No Game No Life (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy

Everyone likes to escape reality at least every once and a while, some people read books, some meditate but the most common escape in today's world usually comes from video games. Sora and Shiro are two people who absolutely love games and cannot stand the real world or society, games are so much simpler for them for their designated rules and objectives are clear unlike in reality where many of us don't know what we're doing or why we are here. These two geniuses rule the world of video gaming and work together to form the group referred to as "Blank" which many people believe is a gaming myth but to those who have faced them, they know they're all too real and very powerful players. One day though they encountered with a mysterious proposition by and unknown person who knows that the two are "Blank" and they challenge them to a game. Turns out that this challenge came from another world and they are transported to it, this world is called Disboard and it is a world where everything is decided by games, the winners can gain anything, even whole kingdoms. Seems like the perfect place for the two and they set out to play the game Disboard set before them. 

No Game No Life, is a show that comes with an all around intriguing premise where two characters are sucked into another world where games decide everything and there is no place for killing, everything is decided by whatever game is set forth and to the victor go the spoils which can include whole kingdoms. The world of Disboard is ever more intriguing as you learn more and more about it, the world has many different races and creatures in it and is ripe with mysterious about it. Humanity or Imanity as we are called in this world is on the down slope it would seem though as many of the races in this world have advantages over us such as magic and physical abilities. But when Sora and Shiro enter the world, Imanity gets a fighting chance due to their insight and mastery of games that is on a super human level of its own. This skill though doesn't come from hours and hours of play but rather from the twos amazing IQ's that they use to manipulate and calculate things to a shocking level of detail that I haven't seen in a character since Light in Death Note. The two are a little off though as you will see as the show throws in some brother and sister love type humor along with harem themes and other fan service affects. 

I'm not exactly sure why there are so many fan service themes strewn throughout No Game No Life because the simple fact is the show offers a stellar story and characters on its own. You can do your best to ignore it most of the time when the jokes are mild and come off as a one hit joke but there are certain episodes in the show that feature so many varieties of fan service that it's impossible to over look. Tentacles, under aged girl themes, brother and sister themes, the show pretty much hits almost every style in this department but I choose to look around in because I was so wrapped up into the story. I genuinely laughed more often than not at all that I saw rather than seeing as an overall bad thing but that would be something you'd have to decide for yourself. No Game No Life will also make you laugh at these themes though as well due to all the references to games and anime hidden in the show. Things like a harem style video game are featured in the show which is so very Japan and is something we've seen characters in other animes play too, other funny nodes include an Ace Attorney "OBJECTION" plug that had me burst out in laughter when Shiro shouted it out.  

The pacing for the show doesn't feel at all rushed either, each episode comes chocked full of action, comedy and more. There is only twelve episode for the first season of the show but the whole thing wraps up quite nicely and definitely will leave you anxious to watch and see more. And not only is the pacing great but the show is just so darn pretty to watch and look at while you're going along, the artwork and development is something that was handled fantastically. The world is great to look at and really feels less like a video game world and more of a real world that could have existed long ago. It's the same feeling I had when I was watching Sword Art Online and saw just how amazing the worlds were inside of the game and it truly feels like a fantasy world filled with elves, beasts and more.

So what do I say about the show overall? I enjoyed No Game No Life while I was watching it and I eagerly await for the next season to start up again. The show does have it's flaws obviously and many, if not all, of them happen to be with the amount of fan service you will see as apart of the episodes. But if you can look past this then you're golden and are in store for a great story to it and two solid main characters who I enjoyed watching take the world of Disboard by storm and completely change how everyone views Imanity or Humans that is. 

Good:

- A great premise with some solid new ideas that I haven't seen in an anime before

- References to pop culture and video game hidden for laughs in the show

- Visuals that are absolutely great

- Sora and Shiro are two stellar main characters to watch

Bad:

- A lot of fan service that is not easily avoided by any means so if you detest that sort of thing you may not even want to bother 

- Characters aren't as strong outside of Sora and Shiro 

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10