Joker Game

Episode 11

Well, it took 11 episodes, but here near the end of Joker Game, the show's setting has finally gone full Nazi, as we peek into Colonel Yuuki's past and present actions in Germany.

I think it's safe to say at this point that Yuuki is the only real character in Joker Game period. While the D-Agency boys themselves have varying degrees of personality or development in their respective episodes, it's just as common for episodes to barely feature any given spy at all, instead switching the perspective to a villainous enemy soldier. Episode 11 is a particularly good example of this, because its star spy, Maki, spends the entire story dead as a doornail while the star character is the eyepatched SS officer Colonel Wolff instead.

As such, there's not much to say about this episode outside of its requisite series of twists. Colonel Wolff's first eye was taken in an explosion caused by underestimating a Japanese spy in the first world war, so he'll be damned if he makes that mistake again, even if Japan is supposedly their ally in this war, and even if the suspicious spy has already been killed in a train crash! Of course, the stern-faced war hero that cost Wolff his right eye was a younger Yuuki, bringing Wolff's story full circle as he watchdogs Maki's body in wait for his old nemesis to show his face.

Unfortunately for Wolff, he never gets the chance to confront Yuuki, because he hadn't counted on Maki being an excellent spy even in death. He made a simple error of assumption, thinking that Maki died aboard a train headed toward his rendezvous point, when he actually died on the train heading "home" from his espionage mission. He also assumes that because Yuuki miraculously escaped death, Maki may also be somehow faking his death in an endeavor to complete his mission. (Colonel Wolff is perhaps a little too paranoid after the loss of his eye.) In fairness, thanks to the incredible feats we've already seen the D-Agency perform, the audience is tempted to believe the same thing. I was definitely always waiting for Maki's face to twitch despite the giant hole in his chest. But there's no such miracle in store for Maki this time, and since he already had the intel he was meant to deliver, Yuuki's plan is not to rescue him, but to give his death meaning by bringing back the information he fought to obtain. It's not a "happy" ending, but there's a bittersweet warmth to this unexpected resolution.

Because this week's story is so basic, most of the episode's charm comes from meticulous direction choices. The editing of this episode is excellent, cutting and dissolving on striking shots that add emotional gravitas to otherwise innocuous moments. Instead of having to hear Wolff blather on about his past with Yuuki or hear him monologue about how his nemesis colonel fooled him again in the present, the entire episode's shenanigans are conveyed beautifully through perfect timing of flashbacks and flash-forwards that treat the audience with respect and allow them to try and solve the mystery for themselves. (We never even get an overblown "Maki specifically put blood in a place he wasn't wounded to show where the intel was hidden in his clothes!" line. We just see the wheels turning in Maki's head as his final moments pass, and the proud/remorseful look on Yuuki's face as he comes to fulfill his fallen man's last mission.) The new character designs, from frightening Nazi faces to colorful German citizens to our first good look at Yuuki in his prime, are articulated beautifully through the strength of Studio I.G.'s production and excellent design sense. It's an episode you feel with your heart more than analyze with your mind, not the best that Joker Game has to offer, but more and more rewarding on rewatch.

More than any episode before it, "Coffin" is style several miles over substance, which unfortunately makes it pretty difficult to write about. I think the thing that stood out to me most was the episode's coincidental timing close to Father's Day, as the always-awesome Yuuki is esteemed in this adventure specifically for his paternal care of his men, even when they "fail" him by dying in the field. By contrast, Wolff doesn't seem to care about or trust his own men or the citizens under his care at all, and beyond the simple pedantry of not knowing which train Maki was actually on, I think Wolff is ultimately defeated by his inability to trust the dissenting voices around him, from the German witness he has tortured simply for being unlucky to his own subordinate who tries to dissuade the colonel from his mad crusade against Yuuki. So Happy Father's Day, D-Agency! At least your Colonel will remember your names, even if the rest of the world never does.

Rating: B

Joker Game is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Jake has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.