Once again, anime has made me question my existence on this earth... The more anime I've watched and loved, I have found myself asking the same question over and over again, "Why was I born into the wrong world?". I'm sure there have been quite a few of us that have asked the same question. For the Fairy Tail lovers, you all wish that you could be a Wizard in Fiore. For the Naruto lovers, you wish to be a Ninja and learn all kinds of Jutsu. For the Pokemon lovers, you wish to have the opportunity to catch them all, only in real life and not just in a game. My point that I'm trying to make: this world is boring.
Not only anime does this though. For years, gaming, television, and books have been building up people's expectations for what reality should be like, and when those people realize the horrible truth, we resort to watching/playing/reading more and more about the worlds we wish to live in. It's a saddening truth, but we have to live with it.
Now, I'd like to welcome you to an anime about 2 people who, like us, feel like they were born into the wrong world, and get their opportunity to escape into a world 1000x better than ours. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, my review, on No Game No Life.
Story:
Sora and Shiro are two siblings living the life of your ordinary NEET. Only, they aren't really average at all. They play games, yes, but they are literally unbeatable. No one knows anything about them and the lives they lead. The only thing everybody knows about them is that they always leave their usernames blank. Despite their skills in any game imaginable, they are bored of the world they live in. That's when they get the opportunity from a so called "God" named Tet to be reborn into a world where everything is decided by games. Follow 10 simple rules, and you can prosper. Follow these siblings as they try to reach their goal and beat the God of this new world, but it's gonna take some time, effort, and a whole lot of planning, but I'm sure they can pull it off. After all, they are Blank.
The story piqued my interest from the very beginning, and with every twist, turn, and the jaw dropping season finale, I really hope to Tet that Madhouse Studios doesn't pass up the opportunity to continue this series.
Art:
Speaking of Madhouse Studios, they've been known for some pretty big work, such as the infamous Death Note, Black Lagoon series, and Chobits. However, it's been a while since I've seen anything they've come up with that deserves a lot of hype. No Game No Life is their golden ticket. Some of the most insane yet beautiful artwork I've seen in a long time. The view of every single part of the world was amazing. It was colorful, beautiful, detailed, just brilliant. And the character designs were all good. Now, let's hear 3 cheers for the return of drawing characters with triangle mouths! \(o^o)/
Sound:
If they ever come up with an English dub for this anime (I really hope they don't personally), they better get one hell of a cast, because I'm pretty sure that all the Japanese dub actors and actresses made the characters sound as good as they possibly can. They put so much realism into their acting that it was probably one of my favorite casts up to date. And then there's the soundtrack, and holy mother of Tet was it good. The opening is probably my favorite song off of the entire anime soundtrack. I never skip it.
Characters:
Sora VS Light Yagami. Sora VS Lelouch. Sora VS Keima Kasuragi. All of these are interesting match-ups, and the thing is, I have no idea who would win in any of those fights. The thing they all have in common? They're all geniuses. Sora is intelligent, funny, highly relateable to when it comes to women... at least in my case. He's one of my favorite MCs in all of anime. Shiro IS my favorite MC. It was a tough fight between her and Kirino... but Shiro has her beat. Same qualities as Sora, only I'm pretty sure she's less curious about boobs than Sora is. She's also on the quiet side, so that gives her a little bit more of a mystery to her personality. Then we got a bunch of other characters, such as Steph, Jibril, Izuna, etc. They all had their good traits to them. I didn't dislike any of them in particular. There were a few moments where I thought they were jerks, but it all kind of evened out in the end. Good set of characters overall...
Enjoyment:
I enjoyed NGNL. I really did. I'm upset that I have to wait for a second season that might not even come. This anime had good humor, great animations, a kickin' soundtrack, fun characters, and a plot that made you think about a whole lot. Oh, and there was the story as well.
Overall, NGNL is worth the hype it's been getting. A lot of people might not think so, but in my personal opinion, this should be a must-watch for all anime fans.
