Yuletide Squee: Liar Game (manga)
Nov. 14th, 2010 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagas_isaSince I don't think I've gone on enough about why this is my pet fandom, and why I love it, have a post. I've posted some more general (less squeeful) info here that includes some talk about the drama, as well as links.
The art's not flashy, the actually memorable recurring cast is very small, and the action tends to revolve around things like voting, smuggling money, or an imaginary epidemic rather than huge grandiose plans. And yet reading it is so totally my happy place, because it gives me these incredibly well-thought out mysteries, mind games, deceptions, without tripping my violence squick or my 'hey why do all these people have to die in order for this genius to show off his skill?' squick.
I imagine people laughing if I say something like, "This game that involves smuggling money across the border of an imaginary country will keep you in suspense." But it's true. It's like the defining example of Xanatos Speed Chess. (Do we still warn for TvTropes?) And don't get me started on game of musical chairs that ends up playing out more like a game of Risk. The best thing is, the cons seemingly come out of nowhere, but then once revealed show that they've been building the whole time.
Oh, and did I mention Liar Game uses Actualfax Psychology™ (To be more precise, social psychology) and one of the main characters is a full-fledged psychology geek?
That would be Akiyama, formerly a psychology grad-student turned "genius con-artist" who spends more time actually demonstrating his awesomeness than proclaiming it. In fact, he is too busy being a psychology dork and teaching people (and you know, planning) to spend time bragging (unless it's part of a plan). But he's actually the mentor figure.
The main character is Nao, a naïve girl who's completely out of place in something called the Liar Game, but who is smart and twists the game to suit her point of view, which is more reminiscent of the magical-girl shoujo genre than psychological suspense. She starts off seemingly weak and dumb, but she definitely builds into her own force to be reckoned with. She knows who she is and what she's good at and eventually learns to use it to her best advantage.
Oh, and I really love Akiyama and Nao's relationship, which falls somewhere at the intersection of chivalric love, mentor-student, and trusted allies. There's some ship-tease, but it's pretty subtle and doesn't get in the way of the plot.
There's also Fukunaga, who's a competent, competitive, crafty character with a black belt in karate, a love of money, a strong temper, a strong sense of pride and pragmatism and a very low tolerance for bullshit. She's also trans. She started out as an antagonist, but basically proved too practical to hold a grudge. She's just in it for the money. And while she and Nao are totally opposite personalities, they've got an odd type of friendship going.
Then there's Yokoya, who is unabashedly nasty and sadistic and fun to watch, especially seeing as he still does get his send ups regularly (usually by Nao). He and Akiyama are about equal in the brains department, and usually it's with him that the mind-games really get intense.
Oh, and then there are men (and woman) in tuxedos and masks who do color-commentary on the games. I don't know why, but it gets kind of awesomely absurd in later chapters because on one hand they're trying to be objective and analytical, and on the other hand they all totally have their favorites.
And the rest…I don't know…it's just the choices that Kaitani made, to make Nao the main character and give her the majority of development, to keep Akiyama's angsty past off page including in the prequels where all the time is devoted to exactly how Akiyama became a psychology geek in the first place , to keep Fukunaga as a major character, to keep the violence at a minimum, to let optimism regularly win out over pessimism. It's not progressive or not fail-y by any means, and sometimes I wonder if it fails so hard that it comes back around again to win, but it's like he aired out the worst of the fail early, got it out of his system and then really let the plot get started.
It gets compared to Death Note a lot, which annoys me to no end, because it completely obscures all the things that makes me squee. Liar Game is a series I'm in love with on its own terms.
The art's not flashy, the actually memorable recurring cast is very small, and the action tends to revolve around things like voting, smuggling money, or an imaginary epidemic rather than huge grandiose plans. And yet reading it is so totally my happy place, because it gives me these incredibly well-thought out mysteries, mind games, deceptions, without tripping my violence squick or my 'hey why do all these people have to die in order for this genius to show off his skill?' squick.
I imagine people laughing if I say something like, "This game that involves smuggling money across the border of an imaginary country will keep you in suspense." But it's true. It's like the defining example of Xanatos Speed Chess. (Do we still warn for TvTropes?) And don't get me started on game of musical chairs that ends up playing out more like a game of Risk. The best thing is, the cons seemingly come out of nowhere, but then once revealed show that they've been building the whole time.
Oh, and did I mention Liar Game uses Actualfax Psychology™ (To be more precise, social psychology) and one of the main characters is a full-fledged psychology geek?
That would be Akiyama, formerly a psychology grad-student turned "genius con-artist" who spends more time actually demonstrating his awesomeness than proclaiming it. In fact, he is too busy being a psychology dork and teaching people (and you know, planning) to spend time bragging (unless it's part of a plan). But he's actually the mentor figure.
The main character is Nao, a naïve girl who's completely out of place in something called the Liar Game, but who is smart and twists the game to suit her point of view, which is more reminiscent of the magical-girl shoujo genre than psychological suspense. She starts off seemingly weak and dumb, but she definitely builds into her own force to be reckoned with. She knows who she is and what she's good at and eventually learns to use it to her best advantage.
Oh, and I really love Akiyama and Nao's relationship, which falls somewhere at the intersection of chivalric love, mentor-student, and trusted allies. There's some ship-tease, but it's pretty subtle and doesn't get in the way of the plot.
There's also Fukunaga, who's a competent, competitive, crafty character with a black belt in karate, a love of money, a strong temper, a strong sense of pride and pragmatism and a very low tolerance for bullshit. She's also trans. She started out as an antagonist, but basically proved too practical to hold a grudge. She's just in it for the money. And while she and Nao are totally opposite personalities, they've got an odd type of friendship going.
Then there's Yokoya, who is unabashedly nasty and sadistic and fun to watch, especially seeing as he still does get his send ups regularly (usually by Nao). He and Akiyama are about equal in the brains department, and usually it's with him that the mind-games really get intense.
Oh, and then there are men (and woman) in tuxedos and masks who do color-commentary on the games. I don't know why, but it gets kind of awesomely absurd in later chapters because on one hand they're trying to be objective and analytical, and on the other hand they all totally have their favorites.
And the rest…I don't know…it's just the choices that Kaitani made, to make Nao the main character and give her the majority of development, to keep Akiyama's angsty past off page including in the prequels where all the time is devoted to exactly how Akiyama became a psychology geek in the first place , to keep Fukunaga as a major character, to keep the violence at a minimum, to let optimism regularly win out over pessimism. It's not progressive or not fail-y by any means, and sometimes I wonder if it fails so hard that it comes back around again to win, but it's like he aired out the worst of the fail early, got it out of his system and then really let the plot get started.
It gets compared to Death Note a lot, which annoys me to no end, because it completely obscures all the things that makes me squee. Liar Game is a series I'm in love with on its own terms.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-18 03:52 am (UTC)