LIAR GAME

Akiyama’s mind games were pretty effective. They had the old bastard sweatin and paranoid. Because of that they knew exactly where the money was. That safe is as good as cracked. It might have looked like Nao lost, but I’m thinking Akiyama used sensei’s already fragile state to his advantage to get the money. Probably didn’t tell Nao to really sell it too. Perhaps he manipulated the clocks or messed with his sense of time?

I'm so glad I stuck with the second episode, this was much better than the first. I'm surprised they went the entire month in this episode, makes me wonder what they can do over a whole season, maybe other games. Akiyama was very smart in letting Sensei's paranoia do most of the work for him and realizing that people are going to create all kinds of crazy scenarios in their head. I do wonder what he has up his sleeve though. It seems Sensei was distracted by Nao yelling outside but in the parts they didn't show, he was likely still looking at the safe. My best guess is that the agent from the Liar Game will actually be a friend of Akiyama who will steal back the money before the real agent gets there.

A declaration of war! Clearly meant to affect him/make him change his (planned) behavior! Hah, I always imagine things to be even more '4D chess' than they are; I thought he was sending her to observe him, knowing she'd be bad at it and would get spotted all this time! But they weren't even subtle about it, they make it quite clear they were spying on him 24/7! Our boy says he's doing it for the money, but I wonder if there's more to this (knowing she's in the right/Sensei's in the wrong) and all! Well, whatever it is, that easily 50 mil might be enough to convince him to make a career out of this! I guess she's not used to this stuff, but it's obvious what they're accomplishing; Not only they changed his behavior (he used to go out, now he stays in 24/7), but they also got information out of it (it's likely in the house)! I guess he's the first antagonist and all, but I kinda wish he had been a bit smarter hah; Imagine if he acted like this all this time, BUT the money really is in the bank; He was only acting like that so they focus on the house and not the bank! Oh damn, they're going to burn him alive? A bit extreme, but if that's what they need to do..! Soon as we saw that card, I thought I knew what they were doing, and I was already theorizing about that in the previous episode; And I'm pretty sure it really IS what's happening: This is Akiyama, coming to collect the money in disguise... But I'm a bit puzzled, because Nao got the same card... I thought he would receive the card, falsify one (that says 4PM or something) and swap it in his mailbox, so Sensei would willingly give them the money at 4PM (an hour before the real representatives came), but if it's the same time on both cards, then the hour is legit, so what if the representative shows up at the same time Akiyama does? If the hour is right, the other possibility would be to make sure Sensei has the wrong hour, but... They weren't close enough to him to change his watch or anything, were they? I imagine it's something similar to this, but I wonder how they made it happen; They clearly wanted him to be sleep-deprived/insane for this day to affect his judgment, but they can't exactly make a plan based on "He'll read the time wrong" or something like that, so what is it... Well, next episode is *Resolution* so let's hope it's a good one! And on a different topic: If Nao doesn't confirm herself as Best Girl, I vote for this one to take the crown!

Nao is such a sincere and honest person, that she even has to make a proper declaration of war towards Fujisawa! She'll get back her money AND take his! Which is just the opening salvo in her and Akiyama's battle with Fujisawa! The OP is very on-point, with a moody, melancholic, theme while our Heroine is caught up in a world of lying, deceit, and duplicity. Can she save herself from despair? Can she trust Akiyama? If nothing else, she'll stay by his side. If the plan is to intimidate Akiyama, it's working. Especially when Akiyama does it because he knows how to get under a guys' skin. Nao definitely does NOT want to be running from the police, but Akiyama is surprisingly accommodating to her situation, especially in regards to her father. Could he actually be a legit good guy? Is he really just helping her for the money? Nao doesn't seem convinced. Nor is she quite convinced their plan stakeout of Fujisawa is going to achieve anything, but it does add to Fujisawa's stress levels...and for how stressed he is, he never seems to move from that single room in his home...even the threat of fire isn't enough to make him do anything that would compromise his position...because that's where the money is. The Nao-Akiyama team have figured out where the money is, but they're not going to be getting it easy when it's locked up nice and tight in a safe. But that should be child's play for a genius conman like Akiyama, right? Just the thought that Akiyama could steal the safe, in whatever excessive method Fujisawa, can imagine, is enough to make him act like a crazy person which suits Akiyama's needs nicely. Even when the deadline for Liar Game is coming up. What happened to Akiyama's plan!? Nao is about to lose! Which leaves her no choice but to cry and plead for mercy from Fujisawa...which he has no intention of giving her. Nao bangs on his glass door for a full half hour in desperation, but to no avail. Because time's run out and there's someone at the door for Fujisawa! The ED is Akiyama focused, featuring happier memories with his mom. At least adult Akiyama seemed at peace at the end there.

I was expecting this to be a bit longer. Not sure where they want to go from here after this game ended. I get the feeling that Nao's final outbreak could have been faked (so she wants to keep swindling?), but it could have also been real so that Fuhisawa truly feels superior and doesn't notice a small inaccuracy with his clock. I guess another way could also be that the two of them want to kill the Liar game all together as it is clearly set up to reward the scammers. Now, as for what was done, I think it is quite obvious. Increase the stress to a level where the relief feels even better than it would have been without it. So much that you don't notice a small time delay on your clock, so that they can collect the 200 Mio before the actual organisation people appear. The question is more how they really did that. I know that a mechanical clock like this is very susceptible to a magnet. If you magnetize the clock, it runs faster. So if they managed to get a magnet close to it for enough time, there could be a big enough difference during one hour. And it was probably Nao who planted the magnet. Question is if she did it on purpose or by accident (as in she didn't even know that was the plan but was used in this way).

Here is what I'm thinking happening, and the show set it up pretty cleverly too: * I went back to the first episode and the message she received specifically states that "The game begins the moment you are informed of your opponent's identity. The game will end thirty days thereafter." * The second message they both received specifies 5 pm. The first message does not specify a time. * I believe the second message is forged by Akiyama. The show kind of gave it away when he tells the mc that he knows exactly *how* to get the money out of the safe. It doesn't mean he plans to physically open the safe himself. This is where I first got the idea when he said this. * The person ringing the doorbell is probably Akiyama in disguise. Ep 1 already shows him disguised as a police officer. The teacher in his poor mental state won't notice. He will open the safe and hand over the money. Then game over. * To get both briefcases, he will probably say something like "Give me both briefcases since they are just props for the game. We'll wire you the money soon." * To confirm this theory, if you go back to episode 1 when the MC reads the mail with the picture of the teacher, it was pretty early in the morning. There is no clock in the scene but it's clearly not 5 pm. The game does not end at 5 pm, it ends 720 hours after the initial receipt of the opponent's identity, which is probably the next day.