English Dub Review: Liar Game “Salvation/Contraband Game”
Overview (Spoilers Below):
Salvation
The other Revival Round players scramble for the votes to save themselves.
Contraband Game
Leronira introduces the surviving players to the complex rules of the Contraband Game.
Our Take:
They say honesty is a sign of weakness in the Liar Game, suggesting a small chance of winning. However, thanks to Akiyama, Nao proved them wrong by using her personality as the key to victory. With her making the same deal with the other players, Nao has earned enough votes to send everyone into a frenzy to get the remaining votes. As a result, Nao walked away with an entire fortune, but not without giving some away to the player in last place, Miura. That move was part of Nao’s overall strategy to save the players from falling into debt whenever they lose.
The first of the two episodes further highlights how scummy the LGT really is: the organization actually earns money from the losers’ debts, as evidenced by Nao’s explanation. It isn’t much of a surprise, narrative-wise, given the context of its competition, but it also gives Nao and Akiyama more of a reason to shut it down. The other episode, “Contraband Game”, sees the players competing in a game of “smugglers and guards”, as they work to retrieve money from “enemy territory”. It’s basically what the title suggests, and it looks to be as enticing as the previous round. Maybe even more due to the increased risk and prizes it offered compared to the first two rounds.
While mildly complex at times, the episodes further showcase the anime’s core theme of honesty over deception, where anything is possible as long as one remains true to oneself. The previous episodes did show that Nao’s naivety could be an issue, given how many times she’s been tricked by other players. Heck, she even got conned by Fuji more than twice before she beat her at her own game. Fortunately, the episodes finally gave Nao her due in terms of her development, as she plays by the tournament’s rules while remaining honest. It’s the best of both worlds that could help her win the overall competition. But will it be enough to rescue the other players and survive the Loser’s Revival’s third round?
