NGNL fell short of everything
I wanted it to be. Obviously, I never expected it to be sophisticated like Paranoia Agent or epic like Seirei no Moribito, but I hoped it would be a
silly, entertaining bit of fluff I could watch with my brain switched off.
Sadly, it aimed for a little more than that, and the result was a mess I mostly
found annoying.
The No x No Life
formula is common in Japanese uses of English. Tower Records in Shibuya has a
huge plaque reading ‘No Music No Life’, for example. No Game No Life,
unsurprisingly, centres on two characters whose entire lives are devoted to
playing games. Instead of an amusing Welcome to the NHK study on a NEET
not fitting into society or a Rozen Maiden take on how a fantasy
adventure can lead to a person making changes in their everyday life and
getting over psychological issues, No Game No Life is a wish-fulfilment
fantasy. Though it is interesting in that the light novel was written by a
writer who was not born in Japan
– Brazilian born Thiago Furukawa Lucas, who writes as Kamiya Yuu – ultimately I
am quite surprised it’s as successful as it is, even with its heavy fanservice.
Two siblings game together as
‘Blank’, largely online. They hate the larger world and have no place in it.
They also have a rather dubious relationship – 18-year-old big brother Sora and
11-year-old little sister Shiro are attached to one another in a way clearly
designed to appeal to loli fans. After being approached by a god who takes the
form of a little pageboy named Tet, they are sucked into another world where
everything is a game. Of the sixteen races – equivalent to one side of a
chessboard – humans are ranked lowest, but with Blank on the scene that’s all
going to change.
The drama of the series has no
tension at all. Blank are ridiculous. They are so good at games that they
surpass human limits, can effectively predict any enemy’s actions and have the
physical ability to do things like force a tossed coin to land on its edge by
moving a pavement slab with a foot. They are overly perfect despite having
lived an absurdly unhealthy life, with Sora handsome and suave – with women
constantly throwing themselves at him – and Shiro blank-faced, submissive and
prone to getting naked a lot, as well as acting suggestively to other girls.
Both have the ability to play games on a level that’s plain stupid, and though
sometimes the way they win is clever – like when they use an NPC’s movement to
put a team member in the right position to counteract cheating – sometimes it’s
just unnecessarily convoluted to give the appearance of something smart, like
with ‘dematerialisation shiritori’.
These overly perfect
protagonists quickly assemble a harem of girls who lack any sort of character
whatsoever. There’s the stooge girl, the subservient angel, and the two former
antagonists who are in somewhat of a lesbian relationship, but of course so
enamoured by Sora that he becomes centre of their lives. Later there’s the cute
girl with the animal ears who is their final challenge in this series.
Other than social anxiety,
which is played for laughs, and an absolute need to be with his sister, Sora is
without flaw. His mind runs calculations beyond those anybody else who has ever
existed can possibly manage, he is capable of impressive physical feats with a
gun, and he is handsome enough that every woman is beguiled. People complain
about the Mary Sue archetype, but Sora is a Gary Stu of an order that makes
Kirito in Sword Art Online look like a joke. Since every other character
is either there to look stupid so that Sora looks good, or look impressive
until Sora makes them his sex slave – including 11-year-old Shiro, if we’re
honest – there isn’t a single likeable or fleshed-out character in the entire
cast. I could probably deal with this if the humour had been good, but it was
terrible – all ‘look, her panties are showing!’ or ‘look! Sora doesn’t care
about Stephanie and so she gets hurt a lot!’ It doesn’t even get old – because
it was never funny at the start.
Add to this the fact that the
series doesn’t actually get anywhere near a conclusion – only to the defeat and
takeover of one other nation – and you can see that this is a story not even
half-told, and thus deeply unsatisfactory. I don’t really want to see more, but
I probably will now, because not finishing a series I’ve started irritates me –
part of me still itches to watch the rest of Hidamari Sketch. The
saddest thing about this series is that its success clearly shows this IS what
a lot of young Japanese males want to be – removed from their world and put in another
one where they can be lauded by all for their cleverness, have little girls and
big-boobed women alike throw themselves at them, and never think for a moment
that they should think for themselves or dislike being used. Sure, it’s wish
fulfilment – but I can’t approve of those wishes.
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