Joker Game

Just before World War II began, the most powerful countries of the world were wary of each other's powers. One strategy to gather information is through sending spies. For such a purpose, Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki has created the D Agency to select and train the best. Applicants were screened through various tests. Those who survived were trained in various fields essential for their future missions.

To be effective spies, they must be able to blend into the background and convince people of who they are.  First Lieutenant Sakuma was sent to D Agency for a mission. He describes the men as monsters because they were calm, cold and calculating.

The series has 12 episodes, each one about a different mission. The characters all look plain and almost indistinguishable, staying true to the series's objective of presenting Japan's ultimate spies.

Lt. Col. Yuuki (middle) witht he 8 spies of D Agency

Spies playing two games at once. The visible game is poker and the other one, the joker game, which isn't visible

The first thing that came to mind was that the characters all looked the same. Each still had a distinct feature but they were not remarkable when placed next to other characters. Not that that was an entirely bad idea. If each spy had distinctive hairstyles and eye color it would defeat the purpose of infiltrating different countries as a spy. The drawback however is that such a method makes it more difficult for the audience to remember the characters after watching the series.

The series is too short as well. There is no recall at all. Impressive though each story was, it's a pity you will easily forget the previous episode when you proceed to the next. It could easily surpass other anime of the same theme when it comes to storytelling and quality. Yet all of that is lost because everything happened so fast. It's not often that a historical fiction of this quality is made. I think the characterization and story-telling could have been improved. Except for Sakuma from the first episode, no one else stood out. All the other series of the genre I have seen so far were distorted and bent for purposes of attracting more viewers who are not particular about the details of history.

It had a lot of promise, especially because the impending Second World War served as a backdrop. The series was a wasted potential.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10