★★☆☆
Imagine a fantasy world where there’s no war or crime. All conflicts are solved through games. You have an issue? You bet on it. This was the first episode, and it had me hooked. What a great idea. I’m going to watch a smart show about smart characters who use smart ideas instead of powering up for 10 episodes and punching the shit out of each other.
And what I got was some of that, but mostly fan service.
The two main characters declared they would never lose at any game. So naturally the most interesting direction you can that take is to put them through situations where they can or will lose. You should always have bigger obstacles than your characters can handle. This is character development and makes stories exciting.
They’re also described as NEETs and hikikomori. NEETs are young people who are “Not in Education, Employment or Training” while hikikomori are adolescents or adults that are extremely withdrawn from society, shutting themselves at home for years. This would’ve made for interesting character development except it never has any bearing on the plot. There’s no growth or change from being a NEET or hikikomori. It’s just tacked on as a shallow way to relate to its audience.
There’s also too much fan service. The other characters aren’t much more than wish fulfillment and are there to look good. Except there’s nothing inherently wrong with fan service. The issue here is that it’s taking the place of genuinely good story telling and character development. If the characters had more depth I wouldn’t have minded.
Look, I get it. You can make really interesting, unique works, but it’s risky. Or you can make something with proven appeal and pulls in revenue. Anime is already a struggling industry where only the hardcore fans (otaku) command the market with their money. It’s capitalism, and there’s nothing wrong with that. So I have hard time faulting No Game No Life for pandering. It’s a struggle between letting the work stand on its own and taking into account external factors like the consumer market.
What I do have issue with is people overrating it. The fun of the show comes from the main characters solving what seems to be impossible challenges. In their fantasy world, humans are the lowest ranked civilization. This was a good choice, but each episode’s puzzle or conflict isn’t solved in a satisfying way. It only SEEMS clever, and the way it’s solved isn’t natural. It felt like the writer worked backwards instead of building off progressively harder obstacles.
This is the same issue I had with the TV show House M.D. There’s a medical mystery, the show spends an hour dancing around it, House has an epiphany, and it’s solved. The medical issue is solved when the writers say it’s solved. The show is still fun, though, and House is a great character.
I do love the premise as it invites stories around tactics and strategy instead of who has more chakra or the higher power level. The art is vibrant and colorful. Everything has a dreamy glow to it. Even with all my issues with it, the show was still entertaining, and I don’t regret finishing it.
