Liar Game Review, psychological classic

Liar Game is about Nao Kanzaki who falls into (very much like Kaiji) game in which people are playing for lots of money, debt money that is. Kanzaki is a naive girl and she always looks for good sides of people, personality which is more of a hindrance than asset in games in which you have to be sneakier than others. Therefore she seeks help from mastermind con man Shin'ichi Akiyama. These two then proceed to psychological games against other people who are fighting for their lives: whether to win and get big sums or money or live in debt for the rest of their lives.

The art of Liar game is one of it's weak sides. It's pretty much simplified and can't be considered even as good, but such a story driven manga as this it doesn't really matter that much, since it makes it's point very clearly to the reader and that is basically all that matters with Liar Game.
Liar game is a lot like Akagi and Kaiji, but I consider Liar Game being superior. Art quality isn't good, but it's imprtant to notice that it is of secondary importance in mangas like these, so all the attention goes to plot, plot development and especially twists. The more you read Liar Game the more you realize how much research mangaka Shinobu Kaitani must have made: plot developments and twists are really good and truly surprise readers.

Characters of Liar Game aren't memorable and there aren't much good to say about them. The main character is a kind that I'm not fond of, but Akiyama managed to keep my interest piqued throughout all the released chapters so far. The series basically relies completely on Akiyama and his wittiness. I think that Akiyama deservers praises, I like how he is actually superior to other people rather than first being a pussy and then growing into 'superiority' like in Kaiji. Even though Kanzaki is considered sort of as main character she doesn't get too much attention, thankfully.

The story of Liar Game is complex, but it's general line of progress is very simple. The games that are played are usually more than they seem and the interest that is linked to this series is fully dependant on it's twists. Author has succeeded very well in making the twists very enjoyable throughout the series, but I have to wonder can he keep it up without lowering the quality of his work.


Liar Game is good entertainment. It's good value hasn't gone unnoticed: It's been made into two television dramas and live action films.