Is No Game No Life Worth Watching?

Isekai is my favorite Anime genre. And for those who don’t know what Isekai is, Isekai is the type of anime where the main character is transported into another world. You get the gist. Now some time ago, I was discussing anime with my good friend, Jason. He then mentioned No Game No Life. Now I love No Game No Life. But he shocked me by saying that he gave No Game No Life a 6/10. Afterwards he went on to give reasons why, like the fact that he didn’t quite like Sora and Shiro. And then ended it all with a link to MudanTV’s video, “Is No Game No Life worth Watching”. And after listening to what both Mudan and Jason had to say on the anime, I decided to answer both of them. And the answer is yes. No Game No Life is worth watching.

 

No Game No Life came out in the time when the Isekai genre wasn’t as popular as it is today. Back then, when one would mention an anime about being transported into another world, everyone would think of SAO. Back in 2012, when SAO came out, that was when the concept of Isekai started becoming popular. Later on, more and more Isekai started coming out. All with different concepts. And in 2014, No Game No Life finally came out. It was one of the very first Isekai that came with the concept of being transported into a fantasy world. Because prior to this, the other two more popular Isekai, those being SAO and Log Horizon, both had concepts of being transported inside a game world. To put it simply, No Game No Life gave birth to the fantasy world Isekai trend. In the anime, we were introduced to two of the smartest characters in anime history. Sora and Shiro.

 

And yes, I can agree with what Mudan had to say about Shiro’s introduction and stuff. It was pretty unnecessary to introduce her like that. But what can you do? When anime decides to throw you some fan service, you better expect anything. Especially if it’s an Isekai. And speaking of fan service, yes, I agree that the show had tons of it. But fan service will always be there whether we like it or not. I mean, the bath scenes weren’t that bad. Personally, I kind of liked em. Hey. Don’t judge my tastes. I mean, fan service is there for a reason you know. And that’s to service the fans. But anyway, let’s get back to the characters. First of all, Steph’s character is relatable. I agree. She is the most human character in the anime. Whereas everyone else is a genius god. Except for Kurumi who’s more of a spoiled brat with mommy issues. But there’s nothing wrong with being super smart. I mean, we’ve seen tons of smartass characters like Lelouch, L, Hikigaya, Ayanakoji etc. But what I’ve been told by good old Jason was that the fact that Sora and Shiro always win their games, is pretty stupid and boring.

But that’s not the point here. The awesome part isn’t the fact that they win, but it’s how they win. Yes. Sora and Shiro have never lost a game except to each other. But even that alone adds to their charm. Like the introduction. I loved how they introduced Team Blank. The fact that they defeated hundreds of players and that they even knew how to get around their cheats was absolutely brilliant. We were instantly aware that these two are gonna turn out to be amazingly smart and amazingly badass. And that’s where it all began. Each opponent they faced, they beat. Each game they played, they won. It was always obvious that they were gonna win. Because Blank always wins. But even so, there were moments that even I thought that they were gonna lose. Like both of the games they had with Kurumi. Each time they played against her, there were always times where it would look like they would lose. But they would still pull through. One of the most amazing wins they had was the one against the Federation.

Being the last game and all, we all expected them to win. But just when we thought that they were gonna pull off another great stunt, they got taken out. I personally thought that they were done for. But even when they were going down, Blank never stopped thinking about their next move. And thanks to the way the game was and its system, they used it to their advantage. Now going back to the chess game with Kurumi, you could hardly call that game chess. Sure it started off just like any chess game. But later down the line, when Shiro was about to lose her cool, Sora figured out the real game they were playing. Seeing how a simple game of chess, turned into a game of Mount and Blade just went to show that this was no longer the normal world we are all accustomed to, but it finally hit us that this was a genuine fantasy world. Almost every major game they played, was a game we all knew but with a fantasy twist added to it.

 

Like the word chain game against Jibril, where everything you say, happens. Like if you say atom bomb, then that’s what’s gonna appear. You get the picture. One amazing thing about how Sora and Shiro won their games was that they would always give reasons and a thorough explanation on how they won. And once they do, everything would make sense. Now besides all this, the drama, action and comedy all blended in perfectly. The world building was also one of the best I’ve ever seen in anime. Personally, it gave me One Piece vibes. Not so much with how the world was, but with how many different types of characters were. I mean, there are a total of 16 different races. And we were introduced to five of them. What’s more, the animation made the whole anime look even more amazing. There aren’t many anime studios that would take such an approach to animation styles. But Madhouse did it.

 

And they delivered quite the amazing anime. Not to mention the movie, which was just as good. In it we got to see what happened in the Great War that enveloped each and every race on the face of the planet. It also showed us who Elkia’s founders were. But the best thing about it was how it filled me with a sea of emotions. Like I could rewatch the movie right now and I’d still cry. Now if they would be so kind as to bring out season 2 as well, then that would be the cherry on top. Because I for one can’t seem to understand why they wouldn’t continue such an amazing and successful show. Not to mention that No Game No Life is also a great anime to recommend to new fans or to those that would like to be introduced to the world of anime.