Lately, I have been enjoying a lot of shorter anime. "No Game No Life" is no exception.
Spoiler-less small review ahead
Premise:
Your premise is simple, but isn't. Meet Sora, an 18 year old shut in, and his 11 year old sister, Shiro...also a shut in. Together they are known to the world as "Blank" - an undefeatable being in every game of every kind. Individually, they are at genius level IQ's, but are completely socially inept, and live a complete Otaku life style together where they do nothing but play games and win. Any chance of them losing is zero once they play together as "Blank." They both resent the world thy live in, calling it nothing more than a "crappy game." One day, "Blank" receives a mysterious message, challenging them to a game of simple Chess. After winning, Sora and Shiro are reborn into a new world where everything is decided by games. There is no war, no murder, and all world conquest is done through whatever game the "players" decide. And in these games, anything can be wagered. A coin toss can decide if you can keep your possessions, your memories, your life, or if you conquer a kingdom, and it is all in accordance with the laws of this world, known as the Ten Pledges;
True first impressions are good for the audience. Hearing about the anime's premise from a friend through his vague and boring description did not get me interested at all. After finally watching episode one, I was much more than intrigued. The animation looks great, and makes great use of its unique brightly colored art style, which contrasts the first 5 minutes of the show from that point onward.
Your main characters, Sora and Shiro, are akin to Light Yagami from Death Note or Lelouch Vi Britannia from Code Geass, in terms of their level of intelligence. There is one core difference though; these characters are smarter in every way, especially together. And unlike the rival relationships we saw between "smarties" in those 2 aforementioned anime, in NGNL, your main characters are both intelligent and work together off each-others faults, which makes for exciting dialogue. The show also flows very well. "Smarty" explanations do not feel out of place, or plot reliant, even if they are the latter.
The key to this show is the viewer wanting to know just how Sora and Shiro will approach their next enemy, or if it is even possible for them to lose. Even in a show all about the main characters "never losing" you cannot help but feel there are times where you wonder if they will lose, or are just curious about just how far ahead did the main characters think in order to win? This one is all about the journey.
The pop culture references are strong with this one...Detective Conan, Evangelion, Phoenix Wright, Civilization V, Studio Ghibli....they got it. And the best part is that it is VERY subtle, meaning if you don't catch the reference you simply won't know it even happened, and you will just attribute it to the zaniness the show has. Humor is well done 90% of the time; a mix of well timed visual gags, word play, and misdirection. Your supporting cast has strong personalities and are charming as well...as well as um....erm....that brings me to the only problems with the show so far; the entire supporting cast is female, "adult stuff" is a topic in at least 3 humor related moments per episode, and as expected of an anime your typical fanservice is up the wazoo, and in somewhat questionable ways. The show has a harem building element to it that makes certain aspects less enjoyable, and there is a somewhat self aware "lolicest" aspect with Sora and Shiro. Sora is also your only male character, and was an Otaku prior to entering this new world, so some humor based off that loses a bit of value here and there. Did I mention that Shiro is introduced a la panty shot? And I did mention she is 11? Panty shot; 11 years old. Good thing this is a fictional world, otherwise this would be some rather objectionable stuff here...but this is anime after all, not reality. Believe it or not, it does get better being that it is a somewhat self aware thing; Sora and Shiro themselves have no interests in eachother sexually, but the writers do play with the audience a bit with fanservice and character moments.
I can find numerous reasons to recommend this brief, 12 episode show. While it does have its noticeable flaws (in the shapes of panties and boobs) it does not detract from the show's charm overall. And if you can put up with it, ignore it, or except it, you should be in for an enjoyable ride.
I marathoned the series yesterday for 6 episodes and today for the remaining 6. Very easy show to watch, and again, enjoyable. If this tells you anything, I liked it enough that I hope we get a season 2 sooner or later. Because it definitely needs one and deserves one.
So, any one else watch the series? I hear it was based on a series of Light Novels of the same name. Feel free to discuss away, post your own reviews, responses, opinions, etc.
Spoiler-less small review ahead
Premise:
Your premise is simple, but isn't. Meet Sora, an 18 year old shut in, and his 11 year old sister, Shiro...also a shut in. Together they are known to the world as "Blank" - an undefeatable being in every game of every kind. Individually, they are at genius level IQ's, but are completely socially inept, and live a complete Otaku life style together where they do nothing but play games and win. Any chance of them losing is zero once they play together as "Blank." They both resent the world thy live in, calling it nothing more than a "crappy game." One day, "Blank" receives a mysterious message, challenging them to a game of simple Chess. After winning, Sora and Shiro are reborn into a new world where everything is decided by games. There is no war, no murder, and all world conquest is done through whatever game the "players" decide. And in these games, anything can be wagered. A coin toss can decide if you can keep your possessions, your memories, your life, or if you conquer a kingdom, and it is all in accordance with the laws of this world, known as the Ten Pledges;
True first impressions are good for the audience. Hearing about the anime's premise from a friend through his vague and boring description did not get me interested at all. After finally watching episode one, I was much more than intrigued. The animation looks great, and makes great use of its unique brightly colored art style, which contrasts the first 5 minutes of the show from that point onward.
Your main characters, Sora and Shiro, are akin to Light Yagami from Death Note or Lelouch Vi Britannia from Code Geass, in terms of their level of intelligence. There is one core difference though; these characters are smarter in every way, especially together. And unlike the rival relationships we saw between "smarties" in those 2 aforementioned anime, in NGNL, your main characters are both intelligent and work together off each-others faults, which makes for exciting dialogue. The show also flows very well. "Smarty" explanations do not feel out of place, or plot reliant, even if they are the latter.
The key to this show is the viewer wanting to know just how Sora and Shiro will approach their next enemy, or if it is even possible for them to lose. Even in a show all about the main characters "never losing" you cannot help but feel there are times where you wonder if they will lose, or are just curious about just how far ahead did the main characters think in order to win? This one is all about the journey.
The pop culture references are strong with this one...Detective Conan, Evangelion, Phoenix Wright, Civilization V, Studio Ghibli....they got it. And the best part is that it is VERY subtle, meaning if you don't catch the reference you simply won't know it even happened, and you will just attribute it to the zaniness the show has. Humor is well done 90% of the time; a mix of well timed visual gags, word play, and misdirection. Your supporting cast has strong personalities and are charming as well...as well as um....erm....that brings me to the only problems with the show so far; the entire supporting cast is female, "adult stuff" is a topic in at least 3 humor related moments per episode, and as expected of an anime your typical fanservice is up the wazoo, and in somewhat questionable ways. The show has a harem building element to it that makes certain aspects less enjoyable, and there is a somewhat self aware "lolicest" aspect with Sora and Shiro. Sora is also your only male character, and was an Otaku prior to entering this new world, so some humor based off that loses a bit of value here and there. Did I mention that Shiro is introduced a la panty shot? And I did mention she is 11? Panty shot; 11 years old. Good thing this is a fictional world, otherwise this would be some rather objectionable stuff here...but this is anime after all, not reality. Believe it or not, it does get better being that it is a somewhat self aware thing; Sora and Shiro themselves have no interests in eachother sexually, but the writers do play with the audience a bit with fanservice and character moments.
I can find numerous reasons to recommend this brief, 12 episode show. While it does have its noticeable flaws (in the shapes of panties and boobs) it does not detract from the show's charm overall. And if you can put up with it, ignore it, or except it, you should be in for an enjoyable ride.
I marathoned the series yesterday for 6 episodes and today for the remaining 6. Very easy show to watch, and again, enjoyable. If this tells you anything, I liked it enough that I hope we get a season 2 sooner or later. Because it definitely needs one and deserves one.
So, any one else watch the series? I hear it was based on a series of Light Novels of the same name. Feel free to discuss away, post your own reviews, responses, opinions, etc.
![[Image: S312-Illust19.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/KcNj6qX2/S312-Illust19.jpg)
