No Game No Life Review in few words (Mini Review)
Based in a world where everything is dealt with through games, No Game No Life, it is one of these mush-watch anime (I am thinking of creating a list of these anime at a later time). This anime is very different from those with similar otherworldly setting, and the twists & the way Sora handles things increases the enjoyment of the anime in my opinion. Unlike what some people think, this anime is not trying to follow Sword Art Online or Log Horizon examples, instead, No Game No Life tries to do things in its own way, and that makes it very unique from them.
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Reasons you are going to like No Game No Life
- A very enjoyable anime with a great pace.
- Gaming-centered world, something you will definitely appreciate if you are a gamer.
- The events of the story are all tactical, even in the games that are supposed to be about luck, in a way that resembles Death Note & Code Geass, which is why I recommend this anime to anyone who liked these two.
Possibly bad things about No Game No Life
- The premise that Sora & Shiro can’t lose may sound unappealing.
- The anime ends while there is still a lot to the story, this anime seriously needed to be longer, or at least it must has a second season as soon as possible.
- You may not appreciate the amount the fat service in it if you are not a big fan of them.
Story
Sora & Shiro are shut-in (or hikikomori in Japanese), who spend all their time playing games, they are known in the online gaming world as “blank”, because their username consist only of blanks ” “. One day, they receive an invite to a world centred around games, that world is called Disboard, Giving how they are adept at gaming, and don’t care about their real world at all, they accept the invite immediately. After all, if such world exist, it would be the world of their dreams.
It turns out that the person who invited them to disboard is called Tet, and he is the one & only god of that world, he became the only god after he defeated all the other gods in that world. Once he did that, he changed the world so that it so that there is no war, and any conflict and the like must be solved through games, the rules of that are determined by ten pledges he enforced on that world.
So in Disboard, the land controlled by the each race or country is determined by a game agreed upon by the two parties involved, and specially the challenged one.
The main races of disboard are Imanity (Human), Flügel(Angels), elves & Waebeasts. There are many other races in the story beside those (16 in total)), but they barely appear in the anime.
At the time Sora & Shiro reaches disboard, it turns out that Elkia, the kingdom of Imanity, is the last kingdom left for Imanities in that world, that’s because the Imanity race has lost many wars/games over time. And so Sora & Shiro are set to help Imanities get to the regain their honour, using their gaming skills, which is what matters the most in the world. The cute thing is, they don’t do that out of kindness, but more for their own satisfaction, which makes the anime seems like a Shounen to me.
Characters
No Game No Life characters from the left:- Stephanie, Sora, Shiro & Jibril
The characters of No Game No Life are divided among the four races of disboard, most of the characters you will see in the first few episodes are of the Imanity race:-
Sora
The main male protagonist of the anime, Sora has a bright & strategist mind, which makes him shine in the games that requires such abilities. But unlike Shiro, he is not that good with numbers & calculations.
While he appears outgoing & confident most of the time, he becomes weak & vulnerable once he get separated from Shiro, a weakness I can see someone exploit against him someday.
Shiro
Shiro is Sora’s step sister, she is genius, good at logical thinking & numbers calculation, which works very well with Sora’s ability of planning things ahead. She is so good at chess to the point she manage to defeat Tet in a game of chess in the first episode of No Game No Life. And along with Sora, they form an invincible team.
Shiro’s personality is a rather Kuudere(character that looks cold from the outside, but so caring in the inside), which makes her rather cute, but she still can cast some sassy jokes at times.
Stephanie Dola
The granddaughter of the late king of Elkia, the Imanity Kingdom. She is sociable & well-educated, but is not good at playing games. She believed so much in her grandfather and the potential of the Imanity race, and for that she strives for it to regain its honour someday.
Tet
The god of the Disboard world, and the one invited Sora & Shiro to his world. After he became the god of Disboard, he casted 10 pledges on that world. Making games replace wars as a way to solve their differences.
Fiel Nirvalen
Fiel is an elf with a great magical powers, despite being an elf, she has no loyalty towards her race and doesn’t mind betraying it. She cares for Kurami more than that, and is very protective of her.
Kurami Zell
Also known as Chlammy Zell, The human slave of Fill Nirvalen. And despite being a slave, her relationship with Fiel is much better than that. Together with Fiel, they try to gain political power in order to abolish slavery.
Other characters
Others characters are Jibril, the angel with a ridiculous amount of knowledge, and Izuna Hatsuse the ambassador of warbeasts in Elkia.
Art
A very cute moment of Izuna Hatsuse
The art of No Game No Life is kinda flashy, with high contrast colours, which is different than many anime you have seen. It is beautiful in my opinion. But may hurt your eyes a little with the red tones over it, but you will forget about that once you get into the story.
Pacing & Enjoyment
No Game No Life performs really greatly with both pacing & enjoyment, which is one of the reasons that made it one of the anime in the season it aired in.
Fan service
There is quite a bit of fan service in No Game No Life, which is okay, but something I personally didn’t appreciate in it is having fan service of Shiro, I mean, she is only a little girl, and it is not that the anime lacked attractive girls or anything. While I am sure that lolicons would like that, I don’t think this is a good thing. But is just my opinion about the sexualization of little girls in anime in general.
Quotes From The Anime
- “In reality, the least interesting answer is usually the correct one” – No Game No Life.
- “n idiot that knows he’s an idiot, is even harder to deal with than an idiot that thinks he isn’t” – Sora.
- “What kind of king makes his men fight at the front line while he sits behind them relaxing?” Sora.
- “There’s no more trusted observer than someone who suspects you” – Sora.
Anime to watch if you liked No Game No Life
Outbreak Company
An otaku find a job where his vast knowledge about otaku culture is a great asset. In that new job, he is required to teach people of another world about the otaku culture of Japan. And along the way, he gets to know more about the people in that world, and many other things.
Outbreak Company is not an anime I would recommend if you have not watched many anime, as part of the fun of watching it is to see how otaku culture plays itself inside an anime. And to detect the many references from other anime while watching it. I am not saying that you won’t enjoy it without understand the references, it is just that it is better to watch many anime before watching this one.
And finally
While the point of watching anime like that is for enjoyment, No Game No Life made me have a deep though, that each person has a place they belong to, that sometimes a person looks like a failure not because they are one. But because they never found the place you belong to, the place that allow them to do what makes them shine.
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I hope you liked my No Game No Life review, and I hope to see you soon with other anime reviews.
Review Sources & Credit
- All the characters pictures in this review are taken from No Game No Life Wikia.
- Some of the character information in the review are also taken from the same aforementioned Wikia.
