*Nitsuj is at the kitchen table talking with Isis*
(Isis): I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
(Nitsuj): Yeah, well, it’s the truth.
(Isis): This changes everything I knew about you.
(Nitsuj): I’m a man full of surprises.
(Isis): This just doesn’t make sense. You seriously don’t like Joker Game?
(Nitsuj): Yeah, I didn’t think it was all that good.
*Isis stares blankly at Nitsuj shocked and stunned by what he said*
(Isis): How can you not like Joker Game? It was done by Production I.G (Kuroko’s Basketball and Ghost in the Shell) a studio that always does good work, had a good director behind it, and had a cast of some of the best male VAs in Japan.
(Nitsuj): And despite all of this the anime in my opinion failed. Joker Game is based off a light novel written by Koji Yanagi and centers around spies during the time of WW2. It lasted from 2008-2016 and was considered a hit among readers. It received a number of manga releases, a few awards, and even managed to get a live action film in 2015. In 2016, following the novel’s end, Production I.G adapted the series into an anime and at first it looked good. It had a good premise, a good director leading the production, and like Isis said had some of the best male VAs in Japan lending their voices to the characters. However, at the end of the anime’s run the series was met with mixed reception has some people liked it, others thought it was okay, and some were disappointed in the direction the series went.
(Isis): I think you’re being a bit bias to this series. This was clearly a clever and well-written story that many people overlooked and didn’t understand.
(Nitsuj): Have you watched this series recently? It’s not exactly what I would call clever and well-written.
(Isis): Then why don’t we review it together and I can show you how good this series is.
(Nitsuj): Okay. Let’s do it, I’ll show how many faults this series has as a whole. This is our review of Joker Game.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Isis): The opening is “Reason Triangle” by Quadrangle. Hands down one of the best openings from 2016 for it’s banging instrumental. The jazzy opening fits perfectly with the anime. It just screams men of mystery and the singers subtle voice keeps you on the edge of your seat.
(Nitsuj): The ending is “Double” by Magic of Life. Much like the opening this ending was also a banger. While not as fast-paced or exciting as the opening, the ending managed to hit you in the feels with its lyrics. After reading the lyrics and fully understanding the song, you can’t but feel sad as the song captures the perspective of our spies, the lives they’ve left behind, and the lives they now have.
Episodes 1-4
(Isis): The anime starts in 1937 Japan in the middle of WWII. A young soldier named Sakuma voiced by Tomokazu Seki (Sousuke from FMP) fresh from the military academy has just been assigned to help oversee the D-Agency. What’s the D-Agency you ask (Nitsuj: Hopefully it’s not what I think it is)? It’s a secret military school created by the Imperial Army. It’s job, to train young men into becoming the nation’s greatest spies. They go through rigorous training for days where originally about 30 men sought to join but at the end only 8 men survived the training (and the others were fed to the hounds). These 8 bushido men were taught all the tricks in the book from cracking safes to charming women, they are without a doubt the best of the best. Sakuma gets placed in the group by their leader Col. Yuuki as an overseer to act as a liaison between them and the military, but Sakuma doesn’t like the whole spy game. He considers it cowardly and doesn’t like how the 8 remaining spies underwent procedures which make them out to be monsters in disguise. He does try to bond with them in a game of poker (Nitsuj: Hey, now your speaking my language) where he loses badly not because he had bad hands in a rigged deck but because he was playing the game wrong. The poker they’re playing is called Joker Game (the anime just imploded), in the game you try to get everyone in the room to side with you and help you out such as giving you signs to what the other players are holding and so on. What makes the game even more interesting is that there’s no way to tell who’s on your side or not. So it becomes a game of who I can trust? Who’s setting you up for success and who’s setting you up for failure (Nitsuj: I like it, it sounds fun. Let’s play it sometime). This game doesn’t sit well with Sakuma because it encourages betrayal and it’s sneaky (they’re spies what do you expect?). Sakuma is a nationalist, a strong believer that a soldier should be patriotic, have camaraderie with others, and believe in the cause that they are fighting for. Even if they are nothing but spies Sakuma believes they should have these qualities, but they don’t. These 8 spies don’t have camaraderie with each other, they don’t know each other’s real names, they’re not soldiers because they believe in the cause they’re just here because they have nowhere else to go and this doesn’t sit well for Sakuma (Nitsuj: You can’t force others to have your same belief kid. Some people want to protect a country, others are looking for a purpose, and others just want an excuse to shoot something). As Sakuma asserts his beliefs on the others, Yuuki comes in and compares the game to politics saying how at political meetings politics are always trying to side with others to screw over someone else without saying a word. The trick is to get everyone in the room to side with you and screw over the guy you want them to screw over (Nitsuj: That’s politics in a nutshell). Yuuki than ask Sakuma what he would do if he was caught as a spy to which he replies, kill the witness or commit suicide (that’s stupid). Everyone pretty much mocks him even Yuuki gets a jab in by saying all a spy has to do is do his job and nothing more (don’t kill unless you have to, don’t die, don’t even think. Just do your job and nothing more). The next day Sakuma receives a request from a general wanting the D-Agency to investigate John Gordon this weeaboo’s house who he believes has stolen ciphers from the military. Yuuki rejects the case but Sakuma urges him to take the case which he finally decides to do in order to get Sakuma to shut up (Nitsuj: His whining can get annoying). They go to the weeaboo’s house disguised as military officers and search the place for incriminating evidence where if they don’t find anything Sakuma will have to commit seppuku for the false claim. When the weeaboo mentions that this is the second time his house has been searched Sakuma realizes that he’s been screwed over (Nitsuj: Oh he fucked up big time).
At the start episode 2 the spies find no evidence thus Sakuma has to commit seppuku but just before he does, he figures out where John hid the evidence in the one place nobody would dare to look and the one place nobody could miss, the imperial portrait (Nitsuj: Clever bastard). Okay, before we continue, we need to explain the imperial portrait. The imperial portrait was a rare picture of Japan’s royal family. Not just of the emperor but the whole family. Seeing a picture of the royal family was considered a national treasure in Japan. It’s no joke when I say touching or damaging a portrait of the royal family was considered a national crime (sort of like touching my swords, guns, or BL novels. (Nitsuj): I can vouch for the BL novels. I’ve still got the scars). Sakuma is correct, and they find the evidence to arrest John. Later on, Sakuma figures out that the general was the one who initiated the first search but found nothing. Not wanting this to go public and blow his chances at a promotion, he decided to have the D-Agency search the place, fail, and put the spotlight on them passing over his failure (General: And I would have gotten away with it too. If it weren’t for you meddling spies and that talking dog). Sakuma goes to deliver his report to the general where he says they found the evidence but didn’t take it because once they change the ciphers that stolen information will be useless (this is true). As for John, Yuuki is taking care of him (Nitsuj: Get ‘em, get ‘em) and turning him into a double agent (so in the end not only did Yuuki’s team find the evidence necessary to catch the spy but they’re turning him into a double spy and have evidence of the general breaking military law and discussing details of the military raid at a geisha house. They made him look like a fool). After Sakuma gives his report, he takes his leave where he runs into Yuuki who was shadowing the general at the geisha house in order to get dirt on him so he could get more funds (in order to keep the spy game going you need money). Sakuma also figures out that Yuuki has a prosthetic hand and that cane is just for show (Nitsuj: Okay I’m starting to like this guy. At first, I thought he was gonna be this useless nationalist but in truth he’s quite the observant and an adaptable fella. Too bad we don’t see him after this episode).
In episode 3 we fast forward to 1940 France where Shimono a member of the D-Agency is waking up from amnesia to three citizens of France. One is Alain and the others are Marie and Jean. These three are members of the Resistance (Nitsuj: Viva la France) who rescued Shimono after he saved an old lady about to be shot by a German soldier. This resulted in a scuffle where the citizens came to his aid and during the scuffle, he got clocked in the back of the head resulting in amnesia. Despite having amnesia Shimono still remembers his training as well as his mission (moving on instincts. Fascinating) so he doesn’t give too much information about himself. Germans come to their house demanding Shimono but they escape using a dust bomb that Shimono made from flour and other household items (I’m learning so much today). They escape the house and Shimono gives Marie a small handgun to use as protection, but she pulls the gun out on him because it turns out she’s a traitor of the Resistance (Nitsuj: Death to the traitor). In order to save her family, she agreed to be a spy for Germany and now Shimono jeopardizes that mission with his presence so now she has to kill him (or, work out a plan to save your family. (Nitsuj): *Chuckles* Yeah, that’s not happening). Shimono manages to apprehend her but Jean picks up the gun and knocks him out siding with Marie because he loves her (choosing love over your country. For shame). Thanks to this hit, Shimono’s memories return and he and Alain go their separate ways. Shimono goes to a church where Yuuki is waiting for him (Nitsuj: Forgive me colonel for I have failed). We find out his mission was to report the ratio of bystanders to German collaborators to Resistance in France. From the beginning Shimono knew that Alain was a high-ranking leader in the Resistance and knew he would come to his aid after he saved that French woman who he convinced to mouth off to the Germans. However, what he didn’t predict was the amnesia, but years of training allowed him to imprint the mission into his mind subconsciously so even if he gets amnesia he can still do the mission (Nitsuj: And succeed in it). He finds out that Japan is siding with Germany (Nitsuj: Big mistake).
We begin episode 4 in Shanghai and focus on a soldier stationed there named Houma who’s been given the mission of finding a spy within their ranks. The spy has already killed a major officer and since Houma just transferred to Shanghai, they know it’s not him making him the perfect man for the job (Nitsuj: Or maybe he’s in cahoots with the spy). Before he can be given more details about the mission an explosion goes off in the distance. We see that the general’s house exploded in the attack killing beggars, a house maid, and a young boy. One of the soldiers mourns the death of the little boy in secret (I’m picking up some disturbing vibes from this guy). Houma gets called out by a reporter named Shiozuka who says that the attack was done by a Japanese terrorist named Kusanagi who is really Fukumoto (another spy) in disguise. Houma goes out at night and runs into Fukumoto following him back to a dance club (Nitsuj: Yeah that’s just a front. It’s really an opium and strip club). He follows Fukumoto into a private area where the young waitresses are girly looking boys (travesties no doubt. (Nitsuj): Quite common in the Shanghai and Bangkok area even to this day). While he doesn’t find Fukumoto, he finds something even more shocking, his general. The next day Houma confronts his general where he says that he’s the spy. What’s his evidence? Well for starters he didn’t panic or seem at all shocked when his house exploded (Nitsuj: Yeah, if this happened to me I would have either screamed, start cussing frantically, or faint). Why did he do it? Simple, he went insane. Shanghai is a corrupted city and sending an innocent man there to clean it up was a fool’s errand. He decided to indulge himself in the corruption and stole opium from the military as a way to get more money which he used to gamble and buy sex with transvestites. However, one officer noticed that the numbers don’t match in the book so the general hired a local child to kill him and then in order to make sure the child wouldn’t talk he killed that child along with the beggars who annoyed him and his house maid who secretly stole from under his nose (Nitsuj: This is really starting to feel like a story from Hell Girl). The general admits to his acts of crimes and gives himself up willingly saying it doesn’t matter because at most he’ll either be court-martialed or dismissed, in the end he’ll survive and continue doing what he’s doing not caring how many people suffer from his actions (Nitsuj: He’s got the mentality of the Joker. Take my advice, kill him while you still have a chance). Yoshino, the soldier who was mourning for the death of the little boy from the house explosion and was in the room with Houma and the general points his gun at the general and kills him because that little boy was his lover (and there it is the uncomfortable levels have reached Boku no Pico levels). He then shoots himself and the case is bought to a close with the twist being Shiozuka turning out to be Fukumoto all this time.
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 is a rather quick episode. We go to 1939 London where one of the spies named Izawa has been arrested by Britain’s Ministry of Defense for being a spy thanks to a diplomat’s big mouth for selling him out. Izawa tries to play dumb not knowing what they’re talking about (Nitsuj: A bluff. Let’s see if they fall for it) but they have photos to back up their suspicions and they’ve been tailing him for 2 weeks. They decide to administer truth serum into him where he says Yuuki was the one who sold him out and he volunteers to join their side (join the British side. We have tea). He sends a message to the Japanese to get them to lower their defenses and then Izawa decides to make a daring escape from the facility. Using a map, he saw earlier in the episode and memorizing it in seconds (Nitsuj: God I wish I had his photographic memory. I’m having a hard time keeping up with all these different spies) he tries to escape only to run into a dead end with the soldiers closing in on him. He ducts away in a room marked with a mysterious sign and receives keys from a soldier who is a double agent. Using the keys and waiting for a few minutes Izawa manages to escape and we discover that the truth serum really had no effects on him thanks to his training (they really are monsters). As for that fake message he was told to type to Japan, it was him calling for help. Izawa knew they would use him immediately once he switched sides and once they did that would be his only chance to escape and he took full advantage of it.
(Nitsuj): Episode 6 takes us back to Asia where a spy trying to leave the USSR boards a train to give one of the spies from the D-Agency valuable information concerning the USSR (oh man you got a death wish. Nobody betrays the USSR and lives long to talk about it). The spy gets killed by an assassin of the USSR and now the D-Agency spy (Isis: Who’s name we don’t know because he’s a spy and they don’t tell us) has to find the assassin and get the information before they arrive at the next stop. Using a bunch of bored kids who have good knowledge of the train as scouts (smart move. They’re the perfect spies) he manages to find the assassin, take him down, retrieve the information, and deliver it via carrier pigeon to Yuuki. After the credits, we see that a few of the generals of the Imperial Army are jealous of D-Agency’s work and want to get rid of them so they’re setting up a dangerous operation for them.
Episode 7 takes us on a cruise heading to Honolulu where we focus on Osamu this time around. He’s on that cruise to capture Louis McCloud aka The Prof. a man who worked with British Intelligence to decipher Nazi codes. He manages to find Louis despite the guy having plastic surgery done (these guys defy logic) and gets him to surrender but a British warship has come to get him. Just when he thinks he’s safe he takes a sip of wine where he dies from a cyanide pill someone dropped into the drink. Going by his last words of Cerberus, Osamu quickly figures out that Cerberus is the code name for an assassin and he figures out the assassin is a beautiful young mother named Sylvia who wanted revenge on McCloud for causing the death of her husband. It turns out McCloud was a spy for MI5 and was working on trying to crack Germany’s enigma codes where one night he used an English crew as a decoy to test his codes and the Germans destroyed the ship and killed the crew. Sylvia became a German spy in order to avenge her husband and is prepared for the consequences of her actions but what about her daughter, what will become of her (Isis: Will someone think of the children?). In the end Sylvia gives herself up and Osamu takes the little girl Emma in.
Episode 8 is the beginning of a 2-part story. The Imperial Army believes that Shirahata a western sympathizer is going to hand over details to Graham a British ambassador currently in Japan (Isis: Why is he in Japan? In case you forgot there’s, a war going on) about their big plan called Grand Strategy. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough evidence to go in and arrest him, so they decide to send in the D-Agency to get the evidence they need. The agent this time is Gamou who takes on the act of a businessman who plays chess with Graham on a regular basis (chess buddies). We see that Gamou is working with Chou a servant of the villa Graham is residing in who has what I believe to be a gambling problem and owes a huge debt to a gambling parlor as well as to Gamou (damn son, you need to get professional help). Through Gamou’s interactions and games with Graham he gathers that’s Graham is a cautious guy but at the same time he’s a guy who enjoys showing off. Not seeing any suspicious activity from Graham, Gamou decides to sneak into the villa at night and raid Graham’s safe in search of evidence. After having Chou slip everyone a knockout drug (Isis: We call it the snake bomb), Gamou breaks into the safe and discovers nothing, Graham is clean. After nearly getting caught and collecting his thoughts he figures out that Graham has been using his wife as a messenger to get messages to Shirahata (Isis: Of course the wife is fully unaware of her involvement in this struggle for information. (Nitsuj): Obviously, that woman is too jumpy). Gamou believes that Graham will receive Shirahata’s message in a week’s time before he leaves the country so Gamou makes his report and kills Chou to eliminate witnesses. At the end we get a twist by finding out Gamou is not a member of the D-Agency but instead the Wind Agency a new spy agency within the Imperial Army. Unlike the D-Agency which trains civilians to be spies the Wind Agency trains military soldiers to be spies who are ready to kill in the name of their country (that’s the worst thing a spy can do. We’ve been over this. Don’t kill and don’t get caught. Just do your job and get out of there. It’s that simple).
Episodes 9-12
The story continues in episode 9 where the Wind Agency fails big time (so big that it’s honestly embarrassing). After finding out that Shirahata’s houseboy forged papers to stay out of the army the Wind Agency makes him their mole in Shirahata’s house where he gives them information about Shirahata acting suspicious. After hearing his information, the leader of the Wind Agency offers the young lad a drink and has one of the soldiers disguised as a businessman drive him home where he plans to kill him and throw him into the sea. The Wind Agency than arrive at Shirahata’s house where they surround the place however they don’t find anyone inside. The leader goes in to investigate where he runs into Yuuki who’s there waiting for him (Isis: Oh boy. If he’s here, you know you’re about to get owned). Okay, so Yuuki pretty much just owns the leader of Wind Agency without so much as batting an eye. First off, Shirahata and Graham aren’t meeting. Graham was becoming suspicious of the army’s activity, so he decided to hop on a boat with his wife and go to Singapore (That’s one fuck-up). As for Shirahata, he left his house after receiving a call from the inn that his houseboy was being returned drunk. This alerted him to something suspicious, so he left (fuck-up 2). Also, he knows nothing about the Grand Strategy, all he was planning on giving Graham were theories about the military movements and Yuuki already destroyed them so they were making a big deal about nothing (fuck-up 3). The houseboy is actually a spy for the D-agency meaning they’ve been keeping an eye on Shirahata longer than the military because Shirahata happens to be their last opening into England so if they get rid of him than their access to England gets cut off as well so it’s best to keep him around but keep him under close surveillance and the dumbass Wind Agency wanted to kill him which would have screwed them over big time (fuck-up 4). But the biggest fuck-up of all this is that everybody knew that the Wind Agency were spies. Everyone from Shirahata to Graham to the young maidens working at the inn the Wind Agency was staying at knew they were spies. Why, because they pretended to act like young businessmen. You dumb fucks! It’s war time and you live in a country that forces all of its young men to go to war yet you pose as young businessmen? Anybody would find you suspicious and know that your spies. Do you not know the meaning of time and place? These motherfuckers were doomed to fail from the very beginning because their cover made no sense and had them standout like a sore thumb (or a guy wearing a red t-shirt at a blue t-shirt party) and even if they had a good cover they would still fail because they were planning on killing people which would have attracted unwanted attention to them. In the spy game you don’t kill people! You want to blend into the crowd and go unnoticed like a chameleon or a snake in the grass (Isis: Ditto. (Nitsuj): Now I know why Japan lost the war! Because of incompetent idiots like this running the army). So after Yuuki owns the leader of the Wind Agency he takes his leave with the D-agency spy and feeling embarrassed by his crushing defeat the leader of the Wind Agency kills himself right there in Shirahata’s house (a fool to the bitter end).
In episode 10 we get some amazing writing (like some of the best writing I’ve seen in a while). In the episode a married British spy named Aaron under the disguise of a reporter is trying to dig up information about Yuuki and the D-Agency. What follows is a wild goose chase in the form of small and very well told stories. Using his network, Aaron finds the butler of Yuuki’s (who went by the name of Akira in the past) adopted father who held a prominent title in Japan. Once Akira was taken in he was taught to speak many languages, studied all the subjects in the world, and taught martial arts (Isis: Wow, this guy was given the royal treatment). At the age of 13 he joined the military where he got kicked out after a fight with some students. It wasn’t the fight that got him kicked out on account of he didn’t start the fight in fact he was the victim as it was a 3 on 1 assault. No, what got him expelled was his cowardice tactics. He threw dirt and kicked one of the students in the balls and according to the principal he has no need for a student who would use such cowardice tactics to win a fight (and what do you call students ganging up on one student? Heroic advantage?). After being expelled, Akira left the country and went to study in Europe where he became the student of a commander in the British navy who was also a member of MI6 as well as a spymaster (Isis: It’s all starting to add up). After hearing all of this, Aaron tries to get his findings back home via Morse code, but the Imperial Army catch on to him and have him arrested on the charges of being a spy (and they have everything they need. It’s an open and shut case). Just when Aaron is about to confess, he gets released and figures out it was the butler who sprung for his release. He goes to meet the butler again asking him where Akira is now and to his shock, he finds out that Akira has been in a coma for 20 years now after a battle during the last war and is not Yuuki. Because he was a volunteer soldier he wasn’t seen as an Imperial soldier and was not given medical treatment, however, Yuuki paid for his medical coverage as long as the butler fabricated Akira’s past in the way he told him to do it (basically, the story that Aaron heard may or may not be true and even if it was true who’s past is it. Is it Yuuki’s past or is it Akira’s past, and what evidence do you have that says this story is true? None). After this, Aaron figures out that it was the D-Agency who came to his rescue and they took his wedding ring which contained all of his contacts that he established for the past 10 years (Isis: 10 years gone to waste just like that). After reuniting with his wife Aaron decides its time to quit the spy game because he loves her so much and doesn’t want to put her in any danger.
In episode 11 one of the spies (I believe its Miyoshi) from the D-Agency has died in a train wreck in Germany (Isis: He deserved better). One of the Nazi colonels knows he’s a spy and is determined (borderline obsessed) with finding Miyoshi’s spy list before Yuuki. We find out that in the last war Yuuki was captured by the colonel and interrogated for being a spy. But Yuuki escaped by setting off a grenade where he made the colonel go blind in one eye and he himself lost his hand in the explosion (Isis: A small price to pay for a spy). The colonel sets up lookouts at Miyoshi’s house and at the hospital hoping to catch Yuuki but Yuuki and Miyoshi outsmarted him. Miyoshi gave his spy list to another spy for safety so the colonel or the Nazis won’t be able to find it no matter how much they look (unless they want to start going on a massive killing spree accusing everyone of being a spy but that’d be crazy). As for Yuuki, he managed to inspect Miyoshi’s body before the colonel could act. On Miyoshi’s body was a microfilm containing his spy list and allies (man, Yuuki taught these guys good). Yuuki got the list, contacted everyone on it and escaped before the Nazis could make their move (in other words, Yuuki was two steps ahead of the competition).
In the final episode we rewind the clock to the spring of 1939 (a time where Miyoshi was still alive). In the episode a top-class double agent for Germany and the Soviet Union named Schneider commits suicide on Japan’s soil and Odagiri a spy of the D-Agency shadowing him believes he was murdered and is determined to figure out who did it. At the round table of the spies they all come together and discover two crosses on his suicide letter, so they all split up to do some investigating. Odagiri gets put in charge of investigating Yuriko Nogami an actress who was seeing Schneider at the time. After seeing her performance on the stage and how she broke down in tears during a performance over his death it’s clear to him that she’s not the murderer (Isis: Or maybe she’s just that good of an actor). However, he does get a lead with a florist who removes flowers from the theatre. It turns out the florist shop is actually an intel shop for the Soviet Union where they exchange information using flowers. Schneider made contact with two spies one being the florist and the other being Yuriko’s friend and fellow actress Miyoko. Odagiri guesses that Schneider was planning to be a triple agent for Britain (man from Germany to the Soviet Union to the United Kingdom. This guy really has no loyalty to anyone) by giving them information about the movements of Germany and the Soviets. Unfortunately, the Soviets caught on to his plan and killed him. They put a cyanide pill in his drink and when Yuriko and Miyoko found the body Yuriko ran out to get the police while Miyoko planted the suicide note to make it look like a suicide after tricking Schneider to write it. Odagiri is correct and Miyoko gets arrested admitting to the crime and everything (damn! That’s some good deduction. That was like Batman or Holmes level of deduction). After this case is solved Odagiri decides to resign from the agency because he failed to notice the feelings of Miyoko. He was so focused on Yuriko because she resembles a girl from his village who took care of him when he was a child that he failed to notice Miyoko’s scheming and jealousy (this is why women can’t be spies. They kill when it’s not necessary. For trivial, foolish reasons like love and hate. *Isis takes out her gun and points it at Nitsuj* (Isis): You sexist son of a- (Nitsuj): These are Yuuki’s words not mine! Don’t shoot the messenger). He gets reassigned to be a lieutenant in a Manchurian unit in Kwantung which is where Yuriko is going to attend acting classes (Isis: Who knew Yuuki was a matchmaker?).
Final Thoughts
(Isis): And that was Joker Game. . .it’s not as good as I remember it.
(Nitsuj): Told you. Granted it’s not awful, nor is it one of the worst animes I’ve seen, but the direction and choices in which the series decides to go is disappointing. The series doesn’t respect the intelligence of its audience, the narrative can be hard to follow at times, and the characters aren’t memorable at all. Each character feels the same and we never get a chance to know who they are or what they’re like. I know they’re spies but even so they could have at least made them have their own personalities and characters that separate them from the other.
(Isis): Yeah I see that now. However, there are a few good moments in here such as the amazing writing and storytelling in episode 10, the various twists keep you on your toes and you have to admit the anime did start off well with the first 2 episodes. I honestly think the anime would have worked out better if they centered the story around Sakuma and him slowly becoming a spy to better partake in their Joker Game. The animation for the most part is good although it can be a little too dark in some areas and the music was thrilling and matched up perfectly with the anime. This whole series had an interesting setting and story but the execution just didn’t work out so well.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): My final score for Joker Game is 4.5/10. A cool and interesting idea but a letdown due to the anime’s execution.
(Isis): I give the anime a 6/10. It was originally an 8 but after seeing all the problems the score was lowered. I still liked this anime and recommend you check out the novel. I really would like to see a second season of this series where hopefully they’ll expand on the characters more but judging by the mixed reviews, I doubt we’ll get one.
(Nitsuj): This brings our final score to a 5/10. Like I said before it’s not an awful anime and a nice change from the norm. While not what I consider to be a great spy anime it’s an anime I think worth checking out just for it’s interesting and mature premise.
(Isis): So Nitsuj, if this isn’t what you consider a great spy anime what would you consider a great spy anime?
(Nitsuj): Oh, you want a great spy anime? I’ll show you a great spy anime *puts on a top hat*. Till next time.
(Isis): . . . You look ridiculous.
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