Anime Review - No Game No Life

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Game, Supernatural

Story:

No Game No Life is a surreal comedy that follows Sora and Shiro, shut-in NEET siblings and the online gamer duo behind the legendary username "Kuuhaku." They view the real world as just another lousy game; however, a strange e-mail challenging them to a chess match changes everything—the brother and sister are plunged into an otherworldly realm where they meet Tet, the God of Games.

The mysterious god welcomes Sora and Shiro to Disboard, a world where all forms of conflict—from petty squabbles to the fate of whole countries—are settled not through war, but by way of high-stake games. This system works thanks to a fundamental rule wherein each party must wager something they deem to be of equal value to the other party's wager. In this strange land where the very idea of humanity is reduced to child’s play, the indifferent genius gamer duo of Sora and Shiro have finally found a real reason to keep playing games: to unite the sixteen races of Disboard, defeat Tet, and become the gods of this new, gaming-is-everything world.

In a nutshell, the story of No Game No Life is about the siblings' long-term plans of conquering the world by challenging others at games and using the Ten Commandments' wagers as winnings while (hopefully) maintaining [ ]'s 100% win record. Sounds simple enough, right? Well it's not.

Rules in this new world:

【1】 All bloodshed, war, and pillage is forbidden throughout the world.
【2】 All disputes are to be resolved through the outcome of games.
【3】 In games, wagers will be made on what both parties decide to be of equal value.
【4】 Unless contrary to "Three", the game content and the things wagered do not matter.
【5】 The challenged party has the right to decide the contents of the game.
【6】 "As per the Oath", the wager will be unconditionally adhered to.
【7】 All matters for group conflicts will be decided by a representative.
【8】 If cheating is detected during a game, it will be regarded as a defeat.
【9】 The above rules are unconditionally everlasting, upheld in the name of God.
【10】—— Everyone should get along while playing games.

Characters:

As the 2-man protagonist team of the series, undoubtedly the vast majority of the focus in the character department is on Sora and Shiro themselves, and they're certainly not disappointing.

All of the Characters are well developed and will show more and more sides of their personality throughout the Anime. The cast more or less consists of only females and one Male characters but that I have not much to complain about that one - It's a Ecchi Anime after all.

Art and Animation:

Let me start this of with saying no you are not on drugs, this Anime really looks like that.

The word "colorful" has to be redefined for this Anime only. This Anime has the most "interesting" color scheme i've ever seen in my entire life. It's like a little kid that was bathed in colors and then was let loose in an complete white house. It's really the kind of thing you need to see for yourself to understand but it sure as hell stands out from the crowd.

You'll get used to it and it really didn't bother me at all in the end.

Overall:

No game no life is a much watch anime for all the anime fans that want a different kind of anime. Especially gamers will have a lot of fun with this one. I would say that NGNL is often misunderstood for mediocre anime riding on populat tropes, but I see it as an amazing melding of Asian and western cultures. We learned to enjoy Asian quirks and their way of life, but this one hits it close to home, to a closer culture.