#tennoji haur

[guiltymepleasures]

[Series Review] Trillion Game (2023)

8/10

Full disclosure. I saw so many clips of this that I decided to watch it. And yes, I decided to watch the live-action of My Happy Marriage because of those clips too.

I already saw it on Netflix and was curious but I didn't really want to add it to my long "to-watch" list. But here we are.

I only know two things when I decided to click on that first ep: one, that it was based on a manga and two, that the two actors from My Happy Marriage were here.

The premise was so preposterous you just know you're setting yourself up for yet another drama with impossible feats - and I wasn't wrong. There is no way their start-up company would rise up that quickly. But hey, I stayed for the cast.

Meguro Ren played one-half of the duo, the mastermind and master manipulator, Tennoji Haru, and he did it splendidly. I haven't read the manga so I couldn't really compare it but he gave off that conman street smarts with skills to the dot. He was awfully smiley here too so that was a bonus.

The other half, Taira Manabu, was played by Sano Hayato and though I enjoyed him being the kindhearted computer genius, I can't really say much more about his acting here. This is my first time seeing him and he was okay. He was painfully awkward as his character demanded him to be so there's that. We never really learned why Haru calls him Gaku. I thought we were gonna get a flashback. (Or maybe it was explained but it flew over my head.)

Completing the unlikely trio (from the OG duo) is the adorably cute Takahashi Rinrin played by Fukumoto Riko. I liked her character so much, especially her Torinrin AI ego. It was my first time seeing her in a drama as well and she kept reminding me of another actress. She was the moral compass the group badly needed (of course since Haru didn't have one and Gaku mostly followed Haru).

My favorite character (and actor) hands down was Kokuryu Kirika, played by Imada Mio. First of all, I never realized how deep (and sultry) her voice is. Or maybe she deliberately made it that way for her character, but I loved it. I love her in her boss bitch era. And her looks! Slay after slay! Okay, enough about her because I would be gushing.

The plot points of the drama were so outrageous (join a competition and blatantly cheat to win; make an AI online app but wait, it's not really AI and we will answer all inquiries real-time anywhere; make a game but not really, just say we're making it to get investors). It was a rollercoaster but it was enjoyable if you just go with the flow.

When I say, I stayed for the cast, I think you know which two I meant. I wanted to know what would happen to their characters but alas, this is not a romance manga and we only get a few sprinkles of interactions in each episode. And guess what, I ate those up. They make up 5 of the 8 points I gave tbh. I also liked the Gaku/Rinrin moments. I don't know if these (and the Haru/Kirika) interactions were in the manga or just additions in the series.

So yeah, they said "See you next game!" so I'm going to wait if that actually happens. I also want to know Haru's actual motivation because he clearly doesn't want a trillion dollars just for the heck of it.