In less overtly enraging but still irritating news, after tearing through both S1 and S2 of Liar Game in the space of a few days, I am forced to admit that I sort of really really like it. This is galling! Because this show, it irritates me in so many ways! Most of them circling back around to the fact that it is the standard "dumb-as-a-sack-of-hammers, incompetent, yet ~pure and good~ girl who has to turn to the bad boy genius to save her" plot.

Seriously, why do you never see this situation in reverse? The dumb but sweet and pure boy who needs the big strong bad-ass lady to get his ass out of trouble? I am also irritated by the fact that the one example we get of a female genius is a stone-cold evil bitch who was always playing number two to the resident bad boy genius back before he was a bad boy.

And yet.

And yet.

SOBBB I REALLY LIKED THIS SHOW IT WAS SO MUCH FUN WHERE IS THE MOVIE OH GOD GIVE IT TO ME HOW DOES IT ENDDDDDDDDDDD



Liar Game is about a young woman, Nao, who gets unwillingly caught up in a game of deceit where players try to cheat each other out of vast sums of money; she, being hopelessly honest and trusting, gets cheated out of said vast sum of money, and ends up seeking the help of a professional con-man, Akiyama, to get it back. Akiyama reluctantly saves her ass. Only after he saves her once, she ends up needing saving again... and again... And now he can't get rid of her, because he's that sort. You know the kind. The kind that pretend to be aloof but are actually huge squishy woobies with ~feelings~.

Nao and Akiyama, man. THEY ARE ADORABLE. Even though I kept reminding myself that this set-up is a sexist cliche and it annoys the everliving shit out of me, Nao's constant ":D:D:D! LET'S ALL BE FRIENDS!" and Akiyama's constant twitchy-faced "DL:FKJS:DLKJ FLAILING WITH EXASPERATION UNDER MY STOIC MASK RIGHT NOW BRB" sort of snuck under my radar and hit me with the ship bat.

The second game involves answering yes or no questions. The question for this round of the game is "Between S and M, of course it's S." But Akiyama-san! Nao has a question!







The silence says so much.

Think fast, Akiyama-san! Your ability to bullshit is THE ENTIRE REASON YOU ARE HERE, after all.







Now Nao understands! So, she supposes that considering her character, she must be...





Akiyama realizes he may have made a tiny error in judgment here.

But Nao hastens to reassure him! According to their strategy, she must vote "yes" on the next question! So...









...You brought this on yourself, son. (His embarrassment is so adorable. SO. ADORABLE.)

Also, Akiyama is played by Matsuda Shota. Matsuda Shota is new TV boyfriend #2. His face took some getting used to for me, but his voice. It. It does... things. To me. It reminds me immensely of Takahiro Sakurai's Medicine Seller, and well, you all know how I feel about that.

(...Actually, it's a shame that this role required him to have a nigh-perpetual scowl, because he is about 200x more attractive when he smiles.)

Then there's Mushroom Head. Who stepped straight out of Scooby Doo. Constant villainous laughter and "THOSE MEDDLING KIDS!!!"-style lines included. Oh my god he is the most hilarious thing I can't even -



Yes that is seriously what he looks like. Greatest teammate/villain ever I swear to god. It's like he's Xellos, only completely without dignity.

eta: I have been informed that apparently in the original manga this character is... a crossdresser? a transwoman? generally genderqueer? After looking at a few pages from the manga, I am not clear on which, but either way, the fact that they changed him (or her) into a simply flamboyant man with a penchant for pink lipgloss in the drama is pretty... aggravating to say the least!

And then. And then. There's Kichise Michiko prancing around in a black pantsuit for the entire series. FFFFFFFFFFFFF



FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF what I wouldn't give for an entire series of just. THAT. The bodyguard stances and the little swagger and the cold, faint smile and alsdfj;alskj;al. (Why is this woman never a protagonist? Is it because of her positively evil-looking smile? BUT I LIKE PROTAGONISTS WITH EVIL SMILES COME ON.)

Basically what I am saying here is I need the movie like NOW jfc. I am highly intrigued by those shippy-looking scenes in the trailer, considering that for the whole series there have only been a few of the vaguest of implications that there might be something between Nao and Akiyama. (Although if the movie actually pairs them up I'll eat my shoe. This is the sort of series where that sort of thing is never resolved.)