No game, No life (3/5)- Watch

No Game, No Life Synopsis

No Game, No Life is a comedy anime about Sora and Shiro who are siblings, NEETS, and power gamers of the highest order. 

The pair are so good at online games that their gaming profile which appears as blank [...] has become somewhat of an urban myth.  The anime opens with a scene showing combat within an online fantasy game where four characters are devastating a force of hundreds of opponents. 

The scene pans out to reveal that Sora and Shiro are controlling two characters each while doing other tasks.  That is the level of Uber gaming that these guys are at.  There is literally a section where Shiro goes to sleep and Sora plays additional two controls with his feet!  

The two have become bored and feel that reality is just a crappy version of a game. Suddenly they receive a mysterious email asking if they feel they were born into the world.

After beating a opponent at chess the two of them are transported to magical land by a young boy calling himself "God". 

This god is the god of games and won the right to rule reality by waiting for the other gods to destroy each other and then swooping in for the win.  This magical world that god has created is determined by games. By that I mean they don't fight wars they bet territory via games. Everything from poker to chess to Rock Paper Scissors seems permissible. There are ten tenants that people must follow in order for to be successful in this world. 

These cover everything from penalties for cheating to how to split winnings (you have to wager something of equal value as the other person)

 So far I am liking what I've seen about this anime. The humor is well-placed, the concept is novel but not overly complicated and the back-and-forth between Sora and Shiro is just great. 

They must stay within a certain range of each other or Sora turns into a fearful and anxious mess and Shiro has anthropophobia so she's scared out of her mind by people. So far after two episodes, they have met Stephanie Dora who is the granddaughter of the recently departed human king. 

During a poker tournament to determine the next king Shiro and Sora met Stephanie as she loses the tournament and the kingdom goes to the victor.  One event leads to another and Sora plays Rock Paper Scissors against Steph, wins, and as his prize receives an undisclosed favor from Steph. Sora tells her to fall in love with him and by the power of the tenants, she must obey so it can get pretty humorous as she struggles against magic love. 

It runs into some echhi anime territory but not too much.

Sora boasts how now he and Shiro have access to all Steph's resources and housing which Shiro points out they could have gotten by just asking her for it. Lolz. 

There are dry spots however as the anime creators try to make explaining game theory fun. There is a segment where they explain the possible outcomes of a modified Rock Paper Scissors game down to stating the probability for each outcome. 

That whole bit is done with a graph and little chibi versions of the characters. All in all, I'm anticipating a good and solid run from this anime but we are still only two episodes in, and as a person with a business background the game theory appeals to me. I'll keep you posted but give this show a try and I think you won't regret it. 

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