Liar Game

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Liar Game

Liar-game.jpg
Series information
Title: Liar Game
Medium: manga
Genre: gambling

Liar Game is a manga series by Shinobu Kaitani. It was originally published in Young Jump magazine in 201 chapters from 2005 to 2015. Later, it was collected into 19 volumes, with the last 2 chapters being extended into 4 for a total of 203. The series also includes two prequel one-shots entitled Liar Game: Roots of A, published in 2008 and 2010.

The plot centers on the namesake Liar Game Tournament, a competition that encourages players to deceive their opponents in order to win and forces the losers into enormous debt. Nao Kanzaki, an extremely gullible young woman, is manipulated into joining the game, and with no chance of winning on her own she finds herself having to turn to legendary swindler Shin'ichi Akiyama for help.

Characters

  • Nao Kanzaki (Commoner; Apprentice): An honest and naive young woman who is dragged into the Liar Game against her will. Because of her kind and trusting nature, she is frequently taken advantage of throughout the tournament, but with Akiyama's help she slowly learns to doubt people.
  • Shin'ichi Akiyama (Lead Mastermind): A con artist who went to prison for bringing a major company to bankruptcy. His profound understanding of human psychology makes him a master at manipulating people, which is why Nao seeks his help in order to survive the Liar Game.

Tricks and Matches

The story of Liar Game is split into arcs corresponding to the different rounds of the Liar Game Tournament, each making up a separate Match (or Matches, for those rounds composed of multiple games).

Round 1

Related titles

  • One Outs: A previous manga by Kaitani, with many similarities and also involving gambling, but instead focusing on the setting of professional baseball. The two stories probably take place in the same universe, as at one point a character in Liar Game mentions the Lycaons baseball team from One Outs.
  • Three Phase: The Forbidden Divination: A series of two one-shots by Kaitani, published in the same anthology as the first Liar Game: Roots of A story.
  • Kaiji: A manga by Nobuyuki Fukumoto whose plot also involves a powerful organization roping regular people into high-stakes gambles that risk saddling them with enormous debts.
  • Tomodachi Game: A later manga that seems to have taken inspiration from Liar Game. The story similarly centers on a namesake game consisting of multiple different rounds where players can accrue or lose debt, and violence is forbidden.