It’s easy to argue that a show with good characters is a good show and NGNL has this aspect covered, whether the former is true or not. A very serious person might laugh at that statement, but that laughter is coming from the ignorance of the characters’ purpose. Each of the characters do their apparent job well and that is to be distinct and interesting as well as appeal to the target audience. The excellence of the cast is thanks to the way the NGNL allows it’s intended audience to relate to it’s main characters and that is a sign of competence from the creators (or that they are lucky).
However, though the characters are a high point of NGNL for being interesting, and in a way fun, it’s hard to deny their flaws. For one, our two main characters, the siblings Sora and Shiro, are nearly perfect (ironically, considering I’m saying this is a flaw), and it sucks a lot of the anxiety you might have, and even some of the fun, out of the show. They do seem to be self-aware, but it hardly excuses this problem. In fact, their aptitude in nearly everything is ridiculous considering their circumstances. It’s clear that this probably only to give them “cool points” and cheat its main audience into thinking the characters are well designed (I use cheat loosely). All this is only compounded by how the other prominent members of NGNL’s cast of characters, such as Steph and Jibril, only help boost Sora and Shiro’s ego as they seem to only compliment their incredible skill, both indirectly and directly. Also, it’s unbecoming for the cast that most of the characters are there solely for “fanservice” and other appeal. As such, even though this anime’s characters are “fun and cool”, they aren’t nearly realistic and have exaggerated abilities (and personalities too).
With all that said about the overall above average cast, it’s unfortunate the premise isn’t as original as plenty claim because similar stories have definitely been conceived and written. That isn’t foretelling of an uninspired plot though, is it? The answer to that question is subjective, but it doesn’t matter that much. The story almost entirely focuses on the siblings, brother and sister, Sora and Shiro as they are brought to an alternate world after beating the god of said world in a game. In this world, everything is decided by games (not violence, debate, etc.) so you’d think this would allow for some creativity involving all the games they will likely be playing. Unfortunately, whoever authored NGNL seemingly always uses a likeness to a Deus Ex Machina as the solution for the siblings inevitably winning the games they play. The way the games are played are less intelligent than they are presented. To be honest, for a show about games, the games aren’t exciting at all because you know the outcome is always that the siblings will win. Also, the story itself isn’t very interesting anyway, as the things that mostly happen are playing games and cracking jokes so NGNL heavily relies on “fanservice” and references which isn’t a strong foothold. It’s good the forced drama is rare though.
This might put NGNL down a bit, but beneath the unpolished story is a nice setting that is not fully explored. Because Sora and Shiro decide to try defeating and uniting the intelligent races in the new world they arrive in, we get to explore many of the interesting places that said world contains. NGNL doesn’t feed us with a lot of adventure and exploration though, so this could be a missed opportunity.
Not only is the setting very nicely designed, the animation compliments it too. The animation quality is not top-notch, but it is unique. It’s nice to see something different as the art uses some uncommon colors and has a nice hue of orange.
Other than that, the voice acting is good as the voice actors do their jobs well. There aren’t any performances of immediate note though. Also, the music is fine, but there is better out there
Overall, even though NGNL will likely leave a positive impression on you, its also good to consider its undeniable flaws. It’s something you’ll definitely like if you land in its target audience range. That means you like random fanservice and the predictable outcome of the games. If you don’t like it, you’ll probably find this anime poor for trying to act smart and tripping like a fool. While NGNL may have an uninteresting premise, its characters and setting make up for a good portion of it. And though it’s not as good as some may claim it to be, it’s an exaggeration to say it’s bad. NGNL is a fun experience, but it’s not all it’s praised to be and not a must watch. You may want to watch it for that orange hue though.
5/10
