first.

@YorForgersSlave he’s just some edgy theater kid who’s way too high on neuroticism. I don’t know why I’m even bothering with him tbh

“My honesty's brutal but it's honestly futile if I don't utilize what I do though for good, at least once in a while” - Dude thinks so highly of himself it’s crazy

@Adizcool I stopped watching after Fukunaga made her reveal that she fooled Nao, so I don’t know what happens after that.

I get what your saying, but my point is not necessarily to provide an actual foolproof way for her to win, it’s to argue that she still doesn’t do anything toward trying to make sure things go her way. We are still doing the whole, Nao can’t think for herself.

We are not waiting for Nao to become a genius, we are waiting for her to start distrusting people on some level. AT LEAST distrust Fukunaga of all people. I can’t suspend my disbelief that someone lacks a capacity to learn at this level. If Nao did what I said, and it still didn’t go her way, I’d have zero problems right now.

I get she gets character development soon, but it should have already happened to some degree, and trusting Fukunaga 100% at this point in the story is unacceptable in my mind.

I actually think Liar Game has a really interesting concept, and I can absolutely understand why people love the mind games and psychological aspect of it. My biggest issue personally is the main character and how the story handles her gullibility. I’ve commented about it in the past but I think I can finally put it into words. And I need to dump those somewhere.

At first, her trusting nature feels intentional, kinda sweet almost. She comes across as innocent, sheltered, and overly kind in a world built around manipulation. That contrast works early on. But after several games, it started becoming frustrating for me because it began to feel less like a character flaw she was learning from and more like the story constantly resetting her back to square one. She gets betrayed and played over and over again but she still doesn’t catch on. And then she’s surprised when she gets played like a fiddle once again.

In a high stakes psychological series, I think character progression is incredibly important. Part of the appeal of these kinds of shows is watching characters adapt, become sharper, and learn from the brutal situations they are thrown into. If the protagonist repeatedly falls for the same types of tricks while still trusting people in a game literally centered around lying and betrayal, it completely breaks the tension. Instead of wondering how Nao is going to manage to outsmart her enemies, it turns into “well I wonder how Nao will be manipulated and tricked this week,” which not only makes for an insanely frustrating watching experience, but hurts the anime as a whole. Many people are not compelled to keep watching and jump off. It creates this cycle of frustration that needs some kind of payoff or people ( me included) will lose hope in the series as a whole.

That does not mean I need her to suddenly become a cold mastermind or lose her kindness completely. In fact, I think her empathy could become really interesting if it evolved into something more strategic over time. But for me personally, the repetition eventually stopped feeling tragic or sympathetic and started feeling frustrating. I don’t feel sympathy for her. Just plain annoyance.

I still think the concept itself is strong, and I want to like the show. I’m still going to keep watching but my patience is slowly but surely growing very thin.

@alpo42ab
It's not plot armor its tournament design :) What you see is the build up for the (arguably) very jaw dropping beginning for the Round 3. I agree with you here author goes way beyond his usual on the "teach and learn" and flip it all over, rinse and repeat approach

(like it's hard to find someone who says Downsizing is his top3 favorite game in manga / live action adaptation)

But it's still essential and very influential. Like entire Tomodachi Game was spawn out of this one single game, at the back of my mind. And it also very fitting type of the curve ball to throw, very tempting. But you need to be familiar with the tournament systems to understand it completely. I think for one Downsizing Game is too hard for people to understand the meaning of it as the Revival (key word here) Round, it's very emotional.

That's why it's more art than science (Minority Rule). Take it with a grain of salt, I might be going against the crowd here, but you should treat Downsizing and Round 3 as the whole package. You should ask yourself more on the most glaring things:

Why Round 3 is so terrifying? Why Downsizing lets whole 8 players to win and its called Revival Round? How come you are allowed to come on this game as Nao and why there no other winner players?Why Akiyama is allowed to come to Nao in this round and so on?

If you don't get what's implied here, it's absolutely fine, but just know it all is answered at Round 3 start and that's why it's the greatest game in LGT, even the build up is fantastic

It's only been 8 episodes. Did Tanjirou Kamado learn anything within the first 8 episodes? What about Kirito, Frieren, Ken Kaneki, Kenzou Tenma, or Sailor Moon? Long running series do not develop their characters in 8 episodes. Why is it only a problem with Liar Game?