The basic premise of NGNL as it's commonly referred to by fans, is that the main characters, Sora and Shiro, are an unstoppable force in the gaming community in real life. At the beginning of the anime they are teleported to a world where games are literally cosmic rules, where winning or losing a game can determine the fate of your soul, or whatever thing you bet. It is quite thorough so far in exploring the rules that this world operates in, as well as every conceivable way in and around those rules, especially by the many races that inhabit it, who all have some form of 'cheat' or magic or special ability that gives them an edge over Imanity, humanity's stand-in.
The aforementioned setup is without a doubt the biggest strength of NGNL. It explores this setting with a 'monster of the week' formula, that, with interesting spins on the situation reminiscent of the stronger entries in the shounen genre, doesn't really disappoint at any part. It sets up these situations well, and paces them throughout the anime with an appropriate degree of aplomb, proving for a really smooth ride for viewing. This anime is easy to watch and doesn't go an episode without giving the viewer something new and interesting.
Another strong point is that it is quite well-animated. I cannot comment for its adaptation of the light novels art, as I have not read the light novel, but in either case, it fills in all the gaps nicely. The animation has a colorful tint, as well as a lot of rather unique and eye-catching character designs. Most aspects of this anime are pleasing on the eye, and far from being a lip-flapping exercise, as some anime with a knack for mind-games might turn out to be when animated at their worst, there's a lot going on, and it's all animated pretty fluidly to my eye.
That is not to say that it does not misstep however, it just doesn't so in the manner that many anime fall prey to. As a counter to the interesting and varied setups I mentioned earlier, a lot of the characters feel rather...dull. This can't really be attributed to bad character design in any way, in fact, there's a rather diverse cast of characters, but rather, it is that most of them fit into a mold seen before, and done better before. That isn't to say there is no room for development, you do get a glimpse into what might be for some of these characters, whose motivations are viewed briefly, but they aren't really tested for the most part, and there's a lot of one-bit villains, apart from one human the main characters face early on.
In addition, the main characters are, I'm going to say this frankly, Mary Sues. For those unfamiliar with the term, a Mary Sue is a character who is overly perfect. There are a lot of different types, but the essential nature of all of them comes down to their unbelievability as a character. Sora and Shiro are pretty much unbeatable, showing a level of planning that verges on omniscient. This isn't entirely bad in of itself. The antagonists' reactions to 'Blank' (Their pseudonym) completely predicting every one of their moves, can be entertaining, but it does rob the show of a good deal of conflict. There are a couple token attempts to create some tension, but on the whole, they fail to really hit the mark, and you never think that the pair will ever really fail, and that's the biggest mark this show has against it.
On that note, however, I will say this. There may be room for this to get better, and I am tentatively anticipating that. As this is based on an ongoing Light Novel series, there is room for more development, especially since this seems to be the authors first work, according to this site. On its own though, NGNL is riddled with a few problems, but an entertaining ride throughout, and I still highly recommended it, just on the aspect that it is unique, and it has plenty of places to go.
