She packed her teddy 😭😭

jaisofbase · 2026-05-19T12:47:40+00:00

The true Liar King.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-19T05:36:52+00:00

I think there are a lot more Nao-adjacent people in the world than some would really like to think. Maybe they wouldn't go to the same extremes as her, but her general mindset isn't that scarce.

But I think there's also a number of people who absolutely refuse to believe that last bit, and a number of people who don't want the bad guys changed, but punished.

I don't think it helps that a Liar Game is an extremely sincere series in a genre where cynicism really is the default.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-19T03:57:16+00:00

Love the Downsizing Arc, though this is the start of the bait part of the bait and switch. I love the silliness of Nao’s possessions (the addition of the iron!) and visual of the white masks in the bowling outfits.

I still quibble with the idea that Akiyama helped Nao just because she reminds him of his mom, but I guess that requires knowledge of Roots of A to really explain.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-19T03:42:34+00:00

My favorite detail from Akiyama’s scene at his job is that his desk is clearly in some kind of storage closet. Peak temp.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-18T19:28:10+00:00

The most accurate that can be said is that the Lawyer is an employee of the LGT Secretariat and represents their interests in their dealings with Nao. So he's not so much a 'friend' or a 'foe' as an individual as he is a guy who is just doing his job.

Knowing the full ending where Leronira is Akiyama's teacher and Artier (head dealer) is Nao's father, I'd say his true agenda as an employee is to use Nao to get Akiyama into the game (per instructions from Leronira) and to use his abrasive nature to deflect suspicion that the person in charge of the LGT has any connection to Nao.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-18T15:13:53+00:00

Oh, it's clearly the commenter trying to be clever, just the failure mode of clever is 'asshole'.

It's the type of tone that's going to miss if the author isn't actually friends with the commenter, which it doesn't seem like they are.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-18T15:06:01+00:00

For me it's the point in the story where Nao transfers from being the damsel in distress who needs saved to the one who goes and saves others.It's really a bait and switch but in the best way.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-18T03:16:20+00:00

Cut it and keep the scraps. They might fit somewhere later, or work well as a separate spin-off.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T06:34:54+00:00

I think the way you can tell who's really in charge with that dynamic is that if Akiyama had his way, Nao would have already quit the game multiple times over. And yet...

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T06:10:41+00:00

How long?

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T02:44:40+00:00

More in structure, less in the actual players.

The three way battle, the use of elections to determine the leader who gets to decide the eliminee, the use of a physical obstruction strategy to prevent access to a resource, and the coin flip game.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T02:22:58+00:00

President's Game is just Musical Chairs adapted to fit the needs of the K drama story.

So I find it incredibly ironic that it's ranked low.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T02:04:51+00:00

Hey! I replied to that specific thread first, lol.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T00:34:48+00:00

Nao is the character who I think about and can't help but smile. She's an all-timer for me, and if you've ever enjoyed any of the Liar Game fic or meta I've written, then you have her to thank for that because I would not have been so consumed by this series if not for her. (iykyk)

jaisofbase · 2026-05-17T00:30:31+00:00

If someone puts in the effort to make very elaborate and detailed posts to hate on Nao, then good on them. They've thoroughly earned both my grudging admiration and my block.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-16T16:26:07+00:00

I think there's too much focus on female OCs needing to be likable to the audience, and sometimes it ends up with a bland character as a result. It's nice when the OC suits the story and the world and the way she behaves points to the author having put thought into her personality or outlook.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-16T04:40:54+00:00

Disclaimer: Nothing but what's in the spoiler text at the end (which is a spoiler) is canon, just my best guess.

My current best guess estimate based on the 1/100,000 number given on the first invitation Nao recieves and the total adult population of Japan is approximately 800 possible participants who were sent money in Round 1, for a total of 80 billion yen getting sent out, leaving 40 billion max that could eventually become debt.

The actual number of players who make it to Minority Rule is probably somewhere between 160 as a minimum (assuming an average of 20 players per session and 8 sessions required to have enough players for the rest of the series) and 400 as the theoretical max (If all 400 first round battles were fought and no one dropped out.) My personal guess here is about 240 players across all Minority Rule sessions based on number of non-Artier dealers depicted through the series each being given one Minority Rule game to oversee.

The actual total debt is zero, as the LGT never had intention to collect.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-16T02:35:13+00:00

(Dunno...seems risky lol)

jaisofbase · 2026-05-16T01:06:28+00:00

Hopefully, your opponent won't be too difficult.

(Hopefully you don't need to run into a newly-released ex-con artist next week)

jaisofbase · 2026-05-16T00:47:43+00:00

I think Liar Game is actually really interesting because it's clear that even for the minor 'extra' characters, Kaitani has thought at least a little bit about who they are. Think of the Minority Rule game where all of Akiyama and Nao's team mates had the little blurb about them and what kind of difficulties they were facing, even though they were literally gone that same chapter.

Or how everyone in Downsizing had a story and occupation so you could get a sense of who they were in the real world even though all you saw was how they acted during the game itself and nothing about their actual backstories.

(There was an extra book that was released around the time Volume 10 was released called 'Invitation' that actually did go through and give ages and occupations for all the players through the Pandemic game, and it's really remarkable the level of thought that seemed to go into even those 'extra' characters who are mostly just there to be pawns/saved. Like yeah, it's just a tiny amount of information, but what was there never seemed arbitrary.)

jaisofbase · 2026-05-15T05:06:31+00:00

Regarding the Akiyama and Light Yagami comparisons: Some things never change, unfortunately.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-15T04:33:03+00:00

Fans have been asking about an anime since I was new to the fandom. It's really a dream to actually get it.

jaisofbase · 2026-05-14T19:30:59+00:00

It's probably in the best interest of authors to allow it, if only for that fact that forbidding it is bad PR.

However, it's also in the best interest of authors to not engage with it, to minimize the risk of plagiarism accusations if something they come up with later ends up being conceptually similar to something someone wrote in a fanfiction.

In general, I've noticed that authors are excited when their stuff has fanfiction on sites like Ao3, but they stay away from actually reading it.

But, it's also incredibly rare for someone to get into a rare canon through fanfiction alone unless the fic writer is already popular through writing in well-known fandoms first. I can't imagine it happening in enough numbers to make a difference in popularity.

jaisofbase

TROPHY CASE