yeah, really mediocre show imo. art was pretty nice tho  

Posted by Imprint

No Game No Life is pretty terrible. Characters are flat, story is predictable, and at least half of each episode is fanservice. The only redeeming piece is the art which is colorful and pretty.

I would have to disagree with your opinion. I wouldn't say the characters are flat, I feel like there was a lot of originality in their design.

You don't realize this in English, but in Japanese the names "Sora" and "Shiro" somehow form together to form the word blank. At first I thought the fact they had blank tags in the game they played was just some type of ominous and mysterious thing, I never realized the poetic aspect of it.

Sora means sky. Shiro means white. In one episode, there is a flashback to Shiro describing Sora as empty.They say that together they form blank. Blank and empty have similar meanings. White is also associated with blankness or emptiness.

So they weren't just stock names given to the characters. There really is a lot of thought put into their names. Even Steph's name is a reference to modern culture, if you look on Urban Dictionary.

As for the The "foolish king", I think he's a beautifully designed character, and an excellent foil to Sora. The reason why is a spoiler:

Spoiler

He falsely pretended to be foolish and gambled away his people's land, for the sake of learning more by circumventing a loophole in a verbal agreement. he gambled away land that was of little value to his kingdom, and in turn earned valuable information due to his excellence in faking his character.

It's also ironic how Sora calls him a fool, then attempts the same exact things the king did. He took far bigger risks than the king did, simply because of his confidence in blank's abilities.

I also like the NEET aspect of both of the MCs. It provides an interesting narrative as to why they dislike the real world, where there is no clear goal in mind. I also like the intellectual games that happen throughout the show, that require lots of thought to fully comprehend


As for the excessive fanservice, that is a valid critique that comes down to opinion. It certainly makes the show far to akward to watch with friends. However, I do feel like they do it in a way that they seperate it from the plot, or at least tie it into the plot in a reasonable way.  

No Game No Life actually loves to make fun of fanservice.  

Posted by Killua*

No Game No Life actually loves to make fun of fanservice.

Wait how do they "make fun" of fanservice? The only scene I can think of is the "Bro, Omega good job" part lol.  

Most noticable in their game against Jibryl, they talk about how as long as they don't have some part (or what they call the nether region and Hooters) anything else goes as fanservice. Saying how as long as they don't have rated R substance it's all good and fanservice is dumb being that way.

Shiro and Sora loves talking about keeping stuff out that is not R rated. That way everything is alright.  

They can put as much thought into the names as they want but witty names don't flesh out characters. They've had multiple opportunities but they just scratch the surface and then distract you with breasts or the two MCs winning another game. They've spent all of 10 minutes on both Shiro and Sora's pasts combined. Maybe they should have spent less time with their genius names and more time on the story. Not to mention that the NEET thing is just a cliche to bring in people who like the antisocial protagonist. For a guy who spends all his life inside and is supposedly extremely socially awkward, he has a pretty easy time talking to people. He should be struggling to communicate with a cabbage, not mind gaming an entire kingdom. And the games aren't intellectual either, they just make up rules as they go so that blank can always win.

Spoiler

That chess game wasn't intellectual at all. Suddenly pieces can be mind controlled. Suddenly there are rebels. What luck that all these rules happened to be in the game.

I guess I shouldn't say the show is terrible, just very shallow.  

Posted by Imprint

They can put as much thought into the names as they want but witty names don't flesh out characters. They've had multiple opportunities but they just scratch the surface and then distract you with breasts or the two MCs winning another game. They've spent all of 10 minutes on both Shiro and Sora's pasts combined. Maybe they should have spent less time with their genius names and more time on the story. Not to mention that the NEET thing is just a cliche to bring in people who like the antisocial protagonist. For a guy who spends all his life inside and is supposedly extremely socially awkward, he has a pretty easy time talking to people. He should be struggling to communicate with a cabbage, not mind gaming an entire kingdom. And the games aren't intellectual either, they just make up rules as they go so that blank can always win.

Spoiler

That chess game wasn't intellectual at all. Suddenly pieces can be mind controlled. Suddenly there are rebels. What luck that all these rules happened to be in the game.

I guess I shouldn't say the show is terrible, just very shallow.

Not sure if you watched the entire season such far(I don't blame you for stopping if you don't like it), but it does emphasize their NEET characteristics. They enter a state panic in the 11th episode when

Spoiler

The game takes place in Tokyo, in a large crowd.

They also act much like their neet personalities, being lazy and unassertive much like they are in the real world.

Also, it's not that they're introverted, its that they don't like their real world. I can actually relate to the MC a lot. He struggles IRL, but in this fantasy world he can deliver a powerful speech since its a world that better suites him.

I'm actually fairly similar. I'm shy at first, but when my heart cares about something, I can be loud and powerful and deliver what I have to say in an effective way. I can livestream in front of hundreds of people, start a conversation with anyone on the internet, state controversial opinions, anything. But IRL, I struggle just to start an ordinary conversation with someone I don't know face to face.

Now, I'm not NEET, I'm attending college, but I do feel like I'm in a similar situation since I spend most of my time playing videogames/watching anime, and don't have much of an outside life like most people my age.


It's a bizarre thing.

I do suppose the fact that Blank always wins is a bit anti-climatic. I do hope to see them lose at one point, and have to cope with it and recover. But the one game against steph where:

Spoiler

Steph attempts to cheat using a card trick, but Sora uses her own trick against her by utilizing card counting

Was absolutely hilarious. And the game in the 6th episode got really interesting after the silly/fanservice portion of it. When it got into atomic theory, other scientific elements, etc.  

I've watched up to episode 11. I'm not saying they don't ever have awkward moments. I'm saying that the show is very picky about when the MCs freak out and when they don't. It also says in episode 1 during the introductions that Sora is socially awkward. Like I said before, they call them NEETs to get a certain crowd.  

Posted by Imprint

I've watched up to episode 11. I'm not saying they don't ever have awkward moments. I'm saying that the show is very picky about when the MCs freak out and when they don't. It also says in episode 1 during the introductions that Sora is socially awkward. Like I said before, they call them NEETs to get a certain crowd.

True. IMO people can overcome their Vices. I was originally society akward throughout all of highschool. But the reason for this was because I felt like I didn't fit in. So many people partying hard, smoking weed, into shows and music I don't care for, not caring at all about grades or their futures, etc. I simply couldn't handle the differences in culture. If you ask anyone that knew me in highschool, I was probably one of the shyest and quietest of the entire graduating class.

But now that I'm in college, I think I've overcome it. The professional setting simply changes my character. People seem to actually care about information and learning(after all, they're paying for it). When I told a student in my speech classes that I'm socially akward, she didn't believe me. I simply didn't display it all all throughout my time there. I actually seemed to be the exact opposite.

Sora is in a similar situation. Being originally in a confusing world where the direction for success is unclear, he didn't belong. His NEET choices were frowned upon by society. But in this world, he's a hero. Success is decided by a simple game, which he excels at. The world is much more suiting to his talents and preferences. Because the environment he is in is more confortable to him, he overcomes some of his inner struggles.

I can't blame you for not liking it, it is a bit of a niche anime that appeals to a small audience. Everyone has opinions  

IMO Sora isn't shown as someone socially ackward, but as someone who didn't care for the shallow real life. In his childhood he is able to put on a persona to interact with others, just like he does in the fantasy world. But during his NEET times, he chose not to interact with other.

This article gives more insight on Sora and Shiro's character. Plus information on their names.
http://yaranakya.wordpress.com/2014/...-game-no-life/  

Started watching Samurai Flamenco. There seemed to be a lot of hoopla over it last year when it aired, but honestly, Im completely disappointed.. Main character starts off pretty lame. And the first few episodes, he seems to be all gay for the cop. The story also started out really cheesy. I keep thinking it's going to take off in the next episode, but I watched through ep5 and it's hardly moved. Absolutely no hook yet. The cop is the only semi-likable character. Completely hate Flamenco Girl.  

Posted by twilit

Started watching Samurai Flamenco. There seemed to be a lot of hoopla over it last year when it aired, but honestly, Im completely disappointed.. Main character starts off pretty lame. And the first few episodes, he seems to be all gay for the cop. The story also started out really cheesy. I keep thinking it's going to take off in the next episode, but I watched through ep5 and it's hardly moved. Absolutely no hook yet. The cop is the only semi-likable character. Completely hate Flamenco Girl.

If you think it's bad now, it gets much worse later. It completely branches off from the original story into a crack fest of events. The beginning was the only decent thing about it. It's the only anime that has made me rate it a 5/10.  

Samurai Flamenco was popular due to the fact that it portrays our childhood dreams of wanting to be hero, but once it turned to another Power Rangers, it all went downhill.  

Posted by Killua*

Samurai Flamenco was popular due to the fact that it portrays our childhood dreams of wanting to be hero, but once it turned to another Power Rangers, it all went downhill.

Power Rangers is corny and goofy, and shouldn't try to be taken seriously.
Was it a FUNNY or ACTION based anime?  

Posted by Dragoon Victory

Power Rangers is corny and goofy, and shouldn't try to be taken seriously.
Was it a FUNNY or ACTION based anime?

HunterxHunter 2011