No Game No Life

No game No Life is a curious anime to me. I Consider myself to be a not so cruel scorer always giving anime a chance and always looking for positives but this is not the case for No Game No Life with me. Considered to be the next best thing since canned bread everybody seems to love this and I'm the only one who cant see what is so good about it. I will try to give my vision on the show in the next couple of sections so please bare with me.

Story

The story without giving away too much its about 2 overly intelligent pair ... of step brothers Sora and Shiro who are portrayed as neets. They are bored with normal life and just love to play videogames. One day they get the opportunity to join a game world where 16 races rule. In the game world extreme and weird games exist with rules varying per agreement of the players so everything is at stake. All seems peaches and cream for an interesting anime with some good story movement except that the story progression is really slow.

Art

To sum it all up its really nice neon colors. Very fluid and detailed animation especially the background. I have to say that despite not enjoying the anime this is its strongest asset and its really pleasing to the eye. Madhouse really did a good job with the art and I think its top 2 of the season along with Bokura Wa mina Kawaisou.

Sound

I don't think it was over the top or memorable that you want to buy the OST's or anything. Nothing really negative else to say by my part except that it was solid.

Characters (Only will be covering 3)

a) Sora - Main character, 18 year old neet who lives with his loli stepsister Shiro. Overly intelligent and with many sexual needs (according to the show). Sora quickly became an apparent icon this season for best character this season and all I can say is why? One of Sora's biggest strengths is also his downfall as a character and this is his super intelligence. Nothing is ever a challenge in this supposed challenging game world to him and he always seems to have a plan for everything. He tries to be too cool for my liking. I never found any of his jokes or references to be funny or entertaining only just kinda corny.

b) Shiro - The other main character, 11 year old step sister of Sora. More intelligent than Sora apparently and has a brother complex. With Shiro its another case of overuse of Lolis for roles that can be fulfilled with normal characters along with Black Bullet. I don't get the semi naked scenes of Shiro which in this case is a minor throughout the show and it feels a bit disturbing. Shiro's downfall as a character to me is that she is just there to pull Sora back together and do some crazy deus ex machima to pull him out of the rare stuff that he cant (going according to plan if we follow the show's logic) do.

c) Stephanie Dola - The other main character who's purpose is nothing but be exposed half naked every 4 minutes and be mocked off because of her stupidity. I have gotten slander here on MAL because apparently her role is much deeper in motivating Sora and what not if you go all philosophical with the fan boys. In reality its not and her contribution to the progression of the plot is about 0.

Enjoyment

Where is the enjoyment supposed to come from this show? If its the games it did a poor job. You never get the sensation that the games are a challenge for any of the main characters because everything goes according to plan and they are never really under any concern due to Sora and Shiro's super Einstein like intellect. There is always something that saves them from defeat or something which gets really annoying by episode 3 or 4.

Let me say that chess game in episode the span of episodes 4-5? (I maybe wrong) Is probably the worst thing you can ever watch since there is absolutely no logic behind it all and its just a complete out of thin air invention to win the game. The only game I really enjoyed where the last 2 episodes because the main characters where actually in a pinch it goes in the most predictable way of having the most useless character in the show do something. It all went according to the same generic running theme throughout the show that everything is going according to the super master plan that we won the game before we even start. How do people get any joy out of this is beyond me.

The core of the plot is really slow and its pretty much overshadowed by the fan service and stupidity of Stephanie who is pretty much just a guinea pig to try out stuff throughout the show.

Overall

In the end I was really disappointed since I was looking forward to the show and all I got was just a slap in the face of how overrated, flawed and boring this show is some weeks in. The fan service outshines the plot and that is already a red flag. The plot already weak to begin with and all you get is boobs and stupidity with slow progression its not really ideal.

-Spoilers Ahead-

Here's the obligatory premise of the show for this review because I'm assuming you can't read the Synopsis up there due to allergy or something: Sora and Shiro have tremendous gaming skills and are bored with the regular world. A message arrives for the siblings, and when they open their message, they are stunned to see the scenery around them change to a world they had never encountered before. They've been summoned by Tet to...

Yes, the premise is pretty much a carbon copy of Mondaiji-tachi. In fact, it's so similar that I had to actually check when the respective light novels were released. ... They're both about incredibly talented kids getting sucked into a different world because they're too special for boring human world, and they play "games." Even the visuals are strikingly similar in that they're both incredibly colorful. But hey, you can't exactly be always original- Technically speaking, every show could be considered a carbon copy of some other show that came before, and being uncreative doesn't really detract from the quality of the show. That's not the problem here. The visuals and music are fine too, although it does overuse that one track a lot when the MC explains his plan.

But the visuals are the least of its problems- The two main characters, Sora and Shiro, are simply put, Stus. Everyone loves Stus as main characters, so why not? Izayoi from Problem Children was a huge Stu too, beating the shit out of everything with next to no effort, and these two are no different. They're just incredibly talented at everything and their only supposed weakness is that they have to be together at all times. Thankfully this weakness is actually never an issue except when it's relevant, and outside of that, it's played for comedic effects. And even if it ever would pose a serious problem, it's usually resolved by one of the two planning something out before the weakness actually happened in the first place, so it's just a pretend label. It doesn't make them any less of Stus. Unfortunately, many people seem to think this is actually a valid weakness, and therefore, doesn't make them Stus. It really isn't.
At least they're not Tatsuya, right?

They're not the only problem, of course. Stephanie Dora is this incredibly obnoxious character who pretty much exists for a comic relief. In fact, literally every episode involves making fun of this character for being stupid, and it never ends. So much that even the fanbase now associates her name with the term "stupidity." Making fun of a character for being stupid is funny the first time. Maybe the second and third. Not so much after when it becomes an established fact. "Ha, the sky is blue! So funny!"

And then there's Jibril. Her introduction to the series is just so terribly done that it's almost offensive. There's no foreshadowing whatsoever to her existence, and when it's brought up, it just turns into "Oh, Steph was stupid. Guess that's why she didn't tell us about this character that didn't exist until this point in plot." And after she's introduced, she's mostly written as an exposition character that just explains all the world building for the watchers instead of letting the viewers figure things out by themselves. This also serves to mediate Steph's complete uselessness as a character because the author realized it wouldn't be a nice idea to have a recurring side character whose only purpose was to be a comic relief.

I think simply claiming they're Stus isn't really enough to convince anyone, so I'll be more elaborate. But I can't exactly explain that in detail without explain this other thing. And that other thing is the title's namesake; Games!

Maybe the series was trying to be clever with its title "No Game No Life" because there hardly is anything that can be categorized as an actual "game" in this series. The biggest problem with these so-called games can be summarized like this: "Oops, I win."

Since most of the episodes have games in them, I'll just explain how each was handled-
First episode doesn't explain how Sora won the game. He just did, and you're supposed to accept it. Third episode is a chess game where the rules don't really exist. It's supposed to technically play like a chess, but there really are no established rules- If you're the main character and give a speech, apparently you're rigged to win. Am I supposed to be impressed yet? Fourth episode doesn't have a game, but it breaks character- Sora and Shiro are supposed to be scared of crowds, but in this episode, they get over it pretty quickly as if that was never a problem in the first place. Then they proceed to give an incredibly cliche speech about how the weak can become strong. A speech that's not even really reflective, since Sora and Shiro were never "weak" in terms of their gaming prowess, or inspiring since the speech was practically nothing. The entirety of fifth episode is Steph being called an idiot, and a sequence of games that just follows what the series did with the first episode. Sora just "wins" them all, and the few ones that he does explain how he won, is just completely out of some puzzle book. Brilliant.

Sixth episode is where Jibril is introduced, and it's sadly considered one of the "better" episodes in the series. The game here could have been well done, but it's really just a mess. The game's victory hinges on the fact that Jibril does not know about the planet's structure. How could have Sora known this? What if Tet's magic world planet had a different structure from Earth? This is even before Sora had access to Elkia's library, so he wouldn't have known that wasn't common knowledge. Furthermore, Elkia isn't exactly the most knowledgeable nation- He claims that he supposedly figured out in the middle of a game by seeing how she reacted, but she could've been just as easily pretending. But it just so happens that she doesn't know about his win condition. It's a victory that just happened with assumptions and guesses, and apparently this is supposed to make the MC look like a genius. Really?

Breaking off a bit from this pretend game nonsense, seventh episode manages to be the best episode in the series- Instead of Sora pretending he's smart over something he got completely lucky over, the audience get decently written characterization and not as forced exposition. That about sums up every compliment I had for this show. Everything afterwards just builds up to a very disappointing finale- Though, not before informing the watchers that Shiro is definitely helpless without Sora. Except not really, because Sora is still there, you see. What happens is that Shiro is supposed to play a piece on a board game that she can't see. This board game was being played by Sora and an another character. But apparently since she's a "genius," she can predict where he's going to place the pieces, and know exactly where to put it. Except that, the game wasn't called Solitaire. I'm sorry, but it's logically impossible to exactly predict the game state of Othello from knowing just half of the game. Of course the show doesn't explain how this was done. It's just brushed off as Shiro being a genius and knowing everything about Sora, and that was the key to victory. It's all the more offensive when you realize that the victory of this game is what also later helps Sora to win the final game in the series in a domino effect.

The finale attempts to make Steph seem relevant by having her pull the final trigger. Too bad she didn't actually do anything. Sora and Shiro planned her to do it! Genius! This last episode's supposed "moral lesson" is completely insensible too. It keeps repeating the line "when was the last time you had fun playing a game?" If people are putting something big like continents and people's lives at stake, it'd be borderline psychopathic to find fun from playing a game putting that at risk. I don't get the "moral lesson" here. Is this show telling me to completely disregard everything except having fun? I guess Russian Roulette was a popular party game too. Possible bullets to the head? YES! GOTY! 10/10 IGN. Why aren't you having fun? Are you stupid or something?

This particular game is also flawed in that their winning strategy also hinges on the fact that the enemy does not notice something that they later claim to be able to notice. Good thing they didn't the first time! Those stupid warbeasts! Even though an entire continent is at stake, they can't even put up that much of a caution! Again, this is not planning. It's luck. Sora gambles, and wins. You can't just win the lottery, make a smug face, and call yourself a genius. But this is what this show does. Every single time. It's not even pretentious in a sense that it's trying to do something remotely clever- Because it's not even fucking remotely clever.

I also don't understand why Sora/Shiro are separate characters. Shiro is just literally Sora, without the smug attitude, being a fanservice bait, and doesn't have much of a personality outside of being incredibly clingy. The show also plays out their relationship far too much to the point that it's creepy. But then again, that's what these shows seem to do these days: Incest is ok, because they're not actually blood-related siblings. This show also constantly hammers in the point about how "Blanks can never lose" and that both siblings make up Blanks to an extent that it's incredibly annoying. Of course they can never lose- They're the fucking MCs and the plot bends itself backwards to LET them win. Furthermore, you pretty much know that Sora and Shiro will win no matter what. They always bet something to the point that if they lose, the series would probably be over, so you know that they can't lose. There is no sense of anticipation or whatsoever. Then after winning through some poorly explained method which this show constantly nudges you about how clever it was being, Sora just makes that same fucking smug grin.

So yes. The biggest problems with the show supposedly about games is the games themselves, and the characters playing them. The series also constantly teases about how exciting things were before Tet became the absolute God. It's almost like it's self-aware. Lovely.

This series could've been better if they didn't constantly play these games where cheating is more encouraged than making actual strategies within the game's boundaries. See, games are fun to watch because you want to see what the characters can do within their own boundaries to actually win in a clever manner. It's also fun to watch because you don't really know who will win. But due to the whole retarded "Cheating is fine as long as it's not caught" rule in the show, the author is given the freedom to not write anything remotely intelligent. All he needs to do is just say Sora won because he did something that was outside of game's design and that just made him win despite the fact that it would be near impossible in practice. And hopefully it's just as impossible for this show to get a second season.

In short: Low-brow pandering garbage.

The entirety of the show exists to facilitate the main character, Sora, in his traverses through a graphene-thin plot-composite synthesized from recycled tropes, clichés, and genre-hangups that not only weigh down the show and story but comprise the majority of what little weight the show has.
In attempting to make Sora more than run-of-the-mill, the writers marginalised the remaining characters to make room for their protagonist's greatly inflated ego: Steph and Jibril are reduced to idiots (who were very boring), Clammy is relegated to a spot as half-baked rival (or something, she was even more boring), and Shiro plays the ... co-starring role as a heroic/silent doormat (okay she did get one good episode, but otherwise you could replace her with a cardboard cut out), all for the purpose of time-wasting fan service and to make Sora look cool by comparison.

The rest of show is hardly worth talking about.
The animation is from last year (or what they'd be calling "last year" last year) and the background music and OP/ED are as forgettable as they are serviceable.
I've certainly seen worse shows (I'm looking at you Mirai Nikki) but that doesn't really mean much.

The worst part was that this was what I figured the shows was going to be like, but it would have been nice to have been wrong.
I thought the shows was actually clever at first, creatively turning well known games on their heads.
Unfortunately, the writers spent most of the time stroking their egos rather than chins.

"There's no way to know the rules or the goal, yet there are 7 billion players making whatever moves they want. There are no parameters and no way to even know the genre. This world is just a crappy game."
‒ Sora, No Game No Life

Is it really that bad? Real life is a wide open sandbox game with the most realistic physics and graphics in existence.

No Game No Life is a show that is full of games and tactics. Just one problem: they don't work. And I don't mean some small loopholes here and there. The very foundation of the tactics requires knowing ... things that are beyond realistic human knowledge. As a result, there is zero tension in this show. This is not Kasparov vs Deep Blue, this is playing against a psychic who can list every move you will make before the game has even begun.

The premise is already ridiculous. A pair of NEET shut-in siblings, Sora and Shiro, are known online as invincible players who have never lost in any game whatsoever, no matter the genre or how luck-based the game is.

...Yes, really. That isn't an exaggeration; they are completely invincible.

Over the course of the show, the viewer learns how they achieve this: by being omniscient. They know how anyone will react in any situation. They know what moves their opponent will make without seeing the game board. They know what words their opponent will use in a word game. They can figure out the inner workings of a video game the first time they are playing. They know how flipped coins will land.

"There is no such thing as luck in this world. Rules, prerequisites, psychological states... There are any number of invisible factors that combine to produce an unpredictable but inevitable result. The victor of a game is decided before it even begins. There is no chance."
‒ Sora explaining why his tactics work

...Hang on a second. If the result is "unpredictable," then that is what normal people usually mean by luck. When people say that e.g. poker has luck, they are not referring to some quantum fluctuations but simply the lack of knowledge of the order of the cards. So while it's a nice play on semantics, it does very little to actually justify Sora's tactics. For him there is nothing unpredictable.

How exactly are we supposed to emulate their tactics in real life? We can't, can we? The whole appeal in something like Liar Game is that the tactics actually work for actual human beings. Of course there is no limit to what you can do in a piece of fiction if the author makes a character omniscient, but where is the fun in watching something like that? Calling it wish fulfillment is an understatement.

So if it isn't about tactics, what is the show really about? Fanservice with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the skull. Bath scenes, breast grabs, tentacles, incest, animal girl fetishes, and obsession over a 11-year-old's panties should come as no surprise, but in addition we have nipple-erasing magic, boob-enlarging magic, and dragging a practically naked girl through the streets on a leash as "the dog for the day."

Needless to say, if you aren't into nonstop fanservice, it gets tedious really fast. Even in the middle of a game, the characters are just as interested in fanservice as winning. The jokes are all about boobs, panties, and the like. The dialogue includes such gems as "I'm a healthy young man, you know? I've got sexual needs, and sexual needs, and sexual needs! And even sexual needs!" The show is trying to appeal to the most primitive aspects in our savannah monkey brains, assuming that awkwardly shoving mammary glands at the viewer is enough to constitute a well-written show.

The show is also full of references. It could work in theory, but too often the references feel so arbitrary that they break the flow of the scenes. For example, what does Legend of the Galactic Heroes have to do with a harem-themed first-person shooter (now there's a natural combo to begin with)? Nothing, but they just couldn't find a way to shoehorn it in otherwise. We get an endless flood of these references, as if ticking boxes on some checklist. Where's the fun in that? It feels like a calculated effort rather than a natural creative product, as if the writers were reading marketing surveys and trend analysis charts while watching 5-second Youtube clips of famous games and anime.


Story: 3

Anyway, back to the plot. Sora and Shiro are cast into a fantasy world where everything is decided by games, courtesy of the local god, Tet. They quickly decide that they don't even want to return to Earth and instead want to become #1 in this world by beating everyone, Tet included.

Why? To help end oppression and suffering?

...No, of course not. What were you thinking? It's to increase their harem and satisfy their fetishes. This is why taking over the kingdom of animal girls is a top priority.

Any politics or social commentary is handled in the most superficial way possible, reduced to little more than a footnote. I assume there wouldn't have been enough time for bouncing boobs otherwise. Sure, they talk about the weak defeating the strong with their wisdom, but they just leave it at that. Now, guess what, it's easy to say you can beat the strong if you are omniscient. How about you demonstrate realistic means to achieve it?

And what was wrong with Earth anyway? In the quote I mentioned earlier, Sora called it a crappy game because there's no way to know the rules or the goal, but is it really any different for this fantasy world? It may revolve around games, but there is no truly universal or objective goal there either. It's just a place with different laws of physics.

By the way, the plot is also left severely unfinished, so don't expect any real conclusion.

The following subsections are part of the story, but they deserve their own categories.


The games:

Ah yes, the main selling point of the show. I honestly liked some of the smaller games, such as the modified rock-paper-scissors and "when will this bird take off," but the alleged main attractions not so much. Many of them aren't particularly tactical to begin with, and the remaining ones are won through simply knowing things you can't realistically know.

First-person shooter:
They can perfectly decipher the movement patterns of the NPCs the first time they are playing, as well as how their opponent will react. I mean, really: they predict both of these up to a few dozen pixels so that they can line a shot that they planned minutes in advance. Oh, and this FPS game is harem-themed, so much time and effort will be spent on trying to strip people by shooting their clothes. Predictably enough.

Materialization shiritori:
Hoping that the other player will use a specific word simply because you used it at one point... The show itself acknowledges that this was a gamble. So one question: if the success of the protagonists is built on luck, why are we supposed to believe they are geniuses? Oh, and it's completely natural that this fantasy world has similar laws of physics to ours, down to the subatomic level. After all, that's what fantasy worlds are known for.

Othello:
The board becomes invisible, but a third party can join mid-game and figure out where all the pieces are by guessing all the moves taken so far. Sounds legit.

Chess:
Chess is a game known for its deep strategy. Well, we can't have any of that, so instead it's played by giving the pieces motivational speeches. And by speeches, I mean lines like:
"The one true, unchanging righteousness in this world is cuteness! Cute makes right!"
"By my authority as king, anyone who fights valiantly in this battle will earn the right to bang any woman they like!"

Imagine if Lelouch was giving a speech to his revolutionary force, and instead of appealing to justice he would praise cuteness and promise women as war loot. Indeed, the problem here is not so much that the protagonists are omniscient but rather that the game isn't particularly strategic to begin with, if you can even call this a legit game. Sora, if you dislike the real world because the rules are vague, why is this chess game not a problem?

And did the soldiers even get their women afterwards? Sora, you cheap bastard.

Coin Flip:
...Yeah. There is actually a twist to this too, but it doesn't make it any more plausible.


The setting:

The setting makes no sense even within its own rules. Tet has set in place ten pledges that supposedly tell everything about how the world and its games are governed. I'll just copy-paste them here:

1. All murder, war, and robbery is forbidden in this world.
2. All conflict in this world will be resolved through games.
3. In games, each player will bet something that they agree is of equal value.
4. As long as it doesn't violate pledge three, anything may be bet, and any game may be played.
5. The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game.
6. Any bets made in accordance with the pledges must be upheld.
7. Conflicts between groups will be conducted by designated representatives with absolute authority.
8. Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss.
9. In the name of god, the previous rules may never be changed.
10. Let's all have fun and play together!

It's easy to guess that there's no way such a short and vague set of rules can work in practice. And indeed, it turns out the authors simply can't handle them with any kind of consistency or in-universe plausibility, and any attempts to explain these problems away simply result in ruining the whole point of the setting and making the world's inhabitants look like imbeciles. Let me be a rules lawyer here for a while because apparently nobody in this fantasy world is.

1) "Everything is decided by games"? Nah.

Nobody can force you to do anything unless you agreed to it in a game? Wrong. Guess what constitutes a group for rule 7 when it comes to countries? Race, as in species. Apparently you don't have to lose any game to be subject to the whims of this representative of absolute authority. He can bet all your land or even your life by betting the race piece. By the way, none of this is included in the pledges, so it's an implicit rule the author added to keep the story going.

This pretty efficiently ruins the setting, which is presented as a situation where the most talented can take charge of their own lives without having to fear violence or theft. But in reality, each race is living under authoritarian rule where you can lose your life on a whim due to no fault of your own. I know Tet made this system to replace genocidal wars, but was this the best he could come up with?

"But you can just challenge the representative to a game to take over!" Nope, he can just throw an impossible game at you. And everyone who is not the representative would face a massive risk, which would strain society's capacity to function.

Also, banning robbery doesn't sound fair after you realize how arbitrary ownership is. Some people start with no coins to their name and others are living comfortably in their palaces. Tet, have you ever heard of this guy called Karl Marx? Look him up. That being said, there's nothing forcing people to agree to any transactions or acknowledge any existing currency, so they could simply have the rich starve to death if they liked.

2) People are too often acting as if the pledges did not exist

People are too often acting normally, as if the rules did not exist. People go to work as usual and obey the law and the government as usual. We are presented with a society that by all sense shouldn't work the way it does. You can't have both "everything is decided by games" and normal society at the same time. If the representative can achieve this... well, then it just ruins the setting, like I was saying.

In this world there is even hereditary slavery. Why not run away? Of course not, they will beat you up... oh, wait. Also, it can't be that they have gambled away their freedom because it's hereditary. You might try to say, "The representative can just order them to be slaves." Not when the slaves are of another race, and it would destroy any shred of fairness these rules have left.

And some countries are apparently democracies. I suppose if the representative can be two people, it can also be an institution... I guess. I'm probably giving way too much credit here; it's more likely the writers forgot about the setting again.

3) Why do people agree to slanted games in the first place?

The biggest head-scratcher of all. Your country doesn't have to lose territory. Just don't agree to any slanted games. Are they all complete imbeciles? If you are challenged, you can likewise simply choose games where you are sure to win.

Why didn't the cabinet ministers refuse when Sora asked them to play a game where he wins by default? Yeah, just try to wrap your head around that one. Apparently you can just force people to lose by default. If this is something the representative can do, he could simply order them without playing a game, unless there is some kind of ridiculously specific implicit clause somewhere.

...Screw this, it's obvious the writers just didn't care.


Characters: 2

Sora and Shiro: They are inseparable to the point that they freak out when they are placed in different rooms. And I mean that literally. So it's only fitting that I deal with them together.

Sora's main purpose in life, other than winning games, is extending his harem and witnessing as much fanservice as humanly possible. Kind of like the show itself. Judging by his portrayal, we are supposed to be proud too. Shiro is a supergenius, as evidenced by the totally legit random equations she writes sometimes. Oh, and she is in love with her brother to satisfy the obligatory "incest subplot" quota.

By the way, do you know why they were shut-ins? Because they were literally afraid of stepping through their front door. You see, Sora and Shiro are fine with any form of social interaction if they are in a game. In fact, they are genius negotiators. However, they become helpless the moment they step into the real world. But somehow they are fine in this game-filled fantasy world, even though the world itself is not a game. Basically:

Crowded streets of a fantasy world -> They're fine
Empty streets of the real world -> They fall into a catatonic state

Plausible human psychology, right? And it really is the streets, not the people. They try both of the mentioned combinations in the show. Sometimes it tries to assert they are really afraid of people, but this is very rare and inconsistent anyway, so it's literally the streets that are the problem.

Stephanie: Fanservice, and also standing there to be laughed at for her stupidity and to let Sora and Shiro provide exposition.

Jibril: More fanservice.

Tet: Barely appears. Has tons of free time, which he refuses to use to help the residents of his world because games are that much cooler than having a functional society. Why is he portrayed as benevolent again?

Other characters: Who cares? They only exist for fanservice or to lose to the protagonists, or are practically irrelevant.


A few words about the technical aspects:

Art: 6
Depends on how much you like fanservice and psychedelic neon colors.

Sound: 6
Pretty standard. Nothing really stood out that much as far as the soundtrack and voices were concerned.

Enjoyment: 4
There is some enjoyment found in pointing out all the flaws in their tactics and the broader setting. Kind of like this review. You might think this show could be so bad it's good, but it's only barely. The show is too confident in its dysfunctional tactics, and many aspects of the show feel like a calculated ratings grab.

Overall: 3
This show is a thoroughly artificial experience, a seemingly cynical attempt to cash in on the consumer. Their approach was simple enough: shove in as much wish fulfillment, references and fanservice as humanly possible and wait for the money to flow in.

No Game No Life is one of those classic examples of "Over Hyped" anime. before I start pointing out everything wrong with the anime I will say the one good thing it has going for is the animation and the wide range of colors it has going on in many shots do make it nice to look at but it's not enough redeem it.

Story: It's rare to come across an anime that shares the same plot with another and No Game No life is the first time I came across this, now your wonder what anime I'm talking about? well It's Problem Children ... are Coming from Another World Aren't they? NGNL has The same plot setup has Problem Children, Kids get invitation to travel to a world where everything is decided by games and help a struggling community survive.

Characters: Sora is unbearable to stand as a main character watching a loser trying to act cool gets extremely tiring. Shiro has almost no character besides that fact she has a brother complex otherwise shes there to be a Deus Ex Machina to get Sora out of any troubling situations.

Another thing that I find horrible about NGNL is the games and how most of them don't make any sense or are boring cause if the characters are in trouble they'll pull out some deus ex Machina knowledge out of their ass and win.

NGNL Get An 4/10 go watch Problem Children and what a GOOD anime can do with this same plot and setup.

No Game No Life, the anime everyone was talking about this season. Everywhere on MAL and the anime subreddit everyone was praising NGNL. I tried hard to like it but I just couldn't, there was almost nothing redeemable about this show. If the show is bad then why do people watch it? And how did it get so popular? Well I guess I'll try my best to describe, while not spoiling as much as I can.

First off I'll start by listing all of the positives about this show, the art and animation was beautiful, nothing less to be expected by MadHouse. The OST was ... great music at the wrong times, so I'm not sure if I could count that as a positive, but the OST in general is above average. And a colorful and beautiful World with endless opportunities for creativity.

So the plot is about two NEETs who are brother and sister, win at any game with 0% chance of losing. Why did the author end up making the protagonists NEETS? Well because he wanted to make most of the community who watch anime feel good about themselves. You could pretty much describe every character in one word and know everything about them, for example Sora is a beautiful virgin NEET who is somehow a genius who wins any game possible that's set in front of him. Shiro, who is Sora's sister, does literally next to nothing in the show except act as fanservice for lolicons.

The side characters are sadly even more one dimensional if that is even possible. So why does Sora have 3000 favorites then? Well just like Lelouche from Code Geass, or Light from Death Note, Sora is incredibly over powered and every other character in the series is retarded compared to him, we could say he is the big fish in the extremely small pool. Actually we could say he is the big fish in the small fish tank all by himself since all the other characters are non existent compared to him.

Earlier I mentioned Sora was over powered and that he wins any game 100% of the time, in the series he even says he wins games before they are even played. So in this new magical land that they are brought to, there is no wars, any dispute is solved over games. Games decide everything, even who owns which land. So the games could have been really interesting but you could tell from the beginning, no matter what Sora would win any game so there wasn't much to care about. Although I will admit some of the games mechanics were pretty interesting and MadHouse did an amazing job animating them.

Whenever Sora won a game, the episode would end and we would get 2 or 3 episodes of SoL + fan service shoved down our throats. As someone who loves SoL, a genre that relies 100% on how good their characters are. Well the characters in NGNL are honestly the worst cast I have seen yet, The SoL elements were so horrible that they had to rely on ecchi and fanservice. Hell actually half of the side characters in Sora's harem were only made for fan service, for example an angel who acted as nothing but a slave. She turned a complete 180 from being an angel who had no respect for humans to a slave who is completely loyal in a matter of minutes.

Near the last couple of episodes you could tell that they were running out of ideas and it just started to feel stale. Also the ending was very dissatisfying and didn't come near to bringing the season to a close. I enjoyed watching the show a bit, but that was mostly because MadHouse did such a good job with the art and animation.

You know people tend to say that first impression is everything. One of the first things No Game No Life throws at you is a detailed panty shot of an eleven year old girl. Still I am a reasonable man. After all more than on one occasion a show made a bad impression but got a lot better afterwords...sadly No Game No Life does not.

The plot follows duo of brother and sister who are sucked into a world where everything is decided by games. Both wars and killing are banned. The only way to move up the social ledder and ETC is being good at ... games.

I have a lot of problems with this anime. While the concept is pretty good the execution is downright horrible. First of all the show lets us know that both protagonists are virtually unbeatable at ANY GAME, succesfully killing any kind of tension for the said games which are basicly the main attarction of the show. Both protagonist are not just good at games, they are parcticly good at almost EVERYTHING. They read emotions, great at manipulating people through dialoge, smart and by that I mean not just game smart, but borderline ridicilously overpowered smart. Forgive me but I have a hard time that an 18 year old virgin who has not friends and plays only games and a girl who does not even leave home posses such skills.

But that is just the start of the problems. The second main character is Stephie Dola, a girl who's sole purpous is to be dumb and make main character look good. I am not kidding when I say she is dumb. She is like on a level of an average 14 year old girl in smarts departament. Now a point of such characters is often to pass the exposition to a viewer through said character. In this show the protagonists spend a LOT of time expalining most basic things to her which brings down the pacing a lot.

The pacing itself is utterly broken. At the start it is faster than a speeding bullet with characters not even reacting to getting inside a whole new world. There is niether negative nor positive reaction. Then when the actuall games start the pacing drops to really slow and let me explain why.

The shows main attraction as I said before is the games and "Smart" tactics used by the characters and ETC. The things is the tactics and twists they use in the show are so obvious that it gets extra boring when they are explaining and implementing the twists when I saw them coming 5 minutes before they were used.

Some may say that the pacing issues are coming from the show being given only 12 episodes. Well I say the pacing would be a lot better if they did not spent more time on fanservice than on the ACTUALL GAMES!

The whole show came off as expremely pretentious. It thinks that it is really smart and thinks outside the box, when in reality it is obvious and very rarely does something surprising. The whole show spents way too much time trying to convince you that the protaginsts are the greatest, smartest, most awesome creatures ever, while in reality they are just overpowered wishfullfilment badly written characters.

The comedy in the show is downright awful. I never once smiled. Though I have to give credit to voice actors who do their best to make the script sound funny.

I have a few positive things to say too overall. The visuals are good even if they filters they use get in the way a little. Still very nice to look at. The soundtrack is really really good and captures the video game feel very well.

Overall I could barely get through 5 episodes and it felt like an eternity of fanservice, wishfullfilment and bad writing. I know that a lot of people like this show but I was not one of them.

Also a bath scene with 11 year old girl...

No Game No Life is visual and suggestive exploitation and exposure of underage females pawned off as entertainment. And people wonder why the anime community receives so much hate and scorn and are labeled as "pedophiles" and stereotyped as fetishizing little girls.

There is nothing clever about this show. It's everything Death Note could have done wrong, done wrong. The main characters are already established as being unable to lose, so why become invested in anything they do? They're just gonna win anyway. It doesn't help that the rules of the game aren't even well explained half the time.

With 11 episodes, there's no room for any ... character development (not that they tried) and the characters themselves are barely established as people. They're just 2 no-lives who like gaming an unrealistic amount and are placed in a dream-fulfillment reality where you game to win. The concept is promising I guess, and there a few well-executed mind games, but that's as far as the creativity and entertainment stretches after you realize they actually won't lose, no matter what.

I don't really remember anything about the soundtrack (which shows how little impact it had), but I don't claim to be a soundtrack critic. A show should be good without relying on music to boost its score.

The art and animation is really the only thing the show does right. It was pretty fluid and consistent throughout and the backgrounds were well done. It was too bright and vibrant for my personal taste, but that's all it is, personal taste. It fit well with the fantasy setting, but my eyes didn't care.

This is a show perfectly tailored for people who want to see some indecent exposure and get a few good perverted giggles out of it and then pretend like it's a masterpiece because it's masquerading as a games anime. "Let's have an episode entirely dedicated to explaining the rules of the world and showing the consequences for losing. Then let's follow that up with a sauna scene where an 8 year old girl is almost naked as her brother gets hard for her and this other chick" HAHAHA FUCKING GENIUS WRITING!!! SUPER CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT!!!

Overall: 3/10 (For good art/animation and a few decent games)

Believe it or not, but NGNL is the hip thing of 2014. A lot of people liked it, similarly a lot of people disliked it, but all in all, they were all watching it and talking about it. I've recently been to MAL and learned that even after accountable negative criticism, the rating still stands at 8.76, which can be round-off to 9, which in MAL terms comes under "Great". Although this isn't the first case, and pretty likely, not the last, but let's use this as an example and try to think "How?" and "Why?"


As we can clearly make it out from the synopsis, ... it's a series about people playing various games for resolving everyday issues, from trifling matters to the ones concerning national interest. Our two main protagonists gets sucked in to this world after they accept a challenge from an unknown person. Let's just say they are supposed to be the ultimate bad ass when it comes down to games, as a combo [Blank], they have the record and confidence to beat anyone at any game, hence their motto - "Blank never lose". Our protagonists have been introduced as NEETs, shut-ins and are suffering from communication disorder. Although I've seen anime based on "gaming reality" before - SAO, Accel World, etc., and I agree that parents/guardians in anime world can be a bit extreme (ex - opens door, the girl and boy are in awkward position, says best of luck to them and closes the door), but what kind of parents/guardians let their children remain totally cut-off from the world and be cooped up in their rooms, where they can play games day and night? This, along with other incidents, leads up to the apt image of the show as wish-fulfilling and an escapist's fantasy. It's true that most people turn towards entertainment to escape from daily lives, so watching characters do the same immediately forms a bridge between viewer and those characters. This becomes one of the biggest selling points of such series, which in business sense, is a good thing. But..


But the characterization is pretty much messed up. It's easy to see that both Sora and Shiro aren't the most sociable people around [Even while you are sociable enough on net, sitting behind a monitor, it's altogether different from when you are sitting face-to-face with someone]. Still, the way Sora communicates and reacts in the other world, quickly makes one question the character description they've been spoon-fed just minutes ago, more so, when that person supposed to have communication disorder. Writer must be smoking joint. Anyway, then you have a loli with striped panties - Shiro, who is insanely intelligent, however in a slightly different way than her aniki. Together they cover for each others weak spots and hence as a combo they are unbeatable. Now what does that tell you? The statement "Blank never lose" is pretty much a boner-killer, especially when the stakes are ridiculously high, it not only ensures the victory of our duo even before the actual game even starts, but also take away that "doki-doki" factor as in "how will it turn out? what's going to happen? will they win?". The tagline itself gives a major setback to the "gaming" theme.


Well this isn't the only show which is home to many pop-culture tropes such as cat-ears, elfs, etc. So criticizing it just because of that doesn't seem the right thing to do. But what's the deal with these Japanese otaku fetishes? LOL. Since the series is heavily focused on otaku pleasure, setting wise it's only the right thing to do to ensure maximum profit, but what has happened to originality lately? The show is about characters getting sucked in another world, which although being one of the most generic settings, provides a lot of room to explore and experiment, to create some original character and world designs, to explore and push some creative boundaries. Take a look at Monogatari series, which also use many pop-culture tropes and even cliche' events, but still is able to pull off a refresh feel because of rich and uniquely explored characters and it's overall execution, it's impact-full. But NGNL was made to just earn money, we can't blame Madhouse for our disappointment, they are also suffering from declining market for innovative and intellectual stuff.


Even side-characters are not a relief, they are just there to please the audience with fan-service and to help further the esteemed goals of our protagonists. What am I supposed to feel for them, "Good boobs you got there" maybe.


The show is about games but weighs heavily on random ass pulls to make our protagonists look like the ultimate bad ass winners. Ass pulls leads up to logical fallacies, which ultimately results in plot holes. For ex -

Jibril vs Blank game -

[SPOILER]
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The rules say - "if the thing is present there, it'll disappear and if it's not, then it'll appear". Sora says "Hydrogen Bomb", which appears. Okay, now where does it say that it has to be a hydrogen bomb which is about to go off. Last time I checked, Hydrogen Bomb doesn't go off on their own.
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[/SPOILER]


Even the infamous "last fight" in which Sora gets praised for his smartness, is nothing but the result of convenience in writing.

[SPOILER]
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The level of assumption without actually knowing and analyzing the full extent of your opponent is not just dangerous but can be fatal. Even if Sora had assumed that Izuna has some kind of technique that pushes beyond the normal psychical boundaries, the extent of that can't be known precisely, even after being released, because one can't be sure of the extent up to which it can transcend. But somehow Sora and Shiro had it all figured out from the scribblings that Shiro did on the sand, without any proper explanation given, to the point of saying - "Oh! I made it in time". That's not intelligent thinking, that's convenient writing.
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[/SPOILER]


The show also make use of references to a lot of famous anime and gaming titles, as an addition to the comedy aspect. Needless to say this isn't anything original either, series like Gintama are pawning major titles with their sense of humor for a long time now. Even so, I believe the jokes in NGNL are pretty good, if there's anything good in the series, then this is clearly it. I followed this series weekly, so it served as a time-pass and mood changer from the TV series I was into that time.


Art & Animation wise, the show did a fine job. It was colorful and vibrant, pretty good for lightening up the mood after watching something serious/depressing. Music wasn't memorable enough, in fact I can't even recall a single soundtrack. So no points there.


The sense and meaning of "entertainment" can vary from person to person. Some people just look for and enjoy a good time-pass, some have their fetishes to deal with, some look for creativity and originality and some look for a certain smartness. A fair warning though, it can be irritating at times, especially if you are the type that seeks and enjoy a certain intellectual depth in any art or literature form. It is as good as the majority of anime out there. So do I recommend this anime? Personally NO, since I didn't find it good enough for anyone to purposely use their bandwidth and time over it. But, at the same time, if you have read the whole review and are fine with whatever is written, be my guest and watch the show.

Preface: I'm sorry if I sound angry or mad in this response because I have talked about this show many times, and my hate goes FAR beyond me just thinking this is a bad show lol

First, let me start off on why I think it's bad.

Story: 1/10
The story contains more plot holes than I can count on my fingers and toes (EX. If Sora and Shiro had the previous king basically write them an instruction manual on the shooter game they played against the animal people, why did they freak out when they realized they were in the city? Surely the manual mentioned that. ... And don't even get me started on the cheating. Cheating is one of the only rules established, and yet everyone does it to the point where it's not even a game of skill or wit, but a competition to see who can cheat better. AND NO ONE EVER GETS CAUGHT) The games themselves are entertaining for the first 5 minutes, until we are bombarded with table turns. One minute, Sora and Shiro have a commanding lead, then the next they are helpless only to repeat this cycle man times throughout the entirety of the games. This wouldn't be as bad, however, if the main protagonists could lose, BUT THEY CAN'T. They literally say countless times throughout the show "Blank never loses." I don't know about you, but I lost all interest after the constant repetition of "Blank never loses." Oh, they're losing this chess game? Good thing "Blank never loses." What's this? The opponent is cheating AGAIN (and surprisingly no one notices) WHAT'S COULD POSSIBLY HAP... Oh wait I almost forgot. "Blank never loses." The games fell flat and became incredibly uninteresting because of this. It's also a fudging ecchi (and ecchi is my least favorite genre.) Need I say more on that? xD Lastly this show ends with a terrible "read the light novel ending." When I got to the last episode, I found myself 100% DISsatisfied, and that in and of itself was enough to make me not like the show from the get-go. (It's my least favorite ending of ALL TIME) I would have loved to have heard or have seen more than 2 races, but I guess I'll have to read the light novel to do so (Spoilers: I'm not going to)

Characters: 1/10
The characters are abysmal. Sora and Shiro have one driving factor, and that is to be kings of this world. Anything more? Any backstory? How did they meet? Why are they so good at games? Why doesn't Shiro wear a longer skirt, so there aren't as many pantyshots? (She's 11 btw) The show neglects to tell us all these things (especially the last one,) and the main characters are incredibly empty because of it. What about Jibril? Nothing to say there either. Same with that one elf girl and her former slave who's names escape me FOR SOME REASON (It's because they are irrelevant.) No backstory, no real driving factors, no development. Just plain, 2D cardboard cutouts. Notice I've saved the best for last. Steph. Steph is the worst character I've seen in anime to date. She is nothing but a fanservice device, she is the intermediary character who goes from smart to dumb just for the sake of relaying Sora and Shiro's thought processes to the audience (not like it matters considering Blank never loses) and has no backstory or development to speak of. All the characters are completely worthless to the point of not being able to call them characters.

Art: 7/10
I will give credit where it's due, the art is really good. Great use of red outlines, but just a tad bit too bright for my liking. The game world looked great, and backgrounds were really well done.

Sound: 6/10
The sound was good, as well with a fantastic opening, and great VA's

So that's why I think it's a bad show, but why do I hate this show so much?

Enjoyment: .05/10
Bet you didn't think it went lower than a 1, did you? Well, I had to make an exception in this case. There is one reason besides everything mentioned above) why I dislike the show so much, and why it's my least favorite show of all time It's the fanbase. The people who have told me this utterly terrible show is good. Now, if you like the show, that's 100% fine. I can't argue with your opinions, and I think NO LESS of anyone who likes this show. But it's the countless arguments I've had with people who try to tell me this show is actually good. As you can see, I can back up my reasoning on why I think this show is bad because I've had to do this exact same thing many, MANY times. I've typed LOTS of paragraphs to people, and sometimes with a negative and condescending intent because I've been told by one of these people AND I QUOTE EXACTLY "I am not going to lie I won't lie I am going to say this right now you are worthless please kill yourself this anime is in so many ways..." (keep in mind I said nothing to this person prior to this comment on my review on my Youtube channel)

If I were to average my scores, it would be a 3.1 but this show doesn't deserve that.

So that's it. Sorry I ranted, and I mean no ill intent nor do I mean to be condescending to anyone in any way by anything I've said. And let me finish by saying again, I have no problems with anyone liking this show. Your opinion is just that, and I can't (and won't) hate you for thinking the way you do. I'm just plain hate it when people are condescending about me not liking it as much as I do, or try to tell me it's a good show xD

(3.0/10)

How can something so verbose be so air headed? No matter how many explanations of absolutely out-there mind games this show tries to play, no matter how many times it flips a preconceived rule on its head, no matter how many times it dehumanizes a female, it’s still just a hollow, lifeless shell. Or is it? For all the things i'm about to figuratively yell about, there's a creeping sensation that i'm completely wrong.

To keep my reviews fresh and somewhat engaging I try to structure every review differently. As in, I look at the structure of the show and adapt my review to fill ... that structure. For example, in my HunterxHunter review, I split it into 7 parts. Each part represents one of the seven arcs in the show. It’s a little device I use to maybe engage readers a little more, who knows if it works.

And so I sit here wondering how the hell am I going to formulate this review for No Game No Life, because this show brings literally nothing to the table.

This show is so shallow, lifeless, and dull that I can’t actually think of a way to make this review interesting. Under these layers of candy-coated color and over-saturated landscapes and extreme uses of light neon bouncy happy colors, this show does a poor job at hiding the fact that its pretty god damn lifeless.

I know it’s really douchey to attack someone for their likes and dislikes. “YOU like SAO? What a peasant!” “YOU like Naruto!? Ha! What generic taste!”
I get that

So bear with me as I act like a massive self-righteous douchebag in this review…

…

Are you kidding me, MAL? Are you kidding me anime fans? An 8.5? This show has an 8.5? THIS show?

What the fuck.

I get that “turn your brain off”, self-insert, escapist entertainment is well-liked in this community. I get that. And that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with escapism. I don’t personally think something should require “turning off your brain” to be enjoyable, but regardless, it’s a common saying so I’ll use it.

But what in the actual world compels this community to rate this show so highly, though? I get FMA, I may think it’s horrendously overrated like every damn shounen action show I’ve ever seen, but I get it. It does do things differently.
…

Why this though? Why this? This isn’t even SAO level awful, not even remotely close. But why? Is it because there are giant 2D tits on screen every episode? Is it cause this show uses the guise of self-awareness to pander to its fans? Is it the fucking unbearable trope of trying to make good-for-nothing NEETS seem cool, “Cause that’s the demographic?”

I honestly can’t tell. I just don’t know. Why do people eat this shit up? Why is this show scoring better than half the Monogatari series? Or up there with Madoka?

There has never been a show with a base rating that has infuriated me so much due to that base rating. Saying I shouldn’t care what people think of something is bullshit, too. Of course I care about entertainment. Of course I want the best entertainment possible. Everyone should care about what people think of something, especially when it comes to entertainment because this is our leisure time! We want the best of this!

People thinking makes the world go around. I’m also petty and get angry when people like stuff I don’t like. I’m a douche like that.

If people think this show is great and it becomes popular, then we’ll have hundreds of copy cats the next year copying the shows formula. And that’s this industry. So don’t tell me that I shoudn’t care. I know I’m being a prick but fuck you I want to see something different, not something puts on lens-less glasses and goes “hoi aren’t I a smart guy! Look at my glasses!”

Man this show is shallow! Every female is fucking useless. Every. Single. One. Even the little sister which is made to seem like she’s on even ground with her brother isn’t really. Even when she needs to “save” him, its revealed that he always knew what he was doing. She’s a device he wants to protect, he’s a protector. And she’s there to appeal to that male demographic instinct of protection, that’s why she’s created with being the cutest possible thing in mind. The show goes so far as to rub that cuteness in your face, yelling “Look how cute she is!” and it falls flat, in my opinion.

That’s it, though. The big strong man is smarter and better at everything than these dumb, ditzy, drooling girls. Even the smart eleven year old Loli needs protection and care, cause god forbid someone is on the same level as our protagonist!
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I know I’m sounding like some ranting feminist. Trust me, I’m not. What gets to me isn’t that a bunch of out-of-touch execs and manga writers think this is what will appeal to a bunch of shut-in virgins. That people are so shallow that when they see some jiggling tits, zany kazoo background music, and an overly convoluted explanation for something retarded that they’ll give it an automatic 10/10. That’s not what’s annoying.

What’s annoying is that apparently it’s true! That is what people want! This is a show that’s almost in the top 100 highest rated anime EVER.

Holy. Fuck. It wasn’t even THAT bad. As I said, SAO was significantly more of a slog to get through and this show actually did get me to chuckle once every three or so episodes, which is more than I can say about most comedy anime.

So let’s get into the actual show. Much like the show I started this review in a very loud, eccentric way. What I’m saying has literally no substance in the long run and doesn’t reflect what the populace actually thinks of this show. It’s here to reiterate what many people ehav ealready said in the past about similar shows. This is the most generic possible anime that insults intelligence under the guise of something not-generic. It delivers cringe-inducing characterization choices. It’s well animated, although the style itself is fairly ugly, in my dickish purde opinion. There’s a few things we need to talk about.

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Characters:

The designs lack any inspiration at all. A show that can compared to this one is Konosuba. Which is a similar comedy-focused show that, although not lacking in faults, still felt somewhat inspired in various areas. Even the character designs were generally solid.

Here in “No Game No Life”, we have a generic MC who’s there to be generic. He’s a NEET with, as the show puts it, “social anxiety issues”. However, he’s one of the most charismatic people in the world who’s perfect at talking and charming the ladies. Much like most NEETS are, right? Oh yeah, don’t let this basement dwelling virgin that cuddles up with his eleven-year-old sister charm the panties off of you! This characterization is lacking in metaphoric chromosomes.
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We also have said sister. Who’s eleven. And a imouto deadpan Loli. That’s it. That’s her character. Everything else she shares with her brother. They’re both inseparable from each other and there’s a hint at incestuous love from her, but not enough for it to become something of substance since that’d be TOO REAL for a show trying so hard to be self-aware of its ridiculousness.

Her character design is similarly uninspired. While her brother is as generic looking as they come. You know, a sexy, fit, charismatic, basement dwelling virgin who stays up for days playing video games… she’s this wild magical looking Loli. Which looked cartoonishly out of place in the real world.
I know the excuses people will use, too. “Well Artrill, they aren’t supposed to look of this world because they aren’t!” Yeah, I’d believe that if our protagonist wasn’t Gen-Ericson McGeneric.
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Every other notable side character is a moron girl that gets outclassed by our genius protagonist. It’s also worth noting that there are two girl designs in this show. Big tittied monstrosity and flat-chested Loli. That’s it. There is no in-between. There is no “regular” looking female character.

There’s big-boobied redhead punching bag, or “Steph” as they call her. They try and make her "useful" but every useful thing she does is because of our amazing main characters knack at manipulating her uselessness. I can’t remember a single piece of dialogue she had past episode three because all her voice lines are just loud yelling and hysteria-driven shrieking. Which is HIIIILARIOUS!!!

Have you ever seen a shounen action anime where every joke in the show is just a character reacting really loudly to something?! Well if the answer is yes then you must have seen every single shounen anime ever! Why the fuck is every single piece of comedy in these shows so in-your-face-forcd-down-your-throat? Where’s the subtlety? Where’s the nuance? Where’s the not gag-inducing dialogue? No. How about we actually get some good gags at all!

Why does one in every fifty gags in this show feel original? Hell, half the time this show got me to exhale air through my nose (cause that’s laughing) was because it was just copying something from a different show. Whether it’s a Jojo, Evangelion, or Phoenix Wright reference.

References aren’t inherently bad either, and many shows piggy back on doing referential humor. A perfect example is Community, which is my all-time favorite comedy. The difference here is that the references in Community get utilized creatively. Entire episodes play homage to certain references. The show creates something new and original with them.
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Then there’s bird girl. Or Gerbil. Or is it Jibril? I can’t tell because she’s just another big-tittied idiot who bends to our protagonists will after her introduction episode.

Except this one has wings!

Wow! You’re really outdoing yourself with the character designs, show! Where’d you go to design school? “How to pander to our base demographic”-College? With a major in Fanservice-ollogy and a minor in I-Don’t-care-enough-to-make-a-funny-minor-pun?!

Bow down, Monogatari, Cowboy Bebop, HunterxHunter, THIS is how you do character design! Creative, distinctive, well-drawn and personality-infused character designs? Pff! Who needs THAT!

This show does occasionally get a bit more sobering. And by that I mean the corny generic “comedy scene” music stops and we get “drama”.

Or as I like to call it, “Redhead crying hour”, where our favorite busty redhead, Steph, cries for most of the episode. This happens for one or all of these reasons:

A.) She fucked up and is a moron, which leads to tears.
B.) She gets insulted by our protagonist and is a moron, which leads to tears.
C.) She’s a useless moron there to be loud, eccentric, and fan-service bait that drools over our protagonist. She’s sub-human trash I’d treat like an empty bottle of Gatorade and throw in the trash. She drools over our protagonist, even though he’s “awful”, as she convinces herself in the most boring tsundere way.

But the show even half-asses that. She’s not actually tsundere and it’s mostly played for laughs. The only issue is it’s not actually funny. I get that in animation you can do all sorts of wacky physical humor due to the lack of physical bounds, but that’s what makes it all the more boring.
There’s a reason we no longer see the whole “running off a cliff, looking at the camera and THEN falling” gag in animation. Physical humor in animation isn’t easy to pull off because it’s such a clichéd field. “Oh the character makes a wacky face and yells and jumps around!” Hasn’t been funny in 60 years, show. Stop using it for 6/10ths of your punchlines.

…

Regardless. She cries and cries until our protagonist says some generic recycled shounen drivel about “believing in yourself and having hope for humanity”, then she cries some more.

Yes. We get it. She’s a weak, dumb character. Hilarious and awesome!
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Relationship:

The headline of this show is the relationship between our main character and his sister. I've seen so many people just gushing over how dynamic and interesting this relationship, however, I just didn't see it. As I said above, his sister is quite literally just the same as him except she's a deadpan Loli.

Towards the final arc of the show we finally got some deviation between the two, the sister being more calculating and less emotional. While our protag is less calculating and more emotional. But at that point its been ten episodes and extra characterization feels tacked on, especially since these characters are so constantly NOT evolving.

Their relationship never goes past "cute and simple". So I find it hard to praise a show on that. Especially since it does weave into fanservicey at times, with his sister being exploited similarly to the other girls on the show. While our protagonist isn't so keen on seeing her naked, its still a line this show teasingly tries to cross.

Thing is, this fan-service is just not too good... and no, i'm not talking about the actual nakedness of the girls or the camera angles in which they are filmed. That's mostly subjective, if you like 2D eleven year olds then all the power to you. I'm talking about context to fan-service, especially in regards to their relationship.

...

If fanservice, and by fanservice I mean purposefully titillating scenes, are mandatory. Then you might as well try to weave them into the narrative. I want to say that the show does try to do that but it does it in such a corny and half-assed way that I can't help but feel like its patronizing.

"So these characters have to get to know each other, lets throw them into a bathhouse cause then there'll be funny physical humor where the flat-chested loli is embarrassed that she is flat chested! That's NEVER been done before!"

Now compare that to something like Monogatari's fanservice and you see the stark and obvious difference between the two. But i'm not trying to constantly compare this to something like Monogatari. I'm trying to point out how fanservice can be a part of the story, or how fanservice can be tacked on because the show needs to market these characters somehow.

...

I won't even touch on how sexualizing an eleven year old is weird. This is anime, this happens constantly. I'm not pretending like this is the first show to do this kind of creepy shit. But if you are going for creepy shit, at least put effort into said creepy shit. Make it extra creepy and spicy.
______________________________________________________________

Animation :


So lets talk animation. Above I mentioned that it is in fact well-animated. And it is. It honestly has some really solid animation throughout. There is a lot of movement and said movement is pretty fluid and entertaining. I actually was fairly impressed by how well animated the entire show is.

The artstyle is another, wholly subjective field i'll mention. It's not really my thing. The entire show is over-saturated and incredibly colorful. To the point where it's almost blinding. Even during the a certain episode where half of it is in black and white, the show still feels very blinding in its color.

This is most definitely a stylistic choice. I just don't like that stylistic choice. It makes the show hard to watch for extended periods of time.

...

I've spoken enough about how uninspired every character in this show is. Every character is a design I've seen multiple times before. There's literally nothing I can say about the design positively. Its either generic as hell or bad.

______________________________________________________________

THE mostly POSITIVES :

-The Story :


Here's where we get into things that I was decently impressed by. While the story beats are as generic as they come, the games which these characters do play are all pretty well fleshed out and engaging. Engaging in the most basic way, sure, but engaging nonetheless.

The show pretty much takes a popular game, whether its a board game or anything else, and adds its own spin on it. The spin is generally overly complicated and kind of illogical, but regardless... here we are.

The reason for this illogical and emotional spin on things is to once again service our protagonist and make him out to be the best at everything. Sure his little sister is a logical beast and can calculate just about everything, but it doesn't really matter since EVERY game doesn't service that. And every game doesn't service that not because the world in the show is like that, but because the writers wrote it like that. This makes a lot of the reasoning feel stilted.

Specifically a twist on the Japanese board-game, Othello, was so contrived, dumb, and unnecessary that it spoiled an otherwise fine episode. So put bluntly, this show feels like its fighting against itself with these games. Sometimes they are creative and visually pleasing, albeit nonsense. Other times they are just nonsense.

...

In the shows finale a whole new world is created, and while the showdown isn't nearly as entertaining as the showdown mid-way through the show, its still decently put together. Here our characters face off against one of the two girl archetypes:

[Big Boobied idiot]

[Flat-chested soft-spoken loli] <--- This one

However, I will say that the conclusion overall is fairly well put together. The ending didn't feel sure of whether it'll get a second season or not, which made it seems a bit lame. But the actions before that were serviceable and were most likely some of the strongest moments in the show.

...

The story itself is a bit more political than usual, which adds a certain sense of wonder. I guess. The world being fairly generic doesn't help. There's this sense that this show wants to feel as though its parodying itself, but it really doesn't pull it off. On occasion there are one liners that are fairly like-able and create for more engaging dialogue in-between the action, but for the most part the story is split up between three sections.

There's exposition, fanservice, and action.

______________________________________________________________

Conclusion :


When I was just beginning to become interested in film and the entertainment industry, my father and I would constantly talk with each other about objectivity and subjectivity in film. When I was younger I never really liked or truly understood what he was saying.

He has years and years in the film industry and obviously knows the way things work. However, i'd always argue with him about story elements. Whether a certain story was good or bad and why. He'd always reply the same way though.

"Well, how did the film do in the box office?" This always annoyed me because i'd say, "It doesn't matter, Dad, we're talking about the story!" And then he'd respond the same way.

This is because at the end of the day entertainment is made for the people. Regardless of how much hatred something like the Transformers movies get constantly, they still make billions in the box office. People always go to watch them and they keep going. So clearly the films aren't 'bad", are they?

...

If we are talking about objective success, in regards to story, delivery, characters, anything. That objective success lies in what the audience thinks of something. How they respond and how they engage with the material. If that response is plentiful and positive then that piece of entertainment is an objective success.

My father would tell me that I need to understand this if I ever want to succeed in the industry. Sure there are niche markets. Arthouse films are a perfect example. But the most successful and recognizable arthouse films and shows are the ones that succeeded in becoming popular in that niche market. So at the end of the day every single piece of media that can be seen as objectively good is one that succeeds in its demographic.

...

What i'm trying to say is at the end of the day i'm wrong about this show. I may not like it because it does everything I hate about anime. And anime does a lot of things I hate. The reason it does all those things I hate is because that's the market. The market its appealing to is my least favorite market in the entertainment business. However, it's doing it well since look how damn popular this show is. Look how good the reviews are!

So at the end of the day, i'm very wrong. Sure my opinions are backed up by some resemblance of logic, but that doesn't make them accurate in the long term. The best I can do here is understand why this show got so popular. Its the definition of escapist entertainment and that's fine.

I may not like it because it feels shallow and boring. But to others it doesn't. This is what they want.

...

So this show is perfectly just there. I watched it and I'll most likely forget most of the characters and plot. It follows a very obvious archetype and there really is no tension built in this show. Every problem is almost immediately solved.

This is escapism at its most blatant and that's not a bad thing.

Thank you collective anime fandom!,No Game No Life exists as one of the results of "The World God Only Knows" UTTER FAILURE to save anime.

Anime fandom:we don't want sincere well written stories we want delusion and dogma to define anime.

Now moe anime have become more gary stu like more fanservice which pretty much makes them hentai.

No game No life was very inspired from the TWGOK,and the reason why I brought this up.

Sora and shiro are what drives this show,and a "ripoff" of Keima's coolness.except where keima was going toe to toe wtih the "REAL" world and was an actual non Gary stu character,the two ... of them are an otaku and fujioshi fantasy.

This series makes you think they are smart but when you see their tatics they use more deus ex than actual intelligence.

Like that chess game ,the chess pieces have shonen power ups.

And why was the girl otaku able to PHYSICALLY MOVE and keep up with the beast girl?Even in that game,it still doesn't explain her body movements.


And come on the show has girls FULLY NUDE in some points.What happened to fanservice being just a tease?

And why nobody was smart enough to give a PHYSICAL SPORT CHALLENGE to them?They would lose easliy.

Its like the person who made this was taking revenge on TWGOK for showing the "sting" of reality, and making these two overcompensate.

And it looks like it has mainstream acceptance.

(Two years after the Goddess Arc and this is what anime has become....)

First of all I have to say; thanks to Christina Aguilera! Because of her I got through the entire Anime. (I was listening her music all the time, especially "Dirrty"). But I was still able to catch the point of the story.

- Sora and Shiro are hikikomori siblings who don't care for the real world, but dominate any game when they work together as "Blank." -
This should be enough introduction I suppose. Some may say it's a "must watch" for everyone who's fallen in love with all kind of video games.
Well, I myself am a fan of videogame, yet I admire "real" games even ... more. Poker or chess for instance.
So I should like this anime(?); however, I do not at all.

The story itself would be quite interesting. In fact, after the first reviews I've read, my expectations were on a fair level I think. And even my first impression wasn't so bad.
But yet, I noticed after the first few minutes how incredibly boring the anime turned out to be. Especially because of the two main protagonists - Sora and Shiro. They are incredibly talented kids - full of skills and their only "weakness" is apparently that they have to be together... all the time. Otherwise, they behave ridiculously strange!

In my opinion there's another problem. How they actually win all the games. It is sort of "Oops, I did it again" (Thanks Britney for this line - now it makes absolutely sense.)
Therefore, you undoubtedly know the kids will win every single game no matter what! They bet something, literally their lives, and win of course; otherweise, the serie would come to an abrupt ending...

I thoroughly believe that the anime is totaly overhyped, in any ways you can even think of. Still, there are a plenty of animes out there which are far worse than NGNL actually is. Yet I must confess the beginning was decently entertaining; nevertheless, I'd rather be watching a show which keeps what it's promised.

Never have I watched such an underwhelming show. No Game No Life was an overly hyped and poorly written show. I don't understand why this show even has an 8.36 rating, it's god awful and people don't even see it for themselves.

---Story--- (1/10)
The anime hardly has munch of a story to it, although it is a rather unique story. It started out with potential but as the episodes progressed it got worse and completely wasted its potential. The story didn't seem to go anywhere or it was all over the place which made the show somewhat hard to follow as to what was going on. ... The episodes we also seemingly stretched out to where Sora and Shiro playing one game that lasted about 2 whole episodes and the game didn't even make sense in the end which was frustrating! (Those that have watched the anime probably know exactly what game I'm referring to in particular). Also a lot of the anime seemed is purely for fan service (this is probably the main reason that this anime has such a high rating), which keeps the story from properly progressing.

---Art--- (9/10)
The art is rather lovely with it's bright, various colors which adds depth to the scenery but sometimes the art is overdone and puts a bit of strain on the eye but otherwise it's great.

---Sound--- (7/10)
The openings and ending songs of No Game No Life is really good but other than that there isn't much else to say due to their not really being a lot of music paying during the anime itself; therefore, giving a pretty low score. It could have had music during some of the games.

---Characters--- (1/10)
The characters in No Game No Life are very underdeveloped and have no depth to them and are used mostly for fan sevice. Stephanie doesn't even really serve a purpose within the anime despite her being a main character she is there just to be made fun of by everyone calling her a moron and she is basically used for fan service and nothing more. Jibril is, like Stephanie, a remotely useless character that is also yet again used mostly for fan service and is also underdeveloped character. Shiro is somewhat more developed but still doesn't show any significant character change which is a HUGE part of character development but she was, like almost all of the female characters, was used for fan service and remind you she is only 11! Shiro also seems to have a disturbing and perverse relationship with her brother, Sora. Zell had yet again a somewhat useless role, although she did serve a bigger role and more character development than Stephanie and Jibril, but she did serve the role of competing against Sora and Shiro in one of the games. She did have her thoughts and feelings expressed which was an improvement from Stephanie and Jibril. Sora on the other hand had a bit more character development than all of the characters and is an at least decent character.

---Enjoyment--- (2/10)
Despite the problems with the anime the show was somewhat enjoyable. The show was somewhat entertaining and funny which was a somewhat redeeming quality. However, it did no fully compensate for the problems within the anime. Due to the fact that the episodes seemed long, stretched out, and sometimes pointless along with it being hard to follow at times as to what was going on, I wasn't able to properly enjoy this anime to its full extent.

---Overall Score--- (3/10)
This show was rather disappointing and quite appalling as to how flawed it was. There seems to be more fan service than actual story which is saddening to say the least, along with underdeveloped and pointless characters. This anime was a waste of time to watch and one I wouldn't recommend to watch. I hope this helps other people see for themselves how bad this anime actually is and that this gets rated lower.

12 episodes of praising Instrumental Reason doesn’t make for good fiction, but it makes it clear why the anime blew up so much. Popularity is never a result of quality, but of fitting in with the zeitgeist, the common biases and worldviews of an age. That’s why Game of Thrones is so popular since it shows a masculinity that’s dark, therefore intelligent instead of the happy-go-lucky nonsense of 80’s action films. As for this anime, its popularity comes from how blatant it is in showing Instrumental Reason to be the supreme reason. Imagine those vegans or marijuana advocates who think that their pet issues would ... solve all the world’s problems.

Before we discuss why this anime is so bad, let’s clarify what I mean by ‘Instrumental Reason’. I capitalize it because it’s a useful term. To use Charles Taylor’s definition, it is reason which is about efficiancy and problem-solving. It asks how fast we can solve a problem, what is the best way to solve a problem.

Take the case of a busted wheel. When your wheel’s gone bust, you don’t ask what it means, what ramifications it will have on pop culture or on our perception of gender and reality. All that matters is that we change tires as quickly as possible, and that the tire will be good enough to last as long as possible. While there are theories dissecting the meaning behind games, when we play chess we don’t think what the game means. Rather, we asks how we beat the game.

In contrast, there is what I’d call ‘reason of meaning’. By that, you ask what is the nature of things. We don’t just ask how to end racism and poverty, but what exactly is racism and poverty. We’re interested in understanding these issues, defining them, understanding what is bad. Instrumental Reason leads to a lot of money for hi-tech buffons, but it cannot solve all problems since it doesn’t tell you what the problem, or the meaning of things is.

Sora and Shiro are one pair whose world is in Instrumental Reason. While games have meaning, the meaning is related to the mere act of playing. We don’t question whether or not we should win a game and what is the nature of winning chess – the rules decide that. The world of Disboard is a world where every problem isn’t just solved by games, but by Instrumental Reason.

That means it’s a world that doesn’t have any meaning at all. The nature of any problem doesn’t matter, since there will be an arbitrary equation that must solved. Once we solve this equation, the problem ends. The anime tells the story of a megalomaniacal brother-and-sister who beat people in games, gain power and minions and occasionally pay lip-service to morality.

Now, if the series was an examination of such Instrumental Reason, it would’ve been fine. If Instrumental Reason was merely a dominant storytelling tool, then it could still have a decent story. By that, I mean that the show works similar to Death Note and Code Geass. The story moves mainly by challenges facing the characters, and the characters need to solve them. The viewer gains pleasure from trying to solve the riddle along with the characters. However, the meaning of these challenges isn’t important.

Instrumental Reason is so dominant in this anime that these challenges don’t even pretend to have meaning. Death Note may have been a series of riddles, but underneath it there was supposed to be a story about the morality of executing criminals. It failed because it didn’t create situations where we examined the issue, but rather only asked ‘who will win?’. In similar fashion, the only question this anime asks is ‘how will Sora and Shiro win?’.

As a storytelling tool, it’s incredibly boring. It’s essentially watching a staged game. The whole thrill of watching sports is that you don’t know who will win and nothing is decided until the last moment. Stories which use Instrumental Reason make you watch a man playing chess against himself, only with more narrative fluff and (in the case of anime) pretty visuals.

So as a story, this is a complete failure. Really, it’s about nothing. Only near the end it says something about the nature of games, but the whole thing happens in an alternative reality. Once the characters are thrown into it, no mention of the real world. Without admitting there is a real world where not everything is a game, it cannot explore the nature of games. Many throw the word ‘escapist’ around and it’s always debatable how escapist a show is, but can anyone debate this? The characters literally escape the real world so they could play forever.

If the story is an absolute failure, at least it could do well in other aspects. Sadly, it’s all bad except for the art. The art is easily some of anime’s best. It’s such a shame that a highlight in anime art is glued to a horrible story. Look at those vibrant colors, how every scene doesn’t have so much a depth of detail but a depth of color. It creates the feeling of a truly fantastical world. It applies to character design, too. While the series is shameless in fanservice, each character gets its unique touch, unique eye shapes and hairstyles. Shiro isn’t the best design, but her design is a good case in point. Her hair isn’t just long but has a distinct flow to it. Jibril is another excellent case. For a character who floats around half-naked, they sure thought about a lot of unique touches – the asymmetrical gloves, the gardient in the hair.

Sadly, this is where the positives end. Some of the characters are good, but they need a different setting and a different storytelling method. Stephanie Dola could’ve been a light in the dark, a contrast to the world. Her emotional reaction actually could’ve added some ‘reason of meaning’, show us a character who thinks about other things besides winning. Too bad her role is to be slapped around, sexually humiliated and generally used as a tool. If so far you were convinced my rantings about ‘Instrumental Reason’ was just cranking about, here’s the final nail. The anime takes its one character who has a different view than constantly puts it down.

Sora is tied to this problem, and to the misogyny problem. He’s a 20th century masculine stereotype. Writing about transformation of masculinity in fiction is incomplete without him. We see how once the manly hero packed guns, now he’s shagging women and is being a conniving, selfish asshole. What defines Sora isn’t heroism like those in the 80’s movies, but his pure ‘Instrumental Reason’. All that matters to him is winning, all he can think about is winning.

Occasionally he displays some moral code about being nice to those he lose. We never see the general ethics that guide him, though. Since he’s comfortable using everyone as pieces, he’s more like a Wolf of Wall Street, doing everything to win and using people as means to an end. It fits with the zeitgeist. Go to school, and they will teach you how the only important thing is making loads of money. Whatever technology you invent, whatever content you produce, it doesn’t matter so long as you get money. No surprise our politicians are so corrupt.

Using people as means, besides pissing off Kant also gives the whole anime a strong misogynistic bent. You don’t just see women in sexy situations, but often humiliating situations. Stephanie gets the most of it. An episode is dedicated to treating her like an animal only to teach her a lesson. He also takes pictures of her nude without consent and there’s the whole ‘laughing at flat women’ thing. I don’t see anything funny about humiliating a girl, taking nude pictures of her and generally framing her as inferior and dumb. Worst of all, we’re meant to cheer for Sora and the characters eventually come to like him. I don’t see how his rise to power demanded treating Dola so awfully.

Contrary to the creator’s idea, I would rather have a beer with Stephanie Dola and not just because she’s a woman. No Game No Life is pure escapist fantasy for the hi-tech age. In an age where we want to just solve problems instead of thinking about their nature, it’s the ideal anime. I’m reminded of a story where some government officials asked how to lower the amount of poor people. Onc offered to change the definition to the American definitions, and then there will be less poor people on the count. Notice how the numbers change but no one asks what exactly poverty is and what’s the actual problem. It’s a comfortable mindset, but we don’t live in Disboard. Our world isn’t clean and ordered where each problems have clear laws. In this world, you have to ask what is the problem, what it means and the whole shebang. Also, you can’t go around treating women like Sora treats Stephanie. Somebody might come and get all 80’s Action Movie on your ass.

1.5 misogynists out of 5

This is an anime about 2 game addicted neets written by people who have never playing a game competitively or talked to anyone who was a neet. If these characters are half as smart as they are said to be, they would easily succeed in the real world. But they choose to become neets. I have no idea why at this point because I dropped this at episode 2. From what it shows of them in the real world, they are just amazing at games. Like they are MLG 420 no scope tier so much so that they can't lose at anything, there might as ... well be hit marker in every scene. How they don't just join some pro gaming scene can only be explained by the writers never having heard of professional gaming. The little one is suppose to be able to beat top chess AIs because she is sooooo smart. Maybe if she just demoed that in the real world, they wouldn't have to be neets but alas, no such thing as being a professional chess player exists.

The big one is suppose to be so smart and strategic and the little one is suppose to be a super intelligent super computer or something (shes a human but so smart that she doesn't have any emotions or anything). These 2 are suppose to make up the main cast but I can't seem to relate to either of them at all. Their arrogance is just so apparent that I'd rather root for anyone but them. Their only humanity seem to be when they are making terrible sexual jokes. Their online name they use is "" (blank), because that way, their name is as empty as their soul. I almost cut myself on that edge. They are said to never interact with other players except when beating them so I assume they have no social skills what so ever.

Because these 2 shitheads can't seem to do anything exept be edgy neet gamers in the real world, they get sent to another world where games rule and everything is govern by games. And so everything changes. Because they changed world, somehow that cures them of their aspergers because suddenly the big one can now read social ques and talk to people.

This new world doesn't seem different to me from the real world but now there are like 10 rules and they are all poorly defined what happens seems to be everyone just jump through loop holes and cheats to win, just like how laws work in real life for people who abuse them! Except there are no lawyers. So everyone not abusing the rules get screwed even more and not just the ones who can't afford armies of lawyers.

Which is dumb because if you were to take any challenge in this world, you'd have to be idiot to not draft a binding document with all the terms defined or else you are going to get cheated. They immediately demonstrate the need for lawyers by introducing the third character becoming enslaved because of little technical wording when rules are defined. She to contribute as much to the show as Yoko did in TTGL, which is tits and ass (since in the little one already has the loli fan service covered I guess). Shes just their to be a joke about how dumb she is and how much tits and ass she has.

Because of how inherently flawed I found the show to be from the start and how I can't relate at all to these edgy non characters. I can't see why this show is so highly rated. I guess this show would have been more interesting if I was younger but all the echi makes me think this isn't aimed at younger kids, I think even as a teenager I would have seen through how dumb everything was.

I can only say this show would have probably been more interesting if the characters were more likable because the actual plot and elements aren't that bad once you look past all the logical bullshit that I was complaining about. I don't really have a problem with most of the story elements being that way but since I couldn't relate to the characters, the show made me focus on them so much more so.

Overall the sound and art is decent I guess but their aren't really interesting in any way, the art is just overly colorful and the sound is what you'd expect from a anime with some budget.

If you don't mind characters that only have sexual jokes and being really smart as their only traits, then this can probably be good. Otherwise I can't recommend.

Note: After reading my first review of the series, I decided that my opinion piece was overly antagonistic, and having grown up, it seems that there is far too much hate over trivial things, as well as the presence of politics in the previous review that seemed utterly inappropriate, and that I regret and apologize for.

That being said, the show is still incredibly dreadful upon my second viewing.

In terms of the plot, two exceptionally talented siblings who happen to be a loser hikikomori, are pulled into another fantasy world after demonstrating to the God Tet their amazing skills at online chess, with ... Sora proclaiming that he and his little sister Shirou will take over the world to challenge Tet, which amazingly happens to include the only thing we have seen the duo excel at, GAMES, which they all effortlessly beat over the course of 12 episodes.

While I feel the term "wish fulfillment" and "pandering" are used interchangeably, despite most anime usually being a targeted approach to a certain exploitable market of otakus, and thus qualify as "pandering", I can honestly say that the elements of wish fulfillment are apparent, and drag the anime down.

This isn't the first time most people have seen less than ideal characters as protagonists if but to relate to the audience and to juxtapose their more win-win moments. However, Sora and Shiro, by virtue of being unproductive losers only good at one thing, make it a template with which to base dynamic character growth, but they stay the same throughout the series, with Shiro having little to no character beyond the stoic child trope that has been all the rage (Part of the larger Kuudere character archetype) and Sora is incredibly cocky, but apparently has a heart of gold.

This is peculiar enough as Sora and Shiro are back on Earth, what I consider losers in every sense of the word. My teacher once said "Intelligence is as Intelligence does", meaning that any semblance of thinking is only recognized by its contributions and products, not the mere existence of. That is why many people know who Albert Einstein is, versus that of William Sidis, who was arguably troubled enough to not apply it as Einstein did.

In essence, they are flawed characters who do not grow, but are merely placed in a world that their major flaws simply don't matter. Looking back at my own adolescence, it seems to tie into the mentality many teenagers have of a grander sense of intelligence than which they likely possessed, and the entitlement one demands acknowledging such, and biting the hand of the world that housed you when no one cares enough to pat one on the back. Sora rejects the world that rejects him, but while the world is a cruel and unfair place, this doesn't make him any more logical than the anime portrays him, but far less so. Intelligence isn't a substitute for maturity, and Sora clearly has problems with Earthen society that it would fairly hard to NOT blame it on him in the end. It caters to the angst mentality that one normally associates with the onset of puberty, but instead of making any profound or even sensible insight as to how to cope, this anime only offers succor beyond sympathy and consolation, but by seemingly reaffirming such childish beliefs, which is perhaps the most insidious nature of Stus. It of course, depends on what you define as "perfection".

Sora and Shiro are the most developed of the cast, but I don't find them interesting. Shiro is probably the most disconcerting of the cast to me, as her reticent nature makes her more calculator than person, save for one episode where she went solo. I often read that Sora reads the player, and Shiro does the number crunching, and this is true enough. However, I find most people can't do the emotionless archetype right, and due to the compounding factors revolving around a lack of dynamism, Shiro doesn't feel like a character but more of a plot device. Characters change, have a notable personality, a set of beliefs. Being cute and not talkative hardly qualifies, especially when such a character type is popular enough that Final Fantasy's Lightning makes the top waifu list. (Seriously?)

Shiro is depicted as being somewhat as intelligent as Shiro, albeit with reading people and such. He comes off as bit of an asshole, some entitlement there, some arrogance there. He almost always has a smug expression on his face, which is to be expected, but after 12 episodes of such, I simply got tired of his never letting lack of self doubt. He isn't as villainous as Tatsuya Shiba, or as much of a jerk as Eren Yeager. I found him boring. Having just one expressions isn't any different than having none.

To tie this up, the relationship was oddly a great deal less incestuous than it initially appears, but the lack of any sort of family dynamic is the greatest downfall. We see flashes of their past, but they just served to be more cryptic and doesn't quite explain anything about their current relationship, which is more defined as needing to be within eyesight and within close range before they turn into the hikikomori selves. This sounds interesting, but the weakness is not exploited except for comedy.

Everyone else is conveniently a female, whether they be opposition or allies, save for a few. To be fair, this is expected, and not a death dirge in itself. However, the cast is barely developed beyond an attempt to selling Dakimakuras.

Stephanie "Stephanie" Dola is treated like a dog by the duo, and often exists to make the siblings look smart. Problem is, she is of average to decent intelligence. This isn't a problem when you have characters like Watson summarize Sherlock's action in order to help us understand a genius, but Dola's role comes as demeaning to her as it does for the audience. For example, during the alleyway gambit where Dola tried to win one time by predicting the gender of the person passing through on the main road, Dola got everything wrong while Sora and Shiro got everything right, on the assumption that the percentage of the sex ratio learned more towards the men from previous observations, although not too heavily. Honestly? Dola did not seem to be applying a strategy, but rather evidence that uncertainty means that loss is fairly possible while requiring extraordinary amounts of skill. That being said, the fact is that Dola is correct. She should have been right one or two times, especially if Sora and Shiro took the opposite bet.

Seriously? Dola has no other role than to provide fanservice, some exposition, and well....nothing else, really. One could say she contributed to the last arc, and I think that is a pile of honky, considering everything.

Jibril is someone I find attractive, and is skilled in games herself. I don't have much to say about her, and that is perhaps the most damning of all, besides her role essentially being a more informed exposition machine that makes the world building effortless, and barely does anything for her character. Her role being that she read a great deal of books, this is expected I suppose, but I feel disappointed.

To ramble on about the plot, I feel that some of the criticism of how the games are handled only as a response to the praise of its intelligence, while I took this anime on my second viewing as one treating style over substance.

To answer the question, no, I do not find anything to be intelligent to how these games are resolved, or even if. The gambles the siblings makes are so over the top that they can't possibly lose. The games are poorly defined in the rules and thus, so are the limits of what can be expected in a normal gameplay. Essentially, the show doesn't define what the game is, and attempts to subvert your expectations by an out of left field win that doesn't "break" the rules, but also causes me to be less interested when I know the lack of unspecified or vague limits are what allow this, and only makes it more confusing while watching it, but clear in retrospect. If you don't define the limits, then there is no need to write yourself in a hole. That being said, when you can write just any solution, from the Chess Match to the Game with Jibril, that doesn't require intelligence of either the author or the characters. It is rather dumb if the solution is too out there, or the rules and the gameplay are only revealed at their most important, but I suppose the fun is the aspect that I perceive should be taken from the anime.

How fun is it? Not really. Having seen these tropes a thousand times can do that, and of course, cliches aren't inherently bad. In fact, I am a fan of a few myself. However, with these characters, they run the gamut from irritating comic relief to just boring and underdeveloped. Add on the idea of the extreme wish fulfillment of the show, and the whole work seems annoying.

We got two characters who don't grow, but who are complete failures in our world for seemingly good reason, binge gaming while subsisting on mysteriously procured ramen, where they are recognized for their intelligence by an otherworldly being, and taken to a world where there flaws don't matter or go away, and earning themselves a kingdom to lord over. They are baffling intelligent that they never lose regardless of the stakes. The solutions are not clever, but are made up on the spot, as the rules that "allow" it, sometimes lacking an adequate explanation or not taking advantage of the whole "cheating" angle that was presented for 30 seconds.

Animation Studio Pixar said it best. "You admire a character for trying more than for their successes." Of course, what Sora and Shiro do is beyond most of people's capability, but their effortless winning with a mind and reflexes that cannot be sharpened any further. They are apex in this new society, and don't have to come to terms about why they were not previously successful. This is perhaps the most upsetting part. Intelligence, or being gifted in anyway isn't entitlement to recognition. A king should earn his kingdom, it is not given to him by chance. A man should woo his beloved, not wait for her to fall in his lap. A smart person is recognized for his achievements, not his IQ score.

One might say that NGNL is instead an extreme meritocracy. I can see and agree with it; it seems far better to have intelligent people in office than rampant nepotism we have now, and there seems to be a great deal of viable people in the various governing powers. However, I look at the premise as "How convenient" when Sora and Shiro are whisked to another world that plays to their strengths and nothing against their weaknesses. There is no portal in the real world waiting to teleport one to a fantasy world where they are king and queen, and there is no world where one is completely without weakness. It is a masturbatory practice with faux conflicts and predetermined outcomes that are badly written here, to lessen the burdensome reality of what one may be, essentially using fantastical elements to lessen any conflict one would encounter on Earth. Or rather, regardless of the setting, realistically speaking. That being said, I have to wonder how their flaws don't apply to the world of Disboard in the first place.

If you want to like this anime, I would say go ahead. I am not here to categorize the entire fanbase into one tiny box, if my review did seem that way, but the type of viewer the anime wants to attract and how it goes about it.

Disclaimer out of the way, this anime felt superficial, seemingly more of a corporate product made to sell than an artistic piece. It incorporates hackneyed tropes for its characters and attractive designs to distract from the more vacuous than playful nature of the anime most important aspect, the characters and events. The entire structure of cast and story are contrived in order to appeal to a normal but in the long term senseless view based on the myopic experiences of normal teenagers, but instead of sympathy, it is an indirect justification. In that, yes, they deserve recognition and that the world sucks. It is true the world is unfair, or difficult, but the views presented lack adequate insight on the flaws of such a troubled view, and lacks a viable solution as a result. There are no portals, no otherworldly entities wanting to teleport the worthy, and I doubt that life would be all peachy if there were such a thing.

The opposite of a coming of age story may not be regression, but stagnation. One has to deal with it sooner or later, and given the first episode. Sora and Shiro did not, and did not have to for the remainder of the adpation, which not only made them boring, but also the anime. Style is not viable if the characters are neither charismatic or interesting, and there is nothing of substance about the larger story.

I see nothing, nothing of worth here. It's day in the limelight will be usurped by another of similar quality and similar intentions, and perhaps its forgetful nature speaks volumes about NGNL's transient nature.

This anime is a disappointment for viewers who think critically.

It revolves around riddles. But we, as the viewers, never have any chance to participate in the riddles or solve them ourselves. There aren't any cues visible to the audience and we don't know enough about the world. We're completely left out.

So we're watching allegedly smart main characters solve riddles with information we don't have. The solutions are far-fetched and we keep hearing how smart the main characters are. But since we can't participate, we have no way of verifying ourselves that the main characters are smart. And we ultimately don't care about the riddle's solutions ... or the main characters' progress because the show builds zero viewer involvement.

It's like a show that was made to self-indulge in its premises (mainly "smart characters"), fanservice and colorful artwork. The artstyle is unique, but this cannot compensate for the fact that it wasn't written for the viewers.

At the end, the viewers are presented with an upskirt of a little girl who isn't even in her teenage years. Anyone who still hasn't comprehended that the show is trash should at least draw the line at that point.

I cannot recommend this show at all. Thanks for reading.

If your a fan of loli fan service and underage Incest between an 11 year old girl and her 18 year old brother, this is the show for you! The show centres around 2 main characters who are "siblings", 18 year old genius Soma and 11 year old Shiro, the brother-sister duo get transported to an alternate universe when they beat a god at chess on the internet. In this universe all conflicts are settled by playing games, not a bad concept I thought to myself, boy if only I knew how wrong I was.

First of all the the story telling was very poor at ... best, there were so many holes and skipped over elements of the story I never fully could understand what the writers were trying to portray in their writing, other than "shower with 11 year old girl" or "lets make them make out- I mean coupled breathing *wink wink*". There was no story, yes I will admit there was an impressive psychological aspect to the story but to actually get to it you had to go through 19 and a half minutes of terrible story telling, awful characters and so much fan service to get maybe 30 seconds of it if your lucky.

Oh my god the characters are so bad, they just hold the already dog shit story back. On the bright side they don't leave any type of freak out. No matter if your a sexual predator, a furry or have some other jailable interest, the creators made sure to make a race just for you. Then sprinkle in a little underage incest between an 11 year old girl and her 18 year old brother and tadaa you have the some of the worst characters in any anime ever. I understand that Soma and Shiro are not technically siblings, but that does not make the show any better.

And jeez my eyes are still throbbing from the strobe lights they called animation, like how can you make an entire anime without using a single non-neon color, i've seen enough neon pink for my own and grandkids lives holy crap.

During this... "experience" I was completely disgusted by lackluster storytelling, a very low quality art style, god awful characters and to top it all off some underaged incest. This is a DO NOT WATCH for anybody not planning to fuck their 11 year old sibling in the future. The only good thing about this anime is that its only 12 episodes long and there is no season 2.

Before I start, this review does NOT focus on NGNL:Zero, which was very different to the show. I will only talk about the show here.

** May contain minor spoilers **

If ignoring Dr. Stone as an isekai since it's so widely argued about, NGNL is one of the highest rated isekais on MAL, competing against Re:Zero and Konosuba. However, I don't understand how this is rated as high as those two, as honestly, I thought this was pretty bad.


Story: 1/10

Honestly, this was awful. The idea is that a NEET and his sister are the best gamers to exist but are bored of Earth. When asked if ... they would go to another world they accept, and well, you can guess from there.
The story would be good had there been any challenges whatsoever, but there wasn't a single thing challenging. Nothing that really made me want Sora or Shiro want to win.
Also, I should mention this is a disgrace to ecchi. There's exactly one ecchi joke in this whole anime, but it's somehow milked to the point where it comes up 1-2 times an episode. And it includes an 11 year old girl.
Speaking of the ecchi joke, that's pretty much the only joke in the series. Like it was okay the first time, but it got repetitive so quickly.


Art: 7/10

Art was very good. My only reason for it not being a 10/10 is because it absolutely destroyed my eyes.


Sound: 6/10

Good, but easily forgettable. I don't remember a single melody from the actual anime. This isn't normally a problem, but there isn't much redeeming in this.


Characters: 3/10

I would have rated this 1/10 but there was actually some character development for Sora and Shiro. However, their characters are so unbelievably dense, one sided and boring that I can't get myself to like them. In fact, the only characters I really liked from NGNL are from NGNL:Zero.


Enjoyment: 3/10

There was one fight I enjoyed, but not really anything else. It got so unbelievably stale after episode 2.


Overall: 3/10

I honestly think this anime really isn't an accurate way of looking at isekais. I wouldn't ever recommend this.