JOKER GAME (ジョーカー・ゲーム)

Shimano Ryousuke...

A Japanese foreign exchange student.

Entered the country on June 15, 1939.

Marseilles...

A one-year stay in France...

Don't try to force yourself to remember.

I think you have temporary amnesia.

You don't remember anything at all?

You made the ill-advised decision to defy a German soldier.

You don't remember the trouble we went through to save you?

Don't give the enemy any information.

I don't know.

I can't remember anything.

What was that?

Please, tell me what happened.

This is France, right?

Why are German soldiers here?

I wish I could forget, too,

that my motherland, France,

is now occupied by Germany.

As the embers of world war smoldered

Celebrating Going off to war

in autumn of 1937,

Hisanaga Yasutake

the Imperial Army

established a clandestine spy training agency.

Greater East Asia Cultural Society

The histories, names, and even ages

of the elite men who pass its rigorous application process

are all treated as top-secret information.

They easily complete training exercises that push them

to their physical and mental limits.

Under the command of founder Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki,

they operate worldwide, within the shadows.

And so a brand-new intelligence agency was created.

Its name is "D-Agency."

It was June 22, 1940.

Episode 3 - Miscalculation

With no answer to the advancing German forces, France was occupied,

and signed an armistice agreement.

This program is a work of fiction. The characters, organizations, locations, laws, names, etc. being portrayed are unrelated to actual events.

For a long time,

there were no big problems, even in our town.

Don't get too big for your britches!

But then...

You miserable Nazi scum!

It started when an old woman threw a rock

at a German squadron and started yelling at them.

The soldiers ignored her at first,

but things escalated, and eventually,

they couldn't let it continue any longer.

Just as she was about to be executed...

It was you who rescued her.

That's when we rushed the Germans to protect you, but...

One soldier was waving around a rifle,

and it hit you right in the temple.

What's this?

You look almost annoyed, all of a sudden.

Not at all!

At any rate, thanks for saving me.

Are you really Japanese?

Huh? Why do you ask?

Right now, you're speaking French in a Parisian dialect.

But while you were unconscious,

you were mumbling in Russian.

Huh? For some reason,

I feel like I've really screwed up...

That's not all.

These glasses are cosmetic.

Also, there was cotton stuffed in your mouth.

It got in the way when we tried to treat you, and removing it,

along with the glasses, changed your appearance.

There's something I thought was strange, too.

While we were carrying him back here,

he was mumbling numbers.

"Ninety to eight to two," I believe.

Ninety to eight to two?

What does that mean?

I don't know.

But I don't think I was supposed to tell anyone...

"A man like that for friends beloved,

or for his country fears not to perish."

The words of Horace, the ancient Roman poet.

When you regained consciousness in this room,

you read the words reflected in the mirror

while still in a daze, even though they were reversed.

Shimano...

You're a hero who saved an old Frenchwoman's life.

That's why we put ourselves in danger to save you.

But the things you do as if they're second nature,

they...

They make me doubt you're just another Japanese man.

Who are you, really?

I'm...

Don't talk.

Stop it...

Stop it.

Stop it!

Please, stop!

Don't...

Don't look at me!

Germans.

But why?

How did they find us?

We might've been tailed.

This is why I was against bringing him here!

We were very careful to avoid being followed.

There's no way we were tailed—

Wait, Shimano! Where are you going?

They came here for me, right?

I don't want to cause you any more trouble.

Thank you for helping me.

Break through.

Death is the worst choice you can make. Live.

Wait!

You're wrong, Shimano.

We're the ones who'll be in the most trouble if you leave.

What do you mean?

Stop, Alain!

Remember what the Japanese army is doing!

Shimano has nothing to do with their army.

Besides, it's not as if France and Japan are at war right now.

Marie, what do you think?

Shimano saved one of our people.

And his memory loss doesn't seem to be an act.

Shouldn't we at least fill him in?

I agree with Alain.

Then it's two to one.

We're

with the Résistance.

You're members of a secret

underground opposition to the German occupation, you mean?

Let's sneak out the back.

No.

There aren't enough soldiers outside to justify all those cars.

There are probably four... no, five more.

It's a trap. Their real plan is to catch

whoever tries to sneak out the back.

Why? How do I know that?

A trap? Then we have no way out.

We can break through.

What do you have here?

Any guns? You're Résistance fighters, right?

Our goal isn't to engage them in combat.

So there's...

Do you have any weapons or not?

One handgun.

Jean got it for us.

Give it to me, right now.

I think it's broken.

The trigger is jammed.

This is...

Yeah, something's stuck in there.

Anything else we could use as a weapon?

No, nothing else.

Nothing but kitchen utensils.

When the fighting starts, make sure you stock up on anything white.

That's an old French saying.

Flour, salt, sugar, and...

A bellows?

Huh?

Do you have a bellows?

I think there's an old foot bellows in the kitchen.

Bring it, along with the flour.

Okay!

Alain, you keep an eye on things through the crack in the door.

Jean, loosen the lightbulbs.

Come out!

We know you're in there!

Open the door!

Come out quietly, for your own sake.

Open up!

I fixed it.

Now we can fire it at any time.