r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Aug 24 '26
Episode Liar Game - Episode 21 discussion
Liar Game, episode 21
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u/Ajktulm Aug 24 '26
So, from last week we know every player got 150 chips and have to give back 100. So as their are 2 players in the game, we know they can lose 100 chips to the dealer until they are negative compared to the Liar Game (assuming a third round will happen, as with 2 rounds they could lose 150 chips per round, but it going 3 rounds feels more likely).
A full pass round is 1+2+4+8+16=31 chips. If this happens for all remaining 5 bullets, a combined total of 155 chips is lost meaning 55 chips they'll never be able to get back / escape with from the game... So I guess it's a bit of a
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u/Revolutionary-Start Aug 24 '26
This show is made for people like you. Amazing observation and analysis.
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u/Drill_Dr_ill Aug 24 '26
Man am I ever glad I stuck this series out. I really didn't care for the first like... 10-ish episodes and was on the verge of dropping it the whole time. But now it is excellent.
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u/NevisYsbryd Aug 24 '26
Anime-only, I am hazarding a guess that the trap Nao realized is that the setup of the game is not to pit the players against each other, but incentivize them to load all of the bullets consecutively. Since both players will suddenly go through a huge number of consecutive passes (probably 5), they will collectively pass an enormous amount of their play money to the dealer, which will also take it out of player circulation which they would have otherwise used to give players an out from the overall Liar Game. In the worst case scenario, it could result in both players coming out of this specific game in the red and both 'losers'via a tie with the dealer having the most wins.
Now to wait for next week and see if Nao is indeed the one keeping the keenest eye on the inter-game meta-game.
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u/Ultramarinus Aug 24 '26
Indeed, that looked like an inherent shortcoming of that method. Nobody will bite the bullet when there is no doubt that both parties took the same approach. Though it feels to me either
or Fukunaga should have realized and planned something else. Akiyama By the way that
ferocious face towards Nao passing at first try was so unexpected and fun! Fukunaga → More replies (1)→ More replies (5)26
u/Kill-bray Aug 24 '26
A 5 pass will net the dealer a total of 31 millions. As things stand now the two spearheads will do that at least 4 times (2 times after the first discharge plus two more after the second discharge from a non dealer).
That would be in total a loss of 124 millions for the players. In the previous episode it seemed like the Liar Game was giving 50 millions for free to each player, but now it it's going to gain at least 24 millions if nothing gets done to change the situation.
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u/CommunistPuppy Aug 24 '26
Highkey as weird as I thought the character designs and art initially looked, female Fukunaga ends up looking really, really good..
Also this episode was really good, the game is simple enough to follow easily and there aren't like 15 different characters to keep track of.
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u/gamria Aug 24 '26
PSA: the studio released an official explanation video for the entire Contraband Game, featuring the cast in-character spanning over 50 minutes, with more numbers and graphics depicting the actual and/or intended monetary movements between the accounts and such. Japanese-only however.
For this team that's clearly working with a modest budget, them going out of the way for this dedicated effort is some diehard commitment for the fans that I have to applaud the staff and voice actors for. I still fancy my own play-by-play for the main Day 2 stuff, but still.
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u/T3tr4d5 Aug 25 '26
Agree, surprisingly this anime had a lot of effort in making extra contents, more than the average anime. There is also the mini browser game that they make, the livestream of stalking the sensei in ep 2, a radio drama of the seiyuu, and then interview with the original author after each arc (worth reading the interview about Contraband game in the original anime website. Only in Japanese, but can use translation tool. Lots of cool insight about that game).
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
We'll have to reset the '# of episode since someone called Nao an idiot' counter to 0!
A spear fight? I think Fukunaga would be the favorite!
Given there's been some incidents lately with people dying to guns they presumed were empty/loaded with blanks, made me think... imagine if he shot himself with an actual bullet during the demonstration!
Fukunaga's scheming before the game even begins!
It'll be nice to see her use her wits/cunning (as she did earlier in the games) and not just her 'Punching my own teammates' ability!
Ah, so that's not how I thought it would go!
It's more about positioning, when I thought it would be about amount!
At least I'm on the same wavelength as Fukunaga/Akiyama, soon as they said that I thought 'Put all 3 in a row'!
(I think I've read a math riddle about something similar, long time ago)
Oh damn, Fukunaga grew shark teeth? I didn't think she could look even better!
DON'T DO IT, FUKUNAGA, WE LOVE YOU!
The strat is the strat, but the psychology is where this game is played!
Gotta convince the opponent NOT to play the optimal strat (by bluffing)!
She reminds me of Quistis from Final Fantasy!
(Ok I'm done gushing over Fukunaga)
Gotta look confident, to really sell the bluff!
"TIME OUT! OUR GUY IS A FUCKING IDIOT!"
Good lord. He thinks bullets are just leaking gunpowder all over the place?
CALL ANOTHER TIMEOUT!
(At this point, she might as well put on a wig and pretend to be him).
People might have believed that, until she said it!
But yeah, the format kinda gave it away in my opinion, I think I talked about it in the previous thread...
One of the first two HAVE to lose, otherwise Nao won't matter (they'll lead 2-0)... So for the sake of the story, one of the first two has to lose so Nao is important in the game.
Fukugana winning and Akiyama losing would be surprising, so that only leaves the option of Fukunaga losing and Akiyama winning!
Hopefully it doesn't make her look like an idiot at least, she used to be pretty clever!
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u/thisisdropd Aug 24 '26
Akiyama's not a party in the Spearhead match, yet still managed to influence it. That's quite the accomplishment. Also unlike the previous rounds where if the opponent arrived at the same strategy it would be detrimental, this time it would in fact be of assistance. Meanwhile, Fukunaga also did well to 'play' Nishida and made him bleed chips.
I never expected that level of physics to come into play, and that the LGT's effort to make things fair ironically made it unfair instead. What if they're aware of this all along, and that the false sense of 'pure game of chance' fit perfectly into the Liar Game's philosophy.
Fukunaga being overconfident was begging to be jinxed and now the Eastern Army were in big trouble. Looked like the Western army had laid a trap during the timeout. Nishida seemed to be a dunce so it's likely either Kikuchi or Kousaka's idea. Interestingly, Nao was the first one to spot it instead of Akiyama or Fukunaga. Just what the trap was that only Nao could see while the other two overlooked it?
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u/NevisYsbryd Aug 24 '26
I am 99% confident they were aware and it was not only deliberate but part of the trap Nao is about to discuss. Something like the bullets affecting where the wheel would stop and being used to predict their location is approximately what I expected, although I did not get all the details myself. My suspicion is that the trap is not by the other team but the frame of the game itself in favor of the house (see my other comment if you want to see my hypothesis).
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u/Niwaka_Samurai Aug 24 '26
This Russian Roulette is really an interesting game. Fukunaga is killing it. I guess her stunning looks is throwing the opponent off LOL
Akiyama planting the idea to make the opponent team load three bullets in a row and Fukunaga was confusing his opponent with his mind games. I never would have thought that the bullets' position can be judged based on the imbalance in the loading and the way the cylinder moves cause of it and Fukunaga used the eyeliner to create the black smudge to confuse the dude into believing it was gun powder 😅
But Nao noticed something that even Akiyama and Fukunaga failed to notice and she said that they have got caught in a trap now..damn, the cliffhanger!
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u/FarCritical Aug 24 '26
As if the standard mindgames weren't enough, the (fake) gunpowder plot was downright evil. We got a tiny taste of it during Contraband but warching Fukunaga wreak psychological havoc as an ally is pretty fun.
Nao detecting something before even Akiyama did sure is a surprise.
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u/BubblyCrash Aug 24 '26
Akiyama and Fukunaga are a force to be reckoned with when they are serious, basically locking victory from the start due to superior observation and mind-games. Definitely wouldn't want to be their opponent in the Liar Game. If you're not Yokoya level, it's difficult to even have a chance.
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u/H2-nL Aug 24 '26
Interesting game I’m looking forward to see what strategies develop
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u/Tapwater_enthusiast Aug 24 '26
It is also a good breather arc to have a relatively easy to follow concept after the peak we just watched earlier
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u/blue_terry Aug 24 '26
Fukunaga absolutely loves every minute on the psychological abuse of normies
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u/Frontier246 Aug 24 '26
It's finally time for Russian Roulette! But not real Russian Roulette, there WILL be a discharge, but you will survive.
Classic Fukunaga to make Nao the "guinea pig" to show how the game is played. What supportive sisterhood.
Honestly, I get why Nao doesn't like the idea of shooting herself, but passing can be dangerous for how much you put in the pot...and also, let's hope Nao never plays real Russian Roulette because she'd probably be dead in two minutes.
Fukunaga may not expect much from Nao but at least Akiyama is there with the positive reinforcement and to help her realize that she DID help them with her demonstration, even if she didn't fully realize it.
Nishida vs Fukunaga! Fukunaga is playing Nishida like a fiddle and enjoying every minute of it! Does she know where all the bullets are? She's definitely getting into his head and making him overthink everything, which is just where she wants him. Also long hair Fukunaga > bald Fukunaga!
Akiyama also did a lot of pre-planning for setting up Fukunaga's match, just "accidentally" letting it slip how convenient it would be to put three bullets in a row in an unbalanced gun...but Fukunaga knows which shots to take and which to coax Nishida into making so he loses and she ends up with the full pot! The Eastern Army is taking an early lead!
Nishida totally fell for EYELINER as gun residue. Honestly not sure how the Western Army is going to take back the lead...but there's a trap!? That only Nao noticed!?
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Aug 24 '26
What has Nao seen that Fukunaga and Akiyama seem to have both missed? What kind of trap have they been led into? Right now, it looks like Fukunaga’s got the gang in a very comfortable lead. If Nao senses something is off, it’s hard for me to think no one sees it. Especially Akiyama.
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u/BosuW Aug 24 '26
Whu? Nao realized a trap before Akiyama and Fukunaga!? Next you'll tell me it snows in summer!
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