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Shelf Life - No Pain No Game


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Foxaika



Joined: 28 Apr 2015
Posts: 365
Location: Columbus, Ohio
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:07 pm Reply with quote
I liked No Game No Life quite a bit actually. The games,(despite the fact that you knew the outcome) were just so darned fun, Sora and Shiro were entertaining to me, and the unique visual style was refreshing. I can easily say I was entertained from start to finish, and any of the lows that Paul alludes to hardly bothered me because of that.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:39 pm Reply with quote
Paul wrote:
...but it quickly becomes obvious that Sora and Shiro are a little too invincible for their own good.

...

The destination may be a foregone conclusion, but the journey itself can be entertaining all the same. At some point, however, I have to wonder how much better this series could have been if it had simply resolved its issues instead of working around them.


You rebutted your own gripe. It's not whether they'll win or not - and let's not forget all those shows about sports and/or martial arts that also have characters who are undefeated - but how Sora and Shiro win. They win using intelligence, win in style, and win with their unshakeable bond. Even more than that, they always make their battles really entertaining to watch.

Also, remember that the first season covers spoiler[the easiest of the races to beat. Angels and beast-people are hard enough, but the other races out there are way harder. One of the races consists of nothing but former deities. Even if Blank gets past all of them, then they'll have to fight the current god. In other words, if NGNL's story can be likened to an RPG, the battles thus far are akin to fighting low-level skeletons in one of the earliest dungeons.] Of course the heroes are going to be guaranteed of winning in such a scenario.

Paul wrote:
The script also spends far too much time dumping misery on Steph...


Hey now, Steph is one of the best characters, and her scenes are some of the funniest parts of the show. Sure, she's the butt monkey, but Slapstick Knows No Gender after all. The writers use her to great effect and the show is better for her presence.

It wouldn't be a problem with a male character - everyone laughs at how utterly useless Yamcha is in Dragon Ball Z, for example - so getting upset when it's a female character is a double standard.

What's important in Steph's example is that though she is the butt monkey she is still a fleshed-out character in her own right, and I'm not referring to her chest. She is given her own hopes and dreams and fears and personality quirks. Is she the butt of many jokes? Sure. But it never descends into being mean-spirited. If it had been mean I would not have enjoyed it. To use a topical comparative example, NGNL is not Prison School.

Paul wrote:
As a finished product, No Game, No Life is a bit of a mess. It falls flat on its face as often as it triumphs...


LOL, this ain't true at all. It was a fantastic series, I loved every minute of it, and it is totally deserving of being on my Shelf.
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Sylontack



Joined: 09 Apr 2011
Posts: 193
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:28 pm Reply with quote
Can we just get cheese images at the end of each column? I'm kind of loving it.
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Ashen Phoenix



Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 2904
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:31 pm Reply with quote
Foxaika wrote:
I liked No Game No Life quite a bit actually. The games,(despite the fact that you knew the outcome) were just so darned fun, Sora and Shiro were entertaining to me, and the unique visual style was refreshing. I can easily say I was entertained from start to finish, and any of the lows that Paul alludes to hardly bothered me because of that.

Same here. I can absolutely see where others would be annoyed, and they're perfectly in the right to feel that way. I personally took the siblings' invincibility okay; it wasn't if they'd win, it was how (and given the ludicrous powers some of their opponents had, it was quite a challenge to think, "How can they win this one?!").

As for their personalities, I took it as they were supposed to be a bit assholish and unlikable, as real-world gamers often can be. Likewise the belittling humor revolving around Steph was mean but hilarious in the same vein as Charlie Brown missing the football.

Interesting reviews, as always!
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:50 pm Reply with quote
I did not complete No Game No Life. After it became clear that the main characters were practically invincible and unlikely to make any serious faults during the games I checked out. It didn't help that the characters were unlikable either.

I liked some of the strategies played during the games, but they weren't always explained (or rational) and the characters surrounding the games didn't make me want to continue watching.
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Raebo101



Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 792
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:01 pm Reply with quote
@dtm42
I agree with you that Slapstick Knows No Gender, but the funny thing about Yamcha is... he wasn't always the butt-monkey. He was quite useful in the original Dragon Ball. Everyone else just became a lot stronger than him.

On a side note, I really enjoyed the dub, especially whoever played Jibril. She played off Jibril's attitude brilliantly. Give her more work, Sentai! Wink
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:09 pm Reply with quote
First off I am a HUGE FAN of NGNL. that said I know the two problems people have with the show are steph's treatment/intelligence and the fairly OP nature of sora and shiro.

I actually really like steph, they show that she is smart and knows how to manage people and is able to make sora and shiros radical changes a reality. she is just not a good judge at betting and is able to be duped by people who are smarter then her because she doesn't learn well outside traditional means. The show never makes a joke about her being unfeminine or makes a joke out of her without a point behind it though.

Second the idea behind making sora and shiro OP is to ensure that there is an actual logical reason why they win and to show off their logic and why they can go up against angels, beast humiods and a lot more in the later books including the old gods of the world.

I do not think NGNL especially the novels however I think it is easily one of if not the best fantasy animes out there.


Last edited by Tanteikingdomkey on Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Sunny milk



Joined: 22 Jan 2014
Posts: 695
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:11 pm Reply with quote
NGNL anime adaptation is bad. I'm against censorship, especially since there aren't a whole lot of lolicon series getting animated, and this one completely butchered the fanservice, or made it into a joke with zero sexualization, like the bath scenes.
Read the novels, or support censorship, your call.
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Tempest_Wing



Joined: 07 Nov 2014
Posts: 305
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:25 pm Reply with quote
Why is that one piece of cheese on the top left corner green and orange? Confused
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:25 pm Reply with quote
Sunny milk wrote:
NGNL anime adaptation is bad. I'm against censorship, especially since there aren't a whole lot of lolicon series getting animated, and this one completely butchered the fanservice, or made it into a joke with zero sexualization, like the bath scenes.
Read the novels, or support censorship, your call.


......Ok you obviously have not read the novels, because the joke in the NOVELS WAS that there was no sexulization due to the censoring mist.

Second just because the series has a loli lead that does not make it a lolicon series especially since it is very hard to even call the series an ecchi series.
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Sunny milk



Joined: 22 Jan 2014
Posts: 695
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:31 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:

......Ok you obviously have not read the novels, because the joke in the NOVELS WAS that there was no sexulization due to the censoring mist.

Second just because the series has a loli lead that does not make it a lolicon series especially since it is very hard to even call the series an ecchi series.


I did, and genitalia/nipples isn't all there is to sexualization.
On the other hand, you certainly didn't see the novel illustrations. They are on par with the lewdest ecchi, and with a studio that doesn't favor censoring the shit out of it, it could have had quite erotic bath scenes instead of playing them for joke only.

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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:40 pm Reply with quote
Sunny milk wrote:

I did, and genitalia/nipples isn't all there is to sexualization.
On the other hand, you certainly didn't see the novel illustrations. They are on par with the lewdest ecchi, and with a studio that doesn't favor censoring the shit out of it, it could have had quite erotic bath scenes instead of playing them for joke only.


If you think that is the case then maybe you should put that in a spoiler tag.
The scene is not written in an erotic fashion and is only written as a joke. Just because another artist interpreted the scene like that and the company put it in there in hopes of increasing sales.
The way I see it they went with the authors original intent for the scene rather then going with a possibly derisive scene that in many peoples opinion is out of character for the series.
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Sunny milk



Joined: 22 Jan 2014
Posts: 695
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 pm Reply with quote
You think wrong, very very wrong. Your whole argument can be shattered by the fact that the author is also the illustrator of the novels. He was the one that drew that illustration too.
Could you say that was not intended to be erotic as well?
That's right, you can't. Hence the animation staff is censoring it because of the mere fact that she is a loli, as expected of Madhouse.
However, I will never support this kind of butchering.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:19 pm Reply with quote
I don't like censorship either, but the anime is fantastic and no one has claimed that the Japanese BD is different than the western BD.

Personally, I think you are missing out.

I wish the manga was available out here, but it isn't. Only that novel that you showed the illustrations from.
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:53 pm Reply with quote
Sunny milk wrote:
You think wrong, very very wrong. Your whole argument can be shattered by the fact that the author is also the illustrator of the novels. He was the one that drew that illustration too.
Could you say that was not intended to be erotic as well?
That's right, you can't. Hence the animation staff is censoring it because of the mere fact that she is a loli, as expected of Madhouse.
However, I will never support this kind of butchering.

I am calling bs on that for two reasons.
First the scene is not written erotically in fact it has no sexualization to it at all.

Second he can have been told by the publisher to do the piece to drive sales.

Third the animation staff animated the scene AS IT WAS WRITTEN in the books.

Fourth I thought that the artist was his wife because he was still to sick to work as an illustrator and had to move back to brazil for medical treatment. and that he became an author because he needed to make money somehow.

Fifth No Game No Life is not a lolicon series, yes shiro obviously loves her big brother but in that respect sora does not give her the time of day. Also once again they never sexualize shiro in the actual text of the novels, nor do they have her as a romantic interest for anyone in the series or even the viewer really unlike shows like a VN based or love live/kon or other series where a major part of the point is that you select your favorite girl.

and in the USA the manga is out from seven seas


Last edited by Tanteikingdomkey on Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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