LIAR GAME

Honestly, I immediately realized that X was the blonde. Not only would it have been too predictable if X had been number 15, but the blonde's behavior was too suspicious, both in her pushing Nao to suspect number 15 and only him, and in her desire to push Nao to the finals (and as an ally, she would have been dead weight, while as an enemy, she would have been a joke). That said, I don't consider this predictability a flaw. After all, we're talking about a really old manga, so it's normal for it to be somewhat predictable. Finally, I still don't like the character designs.

Well, I didn’t see it coming that Hitomi was X. Yes, I thought she was an ally of X, but it never occurred to me that she was a man. Let’s see in the next episode what Akiyama’s reasoning is for changing his vote (because he’s definitely forced a tie, but I can’t imagine on what grounds). Also, Nao, could you just keep quiet for once and not go telling people your plans? And to the lawyer, of all people, who treated her badly!!

What do you get when you put six women, an old man, and a genius con artist together? You get an ad hoc team to hopefully win it all in Liar Game! How can they all trust each other when there's always the potential for betrayal? Why, by way of an official contract! That'll hold everyone to their word lest they get sued! Don't underestimate the Japanese legal code! There's no way ANYONE could fool a contract! Yeah, sunglasses guy is definitely sus, but does that automatically make him "X?" Hitomi seems to think so. Round 1: "Which is better, Baseball or Soccer?" Honestly I almost want to see how Nao and Akiyama would vote if this wasn't a competition. Do they even follow sports? Wow, by some miracle Nao lucked into the next round! RIP Ponytail and glasses girl, you will be avenged! Round 2: "Are you an S or an M?" Mohawk dude freely admitting to being an S, huh? Poor naive Nao has no idea what they're even talking about but Akiyama does his level best to explain it in a way that doesn't freak her out. I wonder if Hitomi took her seriously when she said she was good either way? (Is Akiyama an "S?" The way he sometimes strings along Nao for her own good...) Should Nao follow her new gal pal Hitomi or her possible love interest Akiyama? She's determined to be a ride or die with Akiyama, but this might be one thing they can't do together! Especially when Nao loses Minority Rule! Here's an Akiyama shower scene! Man is a vision! Ugh, not the "lawyer" again. And he's still rubbing it in and mocking Nao who, despite losing, is contractually obligated to be there at the competition as the main character. And Nao still treats this guy like a normal acquaintance and not someone who completely screwed her over! Dang, Hitomi went with the flashiest and sexiest outfit she could wear for the final round that's, fittingly, a question of whether you think you'll win or lose. Nao, for the love of...don't be shouting out that you won before the final tally! Not when your new "gal pal" turns out to be...Yuji AKA "X" AKA DAGA OTOKO DA! Give me back my sexy supportive waifu!!! I feel as betrayed as Nao does now! It's all going to come down to Akiyama's vote! There's got to be a reason he folded it as small possible.

Well, to get myself a harem, why do you think? Good thing they didn't have any "Oh sorry I want to win the whole prize for myself, I'm out" in the group! So they signed a contract to make sure no one could pocket the money! But there was a HUGE exploitable flaw with this contract (on top of the one we've seen in the episode), will come back to this later in the comment. Everyone except your group members... Who are the only ones who really matter! I would vote "They both suck" and find myself 100M in debt. For some reason I always theorize more complex than it actually is, like when he said that, I thought "He knows she won't notice anything, so surely he's just trying to make the others to notice something in her', etc... When she said that I thought "To the others, HE must look like the suspicious one"... And perhaps for that reason, I thought HE might actually be X! (though it might have implied he did something 'evil' and so far it doesn't seem to be his style... Or he could've schemed with that woman). But these suspicions didn't last long, because... Well, I don't know if everyone caught on, but yeah, I think she made it rather obvious... *She* spent the whole episode pointing the fingers away from her, calling herself a girl every 10 seconds... *Hmmm, I wonder which person is X, but we know he's a man, and not a female girly girl like me!* Also, almost all my suspects were in the other group, so when they all lost in round 1, it kinda made it even easier hah. It's a shame, because DAMN! What a waste So the contract will be void... **OR WILL IT?** Obviously there's a reason why Akiyama wanted his paper to be revealed last, and it's as much for the game, as it is for us the viewers, I think... He changed his vote, and he basically did all this KNOWING someone would betray them and change his vote, and pinpointed it to 'her', so by changing his vote as well he ensures the draw, and then they have to go again, knowing who the betrayer is... But where do they go from there? Well, they COULD join 3v1; If they manage to get everyone to vote like they want, they'll always be 2:1, which means either X votes with the 2 (and the 1 wins), OR X votes with the 1 and it's a draw, and they can repeat as much as they want until they get a win. So X is guaranteed to lose. But the problem is the money; So far the players are doing a little better than breaking even, and they were okay with this because starting from round 1, their odds were abyssmal... But now, with 4 players left, they might eye the whole prize and decide that their share % of the pot is 1/4... So doing it for a mere 40 million yen? When they think their expected share is 500 million? So I think the only way this will work (both for the scheme, and thematically) is that... They won't be able to drop out; They'll need to stay in so they can collect the full 2 billion to these pay these guys (and not the 1 billion they intended to split). So they'll have to continue playing! Oh, and I talked about the scheme I thought they were going for... I thought X made a second alliance behing their back; By telling Nao to always stare at 15, it gave her opportunities to talk to other people and all... So I thought she made a deal to lose on purpose to make someone else win, and THAT person would collect the money and split 50-50 with her! The contract was about "splitting the prize money among them after they won", but it had nothing about splitting any other money. If X loses and someone gives him 1 billion yen (or 500m yen if they drop out), he doesn't have to split it with anyone, it's all his. So making 2 alliances could've ensure a LOT of money! But as played: yeah, I think it'll be a draw, then they'll be forced to play again... I think my theory might not happen (because it might be too easy/boring for a 'high stakes game' plot), so what I think MIGHT happen is that they might be forced to play for real, i.e. try to guess what the others will answer and all that!

I know Im late to this and no one will read this comment anyway but as someone who loves the "death game" genre and has watched most of them (both anime and live action), Im incredibly mixed about this show (leaning towards negative). In large part because yes, Nao is one of the worst characters Ive had the displeasure of watching. She isnt even a "character", she is caricature of a naive person done to such an extreme degree it becomes impossible to take her seriously. Im facepalming and sighing every time she opens her mouth, like holy shit. When you think it couldnt possibly get any worse, she somehow becomes even more cringe, like at the end when she starts "celebrating" loudly and telling everyone they were part of a team. Just unbelievable. I can only imagine she had to have been written on purpose to be this infuriating because its not something you do by chance. Honestly Akiyama is keeping the whole show afloat for me, just barely. He seems to be the only person with a brain in the whole thing. If it werent for him I would have dropped this already. The thing is the potential is there. I thought the concept of the minority rule game was really cool and the rehearsal question in particular was a great way to introduce it, even if obvious that "No" would win because most guys would look at women being the minority and vote Yes. But then, the show completely throws that away and none of the following questions mattered whatsoever. Its all about this specific game of forming teams rather than actually trying to outsmart people based on real questions, which was way more fun. Even with all that though, I do want to see where it goes. Im very curious about why Akiyama folded the paper since it has no impact on the result anyway, and what plan he will come up with to win the game after the inevitable 2-2 draw. "Hitomi" outing himself like that at the end ensures no one will trust him going forward which introduces an interesting angle for the rematch. Anyway yeah, gonna keep going and try to survive through the Nao cringe. I hope by the end of the show Ill look back and feel it was worth sitting through.

This episode really made it too obvious that Hitomi was X. But I think that's where the trick may lie. It really looks like (s)he was teamed up with 15 in the way that Akiyama was teamed up with Nao, except Akiyama did a possibly riskier move by having Nao out before the final 4. But it's paying off because now he's truly the minority in the final 4 and will have to rely on the question to ensure he gets the final spot. I foresee we might have another tied round if Akiyama does not get chosen to ask the final question, but if he gets lucky, the next round should seal the deal. So the question would be, what question must he ask to ensure he's in the minority?

It's obvious her character and the situation where she was even allowed back in was written to make it dramatic. While it was stated they don't have an incentive to rig the game (the financial benefits are already in the house's favor), generally in other fictional works, or even in real life competitions, the eliminated don't have much or any say in the proceedings of the remaining game, Her blurting out the plan could have potentially alerted the game officials to stop the game, if collusion was not allowed. Her being there to witness the live reveal of the votes with her reactions led to the blonde lady announcing her true plans and self, which she might not have done if Nao wasn't there. At that point, the game is still ongoing, because now with the extra information that the blonde is X, Akiyama and others will proceed with different plans in mind.

Well, Akiyama definitely voted "yes", so it'll be a draw and it'll have another voting. OR, Akiyama voted "yes", but it wasn't counted, so that guy, having already outed himself, may be disqualified (I don't know why, but maybe there is a rule that he broke like idk stealing the money outside of the game). If that's the case, when they open Akiyama's vote, he will be the minority. I think the option to have a draw is better for the story so the number 15 isn't just a background character. But the second option would be big brain from akiyama