Konnichiwa! Maid-chan desu!
Have you ever thought that you were born in the wrong world?
Maid-chan knows that feeling, since she has to live in a world full of stupid humans. But, to be fair, some humans are quite intelligent (like her master), and those often feel like they are in the wrong world, too.
Two of them are Sora and Shiro. They now live as siblings but are not blood related. For years they have been hikikomori, shut in in their room and only interested in which day of the week it is because that signals them when events in games are starting.
This is most important because Sora (空 sky) and Shiro (白 white) together make kūhaku 空白 (Blank), a famous “group” of players that only appears with 『 』 for their name (the two siblings sometimes play four characters, using their hands and feet).
The younger girl Shiro is the logical one, while her brother Sora is the strategist of the duo. If one has problems, the other takes over. Together the two never lose, which means they are very bored.
But then, one day, they get a strange email, challenging them to a game of chess. Sora does not expect much, but starts it anyway, and then…
They barely win! The most interesting game in a long time!
And after it the unknown stranger writes a new messages: What would the two think about a world where everything is decided by games?
The answer, of course, is: That would be great!
And so Sora and Shiro are brought into this game world, because the one that challenged them was nobody else then Tet, the One True God (and former God of Play).
Tet sucks the two into their world and introduces them to the ten pledges that govern even international wars.
Pledge 10: Let’s all have fun playing together!
Tet’s motive? He wants the duo to play against him again. To do this they have to “conquer” the world, showing everyone they are the best players.
Sora and Shiro quickly learn that they landed in the Kingdom of Elkia, the only place left for humans, who are called Imanity.
The rest of the world belongs to 15 other races, and the Imanity are the only race that cannot use magic. Which makes them the weakest race by far.
In this desperate situation, the last king just died and left in his last will that the next king will be the winner of a game tournament. Imanities best player.
It takes not much to convince Sora and Shiro to decide to be that one.
One reason for this is Stephanie Dola (Steph), the pitiful granddaughter of the king. She aspires to be the next queen but is way too naive.
In the series, Steph is responsible for fanservice, fetishes, getting things explained to and getting bullied, in this order.
Maid-chan has to stop here to explain a core element of No Game No Life. The anime makes extensive use of cliches and everything “typical” for the otaku-world. In one way the stereotypes are taken very seriously (as good Fantasy or Science Fiction should do), in another way they are made fun of very often.
There is even a bath scene where Sora explains that thanks to Mister Steam everything is safe to watch and nothing is 18+.
Humans, there censoring rules and their circumventions! So much effort for something so stupid!
But back to the secondary characters. You are still following Maid-chan, right?
There is one serious contender for the throne of Elkia, and her name is Kulami Cell (Maid-chan no translation hint: spoken like Clamii). Kulami is of the same age as Sora and her trump card is that she is mightily friends with an elven girl named Fil Nilvalen (Maid-chan bets 100 kWh that Fil is in love with her).
Using Fil’s magic Kulami can easily deceive her human contenders, since cheating is only counted as a loss when it is detected (and told).
In the end Sora wins against Kulami and takes the next step in con quering the world: Getting a Flügel.
Flügel is German and literally means “wings”. You can easily see why when you look at the Flügel Jibril.
But to get Jibril and her library, Sora and Shiro first have to make Jibril play a game with them. Since Jibril thinks of the Imanity as nothing more then ants (Jibril IS smart after all), she isn’t inclined to make a boring game against them, not least because they can’t offer anything of worth to her. Or so Jibril thinks until Sora shows her his own off-world library he luckily downloaded to train for quiz games.
With Jibril in their pocket, Sora and Shiro can take the first big step toward their goal – conquering the world – by taking over the Eastern Federation. The Eastern Federation has extremely advanced technology compared to the other races. But this is not the most interesting aspect, not for Sora.
The federation consists of different tribes of kemonomimi (animal ear) people. Catgirls, foxgirls, bunny girls… no wonder Sora has worked so hard to get them!
The warbeasts, as they are called, are rumored to be able to read thoughts, but Sora quickly shows that all the mind reading is just a propaganda trick. The warbeasts do have extremely good senses and they use them to win their games.
Sora outmaneuvers the warbeast ambassador, forcing him into a game where Elkia would win everything from the warbeasts if Kūhaku wins. Sora and Shiro are very confident to win. After all, the game the warbeasts are playing, as Sora finds out fast, is a computer game. And how could the champions of computer games of one world lose in another?
It is not that easy though, since their opponent is Izuna (moe alert!!)
But of course the heroes(?) win this game too and, with a last trick, unite the Eastern Federation and Elkia into the Elkia Federation.
And here, unfortunately, the anime ends. This is just the story of the first 3 of 9 released light novels and currently no second season is announced.
Most of the 6th light novel, which depicts how Tet became the Only God (and Steph royal blood), was animated into a movie, named No Game No Life: Zero.
In the movie the character design is very similar to the series, using the same voice actors for different persons. What sounds strange makes a very nice connection and really works.
Conclusion
As Maid-chan already has said, the anime takes the stereotypical cliches and dangles them in front of the audience or just smashes them into everyone’s faces. Many have tried this, most failed in one way or the other.
But No Game No Life makes a near-perfect mix of appealing, satire and an innovative setting. Sound and voice acting are on a high level. There is an extensive use of bright colors that you may need to adjust to, but after you have done that, the brilliance is breathtaking.
While there are some logical gaps, you can easily ignore them and enjoy the show. The games have more action to show off then most fights in fight-animes and you will never be able to hear the word shiritori (word chain) again without thinking of No Game No Life. Learn your Chemistry!
There are a few rough edges on this diamond, but thanks to the very unique setting of a world where everything is decided by games, the anime rises above the nine and gets a full 10/10 on the totally objective Maid-chan scale.
And Maid-chan hopes there will be a second (and third) season. Maid-chan would even bet one of her servers to get it. Aschente!
See you next time!