No Game, No Life
Tags: fantasy

Plot synopsis:
Sora and Shiro are two hikikomori step-siblings who are known in the online gaming world as Blank, an undefeated group of gamers. One day, they are challenged to a game of chess by Tet, a god from another reality. The two are victorious and are offered to live in a world that centers around games. They accept, believing it to be a joke, and are summoned to a reality known as Disboard. There, a spell known as the Ten Pledges prevents the citizens of Disboard from inflicting harm on one another, forcing them to resolve their differences by gambling with games whose rules and rewards are magically enforced. In-game, rule enforcement only occurs when the method of cheating is acknowledged and outed by the opponent, allowing players to cheat through discreet methods. Sora and Shiro traverse to Elkia, the nation inhabited by humans, and befriend the duchess Stephanie Dola. Learning about Elkia's decline, the two participate in a tournament to determine the next ruler; after winning the crown, they earn the right to challenge the Disboard's other species as humanity's representative.LN 1.4 Their next goal is to conquer all sixteen species in order to challenge Tet to a game; as of the sixth volume, five of the sixteen are under their control.
=== Characters ===
Sora (空) and Shiro (白)
Sora is an eighteen-year-old male who excels at strategies and cold readings while his eleven-year-old stepsister, Shiro, excels at calculations and logic.LN 3.0 Together, the two form the undefeated gaming identity Blank (空白, Kūhaku, stylized as『　　』) due to their trademark of using only spaces as their in-game names. After their parents died, the two no longer had emotional ties to society, and eventually became agoraphobic and hikikomori.LN 1.0 When the two are separated from each other, they begin to suffer panic attacks.LN 1.1 After Sora and Shiro are summoned to Disboard, they decide to uphold their undefeated reputation as Blank by defeating Tet. Sora is voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Shiro by Ai Kayano. In Sentai Filmworks' English localization, Sora and Shiro are dubbed by Scott Gibbs and Caitlynn French respectively. A 2014 poll by Charapedia ranked Shiro and Sora as two of the most intelligent anime characters of all time.
Stephanie Dola (ステファニー・ドーラ, Sutefanī Dōra)
Stephanie is a teenage girl and granddaughter to the previous king of Elkia, the nation inhabited by humans. She has a lot of explicit knowledge but lacks the intuition to win games.LN 2.1 Her grandfather was infamously known for losing games and giving up Elkia's land. As a result, Stephanie strives to restore the honor of her grandfather and humanity. When Sora and Shiro are crowned, she becomes their assistant and deals with Elkia's economics and politics. They discover her grandfather kept hidden records on the other species which becomes an asset to their victories;LN 2.3 her experience with Sora and Shiro improves her skill to the point that she can win against normal humans.LN 4.1 She is voiced by Yōko Hikasa and English dubbed by Sara Ornelas.
Jibril (ジブリール, Jiburīru)
Jibril is a flügel, a powerful angelic race known for their ruthlessness.LN 2.1 Jibril is over 6000-years old and is the youngest and most powerful of her species.LN 5.2 She won Elkia's library from Stephanie's grandfather in order to store her books and use it as a home.LN 2.2 After losing to Sora and Shiro in a game of Shiritori, she becomes their slave, but is treated as an equal.LN 2.2 She often provides magic or transportation necessities for the protagonists. Later on, she begins publishing novels based on Sora and Shiro which makes them famous among the flügels.LN 5.1 She is voiced by Yukari Tamura and English dubbed by Amelia Fischer.
Warbeast
The warbeasts are kemonomimis with high physical abilities; their nation is known as the Eastern Federation. They are ruled by a nameless Miko, a logical woman who helped the Eastern Federation flourish for the past fifty years.LN 3.4 She possesses a rare ability called Blood Destruction which augments her physical abilities by taxing her body. She allies herself with Sora and Shiro who promises benefits for humanity and warbeasts.LN 3.4 She is voiced by Naomi Shindo and English dubbed by Suzelle Palacios.
Meanwhile, the warbeast embassy in Elkia is represented by Izuna Hatsuse (初瀬 いづな, Hatsuse Izuna), an eight-year-old child and ambassador of the warbeast.LN 2.4 She has a childlike demeanor and uses the copula desu, but also possesses high intellect and Blood Destruction.LN 3.3 Following the alliance between humans and warbeasts, she is a constant companion to Sora and Shiro whom she adores and trusts. She is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro and English dubbed by Kira Vincent-Davis. Alongside her is her grandfather, Ino Hatsuse (初瀬 いの, Hatsuse Ino).LN 2.4 He believes Sora has selfish ulterior motives and dislikes him. After the alliance between humans and warbeasts, he works alongside Stephanie to formalize the union.LN 4.1 He is voiced by Mugihito and English dubbed by John Swasey.
Kurami Zell and Fil Nilvalen
Kurami Zell (クラミー・ツェル, Kuramī Tseru) is an eighteen-year-old girl and considered the slave of the elf Fil Nilvalen (フィール・ニルヴァレン, Fīru Niruvaren). Though Kurami's family were the Nilvalen family's slaves for generations, her relationship with Fil is similar to daughter and mother.LN 3.2 Meanwhile, Fil is considered a failure of a magician but is secretly highly skilled.LN 5.0 She is willing to betray Elven Garde, the nation inhabited by elves, for Kurami's sake; the two conspire to have Fil obtain a political position of power in order to abolish slavery.LN 3.2 Sora manages to convince Kurami to be his ally by sharing his memories with her.LN 3.1 Kurami is voiced by Yuka Iguchi and Fil by Mamiko Noto; they are English dubbed by Kara Greenberg and Christina Stroup respectively.
Dhampirs and sirens
Dhampirs are a species with similar characteristics to vampires: they drink body fluids from other species for nourishment; excel at transformation, illusion, and dream magic; and are weak to sunlight. Their weakness to sunlight can be spread through bites which deters the other species from sharing blood with them.LN 4.0 Meanwhile, sirens are an all female species with the body of a mermaid. They require the life of a male from another species in order to reproduce; their magic allows them to seduce anyone of their choosing. Both species live in a nation called Oceando. Centuries ago, the dhampirs and sirens used the Ten Pledges to create a mutualistic relationship between the two; the dhampirs were allowed to feed on the sirens and in return, a male dhampir is to mate with the siren's empress who can reproduce without killing. Eight hundred years prior, the empress went into hibernation and the mating rituals killed all but a single male dhampir.LN 4.1
Plum (プラム, Puramu) is the last male dhampir and as a result, disguises himself as a female;LN 5.4 his magic skills are considered above average within his species.LN 5.2 After consuming Sora and Shiro's sweat, he becomes fond of their taste. He makes a deal with the sirens to lure Sora and Shiro in an attempt to have one of the two races enslave humanity. Sora and Shiro deduce his deception but decide to save both races regardless.LN 5.4 Since then, Sora and Shiro have Plum accompany them on their adventures.
The empress of the sirens, Leila Lorelei (ライラ・ローレライ, Raira Rōrerai), used the Ten Pledges to put herself to sleep without revealing the requirements to wake her up. While she slept, Amira (アミラ) takes her place in leading the sirens.LN 4.2 Realizing the empress is a masochist who desires a la douleur exquise, Sora's immunity to the sirens' seduction magic allows him to awaken her.LN 5.4 Subsequently, the empress used Sora's hair to create a siren daughter.LN 5.5
Other characters
Tet (テト, Teto) is an old deus, a magical entity born from wishes and prayers. During the era when the sixteen species were at war with each other, a human named Riku Dola and his Ex Machina wife, Shuvi Dola, imagined the existence of a god of games; this resulted in Tet's birth. Due to Riku's efforts, Tet comes into possession of an object known as the Star Grail, allowing him to become the god of Disboard. Using its power, Tet cast the Ten Pledges on the world, ending the war and making the world center around games.LN 6.5 He is voiced by Rie Kugimiya and English dubbed by Shannon Emerick.
Azrael (アズリール, Azurīru) is the first flügel and their leader following the death of Artosh, the old deus who created them. Since then, Azrael has become despondent towards life and tries to give meaning to the flügel's existence to prevent their suicide.LN 5.2 She is able to converse with the flügel's homeland, a sentient floating island called Avant Heim which is part of a species called the phantasma.LN 5.1 Following her loss against Sora and Shiro, her powers are reduced to the levels of a human which gives her a new perspective on life.LN 5.3

Review: 8 episodes in, but I am thoroughly impressed..
I was really surprised by this anime.
I wasn't expecting much from it, but its funny and surprisingly smart.
With five episodes left, unless they just completely drop the ball, this is easily is one of my favorites of this season.So, whats it about?
The anime is about a brother and sister, Sora and Shiro, who are NEETs and experts at games.
I mean they are literally the best in the world.
The get transported to another world where games are how everything gets done.
No war, murder, crimes, just games.
Naturally they fit right in.What makes this show great is the characters.
The main duo is great.
The princess Steph is also great and its funny how the brother and sister treat her.
The show has a great sense of humor and I find myself laughing pretty hard quite often.I said it was smart.
Yeah, when they play games, you can really see the gears in their heads turning, trying to figure out how to beat opponents that should be superior to them.
It never feels like a dues ex machina is what finishes the game.
You really feel like the are extremely smart and cunning.At first, I wasn't digging the designs, but really quickly I warmed up to it.
The style feels like fantasy meets Las Vegas, which makes sense, considering the world is based on gambling.
So yeah, I really like it.
The girls are also very cute and the reaction faces are great.
The presentation is great.I guess its worth mentioning that it has a decent amount of fanservice.
If you don't like fanservice, I personally don't think it will be too distracting...
Just try to look past it if you think it might bother you.All in all, I really like this anime and its one of the better ones this season.
Check it out!EDIT: Follow up after seeing episode twelve.
While I will still leave the score the same because my enjoyment for it never waiver, I will admit that at times it falls victim to the Gambitroulette trope.
Doesn't change much though, I still really liked it..
Amazing Anime!
What a great show!!
No Game No Life is such a fun and extremely well thought out show, the concept is so basic and straight forward that you don't think it could be portrayed so well.
If your looking for something amazing to just take you out of this world on a fun, funny, amazing journey then your going to love this show.
The main characters are great, they're both shut-in genius's with great memorable personalities.
The artwork & character design is amazing, this show gave me a real "Alice in Wonderland" feel.
I felt completely immersed in this fantasy, colorful, amazing world from the first 5 minutes!
and that feeling followed through all the way until the very last second of the show!
Cause i couldn't think of anything to lessen the value, It made me laugh, feel for the characters in such a short period of time, it was intelligent and caused me to think on a multitude of occasions.
I really have high hopes for the continuation of this series, i'm sure anyone reading this will love it too!!.
I was the type of anime viewer who mostly watched shonen-series like Naruto, Bleach, DBZ, etc.
Boy did No Game No Life impress me.
The story revolves around a sibling pair, Sora and Shiro, who call themselves "Blank." Working together, they've never lost at any game thrown at them.
One day, they're taken to a world that suits them perfectly: a world centered around the concept of games.
Whereas shonen animes define "epicness" as intense action sequences involving fantastic displays of power, this show gives the word another meaning entirely.
Many of the games that the characters engage in are a battle of wits, requiring complete knowledge of the rules and demanding clever manipulation of their opponents.
I do wish that more attention was given to the younger sister, Shiro.
Many times Sora is shown as the mastermind behind everything when we know that Shiro is every bit as talented as he is.
Another point that needs to be addressed is the explanation component of games.
The pace needs to be slowed at these points, or else audiences will feel enthralled merely because of the exciting soundtrack and a general epic sensation.
Other than that, the voice acting, art style, premise, soundtrack, humor, and much more all coalesce to form one gripping anime you can't get enough of.
If you're looking for a lighthearted yet awe-inspiring anime, look no further..
one of the best animes i've seen in a while.
Its refreshingly brilliant this anime is addicting ones you watch it you are hooked, not only is it funny ecci and brilliantly done but its also the plot is interesting the concept of a real fantasy world where almost everything is led by the 10 rules which one must follow at all times.
how can we not want to watch this over and over.
One disappointment is that there's no manga tho the manga is very outdated and they just release those novels That's definitely a bummer so lets all work together to get it back on the map who can contact the creator of this anime to get it back on the map it would help us get it alive Basically a sequel is a must!.
My favourite anime.
I never expected to see such an amazing anime in my entire life...
I loved each episode, each character and each game this game presented.I see a lot of people complain about Steph, but she is still a person, she doesn't need to be only stupid, Sora and Shiro is just smarter than her (actually way smarter, maybe 10x smarter).Their goal is something I'm excited to see they can manage to do, if they can actually take on everyone or how hard it is to defeat them.
I'm a bit sad about the ending, but I'm a huge fan of open endings, also the episodes and what it does in those episodes fixes the open ending, makes you even more excited for season 2!
Otherwise I can't fully add in full sentences how much I love this anime, but I really want to see the movie (if it's real deal) and the season 2..
It is so weird with such a unique and bizarre plot, that it is a blessing to watch.
The characters are well developed and in almost every episode there is a totally random moment which is hilarious, usually I burst out in laugh.
If you love Death Note and Code Geass, you would probably like this one too.
In my opinion this is a 9/10 series, but I gave it a 10/10 score because I think IMDB users are underrating it..
Thought this animes art was too blinding, the brother irritates me by acting like such a controlling freak of his little sister and the little sisters voice was just urgh so deafening!Some of ya might think these are just pathetic excuses from me to not like the anime.
However this is my personal opinion and if any of you like it, thats totally fine.
I honestly did want to like it but it just didn't match up my own personal tastes!.
Characters - I'm always a fan of shows where the main characters are geniuses and where the writers take the time to also flesh out their personalities and show their actions in a way that the audience can follow.
Its way more satisfying than when a one-dimensional genius character does a thing offscreen and you're supposed to find it impressive.
Sora and Shiro are very relatable and entertaining.
Watching them solve puzzles and play games is just a lot of fun.
The supporting cast members are also great, but the two leads are definitely my favorite.
Visuals - The actual animation is a lot more smooth and fluid than I was expecting for an anime.
It looks pretty great.
Aside from the literal animation, the visuals are fantastic.
The character designs and settings are all fun and nice to look at.
The most unique visual decision made was that there aren't black outlines around characters and objects.
It really gives the world a distinct feel.
Audio - I watched this with the Japanese dub.
The voice acting is pretty great, along with the music and sound design.
Its interesting, clever, satisfying, and funny.
The only thing wrong with it is that at the time of me writing this review there is only one season..
Some minor character spoilers occur, but no actual plot spoilers.There's been a strange transition for anime in the last 10 years.
Instead, series are now being pumped out an alarming rate that attempt to do these things at once, but never truly do.No Game, No Life as a whole exemplifies this trend, magnified threefold.
Instead, we're left with a masterfully vibrant and colorful vehicle, completely saturated with fan service that may appeal to the 14-year old demographic, but quickly looses anybody who's past puberty.The ensemble in this series is a cast of over characterized buxom women, constantly swooning around a single (virgin) male protagonist, making obnoxious anime facial gestures, and seemingly defying both gravity and genetics with skinny well endowed bodies that loose articles of clothing for almost no reason.
Ironically, not a single nipple or pubic hair is shown in this series, despite just how much time is spent looking at panties under skirts and making drawn out jokes about breasts.
You'll see all the skin and shiny bosoms in the world, completely naked men and women, but without actual nudity anywhere.
What's the most irritating part is just how much plot IS actually there, as well as the amount of time spent on explaining real-life math theory, physics, chemistry and even vocabulary in this series, through some drawn out exposition usually by the protagonists.The two main protagonists in this series are a pair of nihilist (and possibly incestuous...) siblings Sora and Shiro, whose sole mission in life is to play games to the point of exhaustion and then explain to everyone around themselves how superior they are for knowing the inner workings of the formulas involved in said games.
(Where they get the money to pay for rent is never made clear, but hey this is anime we don't need details!) For example, the 9 possible outcomes and random ratios involved in a two-person game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
This is fine the first time or two, but when it eats up an entire 22 minute episode and the same stunned look is on the opponents' faces every time, it gets dull.
Like watching Goku continuously and inevitably beat every opponent he ever comes across, there's no potential for defeat, and therefor no REAL risk.
AKA, boring.The other members of the cast are a spectrum of female anime tropes who we've all seen over and over and over again; submissive, skinny, sexualized big-eyed nymphos seemingly destined to hover around a lucky know-it-all virgin male who spends all his time playing games.
They may be pretty to look at, they may be fun to watch interact, but ultimately it's done.
For example, an omnipotent angel-God woman in this series has a Library of Congress size volume of encyclopedia at her disposal, but doesn't know where the erogenous zones are for humans that have the EXACT same body parts in the exact same areas she does...
It's really just an excuse for fan service.The back story in this series isn't clear until midway through, 16 types of humanoid tribes are fighting for ownership of a region based upon 10 laws played out into real-time games, all of which are governed over by an androgynous child being known as Tet. Violating these rules forfeits the battle with the violator losing, unless you aren't caught cheating.
This is a theme the lead antagonist uses through-out the series, finding loopholes into situations where the rest of the denizens have no concept of what math is.For all it's flaws and tried tropes, this series does break ground on something I've yet to see, just how freaking vibrant, colorful, and eloquently drawn a series can possibly be!
This is a step in the right direction for series anime; this series is the sharpest I've ever seen.
Every facet of every object has an infinite color gradient, with pinks, greens, violets, blues engorging every single frame.
It is jaw dropping saturated with color, and the animation doesn't miss a beat.
Having this series on mute playing in the background is just as impressive as listening to it's expositions.
The animation is worth the rent alone.But for all it's colors, and interesting anecdotal information, No Game, No Life just doesn't quite do what it sets out to do.
If you're going to put heroes into vulnerable life threatening situations, have some consequences!
If you're going to have virgin men surrounded by overtly sexual concubines...
Quit beating around the bush, and actually push the envelope you're attempting to push.
I have a feeling that the creators avoided too much detailed sexuality and nudity due to Shiro being an 11 year old girl, but the fact that she's completely naked in the series several times, they show gratuitous pantie shots of her, and the other characters interact with her in alarmingly uncomfortable instances totally voids this caution.TL;DR, worth the rent for it's animation, probably not worth the cost ownership for the Blu-ray..
No game, No life has a rather weird description but It's really worth watching and has a huge potential!
The story is about two siblings who are hardcore gamers and are known as the Blank players.
Legend says that they have never been beaten in ANY game, Chess, Online football, online MMO, shooters nothing.
One day they receive a mysterious email about If they ever felt that the world they lived in wasn't where they belonged.
The siblings agreed and suddenly teleported into a new world where the God stated that their be no War no Violence and no theft and that everything had to be solved with a game, their are a total of 16 races and Humans are known to be the least powerful up till now perhaps?
No game no Life is a comedy/action/adventure/intellectual anime.
The storyline is to early to say but I have to admit that I have never loved characters of an anime so quickly and that I was laughing on the floor most of the episodes I watched I truly recommend trying it out yourself!.
How can anybody, in the right mind, consider this to be any good?
The two main characters, Sora and Shiro, parade Steph around like she is their dehumanized slave.
They treat all of the other female main characters like trash.
In one episode, they dress Steph like a dog and make her "dog for a day"; if anyone was to do this in real-life, he/she would be condemned as a sadomasochist - or worse!
Considering that this anime is plagued with panty-shots, pornographic and perverted bath-tub scenes with the hentai-type tentacle thing that molests the girls while they are bathing (this is shown in a couple of the episodes), and the moe catgirl-type characters in the final battle with the Eastern Federation, I just did not see anything of redeeming value.
There is no memorable or likable humor whatsoever in this schlock-fest of an anime.
The only thing that I found even remotely interesting about this anime was that, in one of the episodes, they did a brief parody of "Castle in the Sky" when one of the protagonists made a reference about Laputa.
Everything else was just pornographic, fan-service garbage suitable only for a complete loser.
Please do yourself a favor and AVOID THIS ANIME LIKE THE PLAGUE!.
A 'Caught in an Online World' anime with a difference.
Eighteen year old Sora and his eleven year old step sister Shiro are hikikomori, total recluses, in the real world but when they play on line games together they are the unbeatable team known only as 'Blank'.
They spend all their time on line until one day, after winning a game of chess, they find themselves drawn into the online world of Disboard.
Here they learn that everything is decided by a game where the loser can't back out of any forfeit agreed beforehand and to be caught cheating means instant defeat.
Sora is determined to win until he has defeated everybody there despite the fact that he and Sora are part of Imanity; the weakest of the races of Disworld.
If they are to achieve their ultimate aim they will first need to rise to the top of Imanity then figure out how to turn the games so that it is possible for them to beat the stronger races such as the Elves and Warbeasts.There have been a few series recently where people get caught in an online world; this one is somewhat different though; here only two people are brought into the game and rather than trying to find a way out they relish the idea!
At first I thought the fact that Blank never seemed to lose would prove to be disappointing but as the series progressed it became clear that the fun was seeing how they would turn apparent defeat into a real victory.
Sora was a somewhat obnoxious protagonist but he wasn't too unlikeable and Shiro and the other characters who were drawn into their quest were fun to watch.
The animation is pretty good and its slightly unusual colour palette gives Disworld a distinctive look which I rather liked.
Overall I liked this series far more than I expected and hope there is more to follow; the final scene certainly left a possibility of a further series open.These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.