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Well, the Liar Game drama is back after a two year break. Fans of the first season will be happy to see that not much has changed. The cast all find their characters quickly, the set still looks like an abandoned night club, and the mysteries still abound. The first season ending with our team winning Round 3 handily, and this season begins with an ominous invitation to Round 4 that no one seems able to resist. Round 4 is another team game, this time made with three player teams. In this case, Nao is luckily paired with Akiyama and Fukunaga, who will probably dominate everything. Elsewhere, a strange woman who seems to have ties with Akiyama is participating in a separate Round 4 and she is pretty coolly manipulating the game without a care in the world. The games are divided into three one-on-one battles. Fukunaga is up first against Nishida from the other team. The game is 24-shot Russian Roulette. The rules are simple. If you shoot yourself in the head (with a blank), you lose money to your opponent. If the chamber is empty, you win all the money on the table. If you want to pass, just pay up to the pot on the table. Too many passes in a row, and the dealer will take all the chips and discharge the chamber herself. Fukunaga dominates the game and cleans house with Nishida, even tricking him into shooting himself twice. However, Nao realizes that there's a trap in the game that will make everyone lose.For manga fans, you'll notice quite a few differences. First, the drama calls this "Round 4," although manga readers will recognize this as Revival Round 2. Second, the introduction of the new character who looks like she's going to be set up as the new antagonist (rather than Yokoya). Fukunaga still isn't a crossdresser, but he does happen to randomly carry a pencil with him for one of his tricks in the game. And of course, there are a series of design differences that don't matter nearly as much. But despite all the changes, it's still Liar Game at its core. I'm curious to see how they handle this, especially the final movie, since the manga still doesn't seem to be anywhere near completion. At least it seems to have a good start.--Ou-bento
P.S.
Great interview with Toda Erika here.
Great scot, what the flying snet am I reading? It's like the illegitimate child of Liar Game and the My HiME manga, but without the charm of either of its parents. And yet I keep coming back. ::sigh:: Gamble Fish is a manga about some dude named Tom who's a sneaky gambler. He plays mind games with people and likes to swindle them out of their money. So since he's such a dashing sort of dude, he goes to a super rich kids school in order to make some money. At the school he meets increasingly hot and talented chicks who challenge him to increasingly ridiculous battles that he wins in increasingly ridiculous ways, like cutting off his finger with a chainsaw. It's okay, though. They sew it back on! Oh, and the bizarrely bodacious babes (are you SURE this is a high school?) wear less and less clothing as time progresses. He then proceeds to collect them in his little harem along with the requisite short nerdy kid who does nothing but worry about him from the sidelines.
But for all it's ridiculous plot points and generally gimicky nature, I keep coming back to this darn thing. Maybe it's because I really do want to know his ulterior motive for trying to swindle this entire school blind. It's most likely because I'm just waiting for the part where he kicks reason to the curb, shouts "GAMBLING!" and pierces the heavens with his drill.In terms of art, it's not bad, but certainly not my style. I prefer my girls slim and fairy-like, possibly even sad and in the snow. But if you like your chicks with a little meat on them, you'll like these babes, especially when they strip to perform magic tricks or shower together because that's what friends do! The plot is ridiculous, but strangely addictive. I actually want to know what happens next. Weird. If you're looking for something with ridiculous stakes, lots of gasping in surprise, and many hot chicks, then toss reason out the window and enjoy the ride that is Gamble Fish. If you'd rather something more reasoned and logical...there's always the Death Note light novel. Haha, LIGHT novel. Get it?--Ou-bento
So, Fuji TV is tossing out a little something to pacify all the crazy Liar Game fans waiting for season 2 in November. This month, they'll be streaming "Liar Game 0" which is apparently a spinoff that takes place seven years before the LG tournament. The plot has not been revealed, but manga fans are sure to think of Roots of A, the Liar Game prequel featuring Akiyama's college life. Whether or not this will actually BE Roots of A remains to be seen. It's more likely some sort of original story meant to tie together the two seasons in some manner.
Nao will be played by Mayuko Fukuda, who despite being 15 looks more mature than Erika Toda.
Akiyama will be played by Yuuta Furukawa who looks surprisingly similar to Shota Matsuda (which, in my book, is a good thing).I'm still waiting in anticipation for Liar Game 2, since I honestly have no clue how they'll continue things after diverting from the manga and I am very eager to see how it turns out.--Ou-bento
You know, I'm actually kinda impressed that they managed to crank out more than 100 episodes based on a mere 40 or so chapters worth of story. Then again, I think a lot of us would have been happier if they had just waited and stuck to the script. But either way, the manga has wrapped up the main story where the anime has finally finished (until next season, at least) with the vs. Easter story arc and a strange and new tale is beginning. Everything is changing. People are graduating, Ikuto has vanished to parts unknown, and Utau is going to be America's Next Top Model. In the meantime, Dia has hatched...but Ran, Miki and Su have disappeared completely. Not good.
Dia unleashes Amu's latest power, TRANSCENDING TIME AND SPACE to take her on a rainbow road to search for the three missing charas. Amu instead winds up at school where Hikaru is being enrolls as a new student. Tadase agrees to join Amu in her magic sparkling rainbow land to search for her charas and the go back in time to when Ran was first born. Elsewhere, Sanjou and Nikaidou are having a lover's spat, but Kairi keeps them in line.
I honestly thought the manga would be done by now, but I guess not...in a way, that's good. There are still a lot of loose ends to tie up. After all, they still haven't actually found the embryo yet. I'm a bit dubious about this new arc, but we'll see what happens. I wager that Hikaru will become a member of the guardians. Possibly the king? Should be interesting to see the other two. I wonder if they'll ever talk about the guardians now that Amu is moving on. Sadly, my favorite supporting cast members Utau and Kairi are relegated to "meanwhile back in the USA..." style cuts for now. At least there's still Nagihiko. He rocks.--Ou-bento
I was less than pleased with the previous chapter, especially Ren's actions. But as my astute readers wisely said, Ren's actions were probably the smartest move to make. And this chapter proves it. Ren manages to convince Kyoko that a kiss is only really a kiss if it's with someone you love, and anything else doesn't even matter. So whatever it was that happened with Sho is just an insignificant thing that any actress would have to go through. After all, an actress will have to kiss people she has no feelings for. Kyoko cheers up considerably, but Ren warns her that if she lets Sho kiss her again, then it will count for something and then she'll be in trouble. Kyoko resolves to always be on her guard around Sho from then on. Yashiro is impressed by how Ren managd to turn it around all while maintaining the facade of a mentor. However, he did notice that Ren slipped up once while telling Kyoko never to let it happen again.
Well, that actually tied things up really well. And while I didn't get as much RenxKyo loving as I wanted, a dark Ren is fine too. Kyoko was quickly cheered up, and Ren's words managed to heal her heart in no time. I'm actually rather impressed. Kyoko calling Sho and anteater looking for food was very cute. My only real complaint here is pacing. It feels like the Valentine's Day arc is winding down and the manga-ka is desperate to keep it going for as long as possible. The last installment and this one were a lot of talking with little else moving forward. I wonder even if these two chapters could have been combined into one with no real loss of plot. But I guess leaving us hanging for two weeks wondering what Ren will say next is to be expected. After all, in a regular serialization you need to keep you readers ravenous for more. Honestly, I'm still waiting to see that gift that Kyoko got for him. For now, everything seems to have calmed down. But this is Skip Beat. That means we're only getting a short break before more drama breaks out. Tune in next time!--Ou-bento
Spoiler: I am disappointed. I mean...really? We came all this way for this? ::sigh:: Spoilers lurk within. Not like I care. So we left off in the last chapter with the super drama buster DUN DUN DUN of Sho giving Kyoko a super kiss. Kyoko tries to wrestle away from him, but it looks more like she's sharing a passionate kiss with him instead. An very angry Ren approaches, but Kyoko finally manages to break free and yell at Sho for stealing her first kiss. He leaves, pleased that his "presence" inside of her is bigger than anyone else's. The girls of the Dark Moon try to console Kyoko over losing her first kiss, as she's nearly in tears over it. Ren looks very worried for her, but instead he laughs and says that crying over a first kiss is stupid.
If there is no RenxKyoko liplock in the next chapter, I will probably break something. I can't believe it! This is such a let down. I wanted a fantastic romantic scene, and instead Ren is pushing Kyoko away again. He should be comforting her! This chapter was much too short, and I am severely disappointed. Who knows, the story may yet turn around and turn this into a great arc. But right now, it looks like a painful repeat of the same old. Ren, make a move already! Blah...normally I'd write more, but I'm so discouraged right now.
I already reviewed Bloody Monday, but the story has since advanced a good deal so I shall offer my new and improved* opinion. When we last left our heroes, they were a spunky gang of kids fighting a dark and evil organization. Little has changed on that front, except the organization has many new members (including Jesus <- not really, he just looks like him), there are spies on the side of the good guys, and lots of people are dead. Don't get too attached to any of the characters, as you might find them very dead before the story is over.The story also grows more ridiculous by the minute, although you probably wouldn't notice it. I was pleased that Fujimaru's hacking skills had real-world limitations. But as the story has progressed, those real world limitations have been fading away. Now he can do essentially anything he wants as long as he throws enough techno babble around it to justify it. Oh, and characters who totally SHOULD be dead aren't. While some characters drop like flies, others elude death with increasingly impossible luck. Not that the story is bad by any means, but we're way beyond the suspension of disbelief zone and much deeper into "it just works, okay?" zone. Thankfully, my initial fondness for the story hasn't diminished at all. It still remains the same edge-of-your-seat thrill ride tightly woven with twists and turns and clues that I'm smacking myself for missing the first time around. If you like the first few chapters of Bloody Monday, rest assured that there is more of the same to come. That being said, it can get tiresome after awhile. The constant leaping between the frying pan and the fire is rather intense, but sometimes I wish it would just end. It's almost as if nothing good ever happens. Ever. The longer the story goes, the fewer breaks you'll get as you read it. It can be frustrating at times, but it's wildly addictive. --Ou-bento*Now with half the calories!
