(CR) Joker Game

[Stark700]

A TV anime adaptation of 'Joker Game' has been announced. It will be produced by Production I.G. and is based on a book written by author, Koji Yanagi.

Plot Summary:

A fictitious spy-training organization established within the Japanese army on the eve of World War II is the centerpiece of this set of linked short stories. The D Agency comes into being in autumn 1937 as an independent army unit formed under the private initiative of Lieutenant Colonel Yuki. As rumor has it, Yuki was once a brilliant agent himself who ferreted out multiple secrets in enemy territory until he was betrayed by an ally; he was caught and tortured before he managed to escape, which explains why he has no left hand and always walks holding a cane with his left foot dragging behind him. Dubbed "the Lord of Darkness," Yuki teaches according to principles that flatly challenge established army wisdom. He bans military dress and behavior and instead drills his protégés to become unseen apparitions; according to him, the unwritten army code that a captured soldier should kill either the enemy or himself is the epitome of stupidity and the worst possible choice a spy can make. For his training course Yuki rejects Army Academy graduates and instead picks candidates from far and wide, producing a dozen crack spies expert not only in multiple languages but also in such skills as disguise and lockpicking. Under false identities, these agents go their solitary ways to fulfill daring missions in Tokyo, Yokohama, Shanghai and elsewhere, all the while remembering Yuki's teachings.

More info here (including info about the author):
http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/publica...239-joker-game

Source:
http://otakomu.jp/archives/286868.html
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...ptation/.91400

[Stark700]

Here's also another summary I found:

Lieutenant Colonel Yuki (Yusuke Iseya) established the mysterious D Agency, an independent unit of the Japanese army at the eve of WWII. Rejecting army academy graduates, he instead recruits street-smart hustlers or degenerates, training them to be masters of manipulation, international operatives counteracting the war-mongering colonialist efforts of imperial army leadership. One such antihero agent under the name Jiro Kato (Kazuya Kamenashi) goes on a harrowing mission to uncover secret documents, battling forces from within and without his own ranks.

The novel previously got adapted into a live action film
http://japansociety.org/event/joker-game

[kyuudere]

I doubt it will goes that way.
Though it maybe will differs really far away from actual history.

Story description from ANN :

The original novel is set in 1937, before World War II begins in earnest. Lieutenant Colonel Yūki of the Imperial Japanese Army forms the "D Agency," an army intelligence outfit under his command and tutelage. Army General Staff attaches Lieutenant Sakuma to observe the unit's performance. D Agency casts a wide net to find agents beyond Japanese military personnel, and Yūki establishes D Agency's tenets, which go against IJA doctrine: "Don't kill, don't get killed, don't get captured." With this, Yūki trains a team of operatives who conduct missions against domestic and foreign powers.

>domestic powers

Government / politician ? Or Rebel / anti-war faction ? Or D Agency even willing to disobey IJA's order if it against their own moral code (Don't kill, don't get killed, don't get captured) ?

[Stark700]

Didn't take long for a preview to come out:

[kyuudere]

Just realized that Taisei Iwasaki is the composer for the live action film.
http://taisei-iwasaki.com/works/518/

I hope they will ask him to be the composer for anime too, considering Kekkai Sensen's OST is huge success.

[Stark700]

New key visual

[pinoscotto]

Also, Spring 2016 confirmed in the official site

[Dragonria]

Cast:

https://twitter.com/jokergame_anime/...40508614311936
https://twitter.com/jokergame_anime/...40762948501504
https://twitter.com/jokergame_anime/...41004041281538

Odagiri is voiced by Hosoya Yoshimasa

Jitsui is voiced by Fukuyama Jun

Fukumoto by Nakai Kazuya

Gamo Jirou: Tsuda Kenjirou

Sakuma: Seki Tomokazu

Hatano: Yuki Kaji

Colonel Yuki: Horiuchi Kenyou

Miyoshi: Shimono Hiro

Kaminaga: Kimura Ryouhei

Amari by Morikawa oshiyuki

Tasaki: Takahiro Sakurai

[Dragonria]

New PV

YouTube

https://youtu.be/tILWSrPcBsY

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Stark700]

Character designs + additional cast:

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...evealed/.98611

[AntonKutovoi]

>Nobuyuki Hiyama and Ryota Takeuchi

This keeps getting better and better

YouTube

https://youtu.be/GDJFhbydAE0

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Stark700]

Latest CM:

Starts on 4/5

http://jokergame.jp/onair/

[moodie]

another one

[Stark700]

Preview #4:

[Stark700]

CR will be streaming it:

Media distribution service Crunchyroll announced at Seattle's Sakura-Con on Saturday that it will simulcast the television anime of Kōji Yanagi's spy mystery novel Joker Game and the second season of the monster suspense anime Kagewani.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...-anime/.100302

[pinoscotto]

not a surprise, but the anime will be 12 episodes long

[Stark700]

Episode 1:

Nice episode, really enjoyed the time setting of this which is around World War II.

I haven't seen the live action movie version of this before but the episode is pretty true to its premise about spy organizations and what goes on behind the scenes. I really like what they are doing with the card game especially with the Joker symbolism as well.

There's espionage theme and drama flair of the show is really something to take interest in as well. Nice OP song too, looking forward to more for sure.

[Iron Maw]

Oh, so it seems the song in the PV wasn't actually the OP one afterall, huh.

That aside, I enjoyed the first episode. Definitely met my expectations coming in and I'm rather enjoying the ideological battle between Sakuma and the rest of the cast. I have wonder how much of this is really a setup though. It does seem like Gordon and everyone else was in on it the whole time...

[Dengar]

I don't know how this ended up on my to-watch list, but I'm going to stick around.

I feel like there's still at least one other unknown layer to this current plot.

[Yamada II]

Episode 1
Yuuki has established a spy school under the army with Sakuma coming from HQ. The spies here aren't army men but are your "ordinary" citizens. And after going through all their training, they are now monsters. They have fake everythings – names, age, past, no one knows what is true and what isn't. And that's how these spies work – they are trained to become invisible and adapt to whatever situation they come across. No one will know who they really are.

The Joker Game thing was interesting. They weren't playing a simple card game, they were basically fooling each other. No one knows for sure who is on who's side and who knows how much. One guy may be telling someone the opponents cards in one turn and then be telling his cards to someone else in the next. They had to get the most people on their side and keep them on their side to win because if one guy switches sides, you're gonna lose. This was an advanced form of cheating lol. They were giving each other information through different signals which didn't look like signals.

An American businessman, John Gordon is suspected of being a spy and the D Agency was told to investigate him and find even the slightest bit of evidence against him. Yuuki tried to get away with not going there by saying that even if a spy is suspected, he's dead as a spy. But he eventually has Miyoshi dispatched there as a military police officer with Sakuma playing the role of captain. It turns out that the place was searched a few days ago too but nothing was found and the same happens again. Miyoshi had told John that if they don't find anything, Sakuma would kill himself. It seems that Sakuma has been a victim of the Joker Game. All this is complicated. HQ is trying to have the D Agency fail at something and they deliberately sent them to a place cleared not too long ago. Miyoshi just played with Sakuma and is now having him kill himself, but maybe Miyoshi has some plan in mind and will somehow find the evidence. That evil smile could either mean that Miyoshi knows where the evidence could be, or it means that Miyoshi is saying goodbye to Sakuma. Now Yuuki and his boys could also know about HQ's intentions and were playing along to get rid of Sakuma who is from HQ. Maybe killing off Sakuma is part of a plan to keep the existence of these men a secret.

This is interesting and a sure keeper. That cliffhanger though. Right in the first episode.