No Game No Life is a surreal comedy that follows Sora and Shiro, shut-in NEET siblings and the online gamer duo behind the legendary username "Blank." They view the real world as just another lousy game; however, a strange e-mail challenging them to a chess match changes everything—the brother and sister are plunged into an otherworldly realm where they meet Tet, the God of Games.
No Game No Life is a light novel series by Yū Kamiya that was published by Media Factory on April 2012. It was later adapated into a manga series for the Monthly Comic Alive in 2013 and was later adapted into an anime television series the next year by Studio Madhouse with 12 episodes running from April 2014 to June 2014.
Ahhh another anime series aimed at gamers! While the concept isn't new considering there are a number of anime series with the "being trapped inside a video game" concept (I'm looking at you Sword Art Online and Log Horizon), what makes No Game No Life different from those two is that our main protagonists are trapped inside willingly. They love being inside the alternate world and is living the dream they've always wanted. For gamers with a 100% win record they seek more challenge and the most perfect thing they could have ever wished for is to be trapped inside a new world where EVERYTHING is decided through game battles. A paradise for gamers indeed.
No Game No Life follows the story of a two step-siblings who was considered as the most legendary player team in the online gaming community with a 100% win rate record. They excel in all kinds of games ranging from the very basics to the most advanced kind of games there is. Their identity is hidden to the world and is only known as the legendary team, "Blank".
One day, the two siblings where challenged to a game of chess by a mysterious chess player who almost beat them up . After defeating their opponent, they were contacted by someone named Tet (the God of Games) to live inside the world of Disboard, a world where EVERYTHING is decided by game battles. Of course, the two agrees and thus the story begins.
The world of Disboard is unlike any other worlds. In this world there is 16 different races and they are ranked according to their magical strength. At the very bottom of the list is "Imanity" (Humanity), which is what Blank is. The residents of Disboard is also protected by a very powerful spell known as the "Ten Commandements" which prevents any of them to commit any bloodshed and must resolve any differences through the outcome of games.
One interesting thing about this so called "Ten Commandments" spell is that one commandment explicitly states: "If cheating is detected during a game, it will be regarded as a defeat", which literally is shouting it's okay to cheat as long as you don't get caught. And one thing I learned from the real world is that if there is a loophole and a way to exploit something, people will take advantage of that something.
In essence, No Game No Life is the adventures of two NEET legendary players whose teamwork defeats all of their opponents. Shiro's excellence at calculating all logical possibilities and probabilities and Sora's impressive cold readings of their opponents makes Blank one hell of a legendary team. With this complimenting abilities of theirs they slowly raise "Imanities" status as a lowly race to one of the top ones by defeating races through game battles while trying to maintain their 100% win rate.
Overall, No Game No Life is a very fun anime series to watch especially if you love playing games. With only 12 episodes and almost no word of when Season 2 is coming up, it might be deemed forgettable by some but is still one of the most looked forward anime series ever by anime fanatics.
