No Game No Life - Cheatcodes Allowed

How far does a concept carry a show? I ask this because No Game No Life had gained quite a few viewers with its concept: a world where all conflicts are settled with games. This, coupled with its unique art style and the first couple episodes being very solid, made me quite hopeful that it would actually manage to be good. That was a bad idea, I should've gone in with lower expectations.

STORY: 4.5/10

The story, most definitely, is one that had an interesting concept but fell flat on its face through execution. The idea is that there's a world where there are sixteen different races and humanity is the only one without special powers that give them an advantage in the aforementioned game-ruled economy, be it the ability to magically enhance your physical strength or better senses to tell when someone is bluffing in a card game, all sorts of things.

And then the protagonists come in and turn THAT concept flat on its head. Now, it's a given that any story needs to let the main characters win in crucial points, but the problem is that they go way too overboard with what Sora and Shiro are capable of doing simply because "Blank doesn't lose". Not only that, but it severely harms immersion since most of the things they're capable of require the opposing side to act in oftentimes irrational ways just to make their plans go off without a hitch - which they always do, for the record. There are so many variables that these two don't account for, or just ignore, that really SHOULD be biting them on the ass at some point. But that would harm the desire to self-insert as the invincible, super-smart, ultra-skilled duo, now wouldn't it?

Ultimately I think that's the problem with the story is that it's trying to present itself as a thinking man's series, at least more so than your average light novel where the protagonist wins through sheer awesomeness and brute force when THINKING is the most detrimental thing to what we're given. It raises a lot of little questions, the one that came to my mind being "how do Sora and Shiro keep recharging their devices? They mention having chargers but where are the sockets?" And when every single of their "brilliant" plans has me think of at least three easy ways for them to screw it up, it really would benefit by simply dropping the pretense that the plot is smart.

Here are a few massive oversights: In the Shiritori game, what if Jibril decided to start using words from the hundreds of languages she mentions knowing? They allowed words like "air"  and "beach" through, so clearly they were allowed to use more than Japanese. In the contest with the Warbeasts, what if they decided to make their game something like a relay race instead of playing into Blank's hands? Then there are a million possible variables that could've screwed up the coin flip in the final episode, and these are the key things that came to me literally as I was watching the series, I'm certain that with more thought one could spot all the little holes in their "infallible" plans (assuming that Blank IS capable of processing information beyond the level of supercomputers and have perfect coordination to pull off half the crazy stuff they do).

Plus there's sort of the cardinal sin of planning for sequels that may or may not ever happen. Out of the sixteen factions, we only really see two of them in the runtime, and the Warbeast faction is hardly touched upon at that. Sure, there's an elf and a flugel but both of them are single characters who are stated as not falling in-line with their respective cultures and both have ultimately minor roles.

Premise: 1.5/2
Pacing: 1/2
Immersion: 0.5/2
Setting: 1.5/2
Theme: 0/1
Complexity: 0/1

ART: 7/10

I do need to give the art some props. It has a unique look to it that is apparent right from the beginning since they use colored outlines, but there's more to it than just that. The fantasy world is fairly well explored with a variety of different costumes for the different factions that match the general feel that they're going for. Well, sort of, I don't get why the Flugel is supposed to be represented by a midriff-baring tabard.

The world itself is very vibrant, although if you get past the colors it's basically just your standard fantasy world with a few game pieces strewn here and there. The medieval style Imanity being placed right next to a traditional Japanese styled Warbeasts is kind of strange, but not distracting. However it should be noted that the staff went out of their way to make the world feel like a world. There are people where you would expect people, even in the backgrounds of unimportant shops, and little objects are placed around quite often. It helps give the feel that contrasts a busy market street, which should feel cramped and lively, with a political meeting in a castle that will be more formal, without even saying a word. I like that sort of thing.

Although as an aside, in skimming through the series for shots to put in the review I'd point out that there isn't much dynamism to the storyboards (dialogue-centric series, give it a pass) and for some reason they stick very closely to really warm color palettes rather than branching out and using a more widespread array of colors. It's a deliberate part of the style I'm certain but it's worth noting.

General Presence: 1.5/2
Visual Design: 1.5/2
Backgrounds: 1.5/2
Animation: 1/2
Attention to Detail: 1/1
Visual Effects: 0.5/1

SOUND: 5/10

Nothing to hear that's notable whether it's good or bad. Actors do their jobs but don't bring anything to the characters that the script doesn't. Music isn't bad but is very forgettable. Moving on.

Voice Acting: 2/4
Music: 2/4
Sound Effects: 1/2

CHARACTERS: 2.5/10

I'm fairly certain that this sort of response was predictable from anyone who knows me, but the characters in No Game No Life are nothing to call home about. Standard light novel fare of the invincible, infallible protagonist and a harem of bland-but-sexy girls. The part that bugs me the most is that at a glance, it doesn't have to be that way.

Oftentimes, they try and push the idea that Shiro and Sora are fundamentally screwed up, socially backward individuals who couldn't go to a fast food place to buy a burger without having a panic attack. It's played for a few gags but is completely ignored when it would actually affect anything in the plot. Sora in particular, is an anomaly in that despite supposedly having this sociophobia, he has no problem with interacting and actually being something of a smug prick around supermodel-esque women. He also talks about how much he loves humanity when the first episode establishes he thinks that modern society is scum. It's inconsistent is the thing.

Even the haremettes could've been engaging, but they rapidly turn into one-note characters when that's entirely unnecessary. For example, Stephanie is 100% useless, which is really a ridiculous idea. The plot setup makes it perfect for her to become an important character, being the "face" of the team considering the others should have a hard time interacting with other people. She doesn't need to be good at games, but the setup is obvious: someone who is bad at games but good with personal interactions teaming up with the two who are good at games but suck at personal interactions. She adds nothing to the plot and every time it looks like she's going to be competent, it's swiped away from her because the author loves repeating that joke.

The character I find the most enjoyment out of is Jibril, and I'm fairly certain that's almost entirely because of Tamura's natural charm to her voice. Yet even she goes from a somewhat fun flirtatious character who could've really been great bouncing off of Sora to show his weaknesses to another generic haremette. Obviously, Sora is the self-insert, he shouldn't have his character flaws amount to anything that makes him look bad, right?

Also the breakout popular character of the show is Shiro for some reason. I don't get it, she's a bland emotionless loli. The most I could get out of it is how much she adores the self-insert as well as the idea of being a gamer making her waifubait. She also is a glaring example of how the supposed "flaws" of the main characters are complete lies, since she's capable of being more athletic and acrobatic than a Warbeast despite not exercising a day in her life.

Presence: 1/2
Personality: 1/2
Complexity: 0/2
Memorability: 0.5/2
Development: 0/1
Pathos: 0/1

FINAL JUDGMENT: 3/10

No Game No Life is bad, but I feel like my initial reaction of disgust might have been a bit harsh. It's no worse than your standard light novel schlock. I think the main reason it draws out such a strong reaction from me is that it didn't need to be this way. The setup sounded like it would've been very solid, especially after hearing about the 16 races. It'd be about Sora and Shiro being big fish in a small pond and they need to both expand their horizons while simultaneously fighting uphill battles where they're against opponents with overwhelming physical and mental advantages.

However, the idea that Sora and Shiro are actually regular humans with flaws is the big lie of the series. Their 'flaws' are played for laughs and disappear the moment there are any stakes, even something as simple as taking Steph's clothes off they seem to forget that they're supposed to be sociophobic. The stuff they pull off in the first half of the series is so absurd it's like they're demigods with the power to see the script and change it to their liking while also being a vacuum of competence, such as the aforementioned "Shiro can beat a Warbeast in a physical contest".

If you want a power fantasy then it certainly delivers that. If you just want pretty art then, hey, you've got that, too. Otherwise No Game No Life is simply a mess of wasted potential.

Pros:
+Interesting setup and world
+Unique quirks to the art

Cons:
-Main character's invincibility is pushed far too much
-Lack of true world-building
-Character development is poorly handled, if at all, creating an extremely unbalanced and uninteresting cast