Liar Game: The Final Stage
The Liar Game is a Japanese manga series originally written and illustrated by Shinobu Kaitani. The manga was first serialized in 2005 in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Young Jump.
In 2007, it was adapted into a TV series on Fuji TV airing for two seasons. Liar Game: The Final Stage was released in 2010 as a live action film.
Kanzaki Nao (Erika Toda) is an honest and naive college student who receives a hundred million yen one day, along with a card saying she has been chosen to take part in the “Liar Game”. The aim of the game is to trick the other players out of their hundred million dollars. At the end, the winner gets the hundred million and the loser is a hundred million yen in debt. She enlists the help of a genius con artist, Akiyama Shinichi (Matsuda Shota), who has just been recently released from jail.
Each game is different and quite interesting, as the strategy employed by Shinichi is slowly revealed as he outwits his opponents in spite of Nao’s honesty. Initially, you would think these were games of chance or luck, but are really not once you fully understand how to win. The cast of characters, the players, were funny and interesting. Both the series and movie were excellent.
I really liked this series and the movie!
I didn’t realize that it was adapted from a Manga first though, that’s cool.
Thanks for the comment – it seems to me a lot (of course, not all) of Japanese movies, series and anime are adapted from manga.