Watching I was immediately expecting another Sword Art Online. You know, protagonist gets stuck in a alternate digital universe and then has to survive, find his humanity and deal with the consequences of being stuck in a new world. IT ISN'T THAT!
Oh there is an alternate universe that is introduced first thing, and its a world with a seemingly active god and very odd rules. And there are characters that go through the looking glass, take the red pill, or whatever have you and get pulled into it, at first against their will. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Two episodes in, I'm guessing we're watching a morality play unfold. A story built on over the top characters that represent thoughts and ideas in moving form that are going to lead us to the artists message. I talk a lot about "the artists message" because mark my word, that every story has an intent or a message to say about life and OUR reality. Well, not every story. Inu to Neko which I just reviewed earlier this evening is just there to make you laugh. And maybe there you can stretch and say that is the message - just laugh more, but sa... I'm digressing, back on point.
Sora and Shiro are brother and sister. They form a sort of yin-yang of personality and ability. In "OUR world" they are two elite gamer otaku who can beat any game and any player. They are geniuses on a level that is hard to fathom. In the first to episodes, they beat 1200 players in an MMORPG EVEN when the other players were cheating. They were playing 4 characters - that's right the two of them were playing with their hands and feet in an attempt to control 4 characters by themselves. The two are our over the top protagonists. Sora is good with people... well analyzing their motives reading their micro expressions and manipulating them. You might think of him as a jerk and a bad guy, but just under that we see his genius has led him to be a jaded naïve virgin. So while he seems to despise people and only see them as his tools, he holds some values close that he is searching for in others. Shiro is the mechanical genius. She is the type of person that can see every possible combination of a chess board at once. She is adorable, but obviously way more soft spoken and doesn't want to attempt to deal with people. Oh btw, Shiro means white. I wonder what Sora means... I should look into that. Kuro is black, so I don't think "Sora" completes my yin yang combo here sadly...
The world our pillars get transported too is a world where games rule. No one can steal or be murdered. But they can challenge you to a game. These games are bound by 9 rules, and once the terms are agreed to any particular challenge, the results of the games are mystically enforced. There are 16 races, with humans being on the bottom of the totem pole in this world. Enter our two heroes and I can't help but predict that the siblings will champion the human race and help us climb that totem pole. So what is it the author is telling us? That if you can find some over the top champions of the human race we can do whatever we want? That seems too shallow and unrealistic and inapplicable so I'm hoping there is more to this series.
You take all of the above and dress it up in anime clothes and you have No Game No Life. The normal dated sight gags are there, the hair, the big eyes. You know all that stuff. I'll catch up to the current episodes and keep sending you guys my insights and thoughts on how the series is progressing.
Think I got it wrong? Have a comment? Leave me a post! Thanks!
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