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REVIEW: No Game, No Life Episodes 1-12 Streaming

As for the Steph issue, I feel like there's a lot to be done with her character. The way she has been structured as always being weaker and dependent on Sora and Shiro could very well play into a future plot. Maybe she ends up helping them in a game, and they end up respecting her. Who knows? I personally didn't find the mistreatment of Steph anything other than funny, and an opportunity for fanservice. Even if she was deliberately putting herself into a lot of those situations.

One thing that always annoys me in reviews of the series is how the leads are unbeatable. That's the point of the series. The joy isn't from wondering if they will lose... It's how they dominate everyone else. The how is important. Watching them figure out how to win is what makes the series so entertaining.

Cyclone1993 wrote:

One thing that always annoys me in reviews of the series is how the leads are unbeatable. That's the point of the series. The joy isn't from wondering if they will lose... It's how they dominate everyone else. The how is important. Watching them figure out how to win is what makes the series so entertaining.

Because that is extremely boring. There's zero tension when the heroes win all the time.

Thankfully, in NGNL, the heroes aren't actually unbeatable. Blank is actually a good example in my eyes of a duo of well-written heroes--they do not simple roll over the competition without even lifting a finger (like good ol' Tats of Mahouka fame...), they actually are challenged and yet manage to always get by and figure out genius solutions to their problems.

I find it extremely bizarre that you said "The joy isn't from wondering if they will lose", because to me that was the joy. During the spoiler[chess game against Kurami, where Sora was actually near-loss and had seemingly no options], I was actually floored that an anime had actually put its main characters in danger. That's when I knew the show was a keeper. You can see it all over the show--the Shiritori game, the VR game, the spoiler[disappearance of Sora for an episode]...NGNL is that rare LN-based anime where the victories of the heroes aren't cut-and-dried.

Yes, we know Blank will find a way and kick as. But we know that for most stories--the hero DOES usually NGNL elevates above the competition because we're never quite sure HOW Blank will win, and when they manage to come up with genius solutions on-the-fly, you're like "HOLY SH THAT WAS AWESOME".

Bottom line, NGNL is good because there's actual suspense, tension, and uncertainty about what will happen next, something a vast-amount of action LN/anime lacks. Which is actually kind of sad in a way given that this is Writing 101, but I've already accepted that LN's are literally the bottom of the bottom of the barrel when it comes to writing quality so when a story that actually even tries to aspire to more like NGNL comes along, I'm stunned and awed.

Thankfully, in NGNL, the heroes aren't actually unbeatable.
-SNIP-
Blank is actually a good example in my eyes of a duo of well-written heroes--they do not simple roll over the competition without even lifting a finger (like good ol' Tats of Mahouka fame...)
-SNIP-
Bottom line, NGNL is good because there's actual suspense, tension, and uncertainty about what will happen next, something a vast-amount of action LN/anime lacks.

A lot of reviewers don't see that, they think that there isn't any tension in the series because the outcome is already decided.

A good metaphor would be, "We know where our destination is, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun a long the way."

What a horribly long post...but it helped alleviate my boredom for awhile. I do wish this wouldn't have of been so long, but I felt like these were points that I wanted to touch on.

HaruhiToy wrote:

Quote: The pair are always abusing and enslaving Steph, who can do nothing to protect herself. I take exception to this. In fact it is BS. Steph is victimized by nobody but Steph herself, as was shown before Blank even arrived. She was spoiler[playing poker against a cheater and losing steadily.] If she wants to "protect" herself all she had to do was stop challenging Shiro after it became abundantly clear she could never win.

In nearly every instance Steph was abused and taken advantage of. It was no lesson when the goal was to humiliate Steph. Was the dog ears/tail a lesson?

Genius. Nothing much left to be said. The galaxy-destroying shiritori game was epic, superbly original stuff. It didn't even lose anything by me not speaking Japanese (and therefore not able to anticipate the syllable-play).

Regarding the Steph issue, I can see both sides. If you can't watch a girl being stripped nearly naked, humiliated, mind-controlled and forced to bark like a dog, well, I'm hardly going to tell you that that's a bad thing. But if Steph was a man, no-one would have any problem at all, and if you can get over that taboo, it is bloody funny. Not because it's happening to a girl, but because it's brilliant slapstick and comic timing.

If you can't watch a girl being stripped nearly naked, humiliated, mind-controlled and forced to bark like a dog, well, I'm hardly going to tell you that that's a bad thing. But if Steph was a man, no-one would have any problem at all