Yuji Fukunaga ( 福永 ユウジ, Fukunaga Yuuji) A trans woman who first appears in Round 2, as a woman named "Hitomi". Fujisawa is last seen bowing to her in gratitude.
At the end of the first round after Akiyama outsmarts him, Nao gives Fujisawa her winnings so he can repay his debt. Fujisawa's behavior, however, only solidifies Akiyama's decision to help Nao. Nao is shocked when he outright told her that he doesn't care if she goes into debt or is forced into prostitution to pay it back.
However, after a series of misfortunes, Fujisawa has become angry, hateful, and untrusting. Antagonists Kazuo Fujisawa ( 藤沢 和雄, Fujisawa Kazuo) Nao's former teacher and first opponent whom she faces, Fujisawa was originally a kind man, concerned about the welfare of his students. Akiyama's motivation for continuing in the Liar Game is to find the real motives behind the Liar Game Tournament organization and bring it down. Nevertheless, he continually tries to pay off her debt to get her to leave the Liar Game and never lets her come into harm's way. Akiyama utilizes Nao's ability to make sincere, emotional appeals to sway other contestants, making her Akiyama's most powerful weapon. Akiyama enters the Liar Game in Round 2 by substituting for another player, and by Round 3 is seen as an unofficial leader among the Liar Game's contestants. After being released from prison, Akiyama reluctantly agrees to help Nao win the Liar Game after she despairingly cries out, "Save me!" Mitsuo Tanimura later suggests that Akiyama consented to help Nao because he saw a resemblance between Nao's and his mother's situations. He became a con man in order to take down the multi-level marketing corporation that swindled his mother to the point where she committed suicide to save Akiyama from debt via her life insurance. Shinichi Akiyama ( 秋山 深一, Akiyama Shin'ichi) Akiyama is a graduate of Teito University with a degree in criminal psychology. In turn, she develops an exceptionally strong attachment to Akiyama. She has no close friends other than Akiyama, who saves her from her self-described lonely life.
Nao's only known family member is her father, who is hospitalized with terminal cancer. Although Nao has had several opportunities to leave the Liar Game, she continues to play, wishing to save the other players who have fallen into debt. She gradually learns to question others while maintaining the ability to trust her allies. Nao firmly believes that all people have value and, though not very bright, makes unique observations due to her naïvety and emotional sensitivity, which the others in the game notably lack, for better or for worse.
She is extremely honest and initially naïve, but these attributes allow her to win the trust of fellow contestants in the Liar Game.
Though they manage to defeat him, Nao and Akiyama decide to buy out his debt and advance through different rounds of the Liar Game Tournament against merciless contestants, while at the same time attempting to free their opponents from debt and defeat the Liar Game organization from within.Ĭharacters Protagonists Nao Kanzaki ( 神崎 直, Kanzaki Nao) Nao Kanzaki is a "foolishly honest" college student who is coerced into playing the Liar Game. When Nao's first opponent, a trusted former teacher, steals her money, she seeks assistance from a con man named Shinichi Akiyama. In this fictional tournament, contestants are encouraged to cheat and lie to obtain other contestants' money, with the losers forced to bear a debt proportional to their losses. An uncommonly naive college student named Nao Kanzaki receives a package containing 100 million yen (about US$1 million) and a note that she is now a contestant in the Liar Game Tournament.