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AnimeFan Anime Reviews: No Game No Life ノーゲーム・ノーライフ

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AnimeFanFTW's Avatar AnimeFanFTW
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Hello peoples of the Planet Minecraft, AnimeFanFTW here, and today, I’m going to review the 2014 Spring anime, No Game No Life.

Before I do begin, just to tell all of you guys, I recently hit Level 40 on PMC, so I just want to say Thank you guys, for your continued support. I never thought I would get close to 40 when I joined, but alas, I made it! And I also have almost 500 subscribers…oh boy.

Anyway, thingy, let’s go and stuff.
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Introduction

There are many different types of games. Some, like Rock Paper Scissors, is a game all about luck. Games, like chess, require strategy. Games like FPS videogames require skill. The whole point of a game is to have fun. In the real (and serious, sometimes, unforgiving) world, games will not help you in life at all. But one of the reasons why I (and many other people) play games is so I can escape this serious, mean world to simply have fun. Well, what would happen if games suddenly decided nearly everything on the planet? All wars could be settled on a game of tic-tac-toe. All disputes in courts around the world would suddenly have the plaintiffs and defendants play Monopoly. Well, in the world of No Game No Life, this is what happens. In the shadows of gaming anime giants like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, does No Game No Life offer gamers the perfect anime, or does it deserve an early game over?

Well, be prepared to be surprised on what I have to say about it. Because it’s nothing but praise.


(THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)


Story – 9/10
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In terms of the story of No Game No Life, it starts off like this: 2 teenage siblings, Sora and Shiro, are the legendary “Blank”, whose gaming skills are so great; they are ranked #1 on every game. In return, they are complete sun-hating hermits (like me. ;u:) One day, while kicking n00bs butt, they get an email by a mysterious person, who asks to play chess with them. After a long battle, they win. They all of a sudden get teleported to a fantasy land by the god of the world, Tet. Tet tells Sora and Shiro that they are in a world where everything is decided on games and that they must follow the 10 pledges. The 10 pledges are:

1.
All murder, war and robbery is forbidden in this world.

2.
All conflict in this world will be resolved through games.

3.
In games, each player will bet something that they agree is of equal value.

4.
As long as it doesn’t go against Rule 3, what they bet and the rules of the game will not be questioned.

5.
The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game.

6.
Any bets made in accordance with the pledges must be upheld.

7.
Conflicts between groups will be conducted by designated representatives with absolute authority.

8.
Being caught cheating during a game is grounds for an instant loss.

9.
In the name of God, the previous rules may never be changed.

10.
Let’s all have fun and play together! :D

After finding a place to stay (and then becoming kings of the region of Imanity after another game of chess. Go figure.) they decide on trying to successfully invade 15 kingdoms to receive magical chess pieces in order to have a re-match with god. And that’s the story in a nutshell. To put it simply, the story is absolutely amazing, with some tiny faults. First off, the setting sounds interesting. Technically speaking, they don’t exactly play videogames. All types of games are played. Expect many games of poker and chess. Seeing how the world worked, and how people played the games to settle things always raised my interest. Not only that, the anime doesn’t treat you like an idiot. It has some pretty awesome strategies and will (or at least, try) explain what goes through each person’s head while they are playing, making every game seem exciting. But what makes the story amazing is the games themselves. There is a lot of games played, but the 3 games you should watch out for is the chess game in Episodes 3 & 4, the game of Shiritori (look it up on google) in Episode 6, and the FPS Shooter in Episodes 11 & 12. These 3 games are absolutely amazing to watch, offering amazing situations. An example is the Shiritori game (you didn’t check google, didn’t you?) in Episode 6. And how amazing was it? Well…

Episode 6 of this anime is by far, the greatest episode of anime I have ever seen in my entire life.

There, I said it. The game in Episode 6 starts off well enough, then dives into some fanservice for a while (-_-) then gets to the point where it escalates quickly, science plays a big part, planets are disappearing, explains universal events, and ends in the greatest possible fashion. The game ends so good, that after the episode, I had to literally pick up my jaw from the ground due to sheer awesomeness. For this anime to make a simple game become to most epic thing ever is amazing. But, alas, the story has 3 problems. The first is where the series ended. After 12 episodes, Sora and Shiro have 2 of the 16 chess pieces they need to collect. Considering the makers of this anime, Studio Madhouse (Black Lagoon. Highschool of the Dead), almost never make second seasons, this might be bad. I’m sure that the manga continues, but it wouldn’t have the same impact. Also, how many seasons would it take Sora and Shiro to get all 16 pieces considering it took them 12 episodes to get just 2. The second problem is the fanservice. Of course, with 90% of all animes with fanservice, it doesn’t do it any favours. I felt the various bath scenes added nothing to the story and were just a huge time waster. Although it wasn’t technically a bad thing, I was still a little annoyed about how serious a scene would be, only for fanservice to arrive, ruining the serious mood. And the last problem is the “comedy”. The comedy isn’t bad. What’s bad about it is random, can appear in serious scenes and half the time, I don’t find it funny anyway. But overall, the story is by far No Game No Life’s greatest strength.


Characters – 9/10
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The characters in No Game No Life are also amazing to watch. Sora is an 18 year old game obsessed guy (who has a little sister complex…). And Shiro is an 11 year old girl who is also game obsessed and apparently thinks school is not for her. Alone, these guys are powerful gamers, but together, they are “Blank”, the most powerful force the gaming community has ever seen (Just imagine those two playing Minecraft…people would be too scared to join any servers. Heck, they’ll probably be Level 100,000 on PMC). Seeing these two play these games was simply a treat to watch. Sora and Shiro would come up with the most amazing strategies, they would make your head spin. Then you have the side characters, like Stephanie, the granddaughter of the former king of Imanity, who acts stupid, to which I then don’t really care that she’s stupid. Then there’s Jibirl, the Flugel (gooooooogle again…) that loves knowledge. And being mean. To be fair, those are the only 4 characters I could remember by name, the rest of the characters, although important, don’t really need mentioning further. Although nearly all the characters were amazing, of course, there is downsides. Again, when the characters tried comedy, it didn’t work most of time. This might be just me, I don’t know. But whatever, amazing characters. That be good.

Animation – 9/10
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The animation was also rather fantastic. At this point, all anime made in 2014 and beyond need to look amazing, and No Game No Life is no different. The colours and the way the textures looked sort of reminded me of Madoka Magica, with textures that looked colourful. The animation is very smooth and the art style looks rather nice. Whenever a big game was being played, the animation simply shines, with amazing fight scenes and special effects. But unluckily for us, in the beginning of episode 11, there is an opening where they include CGI dancing girls. It looked REALLY bad. Thankfully, it only lasts under 2 minutes. Without the CGI girls, it MIGHT have received a 10 out of 10, but a 9 will do.

Sound – 9/10
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The sound in No Game No Life is, you guessed it, amazing. The soundtrack sounds brilliant. From songs that play during intense fights, to comedic moments, to a simple tune that plays when a character is explaining a plan, the soundtracks covers it. I also want to add that some of their soundtrack is basically dubstep, which I approve massively, due to me being a massive dubstep fan. The Japanese voice acting is great and the sound effects do their job. The only thing I want to know is: Will this ever be dubbed in English? I have no idea if this show has a dub. If it doesn’t, then will it? My answer is probably. And will I ever get internet almost all the time so that I can find out about stuff like this? Probably not. :(


Enjoyment – 10/10
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This anime has easily made my Top 10 list. It has an amazing story, interesting characters, beautiful animation and a brilliant soundtrack. This anime ticks all the boxes for an amazing anime. Sure, not everything is perfect, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that watching this anime was…fun. Like playing a game, it was fun. I was entertained the entire time. And assuming that a second season will happen, I can’t wait to see more. So to the reader reading this, go ahead and watch No Game No Life. And prepared to have a ton of fun!



Final Verdict – 9/10 – Amazing
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I promise, my next blog, I will return to interview blogs. Maybe. Sort of. Not sure.

Until the next blog…


This is AnimeFanFTW, over and out!
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1
12/15/2015 1:13 am
Level 22 : Expert Princess
Jazzy
Jazzy's Avatar
This by far be one of you're best reviews yet tbh.

And the story does sound intriguing, and the animation & plot to it does sound promising, I might get off my lazy PMC-arse and watch it one day xD. And as far as the English dub being released, with most of my experience with Anime, if they don't have it in the next 1 or 2 seasons, it's most likely they won't :(.
1
12/15/2015 3:12 am
Level 59 : Grandmaster Senpai
AnimeFanFTW
AnimeFanFTW's Avatar
Thanks. :D

I'm sure there is an english dub released for it, but too lazy...
1
12/15/2015 3:25 am
Level 22 : Expert Princess
Jazzy
Jazzy's Avatar
No problamoe ^_-.

And most likely, LazyBudsFTW xD.
1
12/15/2015 5:29 am
Level 22 : Expert Princess
Jazzy
Jazzy's Avatar
Apparently, there is "going" to be, or already is, an English dub for No Game No Life

Here's the "Link"
1
02/01/2015 10:57 am
Level 35 : Artisan Demolitionist
Reina_forever
Reina_forever's Avatar
Nice review!
I was forced to watch this and Kuruko No Basket by my brother and was actually glad he made me watch them, for once X3. And now I'm collecting the Manga version :3
1
02/03/2015 1:14 am
Level 59 : Grandmaster Senpai
AnimeFanFTW
AnimeFanFTW's Avatar
Thank you. :D
You were forced? wow. xD
1
02/03/2015 4:13 pm
Level 35 : Artisan Demolitionist
Reina_forever
Reina_forever's Avatar
Yeah... thats what Geeky Brothers are for, right? X3
1
02/17/2015 5:15 am
Level 59 : Grandmaster Senpai
AnimeFanFTW
AnimeFanFTW's Avatar
I wish my brothers has the same hobbies as me. xD
1
02/17/2015 6:40 am
Level 35 : Artisan Demolitionist
Reina_forever
Reina_forever's Avatar
well, they kinda brought me into the 'hobbie' of anime X3
1
02/17/2015 7:31 pm
Level 59 : Grandmaster Senpai
AnimeFanFTW
AnimeFanFTW's Avatar
Ah, cool. xD
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