History Literature / JokerGame

* {{Calvinball}}: The titular card game, at least from the point of view of Yuuki (and the audience). The whole point of the game of being a cheating bastard by any means necessary is something that involves a collection of mysterious looks and signals among the players that he doesn't understands and the fact that it may all just be misinformation makes it even ''less'' understandable, at least for Yuuki (who doesn't knows any of the codes, doesn't [[HonorBeforeReason wants to play dirty]], and obviously is the odd man out and the most probable to be singled out to be punked in any allliances).

The anime adaptation was done by Creator/ProductionIG, with music done by Kenji Kawai, direction by Kazuya Nomura, and writing by Taku Kishimoto. It ran for 12 episodes under the Spring2016Anime lineup, with two additional OVA episodes included in the show's DVD and Blu-Ray in late 2016. It is available for worldwide streaming on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/joker-game Crunchyroll]] and is licensed by Creator/{{Funimation}}, who produced an English dub. The manga was serialized on February 5, 2016 by Mag Garden, which debuted in Comic Garden, written by Subaru Nito.

** "Miscalculation" shows accurate [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht weapons/equipments/gear]], including how they create double agents to weed out the resistance from within. It also shows the French Résistance armed with a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Français_(pistol) "Le Français" Pistol]], a very [[RareGuns seldomly seen firearm]] outside of old European films.

** Karl Schneider is working as a double agent for Germany and the Soviet Union. [[spoiler: Later revealed to be [[UpToEleven a triple agent]] also working for Great Britain.]]

* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler:The Royal Military Police officer in "Robinson" who works for the RMP and for D Agency after Yuuki has him activated. It has some real-life precedence with Patrick Stanley Vaughan Heenan, a New Zealander officer who helped the Japanese by conducting espionage missions on their behalf, which was how they won over the British in the Malayan Peninsula.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jg_cover.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} Deceive everything to survive.]][[note]]In Japanese, Subete wo azamuki, ikinokore.[[/note]]]]

* SpyVsSpy: As far as antagonists go, the most consistent organization that D Agency finds itself facing tends to be the UsefulNotes/SecretIntelligenceService of Great Britain, whose agents appear in multiple episodes throughout the series. The "Double Joker" 2-parter also has [[spoiler: the Wind Agency, a rival spy agency created by the Imperial Japanese Army to replace D Agency.]]

* SpyVsSpy: As far as antagonists go, the most consistent organization that D Agency finds itself facing tends to be the SecretIntelligenceService of Great Britain, whose agents appear in multiple episodes throughout the series. The "Double Joker" 2-parter also has [[spoiler: the Wind Agency, a rival spy agency created by the Imperial Japanese Army to replace D Agency.]]

The anime adaptation was done by Creator/ProductionIG with music done by Kenji Kawai and the show directed by Kazuya Nomura and written by Taku Kishimoto with two OVA episodes included in the show's DVD and Blu-Ray in late 2016 under the Spring2016Anime lineup. The show is scheduled for 12 episodes. It is available for worldwide streaming on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/joker-game Crunchyroll]] and is licensed by Creator/{{Funimation}} which will release an English dub. The manga was serialized on February 5, 2016 by Mag Garden, which debuted in Comic Garden, written by Subaru Nito.

* LaResistance: The titular Resistance are the focus of "Miscalculation", with Hatano finding himself caught up in one of its cells in the Parisian countryside.
* LesCollaborateurs: [[spoiler: Marie turns out to be a double agent embedded within a Resistance cell. She claims it's because [[IHaveYourWife the Germans have threatened to kill her family if she doesn't follow their orders.]]]]

* ShoutOut: Several of the arc titles are references to other pieces of literature. Examples include "Robinson" from RobinsonCrusoe, "LordOfTheFlies" and "ParadiseLost"

* TitleDrop: Many times. The agency uses a special card game called ''Joker Game'' in order to feed info to their fellow agents and weed out potential traitors/enemy agents/nuisances that they need to get rid of. Thematically, the Joker Game is also used as a metaphor for how [[HonorBeforeReason Japan got screwed in the post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI international talks]] and the spy business generally (i.e. a game where everyone assumes that there are rules but really, there are none -- or they are vastly different from how they appear on the face.)

The anime adaptation was done by Creator/ProductionIG with music done by Kenji Kawai and the show directed by Kazuya Nomura and written by Taku Kishimoto with two OVA episodes included in the show's DVD and Blu-Ray in late 2016 under the Spring2016Anime lineup. The show is scheduled for 12 episodes. It is available for worldwide streaming on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/joker-game Crunchyroll]].The manga was serialized on February 5, 2016 by Mag Garden, which debuted in Comic Garden, written by Subaru Nito.

* ForegoneConclusion: Sakuma doubts about the possibility of Japan losing the war. Well, viewers already know that Japan ''did'' lose and was forced to surrender after they got nuked twice and their Army in Manchuria was crushed.

** "Miscalculation" shows accurate [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht weapons/equipments/gear]], including how they create double agents to weed out the resistance from within. It also shows the French Résistance armed with a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Fran%C3%A7ais_(pistol)]], a very [[RareGuns seldomly seen firearm]] outside of old European films.

** "Miscalculation" shows accurate [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht weapons/equipments/gear]], including how they create double agents to weed out the resistance from within. It also shows the French Résistance armed with a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Fran%C3%A7ais_%28pistol%29 Le Français pistol]], a very [[RareGuns seldomly seen firearm]] outside of old European films.

The anime adaptation was done by Creator/ProductionIG with music done by Kenji Kawai and the show directed by Kazuya Nomura and written by Taku Kishimoto with two OVA episodes included in the show's DVD and Blu-Ray in late 2016 under the Spring2016Anime lineup. The show is scheduled for 13 episodes. It is available for worldwide streaming on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/joker-game Crunchyroll]].The manga was serialized on February 5, 2016 by Mag Garden, which debuted in Comic Garden, written by Subaru Nito.

* ImperialJapan: The main cast works for them.

** At the same time, Miyoshi and the other D Agency spies were shown to be dressed in accurate [[SecretPolice Kempeitai]] uniforms in a black op operation to weed out a suspected spy operating in Tokyo.
** Col. Mutou drinking a piece of raw egg was the standard practice at the time to build up muscles. It stopped in the 1980s due to reports of people being affected by salmonella.

** The British cryptologist in "Codename - Cerberus" admits he can never leave a crossword puzzle alone. [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/11151478/Could-you-have-been-a-codebreaker-at-Bletchley-Park.html Bletchley Park recruited codebreakers with crossword puzzles]] during World War II.

* TitleDrop: Many times. The agency uses a special card game called ''Joker Game'' in order to feed info to their fellow agents and weed out potential traitors/enemy agents/nuisances that they need to get rid of. Thematically, the Joker Game is also used as a metaphor for how [[HonorBeforeReason Japan got screwed in the post-World War I international talks]] and the spy business generally (i.e. a game where everyone assumes that there are rules but really, there are none -- or they are vastly different from how they appear on the face.)

** "Miscalcuation" has Hatano surviving his episode in France, but Alain is the only occupation fighter operating in the outskirts of Paris at the moment since Jean runs off with Maria, despite the latter being outed as a mole for the Germans.

* LesCollaborateurs: [[spoiler: Maria turns out to be a double agent embedded within a Resistance cell. She claims it's because [[IHaveYourWife the Germans have threatened to kill her family if she doesn't follow their orders.]]]]

* SecretIntelligenceService: The most frequently recurring adversaries to the D Agency are SIS agents.

Not to be confused with some game that SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker had been playing.

** "Miscalculation" shows accurate [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht weapons/equipments/gear]], including how they create double agents to weed out the resistance from within.

** In "City of Temptation", the piece of calligraphy hung in Captain Oikawa's office is in fact ''Dengke Hou''[[note]]《登科后》, literally "After Passing the Imperial Examinations"[[/note]], a Chinese poem by Tang dynasty poet Meng Jiao, about how the author felt his spirits renewed after passing the imperial examinations and receiving an official appointment, which in the context of this episode makes it extremely ironic.

** "Coffin" demonstrates that there are occasions where it is impossible for the D Agency spies to uphold their key tenets of "don't die, don't kill) when [[spoiler: Miyoshi got caught in a train accident while spying in Germany and died.]]

** In "Pursuit", the letter Aaron Price was typing is in fact the Latin version of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Corinthians_13 1 Corinthians 13]], specifically verses 10 to 12. The chapter is about the subject of "love", which makes the ending of this episode even more touching.

** "Double Joker, Part 1" drops the bombshell that [[spoiler: the Imperial Japanese Army has started up their own spy agency known as "Wind Agency" in direct competition with D Agency, with the glaring difference being that Wind Agency operatives are authorized to kill.]]