Story: 6/10
For starters, the story's great. It gives off a sense of true anguish and pain when the games are so high stakes and our protagonist can't do anything against the people lying to her. The conflicts are divided in long (at least it felt like it) arcs of each game. Every single one tries to employ a different conflict and meaning to be reached. Characters fight, deceive, scheme, play extreme mind games to reach the winning line. Information is constantly obscured or revealed with a selective nature to make scenes as interesting as possible. High risk story that can end in a hard loss and terrible consequences. The big problem comes with formula. Every game starts to get repetitive in how it's won. It's just a little game for the reader to figure out how will this be won out of nowhere.
Now why a 6 then? No spoilers, I just wanted to warn. The ending is one of the most terrible ones I've seen for such a long series. Rushed to hell, inconsistent and nonsensical. Many reasons could be responsible. Cancelation notice, being bored at the story, maybe that was the intended end. I can't vouch for it as much, though. The characters shift, out of nowhere. The story comes to an abrupt happy ending, oh but wait it isn't happy anymore, “The End”, “Bye bye”. Go in with caution, since a bad ending like this can very much sour the experience.
Characters: 7/10
I don't like the formulaic way they worked around the plot, even if some were pretty good. I enjoyed Nao, the protagonist, a lot. Her journey towards doubting people, to understand how humans actually work, while looking inward. The other ones range from “part of an arc” to “interesting”. They work, and don't intrude in the story. I did like how there were times of big changes with very meaningful scenes of realizing your place in the world. Personal stances against those who obligate people to be horrible to each other. It's powerful at times.
Art: 8/10
It specializes in extreme expression. Mouths dislocate to show how much anguish, happiness, or hatred people feel. Eyes sometimes look in different directions to show extreme confusion. Shadows are used for threatening effect. I love the realistic framing of each of the character beyond the extreme moments. It feels like a very realistic version of what death games or battle royales normally show. I enjoyed it very much, even if sometimes, it's just talking heads. There's fun with perspectives, and some panels have so much personality packed into them. I just wish I didn't see speech bubbles covering a whole page, like a novel with some drawings.
Enjoyment: 6/10
I forced myself to continue at times. By the halfway mark, I felt like dropping out. What kept me there was to see the protagonist grow more, and become smarter, or more interesting. I won't say much, but I did finish it, let that tell you as much as you want.
Overall: 6.8/10
“Liar Game” is much more like a very well drawn novel, with pages that take pretty long to understand and dissect. I did have a blast following some games and their logic, while others are atrocious to get, or too simple for their own good. It stands as a very good psychological manga that's held back by a terrible ending. Really long, fascinating for some people, but for me, it took me too long to commit and finish.
