LIAR GAME

I'm glad they took their time with the confession game It was pretty good! I wonder if they omitted a part in the 'Rules' though (Not asking for a source reader to confirm/deny, just babbling); Because Longhair confessed, thinking (due to the noise) that Bandana confessed... But by the rules they gave, there's zero incentive to confessing if you think the other person already confessed. You're still the "second to confess" and you lose 100 loyalty points no matter what. So I wonder if they forgot to say one part of the rule In a true Prisoner's dilemma scenario, confessing if you think the other person confessed is STILL beneficial for you (if not for the group). So if it was a standard Prisoner Dilemma game, then yeah he should DEFINITELY confess if he thinks the other person did (to lower your punishment, and because "fuck that guy who ratted on me"). But with the rules they were told, confessing second does nothing at all. So they should other try to confess first (i.e. in the first millisecond the game starts), OR not confess at all!

Early on in this Arc I thought I would hate him (I tend not to like the 'edgy/I'm so fucking great' villains), but he's better than I expected him; The way he's pondering people's actions, and I like how he uses the 'carrot' and not just the stick! (I mean he's using it just to strengthen his grip over the group of course, it's not out of the kindness of his heart, but it's still better than ONLY reigning by terror!) All this being said, I think they should fucking murder him if he loses the game for them. Some people can tolerate a tyrant when he's winning, but a losing tyrant is a whole other thing!

The way he's pondering people's actions, and I like how he uses the 'carrot' and not just the stick! (I mean he's using it just to strengthen his grip over the group of course, it's not out of the kindness of his heart, but it's still better than ONLY reigning by terror!) I agree that it’s better and more interesting from a writing perspective, but not morally. It’s still just a manipulation method to achieve his own selfish and deranged control fantasies. A bit of an exaggerated example, although relevant to the way Yokoya rules his team, but if a KGB agent pays someone to rat out people who have criticized Stalin, I’d argue it’s just as bad as if they beat them to get the same information, because the people accused still end up in a gulag. My point is that the ends are bad enough that the morality of the means becomes obsolete. I couldn’t really discern if you meant how Yokoya is written or that him using the carrot was a redeeming quality, so if I misunderstood, I apologize.

Holy, that confession game was tense as hell, especially with the lack of background music. Akagi did well to play his part in the prisoner’s dilemma but unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about Shibayama. While spending an agonising ten minutes, his thoughts went to not Akiyama but Nao as the beacon of light in the darkness that was the Liar Game. She’s made quite an impression even on those who had barely spent any time with her. Yokoya’s got an iron-tight rule as the Night country’s dictator. Terrifying to see the absolute control he had over them. Looked like Akiyama’s plot to stage a coup was sniffed and foiled. He got the Day country out of a certain defeat once already. It’d take a miracle to repeat the feat.

Akagi did well to play his part in the prisoner’s dilemma but unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about Shibayama. What's even more frustrating is that Shibayama didn't even confess out of greed (I could understand that, even if I do not approve), he confessed because he got fooled... And it was in vain; If the noise he heard was Akagi confessing first, then confessing as well wouldn't even help him! The 2nd to confess still takes the full punishment. So he was a complete idiot to confess. I wouldn't even hate him if he confessed by thinking "Fuck Akagi, I'm going to betray him to get the reward!"... But I do hate him for going "Oh no, I think he's confessing, so I'll fall for it and confess too even if it doesn't help me!"

Yokoya's system is scarily smart. His loyalty points set up leaves the bottom 2 places with nothing. If it was only the last place with the worst punishment (similar to the downsizing game), then the others would relax if there was an obvious loser in the course of the game, but it's harder to tell if you're in second last place so you're always on your toes. To think that Yokoya came up with all of this on the spot, since he couldn't have known in advance that it was going to be a team game. Probably comes from his experience dominating other spaces.

This episode was so tense and I liked how they got into Bandana's mind in constantly second guessing what long hair would do. It would seem thus far that Yokoya has the upper hand, as Nao narrated that they are completely unaware Yokoya is on to their plan. It is also possible though that although Baldy revealed the plan to Yokoya, Akiyama told him to do so and there is another plan going on. At first when they bound the 2 guys, I thought Yokoya was going to torture them with the rats. I don't know how the Japanese legal system works but I wonder if they could sue for being forcibly bound and beaten. They also didn't explicitly sign contracts to waive liability, more just got sucked into the Liar Game by opening the package. I know the show won't end with that but that would have been nice if that was addressed at some point.

Can the Country of Day utilize the defectors and turn this game around and lose while winning? So far so good, but can they truly outwit Yokoya? So Yokoya has basically been running the Country of Night like his old high school: a hierarchy with himself at top, points rewarded based on performance and loyalty, and turning teammate against teammate to see who will sell out who for more points and prove their loyalty. The threat of physical violence is also no the table. There is absolutely no trust in this team and they're all at Yokoya's mercy to the point where none of them know what their points are but they're just scrambling to keep their head above water so they can pay off their debts. It's nice of Akiyama and Nao to believe in the power of bonds and that it can ultimately topple Yokoya's dictatorship, especially if they can get the defectors to truly believe in the Country of Day (and Saint Nao). But Yokoya's already onto them. The defectors get caught, tied up, and forced to play the "Confession Game" (a Liar Game within a liar game!) torn between staying true to Country of Day or selling each other out for points. Akagi is stuck in a 10 minute limbo questioning whether he should turn on Shibayama, but Akiyama has actually got him believing that he should remain faithful and strong...even though Shibayama sold him out within a minute. Yikes. Akiyama could tell things were getting too easy, but did he really screw it up by giving the spiel to Hasegawa and outing their plan? I mean, Akiyama's smart but he might not have been able to see EVERYTHING coming...and now Akagi is left with the opportunity to turn triple agent to save himself. Is there ANY stopping Yokoya!?

If Yokoya fails, I'm pretty sure they will fucking lynch him. So we got to learn more about Yokoya's system... It's not only a dictatorship, but it encourages betrayal among the players, snitching/trying to get them to sniff out the others, etc... He's creating resentment not only toward himself, but also among all the players... Right now he's the "Uniting force" because he represents victory, so they play along with that, but if they do lose, then you strip the 'good stuff' he represents and all that's left is that feeling of betrayal, that resentment, that control/oppression they felt for the whole game, and all this to lead to a loss? All that resentment will be pointed at him directly, ALL the hate will be for him, no matter what the players have done to one another, because he's the root cause of all that... And serving an evil person/doing evil things to win, many could fathom that, but serving an evil person/doing evil things TO LOSE? If they tar&feather him to send him away, he should consider himself lucky that he got off so easy! He'd get along well with Fukunaga! (New crackship?) Normally I would feel some empathy for people living under a dictatorship, but... Can't say I feel too bad about this one! Hah, I was speculating on this in the previous episode. Smart move, I think! Not just bonds, but hope... The only hope Yokoya represents, is victory. Everything else is bad. So if you make them doubt that victory, and float the possibility of a victory elsewhere, AND you get better stuff along with it (bonds, loyalty, etc) you might recruit legitimate allies and not just people who are forced to do something! I really like how he added "That's what I think" ; A simple line, but it hints at something people often omit in game theory, i.e. the player's personality! Everyone have their own set of principles, everyone have their quirks and illogical things... Sometimes you can figure out that "The logical thing to do would be this, so here's how we're going to counter that", but then you might learn they did NOT do the logical thing; Not even to fool you, but simply because they don't play optimally. So it's not as simple as "Figuring out the optimal move", you also need to deduce whether they'll even play it! Nao wants to crush them&their system; Winning against them would be nice, but I think she mostly just wants to crush them because "They're not nice!" Man, these people SERIOUSLY need to learn to stop talking in the open like that! Every game there's people who just scheme to each other in someone's earsight! (Multiple times in this one!) When he started explaining this confession game I thought "Prisoner's dilemma!" but I didn't think they would actually name it hah. And that's what I was talking about earlier... Just because it's the smart move, doesn't mean the others will do it! Wow, what a fucking idiot. The betrayal, I understand, but... There's no point confessing if you think (by the noise) that the other person confessed already... The game was that the first person who confesses get the reward. Confessing second does nothing! (In fact, in Prisoner's dilemma fashion it should even be a bad thing for everyone!) He's offering him an opportunity to come back from this betrayal, and erase his 100 loyalty points debt? What is he going to ask him for that, to fucking murder Akiyama/Nao in the interrogation room?

My prediction is that Akiyama actually didn't make the same offer to Baldy. He guessed that Yokoya would get one or both of the others to betray them, and is using that to lull him into a false sense of security by letting him think he's seen through the Country of Day's plan without them realizing. Yokoya will counterattack in the way that seems most logical to him - that is, in a cruel and underhanded way, likely either trying to entice another betrayal, or swiping a CoD bank card to deposit the """hidden""" money in their ATM instead of the CoN's. In reality, Akiyama has pulled Baldy into cahoots wit the Country of Day, and while they lead Yokoya down a garden path, he's going to surreptitiously load up the CoN's ATM behind Yokoya's back. He might bring Bandana into it, as well, since he wasn't the one who snitched.

There's also the possibility that he just told Baldy to describe the exact play given to Bandana and Long Hair, but had him run a new play (explaining that Country of Day will certainly win with it and compensate him). I expect Country of Day to perhaps marginally lose but still save Bandana (in the manner they saved Punk in the previous game), then proceed to win in the final game. I suppose the next episode is the conclusion of Contraband Game? In theory, there's also a case where Long Hair was actually told by Akiyama to play the role of the snitch. Although I doubt it - as Bandana almost snitched. Besides, if Yokoya is in the final game, it makes sense to not have him lose already.

It would have been a lot easier to have all those guys beat up little Yokoya. All those guys are physically bigger and stronger. Heck, just have Fukunaga meet him in the inspection room and close the blinds... So for sure, Yokoya is on to something. He's devised a counter plan to Akiyama's, even instilling the use of social credits to make people fall in line, should they attempt to fall out. Kind of reminds me of big brother / China in some way. Banadana guy is a good guy deep down. If he can see the pureness of Nao, he will naturally follow, but at this point, he could be too scared to do so. Now he's tasked with betraying the Country of Day. Hopefully Akiyama and co. will recognize that something is off with Bandana guy.

It would have been a lot easier to have all those guys beat up little Yokoya That's like saying it would've been way easier for Kim Jong Un's soldiers to team up and shoot him dead. One person might want to, but then others would protect him because they didn't want yokoya to fall (Either that, or they'll do it for the sake of being rewarded) To them, Yokoya is like their hope, he holds the key to win, try beat him up then you'll get sentenced to death by his other followers. Trust no longer exists, some people will beat you up for trying to beat him. And you'll also lose the chance to win money. So it just benefits no one.

Yokoya's plans basically rely on having money and others being dumb. He got into this position by having more money than god and being able to bribe everyone with ridiculous amounts and them all being dumb enough to fall for it twice, At least when Nao did it they it was in 1 round and they all thought she was giving them everything she had. Now he's just saying, 'do what I want and I might pay your debt,' since 2 people get nothing and only 3 people will have enough to pay off the whole thing, on top of that he's working with who's line is it anyway rules, throw out numbers and decide who wins irrelevant of said numbers. Even the confession game only incentivized 1 confession breaking part of the prisoners dilemma, they were either going to confess immediately or not at all because like the bandana guy thought, one side has no guarantee and the other actually has a good person 'running the show.' Long hair was just greedy and a bit dumb otherwise this never would have worked.