...I'll do a bit of commentary on the issues people have with this series:

1) "Nao is an annoying b**ch. If she didn't exist, I'd have loved this series."
Way to miss the point, 80% of the readers. Just think: if anyone other than Nao and - by extension - Akiyama were the protagonists, what would be the point of this manga? The MC would just go around throwing everyone into colossal debt while making off with mountains of cash, there'd be no morality and no character to root for, and Liar Game would, in effect, become the next Death Note. (I love DN, but I don't want to see a non-supernatural copy of it) The entire point of having someone as drastically different as Nao be the MC is because she's an element the LGT organisers themselves hadn't predicted: someone who brings the heart and soul into this soulless game, and who, contrary to initial appearances, is as imperative to Akiyama's survival as he is to hers. Akiyama is the brains and Nao is the heart, so if you're one of those people who think that a female character in a story filling the traditionally feminine role instead of a "stronger" masculine role is sexist, stay away from this series. (And just FYI: there are brilliant people and idiotic people of both sexes in the story, ditto for people who function as the heart/soul of their teams)

2) "The plot is so convoluted and contrived. No one can predict things that far ahead."
This is a series with gambling, mind games, lies, cheating, psychological trickery and manipulation at its core. Of course in real life this level of Xanatos Speed Chess is impossible, but what's the fun in a work of fiction where everything turns out just the way it does in real life? If you want to see "real gambling," pay a visit to Las Vegas instead.

3) "No character/relationship development."
Nao gets a lot of character development, which according to the majority happens too slowly. I'm of the personal opinion that it happens at just the right pace: people don't go from being naive, bumbling ditzes to cunning manipulators overnight, after all. And what's good about Nao is that while she becomes less gullible and more courageous and determined as the plot progresses, she never actually becomes cruel or cold-hearted like most other "weak to strong" characters tend to. And there's actually plenty of relationship development between her and several other characters (Akiyama, Fukunaga, Akagi, Abe, Harimoto, and even Yokoya). Unless of course by "relationship" you mean "romantic," in which case there is none. Akiyama himself doesn't change, and neither does Yokoya (the primary antagonist), but that's a given, as they're both the kind of men who have matured early and are resistant to change as a result of their strong-willed personalities and unusual upbringing. But at the end of the day, Liar Game is an overwhelmingly plot-driven manga, so if you're the type to prioritise characters and relationships over plot, then it's not for you.

4) "It's trying to be clever, but it's actually very simplistic and predictable."
Congratulations, you're a genius logician! Jokes aside, though, if you really are a very clever and cunning person yourself, the games they play here will probably seem childish and obvious to you. But to the rest of us with average to slightly-above-average strategic abilities: sometimes you can see what's coming, but 80% of the time anticipating the players' (yes, even Nao's) next moves definitely requires quite a bit of thought. If you enjoy that kind of mental exercise, LG is your manga.

5) "The philosophy of this manga is completely flawed. The two MC's just don't have the guts to defeat anyone, they're not so great."
I don't buy into Nao's personal philosophy myself, and since I haven't suffered through a childhood like Akiyama's I have no personal vendetta against large-scale money-making ventures, but aside from the fundamental error in dismissing anyone's lifeview as invalid simply because you don't agree with it, this isn't a story that pushes forward any one philosophy as such. Plenty of characters in the story disagree with Nao and try to use her views against her, and these people are not necessarily presented as villains but just as individuals who have different ideas regarding what the Game is about. And while Nao does try to bring them to her side time and again, once she realises that this is impossible she and Akiyama will do everything they can to lead by example instead of preaching; ie:, they're very proactive within the boundaries of their own principles, which makes them far from gutless. That said, the author is obviously biased in their favour, but that's true of fiction in general.

6) "Since people like Akiyama and Nao don't exists in the world, this is too unrealistic for a seinen."
First of all, seinen =/= realistic. Seinen = aimed towards adult men, and adult men have their unrealistic fantasies just like everyone else. Just because this doesn't feature the typical "sex and violence" fantasy of the majority of mainstream seinen doesn't make it any less (or more) "realistic." And unless you know every single person in this world personally, how can you say people like Nao and Akiyama don't exist? It's unlikely, but not impossible. And if fictitious characters were like your everyday ordinary person, fiction would be very boring indeed.

7) "Akiyama's too brilliant, he takes all the suspense out of the story since we know he can think himself out of any bind."
Actually, Akiyama gets cornered a few times, too. The reason he always manages to triumph over his intellectual equals (Yokoya and the Kimura-Harimoto duo, mainly) is because of Nao, which brings things back to my point about how neither of them are "better off having been replaced." Also: unless the story is specifically marketed as a tragedy, the MC's always win in the end anyway, so this complaint makes no sense.

8) "The art is horrible, and there's no action or romance.This is boring!"
All true (except the 'boring' bit, which is purely subjective anyway), but since there are quite literally hundreds of romance action seinen with beautiful art out there, this one series geared towards the few of us whose tastes aren't limited to those two genre isn't a terrible loss, imo. And the art adequately showcases the characters' actions and thoughts/emotions, so what more do you expect from this kind of manga?

9) "Nao always says "I have a foolproof plan," but it always fails!"
That's actually the point. "If everyone cooperates, the world would be a much better place!" is what Nao believes (albeit a bit too firmly for her own good, imo). And it's undeniably the truth, the ultimate foolproof plan towards creating a better world for everyone. But people are merciless, greedy and selfish; they try to profit on their own while throwing everyone else into hell, and as a result the world as a whole suffers on the long run. You can scoff if you like, and if you're from an affluent country which made all its fortunes this way in the first place you probably won't accept the truth in that statement, but it is what it is.

10) "The ending was rushed."
Very true: the last few chapters were sub-par compared to the rest of series, and it could definitely have done with a 20th volume to bring the ship smoothly into port, so to speak. The final arc is also the weakest in terms of plot quality, and caused my rating to drop a bit. I don't believe the series was axed, as it's plenty popular in Japan, but Kaitani Shinobu does seem to struggle with endings quite a bit -- as was also the case with his other long-running series, One Outs.

11) "Liar Game is a masterpiece!"
It could have been, but in the end fell a bit short -- not least because of the rocky finale. Nevertheless a very enjoyable read and one of the more mentally engaging pieces of fiction I've read in a while. If you love plot-focused manga, this is very much recommended.

... Last updated on April 3rd, 2015, 4:11am

What I mean by the title is the it's a manga about unusual games and the characters try to find ways to cheat, deceive, and trick the other players in these games. There are also good people trying to do the right thing and help others, sadly they get cussed at, and ironically if they did join up work together it would be easier. So why read Liar Game? For me it was enjoyable trying to come up with strategies to win the games and save people at the same time, or in other words predict what was going to happen next in the manga. Normally predicting what happens next is too easy for me and the manga ends up becoming less enjoyable for me that way, however it was not the same for Liar Game. I really liked it. The reason I gave it a 7.7 is:


... Last updated on March 3rd, 2015, 3:16am

I recommend this read to anyone who likes psychological manga

however, while I understand that they had to reveal the secrets in the end, I feel they rushed that part and it feels axed

it could be because they want to enter the sequel (which it strongly hints at) but I feel they couldve made one more volume before cutting that, or at least have one where the main character finds out or suggest stuff and what not

regardless, I look forward to the sequel and recommend this manga to anyone labeling as one of my favorite reads

... did not do the manga any favors. I really like most of the manga - Nao starts off as really annoying, and develops slowly, but she does develop into a quite good character. And Akiyama's shenanigans are always fun.

But the last arc falls flat in comparison with the rest. The manga ending reveals the identities of the liar game organizers, and I didn't find that revelation particularly satisfying, or in keeping with the tone of the rest of the manga.

Not to mention that the ending is actually way too open for my taste. I just can't tell whether this is because it's intentinoally leaving room for a sequel, or because it was axed.

This manga was great. There were plot holes but I didn't really mind and I don't notice it most of the time. I'm a bit biased when it comes to my favs haha. I think that the art was unique and the reactions were kind of exaggerated yet priceless.It tackles human nature and hit bulls-eye's. And a lot of 'em too. The games reflect real life like how the musical chairs was about politics and stuff. I like Nao most of all.
Nao and Akiyama complement each other. The two of them would most probably not win without each other(even if akiyama is a genius). Though I found nao kind of annoying at first, she made a huge impact to me. Her growth was well-paced. She changed slowly but surely, not overnight, too. But what I liked the most about her was that her values didn't change. She was still the honest nao minus some of the naivety and a lot of tears. Because when some female heroines change, they go for revenge and tend to have icy hearts. Lol. Okay, maybe I'm wrong about that but I think that Nao is a symbol of hope. She's not perfect and too honest and idealistic. Not too realistic for a seinen? I don't think so. Because IMO in the 7 billion people on earth, it's not impossible that there's one Kanzaki Nao, Moreover it's more about the LG, psychology and human nature rather than the MC.

While the mind games are actually quite simple and predictable (at least for me), the character development is really good.

Nao, a truly annoying university girl with too little wit and suspicions of others, learns from a con-artist to become a more realistic and intelligent person.

Meanwhile, her good nature also slowly awakens the better sides of the con artist. It's a win win situation!!

The best part for me is that I can clearly see Nao's improvement throughout the story, and the fact that every now and then she would revert back to her old self makes this story more realistic as well.

I JUST NEED THE AUTHOR TO STOP HAVING LONG HIATUSES AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE PERFECT.

... Last updated on July 25th, 2014, 11:27pm

I agree to admit that the start of this manga is have so many flaws, but we must remember that this is a manga. when you open the first page it means you agree with the all rules that this manga have. Just like when you read One Piece or Naruto.
Anyway, at first I thought it will like another survival game manga where you put your life at stake which is lot of blood so I didn't bother to read it. but since I didn't have anything to read well I forced to, and turned out its another awesome manga.
Because its not a deathmatch where when you lose its over but instead it takes something more complicated that is human basic insting. Deception, Lie, Domination, Truth where that what makes human evolved more that another being.
The character development is steadily growing right in every moment (even thought i think its too slow). the story itself is quite complicated which I think thats what you do when you want to deceive someone. the art itself not great but enough to provide every scene perfectly. overall its an awesome manga with great plot. and also loved how an item from One Outs manga shown here. (I know its from the same mangaka but its just fun seeing that..)
I won't say that its the greatest, but I definitely gonna read this multiple times.

Imagine. You are in your living room. Suddenly someone sprints through your garden and tapes a note to your front window. The note says:
"When I ring your doorbell and you open the door, you agree to
hand me 2 quadrillion Yen."
You start to panic. Will you be forced to keep your door locked for the rest of your life, because of some random stranger. Then your thought progress is interupted by your doorbell ringing.
Of course smart lad you are, you ask whos ringing before you open the door.
The person on the other side says postmen. So you open up. But ooh the clever devil fooled you.
Its the person who just sprinted through your garden in a post uniform. But the man shows mercy and agrees to take your family jewels instead of the money. You hand him the box containing the
jewels but replace the stuff lying on the bottom with rocks. The man checks the box only sees the stuff on top and walks away. You take your well earned rest knowing that you tricked that fool out of half your jewels. ;D

If that described you perfectly, you are just like a character out of the liar game. ^^
This is the first problem the series has. Apart from 1-3 characters who are about as intelligent as the
average Joe everybody is really stupid and just there to fill the numbers.

The second problem lies with the author.
He tries hard to create a threathening athmosphere with (seemingly) hopless situations for the characters. Sadly he ignores any law doing so and is keen to invent new ones that don't exist. (To name an example. A contract is either binding to everyone signing or to nobody. It doesn't matter if you sign with "Spiderman" or your actual name.)
So one has to simply accept whatever happens in this series deep thinking and placing yourself in the shoes of any player different from the main char will tear up (huge) plot holes. I'm mentioning that because it is sad for a manga focusing on mind games and logic.
There also lies the next problem sometimes the author overlooks holes in his games, meaning he declares a strategy a sure win strategy when in fact it isn't. (Some might remember a certain game where players traded already casted votes but nobody thought of trading uncast votes, which of course would've destroyed the authors sure win strategy and would mean its possible to name a winner even before round one)

So those were a lot of negatives.
But I like a lot of the games the author designed. It's fun thinking how oneself would act faced with the
games presented. Also logic flaws and stupidness arent on a level that makes it impossible to read the series. On the contrary. Some reactions will make you laugh. Creating a somewhat light atmosphere for the series. Also one has to mention that with advancing chapters the author spends more time thinking his games through and the quality improves somewhat.
Also decent manga focusing on psychology of the characters are hard to find.
(I can only think of Kiseijuu and Eternal Sabbath.)
So despite negatives this is still a decent read.

This manga is simply amazing!

Art
The artwork of this series is not the best. There's no character that is drop dead gorgeous like the male leads in shoujo mangas, or a cool looking character like in shounen. The outline of the characters are rough, and the expression for the characters are often overly exaggerated. However the artwork does grow on you and as you read the series you get more comfortable with the artwork, The depth of the characters and complexity of the story draws your attention away from the art. Often the exaggerated features of the the characters acts as comic relief and further enhance the quality of the series.

Story
The story is very intriguing. The first notion of the story immediately intrigued me. As I read further i was more and more drawn to the story. The use of real psychology terms enhances the story and makes you feel like your learning something. The complexity of the story of course have to be mentioned, and you are always left wondering just how Akiyama and Kanzaki will get out of these tough situations. This manga is in no way a light read, sometime I have to read a chapter more than once to figure out whats going on. This is NOT a manga where you can skip a few chapters and still know whats going on.

Characters
In some ways the characters are stereotypical. You have Akiyama, the seemingly cold yet genius male lead and Kanzaki the naive but truthful female lead. However as the series progresses the you see characters grow and develop and they grow on you. Also the unlikely friendships formed during the games will warm you heart. How the characters react when they are tempted by money and threatened by huge amounts of debt, really gets you assessing yourself. How will I act if I was in this situation?

Overall this series is bound to challenge you intellectually. There are some faults and improvements that could be made...but this series is amazing! Be ready to get mind blown!

There are no words for this manga. Just freaking amazing. Deserves so much praise. It sparked my interest for psychology. So so good and interesting!

Characters
Akiyama is one badass. He is THE genious. I love that cool character of his. I know maybe he's too perfect since he always seems to find a way, regardless of what. Who cares? It goes with the story. Even so, there's Nao to balance him off. She's the complete opposite of him. Some people find her annoying but in my opinion, it's like food. Akiyama is like spicy food and Nao's like the cold drink to cool that spiciness. (Lol what?) She has to be there to contrast him. Plus, I like how people are portrayed though sometimes a bit exaggerated but who wouldn't freak out if you think you're gonna have a huge debt?

Story
This is exactly why this manga is so amazing. The foundation is psychology. Well, more focused on social psychology. It tells it to you real and there actual terms. After reading, I would go research by myself to find out more. It's so interesting! Even when I don't understand how something works, I will keep reading that chapter until I finally do. There is so much rereading potential here. It's not complete yet but I have reread it a few times to understand certain concepts better and refresh my memory of the story (because it isn't complete yet).

Art
Some people say it's terrible. Okay, well that may be true. It's still bearable though. In my honest opinion however, I freaking love it. It sucks yes but I love it. Why? It gives an unexpected comical twist to the story. The expressions are so priceless, especially when people lose. It's like purposely bad to lessen the tension a bit. It's like Angel Densetsu (which is a hilarious as hell comedy) which has terribad art but serves its purpose for comical reasons. The art does get better so don't worry. Anyway, it's such a minor thing. The story and its base completely overrides any flaws the series has. I don't care. It's awesome!

What are you waiting for? Go read it. I swear you will be glued.