Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Joker Game
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wolf10
 Posts: 928 |
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There was a stinger after the credits in Episode 6 that basically screams "Here's the overarching plot you've been looking for!" Apparently as stupid as Lt. Col. Yuuki thinks imperialism is, the imperialists themselves are catching on to his game.
Aside from that tease, though, my cursory investigation into the source material has concluded that this is essentially a spy-flavored Beautiful Bones or HaruChika, not coincidentally published under the same Kadokawa imprint. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2266 |
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Ditto. Even cursory looks at summaries for the books (the summaries were in English, but the book itself is still in Japanese. o.O) makes it sound like it's a very episodic story, with hints that the overarching narrative hinges on Yuki. As for the episodes themselves, I couldn't shake the impression that Izawa's interpretation was wrong, and that the sleeper agent was Crusoe, while Izawa was the distressed Friday. Thematically, it just made more sense to me, so I don't get why the show insisted it was the other way around. Though I have to admit, having binge-watched Foyle's War's first season and Hayley Atwell's Restless, I was tickled pink to see things from those shows reflected here. 
As for Tazaki, I was a little surprised to see that he could charm both kids and adults; in most of the spy fiction I've seen, the charm is usually restricted to women. ^^; I don't really feel like their motto "Don't kill, and don't die" holds water when paired up with the French Resistance episode, but maybe D-Agency just used the Resistance as a scapegoat regarding the probably lethal dust bomb. I'm assuming that motto is in place to keep other countries from cottoning on to Japan's war efforts until they officially do enter the war. |
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+ 光
 Posts: 226 |
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Okay, hear me out: It's pretty clear that this story has a 'spy-of-the-week' narrative, and that somehow all these missions relate together. How, we might never know. And I don't think our spies will have any more character development. But that's just the thing - they are spies. Maybe that's enough reason for us to not get to know them any better. To keep the spies' backstory (one example of development) in complete darkness is, in my opinion, very spy-like.
But I don't think that the spies are just cardboard-cutout characters. In both episode 5 and 6, we saw Izawa's shock when he thought that Yuuki had betrayed him, and his stress when what he thought was an escape route turned out to be fake, and Tazaki's fear that if war starts, they will no longer have any purpose. So we do see a little bit of their fears and thoughts. To reiterate what I said earlier, I think the show mainly sacrifices character development to keep the spies in obscurity, even to the audience, to truly drive home the fact that they are just that: spies. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I cannot say. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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For the record, "Izawa" in episode 5 was the spy previously known as "Kaminaga." Since we know that that's not his real name either, it probably doesn't matter.
Episode 6 was my favorite so far, probably because Tazaki is the only one I can tell apart by looking at him, and he's the most fun. How could you not trust this face? 
I did feel bad for the pigeon in his coat during the brief fight scene. But what really charmed me in this was the older kid blushing with embarrassment and pride over getting to show off his knowledge to an adult who was actually paying attention even though he didn't have to. So sweet.  This may also be the first time I've seen a man his age not flip out when a kid calls him ojisan.
Btw, does anyone know who the extra face is in the OP when they're fanned like cards? Aside from Sakuma and Fuuji, there should be 8 but there are 9... I'm not even sure which face is not one of The Eight, let alone who he might be. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1946 |
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I've never been a big James Bond fan, the Bonds i liked best were probably Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan because there was always an element of self-mockery to their portrayal of the character. So it comes as no surprise that ep.6 was my favourite so far since Izawa has a certain playfulness to him i really enjoyed. In contrast, ep. 5 left me pretty cold because there was never any question Tazaki would get out of there with his super-spy powers...
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Marks' appearance proved to be the only remarkable feature of episode 5. Mildly pleasant bouts of curious chin-scratching are certainly made possible by the gradual, proxied unravelling of how Yuki's spies are trained, but this show can surely offer more than this. (For all its rottenness, at least episode four had a modicum of character drama to it.) The price of these 'aha!' moments is a large amount of otherwise stale airing time, I am sad to say. |
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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Anyway, I was looking forward to seeing a Soviet-themed episode. A lot of viewers were expressing scepticism about how the spies were going to "blend in" in other countries when they would obviously stick out like a sore thumb in much of the rest of the world. Well, I was particularly interested in how this would be handled in the USSR. On the one hand, there were plenty of East Asian-looking ethnic groups in the various Soviet republics for the spies to pass themselves off as. On the other, Stalin didn't exactly care about the finer distinctions between East Asians; heck, in the years immediately preceding the war you didn't really have to do all that much to get accused of crimes you didn't commit and killed, regardless of what race you were. Episode 6 didn't quite meet my expectations, but it was still a conventionally entertaining spy story with some neat historical details about the Japanese colonization of Manchuria and the residual Russian influences in the region (plus a couple of Easter eggs for Dostoyevsky buffs). |
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LightYapper
 Posts: 131 Location: Somewhere on Earth |
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I wasn't really expecting Joker Game to run its story on a episodic basis, either. Which isn't to say that it isn't as entertaining as it was. Rather, it worked better for me, just because every spies get their focus episodes. Since all the spies are primarily people who just used fake names and identities for their missions, I didn't think that I would actually care about any of them, either.
That said, I personally enjoyed episode 6 the most, simply because Kazaki is the guy who feels the closest to people in terms of personality (be it a fake one) and experiences. He's arguably become the most recognizable spy to me after Miyoshi for all those reasons. Contrary to that, episode 5 left me cold and confused. Not only the whole thing seem pointless, there just isn't any real sense of purpose to that mission. That episode still managed to entertain me, even if I don't get the point behind all those moves. So, the question is, when will Sakuma show up again (the back of the person at the end of episode 6 sorta resembles him, but still). His return may as well become a hit-or-miss to the whole series. |
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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I quite agree. Episode six, as well as providing our weekly who's-tricking-who brainteaser, actually found the time for some pleasant interactions for a change! And as the series reaches its midpoint, we finally find a trio of characters who are neither duplicitous nor politicised to the detriment of their innocence. Surprisingly or otherwise, they're children. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Episode 7 was kind of stupid. The two things that really jumped out at me were McCloud nonchalantly drinking a martini when he knew an assassin was after him (shouldn't that be like, the first rule of Spy School? Don't reach for strange drinks, especially if someone just uncovered your identity! Might as well have skipped all that fancy plastic surgery for all the good it did him). And a mother giving herself up to the authorities and leaving her daughter in custody of a foreign man she knows nothing about...seriously, what? And he just takes the kid? Okay.
Then there were the dumb little details. Pretty sure ears can be modified by plastic surgery, for example. And why was McCloud going to Japan? That was never made clear. But the episode was entertaining and pretty and that dog was gosh darn cute. Next week's ep is "part one", which is good news for everyone hoping for a more involved plot. (I'm okay with episodic super spy adventures, at least till its time to wrap things up in the last two or 3 eps). |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5498 |
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It is a shame that people are not taking this show seriously. It may have some silly moments, but by large I see it as a serious spy story. With next episode it said part 1, I wonder if it will be like that for the rest of the show, or just a 2 part story.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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Since the ship was headed for Hawaii, I wasn't even sure what made them think he wasn't just going to the US. I'm still not even clear on why it was paramount to keep him out of Japan (where did he board this Japanese vessel?). I need to watch the episode again to see what I missed. I think I was too distracted by the crossword puzzle.
lol! Nothing would surprise me at this point. |
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LightYapper
Posts: 131 Location: Somewhere on Earth |
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My feelings for episode 7 is sort of conflicted. On one hand, the featureless spy, Amari is just as badass as Tazaki if not more, and he never plays excessive tricks or lies even as he reveals the baddies' identities(and curious what would he do with the girl and dog). On the other, the whole plot feels just as silly as Jacob pointed out, making it hard for me to take it seriously. Maybe it's time to bring the consciousness out of my mind.
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zztop
Posts: 650 |
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Source novel readers say all the standalone episodes so far are just the prologue, the outer layer of the actual story. Once all the spies are introduced, the main character will be introduced and then the REAL story begins.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11580 |
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Does that mean they're banking on getting a second season? They're not going to have enough time in this one to do much of a plot. I really hope they do get another season since I'm very much enjoying this one.
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