Shinichi Akiyama

Shinichi Akiyama is a professional con artist and one of the sharpest minds in Liar Game. He studied criminal psychology in college, but his path changed after a multi-level-marketing scam ruined his family and pushed his mother to take her own life. In response, he used his skill with deception to bring the scam operation down himself, a crime that eventually landed him in prison.

He is not originally invited to the high-stakes Liar Game tournament, where contestants must out-con each other or lose huge sums of borrowed money. He joins only as a last-minute replacement, stepping in after seeing something of his late mother's trusting nature in a young, naive contestant named Nao Kanzaki. From that point on, Akiyama works to protect her, settle her debts, and pull her out of danger, even while running elaborate schemes of his own.

By the later rounds, other players trust and fear him enough that he becomes the unofficial leader of his group, though he tries to keep decisions fair rather than rule by force. His calm, calculating manner hides real loyalty underneath: he sees Nao's situation as a chance to make up for what happened to his mother. His biggest rival across the tournament is a manipulator named Yokoya, who recognizes Akiyama's tactics and needles him for using the same tricks he claims to be fighting.