Anime Roundup #1: No Game No Life

I've been really slacking with my blog lately, so I'm trying to find ways that I can keep myself motivated to continue maintaining it. One such way I've decided to do that is by introducing the first of what will hopefully become a regular segment on my blog: Anime Roundup. The premise is simply this: I talk about the anime I'm currently watching, give a brief description of my thoughts on it, and offer a tentative rating so people can get a feel for my impressions on it, as well as get a feel for whether they might be interested in it too. Let's begin now, shall we?

Never get a life. You two are far more interesting without one.

For my first Anime Roundup, I've got quite some heavy-hitters this anime season. Kicking this off, we have No Game No Life. The story follows the very enthusiastic nerd gamer Sora and his adorable younger sister Shiro, who together make up a truly unstoppable force in online gaming, having never lost a single match in any game they play. The impregnable duo plays under the handle "Blank", which is literally represented as a blank space on the screen in-game. Clever guys, really clever. How they might've managed to get past the "invalid character" splash screens in numerous account creation menus is beyond me, but in any case, they've made a rather well-known reputation for themselves in Internet circles, with many speculating on just how many people are actually controlling their characters, whether they cheat, or whether they're using some kind of hacks. Despite their lofty reputation and clear strategical brilliance though, for some reason it must've never occurred to Blank that they could win a million dollars rising through the ranked ladder of League of Legends with their talents, because instead they mostly opt to sit in their basement all night munching on junk food and living as bums. But before you start to think this is all a lead in to a cheap ripoff and cash-in on the Sword Art Online craze, suddenly Sora and Shiro are messaged by a mysterious person asking them strange questions about whether they feel like they belong in this world and how cool would it be to live in one that revolved entirely around gaming. They of course answer that they prefer the latter, and next thing you know, NGNL goes full-on anime, and by that I mean shit gets really bizarre.

Say goodbye to your Steam account, Blank.

Sora and Shiro are warped across dimensions into another world, or rather should we say several-thousand feet above another world, as they quickly find themselves plunging rapidly to their deaths. Miraculously however, the fall doesn't hurt them despite the nice crater they leave in the ground, and before you know it, you are introduced to the unbelievably vibrant new world of Disboard with some really impressively unique artwork to boot. In this world, war is forbidden and all disputes between its various races and inhabitants must be settled through challenging your opponent to a game. The art indeed deserves very high marks here, because I've never seen anything like it. The lineart is often drawn in red instead of black, which you would think looks really weird, but instead it works quite nicely in creating the effect that this is a truly alien world not like Earth. No Game No Life has some serious style. Seriously. The music deserves some mention too, as it's got a Phantasy Star Online-like ambience to it that fits very well with the setting.

Anyway, there is a lot to say about this anime because it is just brimming with so much vibrance and emotion. There is never a dull moment between the absolutely hilarious character interactions and insane scenarios that unfold from the games that Sora and Shiro find themselves engaged in. At no point is my jaw not hurting from all the laughing I'm doing, because NGNL never misses another opportunity to put a big dumb grin on your face from just how silly the characters are.

In many ways, NGNL takes on parallels to Code Geass, with Sora's charismatic inclination to give impassioned speeches and his uncanny strategic abilities very much mirroring that of Lelouch Lamperouge. And that aside, you can also never quite tell if he's just completely insane or a true genius. With this in mind, I really can't see anyone other than Johnny Yong Bosch voicing Sora for the English dub when it eventually comes along, as he is naturally the perfect match to bring Sora's brilliant madness to life. And while we're on the topic of voice actors, might I also recommend Emily Neves or Cristina Valenzuela as Shiro, Michelle Ruff as Stephanie Dola, and Wendee Lee as Jibril. You're welcome Sentai Filmworks; I just saved you the trouble on all the major casting. No payment necessary (but would be preferred... please hire me).

As much praise as I've been showering on this series, you might be thinking that I'm about to score this a perfect 5 out of 5, but nonetheless I do feel there are some significant caveats that are holding it back. As it currently stands, No Game No Life has only 12 episodes planned in the works, and having seen 8 episodes so far, I can tell that there is no way the story can be completely wrapped up in 4 more episodes without turning it into a train wreck. There is just too much lore that has still been left unexplored, and if a second season doesn't get announced, we will most likely be left with an incomplete ending. Given NGNL's huge popularity right now though, it is most likely that we can expect an announcement for season 2 eventually, but until then, its future is still uncertain. In addition, while it's true that there is never really a dull moment in this anime, at the end of the day there isn't a whole lot of depth or substance to it either, and it has a tendency to go off on tangents of fanservice, with an entire episode being devoted to humiliating, stripping, and putting dog ears on Stephanie Dola.

Holy waifus, batman!

And finally, the first episode was deceptive in that it gave the impression that we could expect to see a good deal of flashy action set pieces from this series too, with an opening scene that showed off some impressive combat in an online game world, but that was quickly replaced by much less impressive board games, card games, and even rock-paper-scissors matches in many cases. Nevertheless, No Game No Life is still highly entertaining, and while my score might seem a little like tough love on it right now, I think I will likely convince myself to give a final verdict of 4 out of 5 by the time it reaches its end.

Current Tentative Score: 3 out of 5 - Good

Wow, that turned out to be a lot more writing than I expected it to be, so I'm going to have to end my first Anime Roundup here. Hopefully I can tackle more than just one anime in my next roundup, but with NGNL being the biggest anime of the currently airing season so far, I guess it couldn't be helped.

If you liked listening to my opinions here, you can also read some full anime reviews I've written on my MAL profile page.