There are tons of overrated anime but among those overrated anime, it can be divided into critic recommended (i.e. Steins;Gate), overrated by fandom (i.e. Sword Art Online), and overrated but arguable if the anime truly deserves its high rating or not (i.e. Death Note). No Game No Life aka NGNL is part of the last division of overrated anime. Anime in the last division doesn’t have to be written in a manner where the series is written very outstanding but it should be at least make the watchers agree in a common view and NGNL does that very well. Well here comes my review for
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possibly the most overrated anime of 2014.
Story – 7.5
I’m having a hard time to decide what rating I should give on this part; should it be 7 or 8. Why? It is simple. The story of the anime is simple, nothing special, nothing outstanding, overly used concept but even with all of that, NGNL still manage to be fresh and entertaining which I believe is something hard to achieve.
Anyway, the setting of the story is about a pair of NEET who started the urban legend of unbeatable on every game. Their pair is called “Kuuhaku” or simply blank. This pair of sibling was forcefully transported into a fantasy world where everything is to be decided by games. Everything you ask? Yes, everything. Be it money, people rights, properties, laws, and the like, everything is to be decided by games. Then you might ask that if everything is to be decided by game, then is their some sort of law on this world? Yes or rather, in every game, there are 10 rules/oaths to be follow and must abide and those are the following:
1. All bloodshed, war, and pillage are forbidden throughout the world.
2. All disputes are to be resolved through the outcome of games.
3. In games, wages will be made on what both parties decide to be of equal value.
4. Unless contrary to rule #3, the game content and the things wagered do not matter.
5. The challenged party has the right to decide the contents of the game.
6. “As per the Oath”, the wager will be unconditionally adhered to.
7. All matters for group conflicts will be decided by a representative.
8. If cheating is detected during a game, it will be regarded as a defeat.
9. The above rules are unconditionally everlasting, upheld in the name of God.
10. Everyone should get along while playing games.
The fantasy world where everything is to be decided by games is called “Disboard”. In this world, there are 16 races that live on it and ranking is base according to their magic affinity. But in the adaptation, only 4 race where mentioned namely: human, elf, flugel, and werebeast.
The main focus of the story is how Kuuhaku wins their battle. Sounds normal? Yeah it should be normal but it is not that basic as the games always involved some sort of fantasy element. In every game they do, their always be a factor than will change the common idea of a game. Like the chess game to decide the ruler of humanity, where it should be a battle between 2 sides but the game suddenly have the “third” force which affected the game. To put it simply, every games cannot be considered normal as there will always be additional element that won’t be expected by the watchers.
Characters – 8
Ok for a story where the character development never happened on the main characters but instead to the characters that has connection to them given a 8 for the rating is definitely high but I do think it deserve such high rating for this part. The biggest reason why NGNL has extremely high rating is because of the characters.
As for this part, every characters of NGNL can be considered eye catcher. We have such common cast that blended so well in the concept that made it watchable. Additionally, the cast have uniqueness on each character distinctive and memorable. Sora, the tactician of the Kuukaku duo is the character that decide every action Kuukaku extreme and insane. Shiro, the little sister and the genius of the Kuuhaku duo on the other hand tends to support his big brother. This combination works best due to the trust of the 2 on each other.
Then we also have the other characters that keep mentioned, like Stephanie, Jibril, Kurami, Feel and have a little screen-time Izuna. Stephanie is the daughter of the humanity previous king. She tends to be used for comical relief on this one. She often abuse on the ecchi scenario and treated as an idiot so that the characters will explain their idea. Then Jibril, the flugel is a character that represents loyalty and big interest in knowledge. Her character tends to be the one asking the serious stuff on Sora behind the scenes. Kurami and Feel comes in package. They represent as spy and their role on the story to be the spy of the elves but due Sora’s action, they become spy of the human to the elf’s country. And lastly, Izuna the werebeast. The represents as the werebeast representative in the human race country and represents as someone who wants to enjoy game but not able to due to her responsibility.
Sound – 8
Rather than sound, I should focus on the music. The OP and ED song cannot be considered typical, lovely, attention catcher but simply songs. The songs despite having such element, fits the anime for both theme and story due to the MCs. The OP is about the Kuuhaku duo and their interest. It shows that they don’t care even care what others think of them and simply go with their own pace. Similar to the OP, the ED song is about the Kuukaku duo again but this time around, it is about the relation of the two. Additionally, due to the story progress at episode 8, the song has somewhat a broken version which made the rating for the song high. Even the use of the OP song at the last moment of the final episode provides excitement to the watchers.
Art – 10
This is definitely the key factor for one to try NGNL. Starting from episode 1 up to the last, the visual of NGNL is stunning. It might be true that such visual can be normal for modern anime none yet done such a colorful visual that won’t hurt the eyes of the watchers. What do I mean? 2011 anime had Itsuka Tenma Kuro Usagi where it was colorful but had terrible visual because the color combination somewhat used wrongly but NGNL on the other hand, is so colorful but the colors itself doesn’t make the view hurtful to the eyes.
Additionally, the colorful visual of NGNL help to improve the atmosphere of the fantasy world and the fantasy that happened on every game thus making it worthwhile.
Enjoyment: 10
I just happen to be one of those who totally enjoy the show. It is easy to enjoy, easy to watch but I have to say that this anime won’t be enjoyed by those who want serious and deep anime but even so, once they watch it, chances is high that they would agree that this manage to be fresh despite the concept were overused. Though they might think of the show in the different way, NGNL as refreshing is certain.
Another factor that added to my enjoyment is that I have already tried the LN up to the part of the anime when the anime still at episode 6. Or rather, when it was announced to have an anime, I already tried volume 1 of the novel. A month before the anime aired, I finished volume 2 and before the release of episode 6, I already finished volume 3 which is why everything that happened on the anime totally something I enjoyed.
Overall:8
ETC: Apparently, even the anime already ended, I have yet to see the 4th volume and basing from the light novel readers comment, it might be better if this show not to get a sequel as they said that the story quality dropped. Either way, that didn’t make me stop to look forward to read the novel when I got into the mood of it.
I’m open for any kind of reaction and criticism so I hope that whoever read this will say something on what I lack on this review so that I can improve. Thank you for reading.
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Jun 26, 2014
No Game No Life
(Anime)
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There are tons of overrated anime but among those overrated anime, it can be divided into critic recommended (i.e. Steins;Gate), overrated by fandom (i.e. Sword Art Online), and overrated but arguable if the anime truly deserves its high rating or not (i.e. Death Note). No Game No Life aka NGNL is part of the last division of overrated anime. Anime in the last division doesn’t have to be written in a manner where the series is written very outstanding but it should be at least make the watchers agree in a common view and NGNL does that very well. Well here comes my review for
...
May 30, 2014
No Game No Life
(Manga)
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[This review will tackle the first 3 volume of the LN and the expected adaptation coverage of the anime]
I once saw a review on NGNL anime saying that it is a guilty pleasure. I won’t deny that as someone who tries both anime and LN because that seems true but it doesn’t mean that the content itself is terrible that there is nothing that can be considered “unique” or “refreshing” from it. NGNL is simply a story that hasa unique setting for a commonly abused theme. Story: 7.5 Normally, when the story deals with people suddenly transferred to another world/dimension, the plot revolves on how they live ... 
Sep 28, 2012
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(Anime)
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I would consider Binbougami as the best parody. Binbougami manage to mix the story and character development to the parody which made things better.
Story - 8 Binbougami story is simple. Beside from whats written on the synopsis, it also deals with everyday life of Sakura Ichiko. While it seems to be simple, that didnt appear to be as simple as it is for the MC of this show is a loner. To put it simply, the story of Binbougami is more like the story of a very fortunate lonely girl learn to interact with other people while being keep in watch by a God of Misfortune. ... 
Aug 9, 2012
Corpse Party: Missing Footage
(Anime)
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Before watching this OVA, you must at least played up to the chapter 4 of the Visual Novel or you wont understand a thing beside this being a prequel story of Corpse Party: Blood Covered manga.
The story of this OVA is indeed a prequel story but from what I see from Corpse Party VN/Corpse Party: Blood Covered VN, the scenes of this OVA is most likely to be taken from Corpse Party: Book of Shadow which is suppose to be the sequel game since that the manga of Book of Shadow is a prequel story of some sort at the same time an alternative story. The ... 
May 28, 2012
Another: The Other - Inga
(Anime)
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This is my first time writing a review so it is possible to see errors on my writing.
"Another" is one of the most notable series of Winter 2012 anime and might be one of the best this year. But do the OVA is worth checking to get the feeling of the series? Ill try to answer that here Story: As a prequel of the series, it deserve to get a praise on showing what to expect on the series if this OVA shown first. The story is simple, more like a prologue to enjoy the series. The story is about the 2 Misaki enjoying their daily lives ... |
