No Game No Life: Zero

In ancient Disboard, Riku is an angry, young warrior intent on saving humanity from the warring Exceed, the 16 sentient species, fighting to establish the One True God among the Old Deus. In a lawless land, humanity's lack of magic and weak bodies have made them easy targets for the other Exceed, leaving the humans on the brink of extinction.

One day, however, hope returns to humanity when Riku finds a powerful female Ex-Machina, whom he names Schwi, in an abandoned elf city. Exiled from her Cluster because of her research into human emotions, Schwi is convinced that humanity has only survived due to the power of these feelings and is determined to understand the human heart. Forming an unlikely partnership in the midst of the overwhelming chaos, Riku and Schwi must now find the answers to their individual shortcomings in each other, and discover for themselves what it truly means to be human as they fight for their lives together against all odds. Each with a powerful new ally in tow, it is now up to them to prevent the extinction of the human race and establish peace throughout Disboard.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Dola, Schwi Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Dola, Riku Main

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Dola, Couronne Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Sora Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Shiro Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Jibril Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Dola, Stephanie Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Tet Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Hatsuse, Izuna Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Azriel Supporting

Horie, Yui Japanese

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Tanaka, Shou Producer

Nakamoto, Kenji Producer

Yoshida, Yuuki Producer

Reviews

Sep 21, 2025

Scanerior

Recommended

I enjoyed returning to the world of games, even before it started being about games. The first big plus in my opinion is that the film can work great, both for someone who hasn't seen the series and for a fan of No Game, No Life, who will get a number of "bonuses". It contains a major spoiler: The relationship between two characters is built here, which you can easily find your way to and fall in love with, only to have it all crushed in the end and tear you apart emotionally. That's something that will always work for me, if the characters are ... well conceived, then they give the fan of the series another split by causing it to be Jibril. The story, driven by pulling strings, also seemed good to me and although the story could have done with a little more action or a deeper explanation of some things, I'm excited about the finale.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 16, 2022

Leenbow

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Well-written

This anime has nice art and music and some interesting moments here and there, but feels ultimately RUSHED and extremely underdeveloped(
No real spoilers here

Pluses:

+ Nice art
+ Nice music
+ Somewhat atmospheric, at moments
+ Some dramas felt nice (felt nice, yet still were set back by core show minuses)
+ Cute robot girl?
...
Neutral point:
± More serious than No Game No Life series

Minuses: (unleash the words!)

- EXTREMELY RUSHED - plot jumps forward with the speed of light, leaving no time for development of anything: characters relations, world, nations, war... Most things were either described with too few words or non described at all!
- Feels fake, shallow - again, so many BIG concepts are thrown around, only to be ignored. There is this big fantasy world, there are a lot of nations, there are gods, robots, there are weird devices with weird names... All of those were out of focus and, as such, haven't really felt serious.
- Too much talking - this is the kind of the show where heroes talk much more than do something, and I can't say that it was useful or deep or something.
- Characters could have more dimensions, also there could be more of them.
- Bad logic - at those rare moments where there were some details to understand what's happening - logic usually felt distant or non-present.

In the end, I couldn't really enjoy even the main focus of the anime - hew main heroes and their relations. Those relations also were either rushed, either relied on unexplained situations and characters.

For me, this anime falls in similar niche with Ergo Proxy, Madoka magica (film especially) and Furi Kuri - weird and with unique atmosphere, yet all of those I disliked for their vagueness. However, No Game No Life film beats pretty much all of them in this parameter (because of being EXTREMELY RUSHED, yep).

It's subnormal pace and non-explained world and races actually feels like manga propaganda,

All in all: No Game No Life Zero is rushed and vague anime to the point of extreme - with such a plot and a world that it should have better had 2 anime seasons with 24 series, or something. In a current format and with current focus - it just lacks depth and logic, so emotional and active moments doesn't work as a result. (that is, if you try thinking)
But... It has nice art, and was somewhat interesting and unique, so I will put it at 5. Yep.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 23, 2025

kirekureto

Not Recommended

I've read numerous negative reviews discussing the characters, the narrative, and the long wait for this prequel. While many focus on the fan service or the movie's placement in the timeline, my reason for assigning the lowest possible score is different and directly related to the anime's core identity.

No Game No Life is an anime about GAMES, and when you feature chess—a globally recognized game of pure strategy—as a pivotal event, I expect a degree of realism. The chess match presented is, to put it mildly, an absolute disaster.
The position reached on the board is not only highly unrealistic for two players of high caliber ... (one being the God of Games), but it also contains multiple glaring errors:

1. Amateur Play: The position itself is so flawed that it could only be reached by complete beginners. A high-level player would never let the game devolve into such a nonsensical setup.
2. Visual Inconsistencies: The pieces are handled with shocking carelessness, with pawn colors visibly changing between scenes. A pawn that was black behind the black king suddenly changes into white when the scene changes.
3. The Faux-Climax: Unlike the original series, where the chessboard positions were borrowed from actual Grandmaster games in a database, the position in the movie is entirely made up and not found in any chess records (online or over the board).

It was fabricated for the sole purpose of allowing the God of Games to dramatically shout "Draw by perpetual repetition!"
To see the God of Games declare a basic, flawed stalemate in a game that was fundamentally broken from a chess standpoint is absurd and undermines the entire premise of the show.

If an anime's central theme is games and strategy, the creators must put genuine effort into respecting the complexity and reality of those games. The lazy and inaccurate handling of the chess scene demonstrates a severe lack of attention to detail that is completely unacceptable for a series of this nature. It completely ruins the suspension of disbelief for any viewer who understands chess.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: No Game No Life: Zero Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Kisaragi - Jul 15, 2017	360 replies	by HobsXV »» Jan 11, 6:42 AM
	this movie is boring NuclearSorrow - Sep 28, 2021	45 replies	by Reichenhart01 »» May 15, 2025 1:56 AM
	Poll: Schwi + Riku > Sora + Shiro NotaMasterpiev - May 12, 2023	11 replies	by Haunt88 »» Nov 11, 2024 3:35 AM
	Poll: Preferred the movie to the series Cestlavie_ - Jan 27, 2022	11 replies	by removed-user »» Aug 3, 2022 3:43 AM
	watch order? Raulfin - May 26, 2022	17 replies	by solomino »» May 28, 2022 2:13 PM