(CR) Joker Game

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

It was obvious AF, that wasn't the problem. It was the whole FIGURES IT OUT IN THE VERY LAST MOMENT thing. Suddenly Sakuma starts thinking and of course he immediately reaches the perfect conclusion JUST as honor would bind him to kill himself. It was just so melodramatic and unrealistic. (Like he would die, anyway.)

"Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
Samuel Johnson

He had it and paid proper respect to it because that was his entire shtick. His disguise is that of a Japanophile American who is so into Japanese culture that he follows Japanese traditions and even reveres the Emperor like a the Japanese would do. That's why his "geisha, Fujiyama, harakiri" comment in the previous episode was incredibly eyeroll-inducing. If Joker Game wasn't trying to be so sensationalist then that could've been the moment where he blew his cover and Sakuma could figure everything out. Alas...

Actually, his disguise was "silly foreigner aping a culture he understood only superficially". Plenty of those around, I'm sure. He, in fact, understood it rather better than he let on, as demonstrated by his choice of hiding place.

[Yamada II]

Episode 2

This was great. Sakuma is starting to learn stuff from the spies around him. He started to think of the possible places where a person who has no attachment to Japan could hide something – a place where something could be hidden and no Japanese would consider it as a hiding place. And since the Japanese have something about the emperor's pic which they don't touch or something, that turned out to be the perfect hiding spot.

Sakuma figured out the actual game being played, although he was a bit too late. He did some investigation into what the actual situation was. Mutou had Gordon's place raided but since nothing was found, he had that raid kept a secret and had the D Agency raid the place as a cover up for his failure. The D Agency would fail and that would be made public instead which would save him at the expense of the Agency. But Yuki found out about Mutou's move and made plans of his own. He planned on using this to his advantage. The plan was to find the evidence, but not hand it over to HQ. Instead, they would use this to blackmail HQ to get more funds out of them. Yuki has Sakuma tell HQ about all this. Whether Yuki actually turns Gordon into a double agent is irrelevant – what matters is that the evidence is there and Gordon is free. That's enough to blackmail Mutou.

What happened on the field was Miyoshi handling the situation. He knew where the evidence was, he just didn't tell anyone because he wanted to sort of test Sakuma and see if he is smart enough to figure out this case. And Sakuma succeeded in staying alive.

This was pretty damn cool. Everyone is working for their own agenda. Mutou tried to save himself by sacrificing Yuki and his team, but Yuki turned the tables on him. Stuff like this is always awesome. Also, that ED is awesome.

[Haak]

No complaints this time. Really good second episode mostly thanks to the spades of character development Sakuma got. The cynicism of the show can be a bit overwhelming sometimes so victories for the guys with some heart can balance that out and make you care.

[Kanon]

I was impressed by Sakuma. It required his life being put on the line, but he did manage to think outside the box eventually. The deductive skills he demonstrated afterward were pretty good too. Even so, he isn't suited for spy work, as I believe he's too straight-laced. He doesn't seem like the type of guy willing to dirty his hands.

The bit with the prosthetic worries me a bit. I hope they won't take too many liberties regarding the technology available at the time.

[Dysprosium]

Ha. I'll be damned if Sakuma indeed carried out the harakiri.

He sure put all of his spy training to good use there.

I'm liking what I'm seeing so far from this show.

I'm guessing this will be criminally underrated (and "underwatched"), just like Rakugo was in the previous season.

[BPD Renegade]

What I want to know is if Sakuma hadn't figured it out, would the spies have stood back and let him carry out the harakiri?

The part with the prosthetic bothered me, since I'm not sure how he could have moved his fingers to pick up that case. There were also some scenes where you could tell this is a novel adaptation, particularly the last with Sakuma watching Yuuki's back as the soldiers march past. I'm sure the staff is doing their best to adapt this, but I feel like there was probably some significant narrative from the novel that was lost. Or maybe it really was just a description of the scene, and it was left to the reader to analyze.

Originally Posted by Dysprosium

I'm guessing this will be criminally underrated (and "underwatched"), just like Rakugo was in the previous season.

I wouldn't mind the show being underwatched, as long as the people who hate on it for superficial reasons like, "they all look the same," take their hate elsewhere.

As for too many flashbacks, anyone complaining should take a look at Stray Dog's first episode for a real example of superfluous flashbacks. Discounting the beginning recap, the ones used in this episode were so seamless, I didn't even notice there was a "problem" until people brought it up.

[CeDeR]

Wow, so far my favorite anime of the season. But yeah nobody seems to be paying much attention. With only 12 episodes I wonder if a timeskip is coming or how will it unfold!?

[Yu Ominae]

The timeline in the website suggest that it'll go to 1940.

PS - Wish I can read the novels though. My Japanese is not up for it though.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Yu Ominae

The timeline in the website suggest that it'll go to 1940.

To quote myself:

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

The organisation was set up in Autumn 1937. The first two episodes are set in Spring 1939. Another three episodes are set in 1939 and six episodes in 1940. The latest point the anime will reach is Summer 1941 with a single episode.

Taken from here.

[SeijiSensei]

So on that timeline, should we expect to see Britain and maybe China be the main antagonists? Or will it foreshadow Pearl Harbor?

So few anime step foot into the political and moral morass of Japan in the 1930's and 1940's. Japan is pretty unique in its rejection of its prewar political culture and institutions, so watching contemporary authors treat the history of that period is quite intriguing. The scene where Sakuma watches the soldiers pass him by was quite stunning in its mix of symbolism. Sakuma's personal dilemma is captured in the moment, yet the scene also conveys a strong anti-militaristic ethos.

The only show I can compare Joker Game to is Senkou no Night Raid which I found an utter disappointment because the spies in that show had superpowers. I'd much rather watch a story where espionage relies on cunning and intelligence like this one. I'll also observe that by beginning in 1937 Joker Game managed to avoid the complications Night Raid faced when it aired an episode about the Japanese seizure of Manchuria in 1931. That episode of Night Raid was not televised but only released on the web because Japan's responsibility for the "Mukden Incident" remains controversial in that country to this day.

By the way I, at least, did not know about the American "Black Chamber" having decrypted Japanese diiplomatic communications prior to the Washington Naval Conference in 1921. The Chamber was put out of business in 1929 when the State Department withdrew its support of the endeavor. Then Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson observed in his memoirs that "gentlemen do not read each others' mail." Stimson changed his opinion about signals intelligence when he become FDR's Secretary of War during World War II. The Black Chamber was the forerunner for the modern National Security Agency whose mandate is also signals intelligence

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

So on that timeline, should we expect to see Britain and maybe China be the main antagonists? Or will it foreshadow Pearl Harbor?

I doubt we see Chinese. They didn't have the capability to really seriously do espionage back then. On the contrary, the Japanese didn't have trouble reading the Chinese codes. In the (incomplete) episode preview pages up to episode 5 we have four foreigners introduced. A British, a German and two French.

Japan is pretty unique in so rejecting its political culture and major institutions after it lost the War, so watching contemporary authors treat the history of that period is quite intriguing.

I'd argue that the degree to which Germany (was) changed is even higher.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

I doubt we see Chinese. They didn't have the capability to really seriously do espionage back then.

I was thinking more about whether some of the D-Agency men would be placed in China. Given the emphasis in these episodes about them being spread around the world, shouldn't we expect to see the later episodes take place outside Japan with agents in places like Shanghai and London.

My thoughts about Japan tend to be colored by the constitutional commitment to pacifism. (West) Germany was allowed, even encouraged, to rearm as the keystone of NATO's forward defenses against the Soviet bloc. But I agree that politically Germany may have changed more than Japan. The hegemonic control exerted the LDP during nearly the entire postwar period stands in contrast to the acceptance of rule by the German Social Democrats in the 1960s.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I was thinking more about whether some of the D-Agency men would be placed in China. Given the emphasis in these episodes about them being spread around the world, shouldn't we expect to see the later episodes take place outside Japan with agents in places like Shanghai and London.

It would serve little point though placing them in China. By 1939-40 all major coastal Chinese cities plus the Yangtze up to what is today Wuhan was under Japanese control. The only place where they could really make a difference is British Hong Kong.

[Yu Ominae]

Some of the previews I've seen in PV trailers have shots of Nazi Europe. Dunno if they'll be deployed there.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

It would serve little point though placing them in China. By 1939-40 all major coastal Chinese cities plus the Yangtze up to what is today Wuhan was under Japanese control. The only place where they could really make a difference is British Hong Kong.

Placing someone with Mao might be intriguing, like a Japanese agent who helps the CCP fight the Kuomintang. Fostering greater discord between the two largest oppositional forces would certainly have benefitted Japan's foreign policy goals. I don't know nearly enough about Japanese actions during the period to know if they in fact tried such a strategy.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Placing someone with Mao might be intriguing, like a Japanese agent who helps the CCP fight the Kuomintang. Fostering greater discord between the two largest oppositional forces would certainly have benefitted Japan's foreign policy goals. I don't know nearly enough about Japanese actions during the period to know if they in fact tried such a strategy.

In the late 1930s the Communist forces were more or less negligible. Too weak to really conventionally threaten Chiang Kai-shek. Where they had success was overwhelming the Nationalists in the (Japanese-controlled) countryside since the Communists actually understood how to fight partisan war whereas the Nationalists treated their forces in the Japanese rear area like they were regular armies, leading to a result that they quickly got defeated by the Japanese, in addition to failing to work with the local population.

Japan's problem with its China quagmire was that it had no coherent strategy. It got into the whole mess because the leadership in Tokyo neither had, nor was willing to, exert total control over the IJA overseas. And after everything escalated after July 1937 the Tokyo leadership made life tough on themselves by adopting a "after we have sacrificed all those lives we can't accept anything than total victory" stance. Chiang Kai-shek a few times was willing to negotiate but the Japanese a) demanded nothing less than total submission and b) demanded Chiang Kai-shek's removal. So of course they never got anywhere. Japan's general idea regarding China was in essence dismembering the country into a host of puppet governments to exploit the country for Japanese needs while keeping it weak.

So China just doesn't offer an interesting background for intelligence-based espionage scenarios. In Asia the most interesting places to serve as background for the story are British Hong Kong and Singapore. Another possible angle would be espionage in relation to the eventual takeover of French Indochina in 1940-41 after France's defeat against Germany. And another angle would be using the conflicting opinions in the Japanese leadership regarding the cooperation with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as a basis for some espionage activities.

[SeijiSensei]

Wow, thank you for that synoptic view of the setting for Joker Game! I have somewhat the romantic American perspective on Mao and company, though I recall from my brush with Asian history that the People's Liberation Army remained largely dormant in the 1930s and perhaps the early 1940s flowing with the fish of the peasantry and biding their time.

Southeast Asia seems ripe with options. Singapore and Hong Kong do seem likely targets as do Yangon ("Rangoon") and Saigon.

I hope they stay away from Nazis. If you think Gordon was an absurd parody, the Germans will be worse. The Nazis in Black Lagoon were rather pitifully depicted I thought. That might be my least favorite arc. If Joker Game does show the Nazis, will they be depicted as noble brothers in arms, or will our handsome team of spies foil some dastardly horrible scheme of their allies and score one for humankind?

[Stark700]

Episode 3:

Hmm, I think episode definitely has some historical context to it with Germany's occupation in France and dragging Europe eventually into WWII. At this time period, I think they were using all sorts of ways to intimidate their foes as well. As part of the Axis powers, Japan is also allied with them but I wonder how this show will portray them for rest of the season?

Characters like Marie choosing their own family over anything else. I didn't find the mystery or suspense of the episode to be complex but still got a nice thrill of the episode with the mind games.

Shimano (his alias) is a really interesting character. I want to see more of his roles later on.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Stark700

As part of the Axis powers, Japan is also allied with them but I wonder how this show will portray them for rest of the season?

As of the events of this episode they still weren't allied (hence Shimano's surprise when he realised that Japan was going to ally itself with Germany after being told of the last ship leaving). Germany, Japan and Italy signed the Tripartite Pact on 27 September 1940.

Seems like for the foreseeable future we're going to see episodic chapters detailing the adventures of each agent. Well, they are largely working independent of each other after all.

[Botan_TM]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

As of the events of this episode they still weren't allied (hence Shimano's surprise when he realised that Japan was going to ally itself with Germany after being told of the last ship leaving). Germany, Japan and Italy signed the Tripartite Pact on 27 September 1940.

Funny thing, earlier in 30's Germany had good relations with China and sold military equipment, like tanks and airplanes. I even saw a photo of PzKpfw I captured by Japanese army.