Liar Game: The Final Stage (Japanese Movie)

Since I can't sleep yet, I decided to update my blog about the recent film I watched, Liar Game: The Final Stage.

Previously, I have already published 2 blog posts about Liar Game, which are about it's 1st and 2nd Season of the show, and if you know how to count, yes, this is my 4th post about it. I mean 3rd.

Yesterday morning, I watched the last 2 remaining episodes of Liar game Season 2, and I got disappointed, not because it's not good nor it's not worth a watch but because the answers that I was looking for weren't given to me in the end. On my post about the 2nd Season, I have a list of questions that I want to be answered and I was hoping that I'll get the answer in the end of the series. Darn it.

Technically, season two ended when when the 2nd half of the 4th round disclosed (Round 4 is divided into two parts) Obviously, to advance to the next round, which is also the Final Stage, Nao's group must win and have at least 4.3 billion yen to get 3 tickets for Nao, Shinichi, and Fukunaga. They won, yes. Nao and Shinichi beat Ryo, they saved all the players including Ryo, but to save her, they need to give a bar of gold to the other team. They did, eventually, but Nao needs to drop out of the game because the money they earned in the end of the game is not enough to cover 3 tickets to go to the Final Stage, hence, Shinichi and Fukunaga were the only ones who'll advance. And the twist is revealed. Yokoya, who was one of the main villain in the 1st season was also playing in round 4 and he was the only one who won but decided to drop out of the game.

The film is just the continuation of  the 2nd Season. Nao was then again invited to enter the game, being persuaded "again" by Mitsuo, saying that she is the only one who Shinichi trusts and is needed for him to win the game. Little did Nao know that the ticket was from Yokoya who dropped out of the game.

In the film, there is only one game, "The Garden of Eden", where the players will all win if they all trust each other and by all of them voting only Red colored apples. We can see that Eto is back and he admitted in the end that he only joined the game again for Nao. Fukunaga is still the same jerky-nice-whatever mushroom looking person as he was in the past. Of course, during the game, Lies and Deception were still present but surprisingly, Nao really learned something from the previous rounds and fought back, apparently, with some help from Shinichi. It actually was very easy for them to play this game if it wasn't for the person who is the unknown sole, well, I should say most, traitor of all, they called him/her, Player X. He is very brilliant all through out the game, deceiving and punishing the other players and earning himself huge amount of money easily but Shinichi is cleverer than X. Now, the question is, will they all reach the end of the game by making all the players vote with the same colored apple?

Here are the questions from my Liar Game Season two and the answers:

• Will they make it to the final stage, or should I ask, will this season show the final stage or should I watch the movie Liar Game:  The Final Stage to know and answer this damn question?

A: Obviously, this question is whack. Go figure it out yourself. LOL.

• Will Nao and Shinichi end up being lovers in the end? I've been asking this question since watching last season and got disappointed.

A: Ugh. the question that I'm craving to know what the answer is. Sadly, when I was watching the latter part of the movie, I actually thought that either one of them would confess or say something about them falling in love. BUT, Shinichi said the sweetest line of the movie in this part. "Can you live with my lies?" Darn it, I got goose bumps and hoping Nao will respond "I love you too" and stuffs, but no, she needs to be this sweet girl who is very naive. UGH. So the answer is, it's still unclear if they are dating. LOL.

• Is Ryo and Shinichi were close friends in the past or are they related to each other?

A: No. They were not close in the past but were just classmates in college and also treat themselves as rivals. Although Shinichi always had the top notch grades and was the first ranker in their class, Ryo managed to beat him in one of their assignments which made him angry and ran away from the university especially after when their professor said that Ryo has something that he is, well, now was, lacking.

• Why is the LGT Secretariat didn't play as the dealer during the Round 4?

A: I don't know why but I still hate the dealer's eyes.

• Why is the dealer in round 4 looks so weird? Why is she wearing too much make-up? She looks like a clown.

A: She did not appear in the film, or is she the one accompanying Eri, the LGT Secretariat? I dunno, the faces of the 2 girls who was with Eri were unclear.

• Why is the final stage called as Garden of Eden and what is the importance if the apple being shown in some of the episodes?

A: Because the theme of the Game is just like what happened in the Garden of Eden from the Bible. You'll understand if you watch it :D

I realized that this is just like one of the Liar Game's episodes which is more lengthy than the others and, differently, theatrically released. I think it's still good but more serious, I mean, the comical theme isn't there anymore. I barly laughed unlike watching the series because of the stupidy of the characters. Since there is only 1 game, the psychological stuffs ain't that psychological, lesser, unlike in season 1 and season 2. I was actually hoping for a final stage with several parts/games but it's still good. Nao isn't that of a push over anymore in this film. Another thing is I think that the scenes were very expected. I can see what'll happen but then again, it's not bad. One of the best Asian movies I actually watched. :D

The casts:

Erika Toda - Kanzaki Nao

Shota Matsuda - Akiyama Shinichi

Seiichi Tanabe - Arata Sendo

Kosuke Suzuki - Yuji Fukunaga

YosiYosi Arakawa - Jiro Nishida

Mari Hamada - Mai Sakamaki

Soko Wada - Koichi Eto

Yuki Akimoto - Norika Momose

Kento Nagayama - Satoshi Kuji

Kazuma Suzuki - Norihiko Yokoya

Megumi Seki - Yukina Takeda

Michiko Kichise - Eri

Ikkei Watanabe - Mitsuo Tanimura

Are you wondering if they beat the game in the end as well as the main boss of the LGT Office?

Watch it. HAHAHAHA! :) Go, it's worth a watch.

I still find Eri so cute in this movie. She still looks like my mom. LOL

Now, there's Liar Game: Reborn, a second film about the Liar  Game which I think that the game will be born again, though Erika Toda isn't there to play as Nao, disappointingly. (I'm a genius), and  Alice in Liar Game, a spin-off drama.

Images sources:

asianwiki.com/Liar_Game:_The_Final_Stage

Posted in: 2010,asian,film,Japanese,tv show