Oh, BTW:
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1242001Formal announcement of Attack on Titan season 2 just came out.
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No Game No Life
I won't say it wasn't
enjoyable. But it's a "fun" show stuck together from shitty parts, not good parts.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/19815/No_Game_No_Life/reviewsBest Review:
This show is just like Problem Chil... Oh, a bunch of others already said that in their reviews. Hold on a second. This show is incredibly overhyped and overr... Oh, a bunch of others already said that too. I'm trying to be ORIGINAL here.
See, it's funny because I'm talking about originality in a review about a show that's commonly talked about its unoriginality regarding the premise.
And that statement above is ironically funny because that was a forced "clever" humour, which this series does a lot. It's a joke within a joke!
But yes. It's true. The premise is pretty much a carbon copy of Problem Children/Mondaijitachi. In fact, it's so similar that I had to actually check when the respective light novels were released. They're both about incredibly talented kids getting sucked into a different world because they're too special for BORING human world, and they play "games." Even the visuals are strikingly similar in that they're both incredibly colorful. But hey, you can't exactly be always original- Technically speaking, every show could be considered a carbon copy of some other show that came before, and being uncreative doesn't really detract from the quality of the show. That's not the problem here. The visuals and music are fine too. (although it does overuse that one track a lot when the MCs (Sora) explains his plans) I guess the series also references a lot of shows in a comedic manner, if that's your thing.
The problem is that the characters are incredibly boring just like the characters from Problem Chil...
The point is, this series is similar to Problem Children not only in visuals, but in flaws as well.
The two main characters, Sora and Shiro, are simply put, Stus. Everyone loves Stus as main characters, so why not? Izayoi from Problem Children was a huge Stu too, beating the crap out of everything with next to no effort, and these two are no different. They're just incredibly talented at everything and their only supposed "weakness" is that they have to be together at all times. Thankfully this "weakness" is actually never an issue except when it's relevant (outside of that, it's played for comedic effects), and even if it is, it's usually resolved by one of the two planning something out before the weakness actually happened in the first place, so it's just a pretend label. It doesn't make them any less of Stus. Unfortunately, many people seem to think this is actually a valid weakness, and therefore, doesn't make them Stus. It really isn't.
At least they're not Tatsuya.
They're not the only problem, of course. Stephanie Dora is this incredibly obnoxious character who pretty much exists for a comic relief. In fact, literally every episode involves making fun of this character for being stupid, and it never ends. So much that even the fanbase now associates her name with the term "stupidity." Making fun of a character for being stupid is funny the first time. Maybe the second and third. Not so much after when it becomes an established fact. "Ha, the sky is blue! So funny!"
And then there's Jibril. Her introduction to the series is just so terribly done that it's almost offensive. There's no foreshadowing whatsoever to her existence, and when it's brought up, it just turns into "Oh, Steph was stupid. Guess that's why she didn't tell us about this character that didn't exist until this point in plot." And after she's introduced, she's mostly written as an exposition character that just explains all the world building for the watchers instead of letting the viewers figure things out by themselves. This also serves to mediate Steph's complete uselessness as a character because the author realized it wouldn't be a nice idea to have a recurring side character whose only purpose was to be a comic relief.
I think simply claiming "they're Gary Stus because I said so" isn't really enough to convince anyone, so I'll be more elaborate. But I can't exactly explain that in detail without explain this other thing. And that other thing is the title's namesake; GAMES.
Everyone loves games. And this show does have "game" in its title, so surely that's the main hook here, not the characters, right? If your answer was "no," you win! The prize? Nothing! Well, that's too bad.
The biggest problem with the games can be summarized like this: "Oops, I win."
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
First episode doesn't explain how Sora won the game. He just did, and you're supposed to accept it. Third episode is a chess game where the rules don't really exist. If you're the main character and give a speech, apparently you're rigged to win, however. Fourth episode doesn't have a game, but it breaks character- Sora and Shiro are supposed to be scared of crowds, but in this episode, they get over it pretty quickly as if that was never a problem in the first place. Then they proceed to give an incredibly cliche speech about how the weak can become strong. Great weakness there. I'm completely convinced they're not Stus!
The entirety of fifth episode is Steph being called an idiot, and a sequence of games that just follows what the series did with the first episode. Sora just "wins" them all, and the few ones that he does explain how he won, is just completely predictable and uncreative.
Sixth episode is the part where Jibril is introduced, and it's sadly, one of the "better" episodes in the series. The game here could've been well done, but if you look at the details, it's really not. The game's victory hinges on the fact that Jibril does not know about the planet's structure. How could have Sora known this? This is even before Sora had access to Elkia's library, so he wouldn't have known that wasn't common knowledge. (Not to mention that Elkia isn't exactly the most knowledgeable nation) He claims that he supposedly figured out in the middle of a game by seeing how she reacted, but she could've been just as easily pretending. But it just so happens that she doesn't know about his win condition. Aki-lucky!
Seventh episode, is ironically, the best episode- It's ironic because there are no games, but instead you get decently written characterization and not as forced exposition. And everything afterwards just builds up to a very disappointing finale- Though, not before informing the watchers that Shiro is definitely helpless without Sora. Except not really, because Sora is still there, you see. What happens is that Shiro is supposed to play a piece on a board game that she can't see. This board game was being played by Sora and an another character. But apparently since she's a "genius," she can predict where he's going to place the pieces, and know exactly where to put it. Except that, the game wasn't called Solitaire. I'm sorry, but it's logically impossible to exactly predict the game state of Othello from knowing just half of the game. Of course the show doesn't explain how this was done. It's just brushed off as Shiro being a genius and knowing everything about Sora, and that was the key to victory. It's all the more offensive when you realize that the victory of this game is what also later helps Sora to win the final game in the series in a domino effect.
The finale attempts to make Steph seem relevant by having her pull the final trigger. Too bad she didn't actually do anything. Sora and Shiro planned her to do it! Genius! This last episode's supposed "moral lesson" is completely insensible too. It keeps repeating the line "when was the last time you had fun playing a game?" If people are putting something big like continents and people's lives at stake, it'd be borderline psychopathic to find fun from playing a game putting that at risk. I don't get the "moral lesson" here. Is this show telling me to completely disregard everything except having fun? I guess Russian Roulette was a popular party game too. Bullets to the head? YES! GOTY! 10/10 IGN.
This game is also flawed in that their winning strategy also hinges on the fact that the enemy does not notice something that they later claim to be able to notice. Good thing they didn't the first time! Those stupid warbeasts! Even though an entire continent is at stake, they can't even put up that much of a caution! Again, this is not planning. It's luck. Sora gambles, and wins. You can't just win the lottery, make a smug face, and call yourself a genius. But this is what this show does. A lot.
*END SPOILERS*
I also don't understand why Sora/Shiro are separate characters. Shiro is just literally Sora, without the smug attitude, being a fanservice bait, and doesn't have much of a personality outside of being incredibly clingy. The show also plays out their relationship far too much to the point that it's creepy. But then again, that's what these shows seem to do these days: Incest is ok, because they're not actually blood-related siblings! This show also constantly hammers in the point about how "Blanks can never lose" and that both siblings make up Blanks to an extent that it's incredibly annoying.
So yes. The biggest problems with the show supposedly about games is the games themselves, and the characters playing them. The series also constantly teases about how exciting things were before Tet became the absolute God. It's almost like it's self-aware. Lovely.
I feel like this series could've been better if they didn't constantly play these games where cheating is more encouraged (the rules are set up in a way that as long as the opponent can't prove you're cheating, then cheating is a-ok) than making actual strategies within the game's boundaries. See, games are fun to watch because you want to see what the characters can do within their own boundaries to actually win in a clever manner. It's also fun to watch because you don't really know who will win.
Instead, in this show, you pretty much know that Sora/Shiro will win no matter what. They always bet something to the point that if they lose, the series would probably be over, so you know that they can't lose. There is no sense of anticipation or whatsoever. Then after winning through some poorly explained method which this show constantly nudges you about how clever it was being, Sora just makes that same fucking smug grin.
All in all, is this show overrated? Yes, of course.
Do you want to watch a show where you can turn your brain off, creepily watch little naked girls, and think you're having fun from a show that pretends to be clever? This is just the show for you!
Do you want to watch a show where a protagonist cleverly overcomes peril through actual planning and where his victory isn't clearly obvious? Watch Kaiji instead.
Best line from the review: "At least they're not Tatsuya."
It started with a mass of 10/10 reviews on page one, now it's mostly reviews bagging the shit out of it. Well, I'm at least pleased to see that the people who actually write and vote on reviews for this on MAL seem to agree that it's not all it's hyped to be. It's quite an anomaly, normally a show in the MAL top 30 will have a fair excess of good reviews to bad reviews. This show hardly has any good reviews at all.
Watch it though if you don't mind a mindless show that pretends to be smart. The humor and shit isn't smart at all though. Boobs and panty flashing, butt monkey girl getting humiliated and abused humor. Each time there's a major game, it's against a girl. 50/50 on lolis or booby monsters. And each one gets added to the harem, with an obligatory lesbian bath scene with the girls all soaping up the new harem addition. That's pretty much the extent of the comedy. Most harem comedies have some level of humor above this.
Only the games have any redeeming features.
Them being genius' is basically stated in a "i randomly won by deus ex machina because i'm a genius and set up this inexplicable easy win in a "genius" way. 95% of the time the actual mechanism isn't detail beyond
"hell, random last-minute unexplained wins is just what genius' do!" Really, the premise is "Blank never loses", so we literally have a scenario where the heroes always win no matter what at the last minute in "inexplicable" ways that are never revealed to the audience. At least for the majority of games, they do detail
a few but they're mostly early on in the series, then the later ones are just "we won suck shit. you're up against genius mysterious genius shit!"
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Topic: I like anime, do you like anime? (Read 3122286 times)