(CR) Joker Game

[bakato]

Originally Posted by BPD Renegade

On my part, I assumed he was some secret ninth member of the agency because he appears in the OP with the rest of the spies. At least, I thought that was him.

If you look at the guy who appears after Tazaki at 0:55, he looks like Gamou, and he also appears at 1:09 with the other ten members we were introduced to in the first episode (he's the rightmost character).

I guess the characters who get a close-up in the OP are just those with an episode focused on them, and only the original eight + Yuuki are real members of D Agency.

I think you're right. He also got a close-up in the opening. He was the one that got shot, but only after the eight agents we know got their close-up.

[Yamada II]

Episode 9

So it turns out that the D Agency did a much better job than the Wind Agency. The Wind Agency only took up surveillance of Shirahata and Graham after they were told to while the D Agency had Shirahata under the radar for quite a while. The Wind Agency had their agent in Graham's house while the D Agency had their agent in Shirahata's house for the past year with a peculiar story made on purpose so that he can be picked up and come in contact with agencies like these Wind guys. And he got picked up and they blackmailed him into helping them out by giving info about Shirahata's movements. The Wind Agency had no idea that their informant happens to be a D Agency operative. They even knew that the Wind Agency has this bad habit of getting rid of their informants so that word of their actions doesn't get out in the slightest and came prepared for that. But killing off people who helped them out can turn out to haunt them as someone going missing can lead to an investigation which can result in the killer getting caught. Although the chances of the Wind Agency guy getting caught aren't much since they did it in their own country, in foreign land it can become quite problematic for them. The D Agency doesn't let operatives kill others or do other suspicious stuff because it can lead to their cover being blown which isn't something a spy wants. This is a big reason why the D Agency is better. They probably got all their information without blackmailing anyone like the Wind Agency. The Wind Agency blackmailed people to have them give information which isn't the best decision since it only makes them more suspicious and forces them to end things with killing the informant.

One thing I simply love about this series is how these spies put up such perfect acts. I mean, look at that D agency guy and how he started to beg them to forgive him and not hurt him or have him arrested. And then look at how he completely changed from that scared person into a pro with a badass look, shooting guns out of hands. Their acting is so damn perfect. No wonder the Wind Agency didn't suspect that guy.

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by bakato

There was nothing implied. I don't get how people thought he was a D agent. The D agents may not have memorable faces, but I could easily tell this guy wasn't one of them at first glance.

The ones that I have an easier time telling apart are the younger bishounen members, however like with the previous posters the rest outside of Yuuki are a blur to me.

[Kanon]

Honestly, the only way I can recognize them is their voice.

I too thought the spy from last week's episode was actually an agent from D agency trying to infiltrate Wind to destroy them from within, even if I did find it odd he killed somebody to get in given that it's against what Yuuki stands for. I thought perhaps some exceptions could be made when it's a fundamental part of the mission.

[BPD Renegade]

Alright you guys, telling them apart isn't that hard :
Tazaki - squinty "Asian" eyes
Kaminaga - fluffy tuft of hair, usually bright-eyed
Hatano - bangs parted down the middle, bored look
Jitsui - baby-faced one
Amari - lips to chin is almost flat, bangs styled and parted down the middle, looks like a playboy
Miyoshi - bangs swept to the side, shit-eating smirk
Fukumoto - the tallest, usually droopy-eyed
Odagiri - stiff-looking one

Although to be honest, Odagiri is pretty hard to distinguish from background characters. For the most part though, everyone has distinct features. The problem is that they're subtle and have similar coloring. I could go into more detail about the differences, but I'm strapped for time right now.

As a last note, I enjoy these character designs infinitely more than, let's say Hirai's designs, where every character literally is the same face with different hair color/styles... I can no longer stomach even looking at anything with his designs after SEED.

[Dengar]

I know they all technically look different. It's just that their design and the overall narrative does not encourage me to remember any of these people. I love the show itself, but the characters are just so forgettable.

[Iron Maw]

I don't think we suppose to see of D-Agnecy as individuals anyway with except of Yuuki and Sakuma. Rest of the men share the same ideology, skills and have very minor distinctive traits. Rather the D-Agency as whole is treated one character in itself.

[Akito Kinomoto]

Originally Posted by BPD Renegade

Alright you guys, telling them apart isn't that hard :
Tazaki - squinty "Asian" eyes
Kaminaga - fluffy tuft of hair, usually bright-eyed
Hatano - bangs parted down the middle, bored look
Jitsui - baby-faced one
Amari - lips to chin is almost flat, bangs styled and parted down the middle, looks like a playboy
Miyoshi - bangs swept to the side, shit-eating smirk
Fukumoto - the tallest, usually droopy-eyed
Odagiri - stiff-looking one

How long did it take you to figure that out?

And yeah, Yuuki is really the only one I can pinpoint right away...the 8 spies at best have full-grown men and folks who look like teenagers

[BPD Renegade]

Okay, this post clears things up a lot:

Though he didn’t really betray anyone in the anime, for the readers of the novel, he turned out to be a Wind Agency member so…. [*In the novel, Gamou was actually one of the first graduates of the D Agency.]

Source. I actually recommend taking a look at the translations here if anyone is interested. There are a lot of interesting commentaries from the anime staff regarding the historical background, settings, etc. of the episodes.

This note kind of upsets me though, since clearly, the anime has been leaving a lot out. It seems like the series could have been a lot better if the staff had either tried to get more episodes or chosen to reduce the number of stories covered and made them double or even triple episodes instead.

Originally Posted by Akuma Kousaka

How long did it take you to figure that out?

Not long actually. A few minutes of staring? I can usually pick things up pretty quickly when I put my mind to it... I just usually lack initiative.

[SeijiSensei]

I'm guessing that the "Grand Strategy" is the decision to ally formally with Hitler and Mussolini. That's why they are so concerned about keeping it from the British. The Axis was officially established in 1940, though Japan and Germany had been friendly to each other for years. Since D-Agency was formed in 1937, and some of the agents have clearly been in place for a year or longer, it's certainly possible that the events in the past two episodes are taking place in 1939 or so, but probably before the invasion of Poland in September of that year. We would probably have heard if the War had begun in Europe.

[MeoTwister5]

The fact that I can't identify any member of the agency myself sort of goes to show that the members are capable of being the out-of-sight agents they're supposed to be, in a weird meta sort of way.

[Dengar]

Seems to me that Yuuki implied that the 'grand strategy' were just random types of strategies anyone could think up.

[Dengar]

So... Did they just deftly disable a spy merely by making him want to retire?

[Nachtwandler]

They got all of his spy-net so he is useless now anyway.

[Dengar]

I'm just quite impressed by how gracefully they managed to simply... make the spy quit his job. That's gotta be like the most elegant way I've seen to get rid of a spy.

[BPD Renegade]

Originally Posted by Dengar

I'm just quite impressed by how gracefully they managed to simply... make the spy quit his job. That's gotta be like the most elegant way I've seen to get rid of a spy.

Elegant indeed. I really enjoyed this episode. The tone and pacing were perfect for a one episode limit. This is probably my favorite episode after the opener.

[Stark700]

Episode 10:

That was..quite a background story, a bit confusing in ways about Yuuki as I didn't feel like we learned too much about him in the end.

I mean, it seemed to be more about Akira and part of his story was used by Yuuki as a way of storytelling when taking pieces from it. The wife is such a good person though. Still at least we did learn some origins about the D-Agency.

[Dengar]

Except the story was a lie. Those things never happened. And we still don't know where Yuuki came from.

[magnumcyclonex]

My question is, what was the relevance of the wife's wedding ring? Early on, when it became loose and fell off, I thought it was a plot device and possibly one of the tools of the foreign spy. But it turns out it was his own wedding ring that was the device.

[Dengar]

I thought it was just to show us they were married, and thus explaining why he was wearing a ring.

Also, does every little detail have to have huge plot significance?