No Game No Life

I initially dropped this halfway, but decided to give it another chance since I wanted to discover what made this series so popular, turns out the rest didn’t really improve and while this show has some qualities, the negative aspects really stand out too much for me to make it enjoyable.

Story: I’m not an expert when it comes to the RPG genre, but even though the games are interesting and the moves rather easy to understand everything else just seems like a waste of time. The plot looked very promising at first, the ten pledges and the idea of using games to decide things ... were rather interesting. This, however, was quickly ruined by the amount of fanservice scenes and the failed attemps at being funny.. Although tension is built at times, the filler episodes are extremely boring, and paintful to watch since the character barely have any development. The gaming aspect might be interesting at times, but is kinda ruined by the poorly designed characters and fanservice. Betting everything they got might add tension to the games, but makes the outcome too obvious. The main thing that ruins the plot is the episodes between the important games. Because the characters are little more than clichés, these episodes are long and boring, and the humour, which mainly consists of characters overacting, becomes repetitive, predicable and rather annoying. Some important information is being inserted during these episodes, but every time it basically goes like ‘you will never defeat [nation] because …’ in which Sora and Shiro would reply ‘blank never loses’, and end with Stephanie panicking. Sora and Shiro’s past was cliché, and not detailed enough to be able to make the viewers empathize with them. Not only that, but Shiro’s overly moe voice ruins the dramatic effect .

Characters: The characters are little more than stereotypes, the type of characters you see 37632 times, just with different names and designs. While considering the setting it’s logic that the protagonists are overpowered, they turn out to be rather uninteresting since they hardly face any struggles or character development. Sora’s hikkikomori issue is only joked about, and not really addressed until the end of the show. Since he was a hikkikomori before, you’d expect him to have difficulty interacting with others and probably some self esteem issues. But no, his social skills just come out of nowhere, even though he probably hasn’t spoken to anyone other than Shiro for a long time. Another aspect that has always bothered me is how his perversity is regarded as joke rather than a serious issue, especially considering the fact that he even lusts after really young characters even though he’s 18. More to that, the only opposition to his perversity was Stephanie whining, which was ineffective of course. Shiro is the just the typical kuudere character, the only significant personal issues she seems to have faces was during the match with Kurami and after being separated from Shiro, which was expected and barely changed her character. Furthermore, they seem to win while barely trying, they rarely ever struggle, and don’t do their duty as rules or Imanity. Every one of their quotes can be pretty much reduced to ‘we will never lose’ ‘checkmate’, or something perverted. The worst is Stephanie Dola; despite always tagging along the main characters, she’s mainly here for the fanservice. She’s unintelligent compared to Sora and Shiro, and can only complain her horrible treatment, which makes her extremely annoying. By saying only some cheesy lines, they manage to have her under their feet. Often she will just state obvious things, basically everything about her is just a waste of screentime. Although they try to add some character depth with her issue with her grandpa, it just seems really cliché. If they removed that character, almost nothing would be changed.

Sound: While the soundtracks and seiyus’ voices were fitting, nothing really stood out. The voices are very cute, but get annoying after a while since the same tones are overused and even dramatic scenes sound like a joke with the overly cute voices. I guess they spent too much of their budget on the art to make better soundtracks.

Art: Probably the greatest thing about this show. The art is very detailed and colourful, and the backgrounds are very well drawn. However, the characters look like typical moe characters, which is a waste since their outfits are really interesting. Furthermore, I’m really turned off by the fanservice, I understand that it’s supposed to appeal the male viewers, but the fact that it even sexualizes children is disgusting, and just makes this show seem like little more than bait for old perverts.

No Game No Life is a pretty looking empowerment fantasy, and it succeeds in being just that, but doesn't go beyond its limitations.

What brings it down is the fact that the main characters cannot lose even once or the story will be over. All tension has been thrown out the window. We know the main characters are gonna win, and so do they. What irks me about this is that it's telling the audience that the show is meant to be brainless entertainment, yet it's a story centered around games, wit and intelligence. I am not sure if this is idiotic or secretly genius.

The one ... thing keeping you watching is the question of HOW they will beat their opponents, and if the show does one thing right it is the bombastic presentation of their victories. The journey there can however be improved significantly.

I do enjoy that our sibling protagonists are pro-active and that they actually enjoy being sucked into another world, setting them apart from the typical heroes that just want to live a normal life. Their comradery is cute and their relationship is thankfully kept platonic. I can't say they ever grow as characters through the story, and I doubt they will in any potential 2nd season.

Overall, it's a show with plenty of fun but with a shallow core.

Before you look at the 6 rating, click on "Overall Rating" to see what i rated each element. I did really enjoy this series, but there was some strangeness going on here.

There are tons of glowing reviews about this thing, which i believe comes down to an eerie similarity to Gurren Lagann's main character and the main character for this anime. Personally, I didn't like Gurren Lagann at all. It was too extreme and cheesy for me to handle. and it leapt through time faster than i could keep up, so it got dropped.

Strike one: using a beloved archetype for ... MC

At times i felt the art was way to saturated, making it almost painful to look at. The colors were way to extreme for me to appreciate. The art over all wasn't the greatest, but dayum the fluidity was pretty amazing with the animation. It definitely saved the day imo.

Strike two: hodor!

Admittedly, I picked this show up b/c of the high praise that reached my ears. I was highly skeptical after reading the premise, but decided there must be something special inside. And most anime has terrible premises but they never slow a good show down. And when a show has a great premise (Naruto) well....fillers and poop. But onward frens to strike 3!!!!

THIS ANIME IS A CARBON COPY OF Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?
myanimelist.net/anime/15315/Mondaiji-tachi_ga_Isekai_kara_Kuru_Sou_Desu_yo

So its basically the same show. It's not "like" Mondaiji, it IS Mondaiji with different characters. One show got CRAPPED all over for the MC being way to over powered, the other show is being heralded as ANIME OF THE DECADE. So forgive me for being a little confused, especially as a big fan of Mondaiji ~. With that said, since i liked Mondaiji alot, and am still very sad there is no sequel, i did very much enjoy No Game No Life. Its impossible to like one and not the other. Or is it?

Strike three: Plagiarism

All in all, i'm just surprised by the reception of this anime. I thought there was some interesting things in it, i liked the pacing alot, i liked the mind games and puzzles, it was just really interesting. But the one serious critique is that it's a show that you know exactly where its going. you just don't know how it gets there. Not my favorite type, but they did a good job for PLAGIARIZING THE SHIT OUT OF MONDAIJI

The idea of an intelligence/logic/game based anime is extremely appealing to me. I actively seek these types of anime out; death note, one outs, kaiji, liar game, usogui, even code geass to an extent. No Game No Life is not an intelligence based anime. If you are looking for anything similar to what is listed above then do not watch this anime.

In fact, if you're not looking for a heavily fan-serviced based, often illogical anime you should not watch this anime.

If you want to enjoy this anime, you should view the "intelligence" of the main characters as a super power. In the same way spiderman ... can shoot webs, the main characters can perfectly predict every action that every other character in the show makes with little to no knowledge of their personality or general abilities (and no logical thought process).

Story 5/10
The story gets most of its points for an enjoyable premise. The idea of a "world of games" is pretty original, or at least hasn't often been portrayed successfully within anime (or literature). The world is generally a pretty well thought out one, and the situations that they are put into are interesting enough.

Some of the things they do/say are pretty dumb. I'm also confused as to why the "challenged" team can't just create a game that makes them a 99.99% favourite (stakes are decided beforehand, and they're clearly allowed to make a game that favours them).

Characters 3/10
So.... the main characters are smart? I doubt there was really much more thought put into characters besides that. There was no development in any of the characters, they are all identical to how they are when they're introduced. If they are identical to the start, what was the point of the 12 episodes?

Still the characters have some amusing traits. If you watch the first episode and fine them funny then you'll probably enjoy the show.

Execution (art,sound,dialog etc.) 7/10
Production quality/budget is high, so art/sound are generally pretty good. Fan service is drawn well I guess, the incest lolicon fan service is kinda weird.

Dialog is okay. Sometimes they say some incredibly cliched or stupid things but in general it's pretty typical dialog you come to expect from anime.

Overall 5/10
I didn't like it much, but it was entertaining enough for me to watch the entire thing. Don't look for anything of substance, it's more of a show you want to watch

Rule: Respect my opinion and I will respect yours.

Now let's get onto the review that I long hold since 2014. Now it's new year time.

STORY (6):

The story follows the 2 dynamic duo siblings by the name of Sora & Shiro. Sora is the brother and Shiro is the sister. They are both NEETs and they are transported into the fantasy world of Disboard, by Tet, the world's last remaining God and also their former opponent.

So basically Sora & Shiro are going on their adventure into the world of Disboard to redeem human race of Imanity.

As you know, when I first saw this ... anime being overhyped, I was not very excited because as you know I am not interested in anime that has wish-fulfilment characters like for example Tatsuya Shiba from Mahouka. This anime was produced by Madhouse who also produced Mahouka, an anime which I didn't enjoy that much.

ART (7):

I will give credit for the animation. The animation made use of sunset colors just like in the Pet Girl from Sakurasou. The animation of characters are designed good.

SOUND (7):

The opening and ending songs are good.

CHARACTER (5):

Ok. The problem with this show is the characters. Jibril was decent. The only characters that carry the show are Sora & Shiro. I do like their comradery. However the problem is they are the only ones that shine while the rest of the characters are left to dust. Every game they participate, they won every time.

If your character wins every time, your character will lose credibility. A great character is a character that is put through difficult situations yet persist under pressure.

And not to mention Stephanie Dola. OMG! She is the worst character I have seen all year. All she does is annoy the living hell out of me. She was plain annoying. Not even fit for comic relief character. Her voice and her personality was super annoying. Every time, I see her on screen, I wanted to strangle her.

CONCLUSION (6):

This anime is not as good as the fans praise it to be neither it is as bad as the haters claim it to be. I did enjoy some parts of this anime and especially some characters. However, this doesn't change the fact that this anime is nothing special to me.

I give it a 6/10.

I don’t know why I decided to begin No Game No Life, probably because it has a good score, but as usually happens, the score lies. Again and again.

This review won’t contain spoilers.


No game No Life talks about two brothers that don’t go to school and don’t have any kind of social life, they simply spend all their time playing computer games. So much that you even ask yourself how they can be still alive. After winning a chess-game against Tet, a God, they are brought in a world where every conflict is decided by playing games. Their aim is to become gods of this ... world by defeating the final boss: Tet himself.

Everything revolves on the sympathy between those two incredibly genious characters and the watcher, that wants to be a super sharp mind like those two unrealistic characters. This is the only reason that I can think about for its success. Wait I forgot breasts, it’s full of stupid scenes where characters just randomly lose pieces of their clothes. And yes, this is a concern even in an ecchi anime, because it only adds stupidity to the whole show. And loli, there is so much loli that I don’t even want to talk about that.

The fantasy world they are in seems somewhat challenging, full of obstacles and threats. This could have been interesting if the two brothers, Sora and Shiro, didn’t win everything so easily. Since they have to be a “model to follow” by the watcher, they seem to be expert in litterally everything, from math to literature, without even going to school. They are so strong that they win every single game; even before a challenge starts, you know that they can’t lose. They can’t lose because everytime they bet everything, even their own life at some points, and the plot couldn’t continue otherwise.

Another aspect that is paricularly annoying is that instead of trying to win the games, everyone tries to find the best cheat to win. Infact the rules of this world say that you can cheat as long as you are not detected. So the characters are all focused on deceiving their opponent and there are really just a few games where they played following the rules.

But how do they win? Their intelligence is so high that in ten minutes they could read and understand Einstein’s general relativity paper, during the games they take advantage of things that they couldn’t possibly know if they spend the whole day in front of videogames. The anime tries to put up the logical chain of thoughts that gave to our little Einsteins the victory, but everything seems only based on luck. Let me explain: there are so many things that could go wrong, so many things that they couldn’t have planned in any possible way, that you can only ask yourself “Why the hell don’t they play in a Casino and win millions to live the rest of their life in a royal palace?” They could litterally conquer the whole Earth without any difficulty. Every little detail, even if they seem in trouble, is revealed to be a part of their plan. Someone trips? It was a part of their plan! Someone sneezes? It was a part of their plan! Someone farts? It was a part of their evil plan! They are too smart.

Outrageous luck like a river in this anime flows.

The art is really good, drawings are well made and neon/pink colors, even if many criticize them, are perfect for the anime. Sound is nice too, there are some good OST that match the theme of the anime: videogames. Art is what raised my overall score from 4 to 5, well done Madhouse.

As I’ve already said the two main characters are just unbelievably cunning and smart, but except for that, they are simply flat and without a real purpose in their life except than playing games and prove that Blank, the name that they gave to their team, is better than everyone else and can’t lose. I find this a really weak aim for the life of two teenagers, but ok. They are also completely incosistent and meaningless, for example they spent their whole life in their room and they say that they suffer of agoraphobia, but in two minutes they just change completely, and Sora becomes a formidable orator. This hurts, a lot.

There aren’t other interesting characters. Stephanie is here only for the sake of ecchi, she litterally doesn’t do anything to advance the plot and is completely useless and stupid. She seems like a bonus to use when the anime has been serious for too long and the watcher needs some fanservice. Jybril is the same thing, but with a pair of wings.

Another big question mark is: but Sora and Shiro never asked themself what and where this world is? Why does this world exists? Where are their parents? Why they never talk about them or don’t miss them at least? What the hell is wrong with those guys? No Game No Life doesn’t give you any answer, the watcher just have to accept the fact that they have to become Gods. Ok.

At this point you are probably wondering why I gave to this anime a 5 instead of something much lower. Well, all in all it’s entertaining, some parts are funny and some games are interesting. Strange that I didn’t choose to drop it, maybe I just wanted to see what the producers were trying to put up next. But there are way too many plot holes and inexplicable facts, and what I felt while watching No Game No Life was the disperate attempt to create a intelligent and badass character, that should be Sora, and creating an harem around him, because badass guys attract girls...

Should you watch it? If you have some free time and you don’t have anything better to do. There are so many good anime around that it’s a pity to waste time on this one, but if you are just searching an anime with a cool main character, then No Game No Life is probably for you.

You hate me because No Game No Life is the best anime ever? It was all my plan since the beginning!

Hey there! First things first, this is my first review and i’m not a english speaker. This review contains my humble opinion and SPOILERS, hope you like it and if you have different point of view i would like very much to discuss it

The story
One day two siblings who happen to be a urban legends in the internet with the name Blank (literally [ ]) are invited to a simple game of chess by a boy, who happen to be a God from a fantasy world. After the game that was simply to acknowledge their capacities they are transferred to his world. A ... world where "everything is decided by games", there is no war and no violence only games.
These two siblings have never had lost a game and do not have that intention as after a little while living in this world they decided to stay and a little forder even help Imanity (humanity) to have the right to challenge the one that put them in this world with their talents.
I remember the first time that i read the title and think this would be another anime that did what it suggests: ‘’if the characters die in the game they die in real life’’. It wasn’t and i’m glad they didn’t go that way. It still was that game anime type formula where the characters that incredibly good at what they do and have to face a various number of challenges each one more difficult and with more importance than the other that will change something in the future.
So it’s a simple but interesting plot, but what makes No Game No Life different is that the main characters embrace this new world and even try to rule it and where in others you find difficulties and parts where you doubt the heroes (even though you don’t want to) are going to lose here you just know that Sora and Shiro, the main characters, had already everything and i mean every little thing planned and there is no chance they will lose. And this is what i think it can change your opinion about the whole anime, either you are okay with seeing no problems (at least almost none) and hard time to the siblings and focus your attention to how they do it or either you will probably dislike this entire show. It has to be about you and your taste i guess.

The characters
Sora and Shiro are not surprisingly NEET and hikikomori gamers with poor social social life, until here nothing really new unless the fact that they are siblings. Let’s face it if this two were actually real life people they would be miserable. This thing of romanticized lonely people is not cool. Even though both are known for being both the main characters i got the feeling since the beginning of the show that Sora is the most important character, he gets more screen time, more monologues and play as the voice of both. But he wouldn't go anywhere without his beloved younger stepsister, literally as away from her hebecomer ‘’ a spineless, cowardly wreck, and only returns to his former self if he is able to see her’’. Sora is extroverted, observer and a bit pervert. Not that unusual. Shiro is quite, cute and more intelligent in logical problems, at first i thought she would be a little annoying but i was wrong and i ended up liking her character very much and i wish she was/will have a little more of devolvement. They both work perfectly and if Shiro wasn’t there it would be a lot more boring.
As for the supporting characters there is a bit to say, and the first one that comes in my mind is Steph. I really like her role in the story as granddaughter of the latest Imanity’s king. She’s emocional, naive and not as intelligent as Sora and Shiro or any other supporting character to be honest but she is smart. Steph is the dummy character that is needed for the viewers to understand and to catch up with all the games that are played in the show which for me was really useful to be honest. But a problem in her character and in Jibril’s too (all right most of the female characters) is that because of all the fanservice they lose a lot of point and presence. The name of the anime is since it came out knowing by how much fanservice it has is which i think it’s bad ‘cause starting to watch it only for the fanservice takes a little of integrity of the anime story and anime itself. Don’t take me wrong i really liked to see Steph in glasses, Jibril it’s a powerful angel for god sake and i don’t wanna talk about that fox lady from the last episode but the moment that fanservice start to overcome the character trades like it does in NGNL is a little too much especially if they are this important and powerful.
Other characters that i found interesting but weren’t that developed were Chlammy and Feel. They appeared a good quantity of time and yet it feels like they were just another character for Sora and Shiro sudden benefic.

Art and soundtrack:
I will be 100% honest here the thing that actually put me in watching this anime was the art. I had never watched an anime like this and added with fantasy was an amazing thing. It’s colorful and fun just like a world about game sound be. I mean if it was dark why would you wanted to run it? Look at those the backgrounds, they are all about fantasy and games (exactly what this show it’s supposed to be about). I will search for the people who made this kind of artwork in the future.
For sound track i got a positive opinion as well. I don’t think the soundtrack stood out as the art style, i don’t think it has a memorable specific song that you will want to heard on it’s own. Unless we are talking about the opening song that one it’s amazing specially the piano intro, i got this feeling of adventure and excitement just for hearing it. I had to putting on my phone i just really like it a lot.

Enjoyment and overall:
There are a few reasons i can’t got a higher score (again a huge one is the fanservice) but the main one was that sometimes i simply got bored, the games weren’t challenging and i like to know how they do it but if there is no difficulties there is kind of no point. I don’t understand people who say this anime will change all the game-type animes. It has new things yes but it’s not good enough for that, at least to me it’s a bit far from that. I only started to get a little more attached to the anime maybe in the last 3 episodes. Only after i watch them i change the score. It felt like it dragged a little to make the viewers wait for something really big that didn’t happen. They left the story hanged which it would be good if i knew there was going to be a second season. If there is i’m really hoping it will get better, a lot better. There is so much potential in this show it’s a little disappointing if they just keep it like this. I wouldn't just drop it but i wouldn't be excited to watch it.

NO GAME NO LIFE - 6/10

Very good, dynamic, enjoyable, stylish, smart, interesting, full of fanservice and just what else could you possibly want?
This anime can be smart and serious, at the same time use borderline ecchi content to keep it silly and not so serious, and it actually goes deeper than that. The whole point of this show is that the whole world is a game, nothing just happens, it all is a set of factors that causes something to happen, and with knowledge of these factors, it can be changed.
So the show is set in a world where everything is decided through games, those ... games apply to strict rules and such, and you can see how smartly the protags use these rules.
Aside from that, the show is mildly entertaining, full of dubstep, and is just not in my taste. 2modern4me. Maybe 14 year old club kidz will like it more.

It's a fun show, if you take it too seriously you will probably hate it, but that's just the way it is, and it's very enjoyable all the way through. Perhaps concluding the story in one season is impossible but still kind of annoying that it ends so abruptly and you don't really feel closure, and i guess it's lacking any kind of depth really, i mean if you'd want to you can shove an uterior 2deep4u meaning in the most animes out there now.

(review is not critical in any way)

i remember getting blue-balled by this shit (watched while airing). i was so excited to buckle up for several seasons, but turns out i was hyped for nothing. and i remember weird incest moments that got me thinking. "hm."

the look that the show is going for is really pretty, and that's what brought me to watch it in the first place. hey, it's an isekai with high saturation. that's average in my books. i just knocked the score down bc my balls haven't recovered

"This review needs more information!" cmon man let me have this

Sora and Shiro are siblings and are the two most hardcore gamers you will ever see who play online together under the alias "Blank". They are geniuses at playing games and have only ever lost a game to each other. Their prowess in the gaming field is caught on by the "God of Games" named Tet. Tet decides to bring both Sora and Shiro to his world where everything is settled by playing games. Being the gamers they are, Sora and Shiro have no problem fitting into this world.

The story itself is fine, the series still had a lot left to explore when it ... was over but it still managed to leave me satisfied. What stood out to me the most was the art. It is an incredibly colorful anime. I'm 50/50 with the color, half the time I thought it was beautiful and the other half it was hurting my eyes. The music was absolutely gorgeous to listen to, both the opening theme and the ending. The characters though were what I had the most problem with.

Sora and Shiro are geniuses when it comes to game, their analysis and strategy of each game is so perfect that I just couldn't believe they were capable of predicting the outcomes. At the beginning I did think it was interesting but that soon turned to disgust because they are two of the most unlikable characters I've seen. It almost ruins the anime for me at how condescending and annoying they are. Also, they are brother and sister and it made me really uncomfortable how close they were and the sexual passes they make to each other. They are so close that they can't be separated from each other or else they freak out. Another thing is that Shiro is 11 years old and the sexual nature of the show involving an 11 year old just makes it that much more disturbing.

Likes:

-The music was absolutely fantastic
-The games were very creative and fun to watch
-The colorful art was enjoyable to see to a certain degree

Dislikes:

-Sora, Shiro and every other character in the anime
-The unnecessary fan service featuring pointless bathing scenes
-There was a lot of ground to cover in order to achieve their ultimate goal and they seemed to cover next to none by series end
-They spend so much time just talking rather than progressing
-Everything seems to always be calculated from the beginning by the protagonists so the results are dreadfully boring

Characters can be over-the-top and be okay. Characters can be portrayed as anime Einstein and be okay. Characters can be glorified basement dwellers and be okay. However, this anime's downfall is that it took itself seriously when the neet protagonists (the poster children of /r/iamverysmart) are complete jokes.

I did not once buy into thinking they were hot pieces of shit because they simply weren't; it was uninteresting to watch them take over this virtual reality world with poorly-masked conflicts that were no match for their supposed superior intellect. Who actually obtains this kind of intelligence while mashing every available limb and digit on keyboards and ... joysticks? How can anyone possibly argue that this show is anything above a mediocre rating (which is rather generous to begin with) when it isn't even an enjoyable portrayal of exaggerated and self-proclaimed badassery?

No Game No Life is disappointing at the least, annoying at best. If you want an anime about something game-related, look elsewhere.

My friend recommended this anime to me a while ago. The start was pretty epic, and at times the scenes were very funny. I really like how the art takes up a unique style, and the colours and plot were intriguing.

However, I felt the overall quality of this to be poor. The brother, and the sister, seem to be stuck in one of those cliche worlds where they always end up winning every battle, and then winner goes off explaining everything for the viewers' sake.

There was also quite a lot of fan service, which I don't want to point out because there's no need. ...

Before any of you tell me to continue to the end, I watched up until episode 6, with no skimming whatsoever. After 3 hours of it, I've decided to drop it, because the story was quite weak, with no particular direction to go into.

(P.s Don't start bashing me, this is only my opinion :o)

If you look at the top 2 reviews for this anime, it's a 4 and a 6. Yet somehow No Game No Life scored a very solid 8.49, better than the far more clever Bakemonogatari, the far more intense Berserk, the far more emotional Nagi no Asukara, the far more revered Ashita no Joe, and the far cooler Beck. It's ranked higher than classic movies like the End of Evangelion and the Cowboy Bebop Movie. Personally, I think this entire anime was trash. The characters did not seem clever to me at all. Instead, I found them rather average, as if the studio was trying ... to appeal to those of us who think we're geniuses but are probably just a average joes and joedettes. Speaking of which, I felt like the entire anime was just fan service. I had this same problem with Gate: JSDF, whereas I felt the entire anime was made just to appeal to Japanese nationalistic sentiments rather than to tell as story, but Gate wasn't rated a freakin' 8.5! These types of animes that are made to appeal to people's guts, rather than their minds or their hearts, are cheap if you ask me. And No Game No Life is cheap. Around the time this anime came out, the concept of this anime was exactly what people were looking for - something that seemed smart, with an otaku (“no one understands me because I’m so smart”) character (for the self-aggrandizing masses), lots of fan service, and being transferred to another world. The anime world took full advantage and created this marketing Frankenstein. As such, this is one of the most overrated animes on MAL.

I watch NGNL over the course of 5 to 6 days. This is different for me cause i can normally watch a 12 part season in two days. But this was something that i had to force myself to finish.

The show while not bad. I enjoy the art style and the side characters. The only problem that i had that made this take so long for me to finish is the two MC's

The two MC's aren't really fun to have on screen. They tend to act so righteous and full of them self. For me it comes across as annoying. They are also the ... worst part of the show.

Sorra/Shiro: They are so rude to other people ( One more than the others) They act so high and might and think they're the shit. When i think back at it. If it wasn't for these characters i probably would've had a better time with this. They even go and make fun of how shit Stephanie's grandfather was right in front of her. Sorra at one point when and made Stephanie force her to fall in love with him. He also sexually harasses Stephanie, They also start calling her Steph as an insult such as " You are such a Steph"

Stephanie : She is the character i feel the worse for. She is the only normal person and actually works hard for her goals. She is constantly humiliated and insulted all through out. I feel that she is the one who should've been the King and not the MC's. Hell, I would like if she was the MC and all the other girls are her companions.

Jibril : Is a fun character to have on screen. She is my second favorite character in the show. Not too much to say besides that i think she is just a good character.

Chlammy: She is an alright character i guess. She get's very little screen time. So it's hard to tell. But i do like that she isn't a Villain really.


The MC's are just way to powerful in this world and as a result they're just not fun. There isn't any real feel that the MC's might be defeated at all. I know for a fact that they will always win.

At one point the MC's were fighting Jibril and it seemed like she was close to winning. I would've loved this. She is meant to be a god killer weapon. So when she is beaten by a dumb way it's very annoying. I think if she had beaten them but still decided to help them that this would've been better. Would give some sense that the MC's might lose in the future.

The world its self is kind of dumb. The rules set in place and the god who placed these rules are also dumb. The entire way this thing is set up doesn't make sense and just had dumb stuff happens.


The art is nice and fast paced. While the sound is also pretty nice except a couple times they use stock sound bites it seems.

Overall i don't get what's up with this praise for this show. Not bad but it's not great. If it wasn't for the side characters i think i would be giving this a 5 or even a 4. Because without them all we has in nice art style, Crappy stories and awful MC's.

Imagine yourself sitting in front of a cake, a really really colorful cake. It's a medium sized cake, the size you could eat on your own, but not without hating yourself. You stick a finger into the frosting to get a taste, and oh boy is it sweet. You can't wait, quickly getting utensils and cutting yourself a healthy portion. As you cut the cake open, you notice that it's a single layer, with small clumps of what you assume to be chocolate chips scattered throughout. Mouth watering, you quickly take your first few bites. The cake itself tastes wonderful, and goes well with the ... sweet frosting. However, the small clumps were not chocolate chips, but sticky, gooey caramel. The caramel doesn't go well with the cake or the frosting, but it's spaced out enough that you decide to suck it up and keep eating. Besides, the cake and frosting on their own are so so good. Before you realize it, you're finishing up the last slice, quickly swallowing the caramel to avoid the taste. "That's it?" you mutter to yourself, feeling like a terrible person for eating an entire cake in one sitting. You're left sitting in front of a finished plate, unsatisfied and a little disappointed. I'm Zepphire, and that cake was No Game No Life.

(I rate anime a little differently, and am currently working on a explanation on my page. In short, I consider Plot and Story to be separate entities, and include the op/ed in the rating.)

OP/ED: 7/10
The OP is great, amazing music, good animations. I'm a sucker for any instrumental solo, so that small piano part at the beginning The only issue I have is that it fails to give a heads up of the comedy in the anime. The ED is nothing crazy, and mostly fanservice. The OP is definitely more important than the ED, so I feel like a 7/10 is pretty fair.

Characters: 3/10
There isn't really anybody that interesting in the end. While the anime brings up an interesting metaphor about the two main characters, Sora and Shiro, who view reality as an "unfair game". But it's never really expanded on. They're shut-ins, that's it. The fan service and out-of-place comedy completely ruined any emotional attachment I had to the any of the characters. Nobody else is worth mentioning other than Stephanie, who's just brain dead. Only thing raising my score above a 2 is the fact that Sora had moments where he was really bad-ass, that's it.

Story: 8/10
This has to be one of the best Isekai setting that I have experienced. The whole premise with the 10 rules is well thought out and quite unique. The games and acts that take place are really well thought out, each with its own ingenious solution that allows the protagonists to defy the odds every time. However, there are a couple things that just seem out of place. Like the many bath scenes (which are clearly just fan service), or Sora thinking with his dick and the events that follow. Most of the fan service scenes just seem unfunny and not necessary.

Plot: 5/10
The story follows a pretty solid plot through it's 12 episodes. It feels like most of the encounters that the characters go through are meaningful towards the plot (except the fanservice moments, which don't advance anything). Most of the people they meet along the way end up being important to the plot in some fashion, even Stephanie. But the end leaves us with literally no closure, it's a cliffhanger that isn't even that good.

Art: 10/10
NGNL's art is spot on. The unique color scheme is excellent, and one of its best qualities. The quality of background visuals is quite impressive for a 4 year-old anime. Everything is really well done, not much else to say.

Aesthetics (Voice Acting+Music): 7/10
The voice acting and music are not bad at all, but they aren't anything incredible. Voice acting remains pretty average throughout, with some pretty good moments here and there. As for music, its not really that noticeable, which is both good and bad. But the sound effects are really well done, and fit the dramatic shifts very well.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I really enjoyed the actual "game" parts of this anime. But the fanservice was just disappointing, I can't stress it enough. But everything else was somewhat enjoyable for me.

FINAL SCORE: 5/10

Would I recommend this cake to somebody else? Well... If you think you will like the fanservice moments, then be my guest. Or if you like getting your mind blown by the crazy solutions or cheats to whatever game they're playing. But if you don't think you'll enjoy the fanservice, I think it's worth to watch the first couple, if you loose interest after then, you're not missing out on much.

(Spoiler-free Review)
No Game No Life is an anime that looks good on the surface but really has no actual substance as expected of an ecchi fantasy.

Story (5/10): The concept of No Game No Life was rather creative. A pair of antisocial genius hikikomori siblings beats a game of chess and ends up in a complete fantasy world where everything is decided upon simple games. There they decided to try to unify the world which was divided into many races. However, it does not get more creative than that, as the pair of siblings team through every game easily defeating everyone in the way. The plot ... was entirely predictable with no surprises.

Art (10/10): This is one part of the anime I have to praise. The art was simply fantastic. The colors felt dreamy, bright, and so suitable for this setting. The animation was smooth and without problems. It was simply delightful to watch this fantastic animation. The only problem I had with the art is how they don't draw nipples during scenes of fan service which is a little bit disturbing.

Sound (10/10): The soundtrack is also very praiseworthy and suitable for this anime. The opening track "This Game" was extremely suitable and I actually felt like I was going in a game. The ending track "Oracion" was also extremely pleasant to listen to. The voice acting in this anime was superb and every soundtrack felt right.

Characters (4/10): This is the part where this anime fall a bit short in. The side characters generally serve absolutely no purpose except for comedy. Sora and Shiro, despite, being extremely likable adorable intelligent siblings do not experience any events that change their attitudes of things. From the start to the end of the anime, their characters stayed rather static.

Enjoyment (8/10): Overall, this anime was very enjoyable, despite being extremely shallow. The fantastic art and the sound and the pretty interesting setting just wants to make you click the next episode one after the other. However, it does not really leave a major impression.

No game no life starts of with an excellent premise, two hardcore gamers sent into a gaming world, where everything is decided with games.
This anime could be excellent, but the poor character development and frequent fan service make it a less enjoyable experience.

The overall story progresses well, but it is in no way a masterpiece. The games were good.
7/10

Initially, the art annoyed me a bit, but it does fit the anime very well.
8/10

The sound of this anime reach its goal. It is not bad, by any means, nor is it something exceptional.
... 7/10

Characters are the low point of this anime. They are all very bland and uninteresting. I never felt like I cared to what happened to any of them. The anime lacks character development.
3/10

The games were enjoyable, and so was the initial premise of the anime. Sadly, the constant panty and boob shots get annoying really quickly. Combine it with poor characters, and my enjoyment goes down considerably.
My enjoyment was mediocre. It was not bad, but it was not something memorable either.
5/10

Overall, I am a bit dissapointed with No game No life. The premise and general plot are good, but the characters and fan services bring this anime down to me.
6/10

Okay, so I know that a lot of guys are going to argue with me. They might even start a protest against me-_- but I am just gonna be honest about my own opinion. It doesn't necessarily mean that it is the same for everyone else. I had so much hope for this series, and it did have some good moments, but overall my experience and reaction to this series are meh.
It's near average for me. Many people have a wide variety of tastes. So I will definitely have to give my reasoning behind my opinion to everyone reading this. So lemme start from scratch. ... No spoiler for new viewers so don't worry. If there is a spoiler I will mark it down.
--------------------------------------------------The good stuff!!!--------------------------------------------------------
This anime had a totally unique visual and soundtrack. I loved the RPG's music in between. Some dialogues are really awesome. And the comedy is really the only decent and proper thing here. I mean proper in an improper way. I mean it, you will definitely laugh and get into a good mood If you watch this. The character reactions are funny. All voice actors did a great job. It also introduced a new sort of idea. It was fast-paced and didn't waste time with useless details. The ending and opening are nice. And last but not least, The brother-sister duo is one of the most unique and awesome duos I have seen in anime.
--------------------------------------------------The bad stuff-------------------------------------------------------------
The story seemed trash. Yeah, I used that word out loud. Well given the genre it's okay, But I quite disliked it ngl. There should've been more character development or backstories. Such animes really need a back story. And a long one. But there aren't any. The concept of winning every game seemed too much for me. The team of that brother and sister is called "___" I mean "Blank". their chemistry is good but it didn't have any logic. The protagonist guy, Sora, character which was represented as the pinnacle of wisdom, He knew everything right off the bat. He thinks faster than light and has solutions to anything. And this ruined the taste. Most of the time it didn't feel like the character was smart or genius, rather felt like it was too overwhelming and too forced. The side characters were worse. Seemed like the protagonist was the god of wisdom and others were the god of stupidity. They didn't even have common sense. The ending, well.. uhmmmmm!!!!!!
Anyways overall I put it more on the bad side and less on the good side. So it was bad for me. Thanks for reading, Of course, watch it, It's nothing more than just hype. People who aren't into anime much are just bragging about it, But maybe you will like it. As I said at first, everyone has different opinions!
And have a great day. Thanks for reading :D

Through the power of BS, I win

No, but really. That's all the show really is, it's all high stakes then poof, I win. The art style is the only really good thing I'll say about the show, the premise is cool, but dawg does it really just pull nothing out of its ass just to take the wind out of the show's sails. It's like a monster of the week with unwinnable odds, but then the monster just evaporates in the last 2 seconds of the fight. Probs why there's never gonna be a season 2. It's formulaic and boring after the first 2 times.

I did not hate No Game No Life (even though I was ready to do so), I actually liked it, mostly because I wasn't expecting much from it to begin with. The most positive aspect of the show was the enjoyment I got from it, even with its flaws. The characters are amusing, the comedy is above average and the premises for the various games played by the protagonists are interesting (even if their developments and conclusions don't live up to promise).

The anime's flaws outnumber these aspects, however. Ignoring the plethora of problems intrinsic to bad harem series and the existence of an unbeatable protagonist, ... No Game No Life also wastes its potential to do something new with its main characters. Most 'overpowered' smart characters are lone wolves, scheming up plans by themselves and manipulating others to their advantage, but NGNL could've changed that with the existence of Shiro and Sora (Blank), a possible deadly duo that complements one another strategically. The anime instead chooses to give most of the dialogue and screen time to Sora, while his sister does barely anything to contribute to the story, instead becoming just another girl for his harem.

The most glaring issue with No Game No Life are the methods which Sora uses to solve problems and win games. A few of them are quite clever and logically sound, but the majority are so convoluted and nonsensical that they become more akin to Deus Ex Machinas rather than tactics, a theme that goes on until the very unsatisfying conclusion of the series, which boils down to "See you next season... maybe."

With all that said I do not regret completing the series, it was an easy to watch, short and fun distraction. I wouldn't recommend it to viewers looking for depth, but if you have a few hours to kill and are not in the mood for a heavy anime, it might do the trick.