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13. Liar Game (Season 1), 2007
So I finally took up![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frauleinfrog's suggestion of watching Japanese TV series as a way to get more listening practice, but, having forgotten the specific series she suggested (lol, I'm horrible as always), I found myself just going down a list of dorama and clicking on whatever random titles sounded interesting. After reading the summary of Liar Game's first episode I decided this would be the one I'd watch, and omg, accidentally finding something that you then discover is awesome is one of the best things ever.
This show begins with the "stupidly honest" Nao's accidental participation in the title game. She is given a hundred million yen and an opponent. If she can steal her opponent's money, she gets to keep it; if her opponent steals her money, she'll end up with a horrific debt. When her opponent tricks her out of her hundred million, she hires a swindler to help her get it back, not realizing that this is only the first round.
I kind of love this show, from its campy camerawork and slightly unbelievable plot (does Nao not have a job? how does she afford that apartment of which I am superbly jealous??) to its shameless use of the theme from Requiem for a Dream and its overuse of maniacal evil laughter. (I actually rather disliked that latter until I watched the final episode, in which it is used pretty perfectly.) I love that it's a G-rated psychological thriller that really knows how to create suspense (and has amusing moments and even made me tear up a couple times, haha srsly!), I love that you're always encouraged to try to figure out the games the characters are playing and the strategies they're using to play them, I even love that every possible form of the verb damasu ("to trick, to cheat, to deceive") is now permanently burned into my brain. I do wonder how much rewatch value a series like this has, since I think a lot of its awesomeness comes from not knowing what's going to happen next. But I won't worry about that now - I've still got the entire second season to enjoy!
Also, I downloaded this show and actually felt pretty bad about that until I discovered that to legally own these eleven episodes would cost about a hundred and seventy dollars. I don't feel quite so guilty anymore. :|
So I finally took up
frauleinfrog's suggestion of watching Japanese TV series as a way to get more listening practice, but, having forgotten the specific series she suggested (lol, I'm horrible as always), I found myself just going down a list of dorama and clicking on whatever random titles sounded interesting. After reading the summary of Liar Game's first episode I decided this would be the one I'd watch, and omg, accidentally finding something that you then discover is awesome is one of the best things ever.This show begins with the "stupidly honest" Nao's accidental participation in the title game. She is given a hundred million yen and an opponent. If she can steal her opponent's money, she gets to keep it; if her opponent steals her money, she'll end up with a horrific debt. When her opponent tricks her out of her hundred million, she hires a swindler to help her get it back, not realizing that this is only the first round.
I kind of love this show, from its campy camerawork and slightly unbelievable plot (does Nao not have a job? how does she afford that apartment of which I am superbly jealous??) to its shameless use of the theme from Requiem for a Dream and its overuse of maniacal evil laughter. (I actually rather disliked that latter until I watched the final episode, in which it is used pretty perfectly.) I love that it's a G-rated psychological thriller that really knows how to create suspense (and has amusing moments and even made me tear up a couple times, haha srsly!), I love that you're always encouraged to try to figure out the games the characters are playing and the strategies they're using to play them, I even love that every possible form of the verb damasu ("to trick, to cheat, to deceive") is now permanently burned into my brain. I do wonder how much rewatch value a series like this has, since I think a lot of its awesomeness comes from not knowing what's going to happen next. But I won't worry about that now - I've still got the entire second season to enjoy!
Also, I downloaded this show and actually felt pretty bad about that until I discovered that to legally own these eleven episodes would cost about a hundred and seventy dollars. I don't feel quite so guilty anymore. :|