simeon.cassin - 2014-06-17 02:15:58

Synopsis

Siblings Sora and Shiro are inseparable, both in the real world and in the game world. Their individual skills combined make them an invincible team: Sora, with his astute intuition and penetrating insight; and Shiro, with her remarkable intellect that goes beyond prodigy-level genius. In the real world, they are hikikomori, reclusive and unsocial, but in the game world, the siblings together form 『　　』 , a mysterious group of undefeated online gamers who win every game they play with unbeatable scores. Because the account names of the players are always left empty, they become simply known as "Blank". One fateful day, after beating a mysterious challenger in a game of online chess, the siblings receive an offer from their opponent to be reborn in his world, Disboard - a fantasy world where everything is determined by games. When they accept the proposal, Sora and Shiro are summoned to Disboard by the world's God, Tet, who they discover to also be their former opponent. Together, Sora and Shiro begin their journey in redeeming the weak human race of Imanity and conquering the world to challenge Tet for his title of One True God.

Sora: An 18 year old boy who is the older brother of Shiro. He is a virgin and has never had a girlfriend, this makes him a pervert who is always searching for a way of physical contact between himself and other women, which include Steph, Jibril, Kurami, etc. He is an intellectual who specializes in reading facial expressions. Games is another one of his specialties, he can both cheat and use his vast knowledge to help him through the games. In the beginning, he used to be quite pessimistic towards humanity, but his faith in the potential of humanity later appeared after meeting an abnormally intelligent three year old girl who later became his sister Shiro. Sora has a very extroverted personality when he's dealing with small groups of people and when he's with Shiro. When he's away from Shiro he becomes introverted, and can't perform basic functions besides whining and worrying. He's quite realistic and rational, even though most of the time he behaves like he's a nitwit, and pervert. Ultimately he has the goal of challenging Tet to a game and beating him in it. He's well on his way towards his goal as he has beaten the competition in Elchea and became the king of it. His most current goal is to challenge the "Animal Girl Kingdom" defeat them and win every part of it.

In my opinion, Sora is clearly the larger character in the series, although Shiro plays a role as well. Sora is the larger character because of his charisma on screen, he seems to have a larger screen time than most of the other characters overall. Yes, there are episodes where Shiro takes the lead, but primarily he is the heart of the series, but is nothing without being a part of 『　　』

Shiro: The younger 11 year old girl who is the younger sister of Sora. She is more composed and "Innocent" than her older brother Sora, but she does have those perverted moments as well, even if she doesn't know that it's perverted. She was born with natural intelligence and is shown through her numerous skills such as knowing over 20 different languages, learning a language in about 15 minutes, and just about anything that has to do with calculation and probability. She is the queen of Elchea along with Sora, she holds just as much as the relationship with Sora, though she is 7 years younger than him. As of now she along with Sora, Steph, and Jibril are playing a game to win the "Animal Girl Kingdom"

Shiro is the lovable loli of the show, being known for her grace and innocence, while still having some of her brothers thoughts in her mind, especially when it comes to humiliating Steph. She is one of the more quiet characters, but is remarkably deep and seems almost inhuman with her intelligence. I love the part she plays and hopes that she continues being as she is now.

Stephanie Dola (Steph): Stephanie is the granddaughter of the previous king of Elchea. She is considered beautiful and popular by her peers in the kingdom, that usually sparks up a hidden sadness in Sora and Shiro, but is rather bad at games. She graduated with high marks and seemed to be the most promising new leader, until being defeated by Kurami and before Sora and Shiro arrived. She also has romantic feelings toward Sora, she often attributes this to the fact she was forced into falling in love with him, but as pointed out by Jibril, she was forced to fall in love with him and not stay in love with him. Stephanie handles most of the internal problems in Elchea, while Sora and Shiro play games, she often times tries to force them out of their bad habit by attempting to beat them in games, but always loses.

Ah, Steph Steph Steph. Steph is definitely one of the more "Fun" characters in the show, since she's mainly there for comic relief. Her very serious nature is always fun when it's near Sora and Shiro's very light hearted games, which adds this very interesting relationship between them.

Jibril: Jibril is a flugel who has a passionate love for knowledge. She left her homeland and won a library from the king of Elchea, she has stayed there ever since until Sora and Shiro won it back. She is now a type of servant for her masters Sora and Shiro, as well as a valuable asset to them. With her thirst of knowledge she is willing to put a lot on the line for new knowledge from foreign lands. She is always searching for new knowledge to add to her vast knowledge, she can speak over 700 languages, and has a solid piece of knowledge of nearly everything besides of things from the "real" world.

While Jibril may seem quite, knowledgeable, she is also a sucker for more knowledge, always craving for some more. Her playful personality now is quite different, when her past is brought up, she seems quite nice and friendly, when she's actually a god killing machine. I don't really mind Jibril, she's definitely not one of my favorite characters, while she may bring this playful tone into the mix. To me, she's not the most interesting character overall because her past is so straight forward.

Kurami Zell: Kurami is a person who is quite cautious of everything, and only wants to help Imanity by having it ally itself with a stronger Exceed. So, at the beginning of the series she had an elf help her cheat and claim throne to Elchea, later she would have Imanity try to hide behind a stronger race. She has almost no hope that Imanity will ever become powerful and doubts the potentials that Sora talks about Imanity. As of now she is an assistant to Sora after the fact they traded memories and now has full trust in him and his plans. She's helping watch for cheating in the game for Imanity's race piece and everything Elchea has to offer and against the opponents of the Animal Girl Kingdom Warbeasts.

I feel that Kurami is a secretive villain more so than she seems a helpful ally. Throughout the show there are these tidbits of scenes, where it seems like she is plotting something. This really does add a bit more suspense and drama to the show's otherwise light hearted nature.

Feel Nilvalen: Feel is an elf who is often referred to as the mother of Kurami and has looked after her from after birth. She has good intentions and doesn't want any harm to come to Kurami, so she often does her best to protect her and help her out in her many plans. As of now she is also helping Sora and Shiro win the game against the Warbeasts.

Feel is to me, very submissive, she always helps Kurami, despite having mixed feelings on what is good and what is bad. There's nothing extremely noteworthy that I should mention, but she is something, I mean she was quite important in the first episode first introducing magic and such. She seems more like a supporting supporting character, more than she does her own. She doesn't seem to have her own personality, besides being helpful towards Kurami. Course, I think she'll have a bit more depth in a hopeful season 2.

The characters are a bit of a handful, with enough details in the back to become separate shows on their own. The characters have a lot of depth, with their own different personalities, I feel that some things would've been better left out, but I do see that the characters have their own appeal in their own unique way.

The story-line of No Game No Life is based on the two main characters Sora and Shiro. Alone the two are weak and can't function properly, but together they form the invincible team of『　　』. The story starts with the two playing video games to no end and follows with support on how good they were at games. Later a mysterious person challenged them to a game of chess and after 『　　』 won, the mysterious person transported them to a new land. Later the mysterious person was discovered as Tet, the god of the new land. In this new world, Sora and Shiro must play games in order to survive and even dominate the land.

As of now, the plot continues to follow Sora and Shiro along with a few new characters and their goal of gaining power by winning and conquering other lands through games.

The plot seems rather interesting, at first the show may seem like SAO or Log Horizon, but this show seems to take it's own shape with characters being stuck in game. The story takes many different turns and action revolves more around suspense, and drama, since there is no apparent physical fighting or contact unlike SAO and Log Horizon.

The pacing for the show isn't half bad to be honest. Everything is well explained throughout and it progressively advances on to new information, while still keeping past information relevant. The only thing that really sticks out pacing-wise is the flash-backs, I know they add detail and character development to the show, but some of it seems completely irrelevant and useless in the plot. Other than that the pacing is fair, but far from the best.

Along with that, I noticed that various characters are getting developed at different paces. Sora and Shiro both got heavy development in the beginning, middle, and end, whereas characters such as Jibril quickly lost development soon after being introduced, and has rather inconsistent development paces.

Action in this show primarily takes place in the serious or lighthearted games between characters. What's fun about the action particularly in this show is the fact that there are many different games out there, and the show often switches which game is going to be shown next. The games as of now have ranged from board games such as chess to chance games like black jack to what is speculated to be video games. Each game is unique and has it's own special rules and properties, which really does create some pretty fun episodes to watch and others less exciting, but overall gives variety in appeal to the show itself.

While each game or action scene is different, there is always something that is repeated again and again, the thing that can be argued as the most important part of these games. The Wagers or Rewards. In each game players have to wager something of equal value to their opponent and vis versa for the other person. The winner of the game then gets to keep all the wagers and anything can be used as a wager. The wages have so far included access to memories, emotional changes, and favors.

With all these things that make up the action, I feel that the action or games are really the highlights of the show because of how deep and serious, but yet fun these games can be.

The animations and artworks of the show are rather different from your typical anime. The art style is made up of bright colors like pink, purple, and some blue, while the background seems to have much more deeper colors that don't really stand out. The show may seem a bit colorful in the beginning, it's really not as bad since the deep background colors emphasize the color of the characters.

Sound-wise the show provided some nice themes that in my opinion reflected the shows timeline. Based on the tones of the parts of the song, I thought of different parts from the show.

Decide for yourself with the lyrics and feeling you get

The beginning of the song is a slow, kind of saddening piano, which in my mind reflects the sad beginning of Sora and Shiro before they met. The transition from then on reminded me of a build in relationships. The rap are the parts happening now in the series as they get their groove of winning their way to victory. The ending would be their dreams and hopes of defeating Tet and the power of Imanity. That's just my interpretation of the song's tone throughout. Besides this there weren't a lot of memorable backgrounds or endings that really caught my attention, I mean they were ok, but not memorable.

To be honest, I like No Game No Life so far, I feel drawn to the show, despite having mixed-feelings on the ecchi and various parts throughout the show. I like the characters, especially Sora since he has this charismatic charm to him, along with his introverted personality, and abnormal intelligence. I really didn't have any too big of issues that were really a problem when watching the show besides the lack of mystery that could've been added to other characters and more side-characters that aren't a main part of the series. You yourself may have different opinions on the show, but for me it's something that was entertaining, and yet fulfilling, enough to keep me coming back after each episode.

Overall No Game No Life has given me the entertainment from an action show and the great, slightly pessimistic quotes from a slice of life. The show is a great balance of genre's, and nothing is too excessive, but things could be better for the show. The character developments take place through past experiences and games, which keeps me somehow wanting more from it. The characters are fair, but with some being shallow, the show could have better use for more even screen-time for main supporting characters. The show has given me something to enjoy and think about as I ponder the thoughts and logic presented by the show, while being confused with some unnecessary fan-service. I'm glad I picked up this show later on, and ever since that fateful day, it's been keeping me entertained for the rest of the season. 

I will edit this review once the series has finished

hlangosh - 2014-06-15 07:03:49

A wonderfully written, extraordinary anime that is a must to watch before you die. No game no life is one of my favorite anime of all times, it has elements of surprise, humor, delight and fun across all its episodes so far. With kaleidoscope of colors portraying a beautiful sense of the fantasy world, characters with incredible thinking and intelligence skills up to Lelouch's standard (Code Geass), and a fast, well-developed, engaging and intriguing storyline, this anime was been repeatedly voted as the best anime for Spring 2014.

ymorissette - 2014-06-13 16:07:37

Introduction:

The original description of the anime set off all kinds of alarm bells for me. I expected this show to be nothing but a pandering, otakus-wet dream, but even the description did not prepare me for the shameless, grotesque pandering that this show provides. While I have to admit that the animation looks very pretty, there is nothing else in this show that makes it a worthy watch.

While it might seem that I find the show talentless and uninspired, I assure you that I actually have to applaud the creators of the show. They clearly set out to create the pinnacle of pandering and were inspired by all the money that otakus world wide will throw at a panty-shot of a 12 year old girl. It takes a whole different kind of talent to shove that much pandering, inconsistent crap into one show.

If you read the introduction, then it should come to no surprise that I don’t particularly like this show, but I do feel that I still have to give a very positive mention to the excellent animation and overall art of the show.

The show uses a VERY colorful and bright color palette, which does a great job in giving you a feel for the fantastic world that they are trying to create. Beyond the simple choice of the general color palette, I also noticed a handful of other cool animation decisions that were made, which all helped improve the animation of the overall show.

For one they decided to have a thematic color palette shift when appropriate. Since they choose the extremely vibrant color palette specifically to reinforce the beauty of this new world, they made sure to use very dark and dull colors for the “real world” scenes, specifically for the beginning of the first episode.

To make sure that the colorful characters wouldn’t fade into the very colorful backgrounds, they made sure that there is a clear contrast difference between the foreground and the background. With the background looking almost more like a painting, while the characters are always very sharp and in focus.

While it is clear that the art team had a lot of creative and interesting ideas and visions that they managed to realize, sadly their efforts were completely wasted on this pandering crap.

While the art direction had a clear and creative vision for the overall look of the show, the character design, while still very clear, lacked any kind of creativity. Every character simply embodies the most extreme stereotype, that we already know from a hundred different harem animes.

First off we have Sora, our 18 year old protagonist.

The simplest way to describe Sora, is to say that he embodies the stereotypical desires of any stereotypical otakus. He is “brilliant”, “cunning” and is literally the best person in the world at playing games… yet somehow due to the way the real world functions, he is a NEET, a hikikomori and a complete underachiever. While his positive characteristics, like his intellect, are referenced again and again, the show makes sure to rarely cast a negative light on his negative aspects. He isn’t cooped up in his room, because he is struggling with his hikikomori ways, no he is cooped up in his room to read and plan a strategy. Sure he is “really scared” of talking in front of a big crowed… does that mean he seems the least bit scared when in front of the crowed, no he gives an epic and inspiring speech to all of humanity…

Considering how all his negative traits are so easily ignored in favor of making him perfect, it’s clear that they were only added so that the viewer can easily reflect themselves onto this perfect male power-fantasy. It seems to me that the creators of this show simply imagined that most people who would watch this show are good-for-nothing NEETs and hikikomoris. So to make Sora more relatable, they simply threw in these “traits” without having them make sense or be actually relevant to the story.

As I mentioned, Sora is the perfect male power fantasy. I mean the general idea of the show is that they NEVER LOSE!!! Besides being perfect and unable to lose, Sora also manages to amass a sizable harem, in just a couple of episodes, but compared to most harem characters, which gain the affection of the girls by heroic or endearing acts… Sora just makes them his by winning games… Literally… I will cover this aspect of the show later in greater detail, but for now it leads me to the last aspect of Sora that I haven’t mentioned, which is the fact that he is a creepy asshole.

Sora is a complete pervert, who loves to degrade girls and women, including his own little sister. The disgusting fanservice in this show will have it’s own segment later on, but the level of perverted creepiness which Sora reaches makes him more hateable then Makoto from school days.

Next up we have Shiro, any siscons wet dream. 

Some people claim her to be a protagonist, much like Sora himself, but since she simply exists to add some loli- and siscon to the harem, I find it hard to agree with it. Yes she is depicted as smarter than Sora, smarter than any person who ever lived or will live, but don’t make the mistake in thinking that her intelligence is in anyway empowering her. Just like every other character, other than Sora himself, Shiro simply exists to “serve” Soras male power trip in some way. Shiro is completely dependent on Sora, and if that isn’t depressing enough, she clearly doesn’t mind being sexualized by her brother and seemingly wishes for a sexual relationship with Sora. Also… may I just mention how creepy it is that the most popular anime of the season, praised by thousands of anime fans everywhere, sexualizes both a 12 year old and an 8 year old, but more to that later.

Beyond being eye candy for moe lovers and lolicons alike, shiro acts as the resident “Deus Ex Machina”-machine, pulling of completely inhuman feats, just cause she is born that way or something. This might just be me, but in my opinion there is nothing lazier than making a character amazing without explanation, she was just born brilliant… deal with it.

Besides one minor flash-back to the first meeting between Sora and Shiro, the show doesn’t give her any character development. Honestly, in my eyes she was just incredibly dull. She is mostly emotionless and just does whatever Sora wants her to.

The third and last character that I want to talk about in-depth is Stephanie, honestly the only character that didn’t make me want to kill myself. 

She is by no means a great or memorable character, but at least I would classify her as a character. Stephanie is the daughter of the last king of humanity, who recently passed away and was replaced by Sora. As such she takes on something of an advisory role, introducing both Sora and the viewer to the world and it’s rules.

While I stand by the fact that Steph is the only character in the show that has any interesting trades and development, the show seems to be much more concerned in making her into a sexy doormat. 

Most of the shows “comedy” is based on degrading Steph, usually in a very humiliating and sexual way, since the show doesn’t have enough fanservice… Steph seems to be one of the very few characters who doesn’t wish to sexually please Sora, just cause he is Sora. Sadly the show feels like having an actual character, with thoughts and emotions would ruin the overall pervy, creepy and haremy (it’s a word) mood, so they literally use magic to make Steph fall in love with Sora, completely against her will. This is passed off as “comedy”, I just found it very annoying and predictable after a while.

The rest of the cast simply exists to fill out your stereotypical, fantasy harem.

You have the ditzy Elf girl:

The flat-chested tsundere:

The obedient, yandere angel:

The moe catgirl:

And the very sexual catgirl:

Something else that is worth mentioning about the characters in this anime is that there is only a total of 3 male characters in the entire show. Sora being the only male character with a proper amount of screen time. The lack of any male competition for Soras power fantasy, just further emphasises the true intent of the show. In the end the core idea behind the entire character structure is that, the otaku viewer identifies as Sora and thus creates the perfect harem of obedient dream girls.

The overall concept of this anime is very uninspired and was clearly chosen to support the pandering style of the entire show. The concept does hold potential, but its by no means new or creative. Just as the characters, the plot simply serves to solidify the male power fantasy. A world where games are used to solve any and all conflicts is perfect to draw in the mindless masses and it gives the writers a lot of freedom to create any scenario they want, simply by claiming “it’s magic, deal with it”.

The concepts freedom and the unrealistic and empty character designs let the story pull one Deus Ex Machina moment after another. The games could have been interesting, if they were probably planned out and if I wouldn’t consistently expect them to pull something random out of their asses, just to win at the last second.

I hear a lot of praise for the epic nature that some of these games reach, but considering the freedom that the concept offers and the heavy use of Deus Ex Machina, it’s not all that impressive.

Even the few epic games are riddled with degrading levels of fanservice, which again is passed of as really creepy comedy. The perverted style is the only coherent trend in the entire anime, from using magic in a game that results in the destruction of the entire universe over introducing a new harem member all the way to the mandatory bathing scene, where the male lead tries to spy on all the naked ladies, you can be sure that the show shoves in as much degrading, depraved, perverted fanservice in there as possible. 

An entire episode is devoted to degrade and sexualize Steph to inhuman degrees. She has to spent the entire day as Shiros obedient dog, while she loses one piece of clothing after another, until she is left in the middle of town, completely naked.There is nothing more to that entire episode, nothing plot relevant happens, for all intents and purposes, this episode was a complete fanservice filler.

The structure of the anime is also very questionable, choosing to have a filler episode in a show with only 12 episodes, which boasts such an extensive world, means that the anime barely scratches the surface on the overall story. By the incredibly open ending, it is completely apparent that the anime only adapted the beginning of the light novel that it is based on, which means that the series doesn’t even and on a satisfying conclusion. Considering the current popularity for the show, a second season would be no surprise.

Once you strip the pandering from the show, you are left with a show that doesn’t even know what it wants to say. The show has no thematic consistency, in a speech that Sora gives, he proudly explains that the true strength of humanity lies in it’s weakness. That we can learn from our mistakes and our losses and that we can turn them into strength and victory. I’m not sure how the writers dared to write this speech into a show that lives on the premise in which the two main character have never lost and will never lose a game. These two themes are completely at odds with each other. This speech was the only attempt that the show made, at having a deeper meaning or a point to make, but since it’s completely at odds with the plot of the show, it simply creates an odd thematic dissonance and it seems to exist to create the illusion of deeper meaning.

I know that I mentioned it a lot during the other parts of the review, but this anime deserves an entire section just to discuss it’s fanservice. Here it’s important to note that I don’t have any inherent issues with fanservice. Having sexual characters in anime isn’t inherently problematic, whether they are female or male. I understand that it might turn away a lot of viewers, but I don’t condemn fanservice in general. There are varying degrees of fanservice, some of it is tasteful, some of it less so, but all of it has it’s place. The fanservice in this show, however, has two aspects to it, which bother me.

First off, excessive fanservice can easily break the flow and rip you out of the experience. Yes the moment when Sora removes the outer layers of the planet was cool, but him kissing Shiro right after was just weird and disturbing.

This isn’t just limited to the epic moments of the show, the first time we see Shiro, it’s via a panty shot. How am I ever gonna see this character as anything but panty shots from now on. If you have to sexualize a 12 year old, at least make a proper separation between that and building her character.

Secondly, the way that every female character in the show is treated doesn’t just feel creepy, it honestly worries me, and what worries me even more is the popularity the show has, despite this creepy behavior. In this show, girls do not just exist as sexual objects, like in a lot of other bad shows and media, no they exist to be abused, degraded and to serve our main, male character. This is not okay… As an advocate for freedom of speech, I don’t mind a show that pushes such a terribly damaging agenda, but as a person, I am disgusted by the popularity of the show.

In the plot-segment I mentioned that the show lacks a coherent theme, but on second thought, the only visible, coherent theme is that woman are to be used for a mans convenience. When Sora first hears about the angel race in the show, he immediately wants to “acquire” one. Not befriend one, not create an alliance, no he wants to own one. Obviously Sora gets what he wants…

No Game No Life is a terrible show. It relies on it’s very pretty visuals and the stupidity of it’s viewers to be successful. The shows attempts at making a point in any way are forced and just show that they couldn’t care less, leaving it to be nothing but a very boring and censored hentai series. Sadly the popularity of this show will only reinforce the industries believe that the average otaku thinks with his genitals and not their brain. So I guess I should prepare for more shit like this to come out.

berenice.walsh - 2014-05-11 02:43:44

Full Review Here: http://littlecloudcuriosity.com/category/anime-recaps-reviews/no-game-no-life/

jewel.glover - 2014-05-01 07:40:07

The very first episode itself has captured my mind. I have wondered about its titled and gave doubt on how an anime would probably be interesting where its about - No Game, No Life? Boy, am I glad that I was wrong! One best thing about this anime are its protagonists, both siblings are geniuses. So if you are a big fan of thrilling anime that gets you excited and kicking right from the start of the series instead of a slow built-up story development, this is certainly the anime for you.

Not to mention, this series is one that has a good sense of comedic element that's not too excessive suitable for its art and fantasy-like setting without affecting the reality side of story. You might wonder what I'm trying to say. If you have watched "Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?", its setting is quite similar to this where protagonists from reality world are brought to the alternate fantasy world and where conflicts are resolved by playing games. However, my impression of Mondaiji is more like fantasy in a whole as it doesn't have any sense of reality to it at all. Their kids are not only geniuses and they have extraordinary so-called gifts?! To the extent one could wonder if they are even humans in the first place. Mondaiji series goes without saying, its very much ridiculous and nonsensical. In this respect, No Life, No Game is like a correction to it for it makes up a perfect blend of setting of persons from reality into this fantasy world.

In terms of story:
The setting itself is in a fantasy world where all conflicts are to resolved by playing games. The fantasy world is portrayed more in this series, unlike 'Mondaiji' that doesn't really show much about the world and countries.
Both the genius 'hikkikomori' siblings are game experts from the reality are suddenly thrown in to this alternate fantasy-world. This is where their story begins - whatever they do and say onwards are stays within comprehension except for certain exaggerated comedy acts but is still well acceptable and humorous. There are 16 different races and humans are the weakest having only a city left. What goes beyond I will not say. Perhaps to be a King of the country or expand its territories? Give it a try! It will only be a short 12 ep story :)

deion06 - 2014-04-30 00:22:14

Due to the synopsis of this anime I was incredibly hesitant to start watching it, I've just watched the first episode and I've got to say it's magnificent. I can't wait to see where this one is heading, it's not cheesy or weird, just really really clever and cool (in my opinion anyway).

haskell55 - 2014-04-26 22:34:52

I have just finished episode 3 of No Game No Life and so far, I believe the story is excellent. It's very similar to Sword Art Online, but... less digital. When it comes to the main characters I believe they are slightly... clichéd? When you look at Sora he is very similar to if not exactly the same as Shinchi in Outbreak company. He is slightly perverted, but can work hard when he has too. As for Shiro, you can relate her to Near or L from death note. She is very calm (almost too calm), she is also a genius but she is also very young. The only thing that differentiates Shiro and Sora from the characters mentioned earlier is the close relationship they share, and the fact they can't be to far away from eachother.

The animation is compared to most anime, adorable. It has lots of pastel colors, that mix well together none the less. Though at times, the colors can mix so well together it seems almost blurred. When the chracters are drawn, their faces and etc. are completely normal. Their eyes, seem to be a new style of eyes though, it is still anime but I have never seen them drawn like this before.

I can't say much for the soundtrack so-far but it seems unqiue. I don't really know what I think of it.

orlo.mills - 2014-04-24 19:35:26

No Game No Life What I think Review

This is a what I think review, meaning the anime is not finished yet therefore I can only judge what I have seen so far. The anime may get better or worse as time goes on. I will try not to put many spoilers on "What I think" reviews.

Story

No Game No Life is centered around two godly gamers, Who also happen to be siblings, Sora and Shiro. They're NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), these two are considered some of the best gamers in the world, going by the name Blank. One faithful day they are summoned by a "God" of another world where everything is decided by games and war does not exist.

Animation

First things first, I suck at analyzing animation styles but here I go. Off the bat I noticed a really vibrant and bright colour palette, something I've noticed is that it goes darker in hard/epic battles such as the one in episode 3.

Main Characters

Our protagonist is a 18 year old virgin, Sora. He is extremely confident when playing games (even betting himself as a prize at one point!). He is also extremely manipulative and can easily bait his opponent into doing something, he can also read people like books and choose his plan based on this. His IQ is also extremely high as he learnt a language of the new world (Imanity) within an hour. He is also perverted.

Our second protagonist (Idk if that makes sense xD) is Shiro. She is Sora's 11 year old sibling. Despite her young age she is extremely good at games and smarter than Sora. Shiro is amazing at games where you have to use logic such as chess.

Their biggest weakness is if they are ever separated they lose all their good qualities and become cowards.

What I think

I think the comedy is quite funny, but the shining point of this anime is how they combine comedy with strategy when they are playing games. The tactics remind me slightly of Code Geass where the protagonist seems to have everything under control (and does unless it is a worthy opponent). It also shows the power of team work and the way the siblings can win games due to them not doubting one another, also it refreshing to see an anime where when they go to another world their immediate thought is not to get out(I'm looking at you SAO). Overall the anime is really fun to watch and you should definitely check it out.

btreutel - 2014-04-14 13:42:15

Imagine throwing Katsuragi Keima from The World God Only Knows along with Elsie and you will get 'No Game No Life'.

A pretty interesting watch combined with interesting graphics.

No Game No Life is for those who enjoy watching animes about 'badass heroes that speak less and act more'.

Watching the first episode isn't really enough for me to build a solid review, however this show should be keeper for the season as the potential of this show to develop well is high.

tianna.lakin - 2014-04-11 05:32:43

Beginning.... The Blanks... Well When i First Started Watching the First few Scenes didn't Brought that Much interest. But As the Episode Progressed It Started getting Damn interesting The Email, New World, A Loli... A Bad Ass Brother ... Gamers Etc .

Animation the Artwork Of the new World Awesome Characters took My breath Away Looking at The new wolrd It must have Some Decent Surrounding And Towers With beautiful and COol Arrangement .

Sound well a Little Dissapointed With the Sound Of the Anime But Still the Way the Brother Speaks in His Badass Voice makes It a Little interesting And Ending Theme Song Is Also a Bit ok ok.

Characters Loli......... KAWAIII And the Brother Damn Some badass brother We Got there
And Other characters Desighns Are Also awesome
BIG BOOBS Cumon Who can resist it .

Enjoyment Well its based On games .. So it Suppose To Give Us some Thrillls and Action And Suspense i enjoyed a lot Watching it.

Overall: Must Watch!!!