No Game No Life (2014)

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No Game No Life Review

No Game No Life is a 2014 fantasy comedy anime series directed by Atsuko Ishizuka. It is the kind of a series that gives anime a bad name.

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“This world is just… a crappy game“

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Yes, I really didn’t like this show. Well, I didn’t hate it either as I found many legitimately good things in it and it was a passable diversion, but I still found it to be very problematic for the majority of its run. It follows two siblings who are gamers who get summoned to a reality which revolves totally around video games. There, they plan to conquer the sixteen ruling species and to usurp the god of games.

The plot itself isn’t particularly original, but is still solid and entertaining. It had great potential, but unfortunately it was all wasted on a very mediocre approach to it. This series is defined by its sexual nature. In fact, it is so sexual and so graphic that I wondered many times whether they went too far and almost in a pornographic territory.

Let’s just say that I was quite surprised and even gasped at some of the scenes here. The series is much more a comedy than it is a fantasy and although it does have its very interesting fantasy elements, the comedy stuff is much more emphasized. And the humor is, well, okay I guess. It is tough to say, but I did genuinely laugh a couple of times, but more often than not, I laughed at its craziness and I don’t know if that was what the series drove for.

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Sora is a very misogynistic character and too much of a sexual predator. In fact, he was quite unlikable for the majority of the time here. Shiro is quite silly and to me odd and underutilized. The relationship between the two was very odd and containing somewhat disturbing connotations. But what I liked about them is that they felt like antiheros as they genuinely enjoyed beating up their opponents and that was weirdly diabolical and funny.

Stephanie Dola is the reason why No Game No Life is a very sexist anime. She is such an eye candy, overly sexualized and just there for the male audience to look at. She is at least half naked for the large part and that was ridiculous. And the fact that the two basically humiliated her episode after episode didn’t help matters either. Jibril is a much better, although forgettable character.

No Game No Life benefits from some interesting visuals. Sure, its animation can be difficult to get used to and its garish style with overly saturated colors can be a nuisance for some, but I admired its authentic nature as rarely have I seen similar looking animation. That visual style is undoubtedly the most original thing about this anime.

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The voice acting is fine, some of the imagery is quite intriguing and it is solidly paced, but I really found the overall storyline disappointing as it could have been approached differently and it could have been much more epic and dramatic, not to mention fun. The second half of the series in particular took a major step back in terms of quality and entertainment. Overall, I did find it somewhat humorous in its ridiculousness, but it was too crazy, sexual and slight to be enjoyed more.