Sorry folks, still no signs of another season of No Game No Life. Don’t despair. Because here, watch its lesser knockoff version, Kami Wa Game Ni Ueteiru while continuing to wait for that series to get another season. If it really actually does. Heh. So as the title says, mankind is pitted against the gods in weird games. Because the gods are so bored that they have nothing else better to do than to challenge puny humans to sneaky and tricky god-like games. Yeah, what are the chances of inferior beings taking on and even besting a superior being, right? Not if you have a main character who is a one in a quadrillion kind and is some sort of game prodigy. Ah yes, the hope and beacon for all humans to finally beat the odds and the gods. Let the games begin! Don’t go activate any sore loser cheat codes now!
Episode 1
Explorers dig up a hot babe frozen in some ice. Too bad no free tits. However she is conscious and claims she is god. She wants humans to send their best players to play with her a game! We now see snippets of Apostles (human players) playing 3 simultaneous games with gods. And lost them all! Fay Theo Philus returns to HQ and apparently he must be someone famous since everybody knows him. Miranda the chief secretary greets his return by mocking he went on a 6 month journey to look for a girl but it turned out to be the wrong person. On to business, Miranda tells Fay about a god that was dug out of her permafrost a year ago. Her story is that she was playing tag with humans thousands of years ago and fell asleep while hiding. WTF?! Because of that, she is now a former god and her powers have tremendously declined. Hence Fay’s job is to watch over her and find out her intentions. Plus, she chose him herself. Folks, meet Leoleshea or Leshea for short. Wow. Looking like the girl whom Fay was searching for but only younger? Don’t mind him staring back in shock. Leshea wants to play a game with Fay. This is no ordinary memory card game because they’ll be matching cards with certain themes on it. In addition, they get to ask the other info based on the theme of that matched card. We see Fay has already memorized the layout of the cards and requests Leshea to reshuffle them again. She does so and this time they’re flying at different orbits! As they begin, we all can figure out Fay’s weakness. Leshea dressed so sexy, he is distracted by her?! Do gods even understand the concept of underwear?! Sorry folks, we mustn’t be distracted by fanservice if Fay is going to win this game fair and square.
As Fay matches the hometown cards, he asks where the gods lives. Apparently anywhere outside Earth is the gods’ realm. Including space. This leads to the explanation of the setting of this series and its games. Yes, gods are starved for games so they give Apostles superhuman powers known as Arise and the games take place in realms known as Elements. When Apostles win a game, their reward is to use that Arise in real life. More wins, more Arise. This is necessary as such powers are needed to explore 93% of the realms that are dangerous! So, is this still Earth?! Anyway, when an Apostle wins 10 games, he/she will be cleared and given Celebration. Bet your ass that means humans get whatever they wish. Of course no humans have ever pulled that off. Hey thankfully they don’t need to win 10 straight tournaments like in Mortal Kombat! But if they lose 3 matches, they no longer become an Apostle. Damn. Still tough. When Leshea matches blank cards, she can ask any question. So she asks about Fay’s true intention. He tells the truth about keeping an eye on her as per instructed by Miranda. You think she would be angry and burn down the whole town but she is happy he is honest with her. She knew he would answered so because otherwise she wouldn’t have. In the end, Fay knows the aim of the game unlike memory is not to get the most pairs. Hence this is actually a game of getting info and there are cards he knows its position but won’t get because the answer would be obvious and he would’ve wasted his turn. She gives him a freebie and will answer any question he asks. So why pick him? She knows he is the only rookie to have 3 consecutive victories in a row! Then she reveals the truth that she came down to Earth because she wanted to play directly with humans. Apparently she didn’t know it is a one way ticket. Meaning, she got stuck and couldn’t go back. Hence she is going to join humans to play games with gods so she can win Celebration. The best part of that: Humans can actually wish not 1 but infinite amount of wishes! Obviously no one has done that so… And of course Leshea’s goal is to get back being a full god. She sees hope in Fay to achieve that as she takes him to play a game by god which is happening now. They head into the spiritual realm and drop right in the midst of a hide and seek game with a golem!
Episode 2
10 minutes before the game start, this cute little mascot, Meep explains some of the rules. Instead of your typical hide and seek game, this is hide and god seek. A combination with tag. They will be running away from the god named Titan within this square boundary of the playing field. However there are some hidden rules they have to figure out and the condition for victory is also not spelt out. Have fun figuring it out while running away from Titan. Here it comes now! As they run around while Titan smashes the buildings, Asta thinks of hiding inside a building till time is up. However Fay thinks it is a bad idea as he believes Titan knows where they are. And then suddenly Asta gets squished! Ouch. However she is not out of the game but merely turned into Titan’s pawn. Now her body acts against her will and tries to take down her the human players. This is 1 of the hidden rules. Then when she blasts a few comrades of hers but Titan only squishes 1, the whole lot also becomes Titan’s pawns. Fay and Leshea notice that those get tagged by Titan only have their upper half of their body a different colour. So they figure out a hidden rule and test it on Asta. Dumping a bin over her, they tag her lower half and now she returns to the humans’ side. While they may have figured out this, they still need to find a way to win. Too bad the rest of the other players have become Titan’s pawns. After a few more running, Fay realizes there is a 3rd game embedded into this challenge.
The duo then split up to have the pawns also split up to go after them. Fay then goes to the final building that is still standing and gets smashed by Titan. Fay explains that by destroying all the buildings in the field, the game is over. However Fay’s Arise is to regenerate and nullify all sort of meddling and hence he is not turned into Titan’s pawn. You might think Titan still wins due to having more pawns on its side but Fay reveals the 3rd game: Reversi. As the whole playing field is like a board, both sides take turns flipping someone. Something about the final hidden rule after other rules are fulfilled that a chain can be created when players lined up in a row and sandwiched between the enemies. Because now they do the same to the pawns and they return to the humans’ side. With that, humans defeat Titan by a slim single margin. Back at HQ, Miranda praises Fay and it is not because Leshea was a former god but rather the duo worked well together. Miranda explains ever since Leshea came here, she was always playing alone because she was too strong for others to play with. Fay reminisce such fate of his. Later Leshea asks Fay about his wish since he knows hers is to become god again. He notes it is to find someone. He doesn’t know her name and can vaguely remember her looks or voice. He is her mentor whom he calls Sis and thought him the joys of games. However one day she suddenly left and only promised to meet again someday. The only thing significant about her was her vermillion hair like Leshea. Could they be related? Of course Leshea brushes that off seeing she was trapped in ice for thousands of years!
Episode 3
Apparently, Fay and Leshea can’t form a team with just 2 of them. Whatever crap that they must have numbers while playing god’s games, Miranda suggests they form alliances with other teams that don’t have enough members. So it’s not individuals banding together? And it has also become Fay’s job to look for disciples for Leshea. Yes, he is admin now. So Fay reaches to a former friend, Ashlan who is more than happy to have him. However upon hearing to let Leshea join, he instantly hangs up! Well, looks like Leshea beat up the entire team during a game! Many were hospitalized. And don’t you even dare mention about her small boobs! Fay then contacts another friend, Yuki. Same thing. Upon hearing Leshea’s name, she screams and hangs up! Oh my, what did Leshea do? Let’s say Leshea sent her to the hospital when she went overboard with her match. So as they ponder about other teams, they see Pearl Diamond teleporting before them. A player with teleporting abilities is great. They think she is trying to scout for a team from her body reaction. Turns out she wants to resign! Leshea burns away her resignation paper! She is hell bent on resigning until Fay offers to treat her to parfait. Better keep your word. So we hear Pearl’s story, she has a win and a loss. The previous game, it was her fault that caused the entire team to lose. In a game to protect the captain, she accidentally swapped places with him while trying to get away from the monster. You could see why the team blamed her and she has been feeling guilty ever since. While Leshea and Fay promise they won’t blame her, Pearl is still bent on resigning. Fay feels it is too early to give up. Not because of her teleportation but rather he doesn’t want her to be scarred for life after a loss. So they go see her in her home. While changing! Is this a bad time? Maybe for Leshea. Those big boobs. Give her half! HOW?! When things calm down, Pearl continues her low self-esteem talk and doesn’t think she fits in their team. She also explains she tried to apologize to her old comrades but they refused to accept. This makes Fay suggest they play the next game with her old team. She might be frustrated with a loss but it is still only a single loss and she still has a chance for revenge. Seeing how stubborn he is, Pearl agrees to his deal to team up. Miranda pulls some strings so the trio can join Pearl’s team going into their next game. Everyone is free falling from the sky! Fay instantly recognizes this god. The one whom no player has ever defeated before: Uroboros.
Episode 4
Everyone lands on Uroboros’ back. Or tail. How long is this damn thing? Meeting up with the team leader, Orvan Misketz, they exchange data and it seems they have a lost a few members. Some couldn’t handle the crash and ‘died’ while others who don’t land on Uroboros get eaten by sky whales known as Leviathans. Our Meep here is a meek one, often forgetting to mention crucial rules or saying them too late. After entering a trap area, they must say a password in order to get out. Ouch is the word? Okay. And it seems that word is the condition they need to make Uroboros say in order to clear this game. Then they test by shooting one of the scales. Leshea got too powerful and made a member fall off! Oops, her bad. Pearl then has this idea to do a lot of damage to a scale in order for Uroboros to be in pain. That might be a bit premature because a laser beam starts shooting randomly and causing many members and even a few Leviathans to die! Before Pearl could go into regret mode, Fay will not hold her responsible since they were testing out the conditions. Had she not done it, he would have done the same. As they try to figure out the hidden rules, some members get disheartened and think should quit. But some of them have lost twice and losing this means they will retire forever. Hence they’re trying to blame a certain girl for making them lose 6 months ago. Before that certain girl could go into guilt mode, Leshea tells them to STFU and GTFO if they don’t want to be here. Are we here to pick on a poor girl or play a game! It is then Fay figures out the rules. He may cause more casualties but this one will have them win. This time he has Leshea cause more damage to multiple scales. More beams shoot randomly. They notice Leviathans attacking Uroboros. This shows they are not subordinates of gods and are neutral entities. The hidden rule is that if they attack and cause Uroboros to retaliate, they can temporarily use Leviathan. Fay and his girls jump on board as they ride towards the bottom of Uroboros because that is where its eyes are located. Yes, they shoot beams too! After breaking its barrier, can Fay be faster than the speed of light to destroy its eyes? How is a puny human going to do it? When an eye shoots a beam, Fay gives Pearl the signal to teleport him away. Thus the beam hit the other eye. Ouch! And that is how the unbeatable god was defeated. Using fire to fight fire. In the aftermath, Uroboros appears before Fay in her cute anime girl form. As reward, she gives him a gem which is her eye. This gives him the right to challenge her anytime. Of course she plans to make the next game 100 times harder.
Episode 5
Oh, looks like another has got regrets. Yeah, Nel Reckless wakes up from a certain dream. But after watching Fay’s win over Uroboros, she swears to devote her life to him. Oh my, hope she isn’t some psycho. Leshea is left stumped because now they have a team, why can’t they go dive into another game? Well, their win against Uroboros has motivated many teams and now all gates are fully booked. Waiting list is at least a month. Uhm, can they not team up with other teams? Or do those teams want their own glory? WTF Leshea thinks of stealing a gate?! Of course there is a way for them to participate and it is via World Games Tour (WGT). Those who have defeated difficult gods are seen as heroes from other places and are invited to participate in local games. With Fay’s team having such many requests, they pick to head to the city of Mal-ra. Upon arriving, they see a shady girl looking for them. You bet they instantly run from Nel! However her ability makes her run faster than them. Then Nel begs Fay and wants him to make her his woman. Better phrasing! Actually, she wants to become his student after watching his recent match. She’ll do anything! Including washing his back. Why does she make it sound so sleazy every time? At first chance, they run. Nel tries to go after them but almost gets hit by a car. WTF she kicks it away?! I thought she could outrun it at least?! WTF?!
When they enter Mal-ra’s HQ, they meet the chief secretary, Balleger Ions. Sorry, it’s not Arnold. After telling them the stadium they will be playing in front of live audiences, he introduces them to Dax Gear Scimitar who is Mal-ra’s top player and a prodigy like Fay. Dax wastes no time in asking Fay to join his team as he is currently gathering outstanding rookies to play against the gods. Fay turns him down since he is here only for WGT. Surprisingly, Dax accepts. But that doesn’t mean he has given up yet. Later Fay and co watch some of Mal-ra’s games. One of them includes Nel’s team. Her team gave up despite Nel’s plea that they can still play. This is like the opposite of Pearl’s case as Nel was forced to retire against her own will. Now she is retired. Now they’re regretting they should’ve hear her out? Weren’t they so eager to run away then? Strangely, Nel is at their room to provide room service. Upon seeing them, Nel runs away! WTF?! I thought she wanted to be Fay’s student or something?! Later Nel stumbles into Dax who talks about their time as rookies together. Dax claims Nel’s bad matchup with her teammates forced her into early retirement. Dax wants her to join his team but she declines. It is Fay’s team or bust. Then they wager on Fay and Nel bets that Fay will win. Before WGT starts, Nel talks to Fay and expresses her support for his team since they will be going up against Dax. The game chosen is a sugoroku card game.
Episode 6
Dax chooses Kelritch Shee as his partner while Fay chooses Pearl. So we go through the basic rules. Rather than your usual dice game to reach the goal, a team can also win by chipping your opponent’s health down to zero. Based on the class you choose, the cards you have can have some effect as well. Are we playing Yugioh too?! So you can see where this is going, right? Obviously both teams aren’t going to play it safe and reach the finish line because that’ll be boring. They’re going to outsmart each other and chip the other’s life away. So each time a player plays a card, the opponent will go like, “Aha! Gotcha! You fell into my trap and my trap card activates”. But then it’s not because they’ll soon go, “Yeah, I see that coming and hence a card to counter that”. However it’s not the case so it’ll be like, “Uh huh. You fell for that one too because now I activate this card”. In the end they also foresee this and will exclaim, “Knew this was coming, gotcha this time!”. Ugh… Rinse and repeat. So you think Dax and Kelritch might have the upper hand because of their cards that deal more damage and the coincidental unfortunate circumstances that Fay and Pearl are in. The latter are good in their poker face game because at the end of the game, they win this mind game with a trump card they have. Everything going as planned. With Fay and Pearl winning, Dax is more motivated and swears to become even more powerful. Note this stadium has a lot of his rabid fans so you bet those fan girls are totally swooning at how cool he is even though he is lost. Like as though he won. Oh well, it doesn’t matter because as long as everybody had fun, right?
Episode 7
Oh wow. Leshea using Miranda’s unlimited platinum card to go on a spending spree. Don’t mind her, she’ll be done after buying a few more shops! Is that how it works?! Thanks to WGT, Leshea and Fay have a long line of fans! Sorry Pearl, nobody is into you. More astonishing, Dax has a streaming platform that streams him eating lunch?! Thousands of viewership! OMFG WHAT?! And now Nel approaches Fay and she is more determined than ever after watching his play. As she cannot play alongside them, she wants to be their analyst to come up with strategies. Fay declines. Well, how about his maid? Leshea declines! Fay hints that if she is satisfied being those. If not, come to watch their game tomorrow. So Nel doesn’t quite get it so he tells her to watch and support them as Fay and other players dive into the desert world for the next game. There are total of 15 players including Fay, Leshea, Pearl, Dax and Kelritch. The local Meep gives them each a flower. They are to put a flower on top of the pyramid in the distance to win. Of course god’s creatures who are also players will try to stop them. They too have flowers. Those big cute cats?! Better not fawn over them. Among the rules, you cannot lose your flower at any given them or you’ll be out of the game. There are 2 special flowers among them: Sun and poison. If you steal a poison one, your whole team gets a debuff and will be stunned for 5 seconds. Enough to send everyone to defeat as it is enough time for the enemy to steal their flower. The other victory condition is to take the enemy’s sun flower. But if all their flowers are stolen, they lose. While it is okay to switch flowers during the game, bear in mind that as long as it leaves your hand, you are out. Fay has everyone’s flower redistributed. He will not tell who has which flower since everyone will be more likely to protect the sun flower and will give away hints to the enemy. The god of this level, Mahtma II also joins in. It is most likely he is holding his team’s sun flower. As the game begins, both Fay and Leshea announce they are the ones holding the sun flower.
Episode 8
Obviously, to deceive your enemies, you must deceive your friends first, right? With the games beginning, Mahtma II has got 1,667 cat players on his side and he calls it fair?! Cute cats chasing you from behind and then overwhelming our unimportant characters, stealing their flowers. Luckily it turns out all to be normal ones. Fanservice moment because pervy cat slashes Pearl’s clothes but gets instant retribution from Kelritch. In the end, only Fay, Leshea, Pearl and Kelritch are left. They split up with Fay and Pearl heading towards the pyramid. When the cats overwhelm Fay, he throws his flower to Pearl. This has Mahtma II realizing she is now in possession of the sun flower. The focus is now on her. When Pearl teleports, it is not towards to the pyramid’s top but on top of Mahtma II so as to break his sceptre containing his flower. Unfortunately he contains the poison one. The sun flower is revealed to be in the oasis. Hiding a leaf in the forest? Mahtma II thinks he has won but after unveiling Pearl’s flowers, both are normal ones. In shock, he senses Leshea and Kelritch too don’t have them. So where it is? With Fay! You see, he was holding onto 2 flowers! Dax went out of the game by handing his to him. The sun flower was in his possession all along. Mahtma II’s side receives a stun because one of the cat players unveiled Leshea who is having the poison one. Using Keltrich’s powerful punch force to propel Fay to the top, he places the sun flower on the altar and it is a win for the humans. Mahtma II congratulates them and lets them hold on to the flower since it has some special properties. He hopes to play another game with them in the future. Back at HQ, Nel is very certain she wants to be on Fay’s team. But how? She has already 3 loses and has retired. Obviously there is a solution, no? Contacting with Miranda, it seems the only way is to play a game with a god named Bookmaker. This is to wager her lose and reduce it by 1. However that gate, no one has used it for 40 years. The bigger problem is that Fay is willing to lend 1 win to Nel. Miranda disagrees to that since he has already 6 wins and the closest to being the first human to achieve 10 wins, Pearl is willing to lend hers. Leshea notes gods will smile upon those who create miracles and seeing Nel has the potential, she agrees. Okay, it’s your call. And now we fast forward to 96 hours later, Nel in deep sh*t, losing in some stakes against herself?
Episode 9
On the way home, the gang talk about Bookmaker who only plays alone and the games won’t be a team match. Because Fay would easily lend his win to Nel, this makes her upset since it makes him look like he doesn’t treasure them. Best part, Fay’s strategy to win is that he has no strategy! Well, he has not played against Bookmaker so certainly he doesn’t know anything about that god. After all, Nel is going to win, right? Because there is no way that Fay will lose, right? Time to relieve some stress back home with Pearl and Nel taking a bath together! Pearl’s huge boobs + Nel’s sexy thighs, WTF Nel wants to use them to seduce Fay?! Holy sh*t, one more step if they cross the line, this will turn into Hentai Games We Play! HAHAHAHA!!! Now we see the gang entering Bookmaker’s realm to face the god. Her real name is Gremoire and she has been called many names including Bookmaker since her ability is to mimic others. Thus she looks exactly like herself. The game they’ll play is poker. Fay shocks everyone as he will wager 3 of his win to offset all of Nel’s losses. Except for Leshea who couldn’t care less. Poker begins as both sides are given 5 coins and Nel cannot have help from her teammates. On the first match, Nel doesn’t have a good hand. However Gremoire calls and raises all her coins. This indicates she has a strong hand. If Nel follows suit, she might lose. If she folds, at least she can play another round. Nel folds and thankfully, Gremoire has a higher hand. In the second match, Nel too doesn’t have a good hand. With Gremoire changing only 1 card and also betting all her coins, Nel again folds thinking she has a better hand. However it turns out she has no good cards and was just trolling her! You see, it doesn’t matter what hand Gremoire has, the game went as planned. She knows Nel doesn’t want to win. She just doesn’t want to lose. There’s a big difference. Because she is trying to be careful with Fay’s wins, she couldn’t take risks and there itself lies her loss. With only 1 coin left, this is Nel’s final game. Can she win? Nel says she can but Gremoire doesn’t think so. Gods don’t smile upon those who create miracles. As predicted, Nel loses due to her desperation and frustration. Gremoire is disappointed with this game and thought it would be challenging. Well then, Fay claims she hasn’t won yet and that he already has. Huh? Because he wants to wager his remaining wins to play against her. Okay then. She transports them to her casino realm and the game for Fay is to see if he can see through the 3 godly cheats she will be using against him.
Episode 10
Gremoire further hints she will use the same cheat in all the 3 games. She whispers them to his friends and Leshea starts laughing. First game is a coin flip. Fay must guess heads or tails while in the air as Nel will kick it a second time to ensure fairness. Fay gets it wrong. Next is poker in which Leshea deals the cards. Fay doesn’t have a good hand so he changes all of them. Even worse off. In both ways, Gremoire has a straight flush. Final game is old maid. To prevent Gremoire from cheating, Pearl watches Gremoire from behind. Fay ends up with the joker. As he analyses Gremoire’s cheat, he requests another game of old maid. This is not to buy time to analyse her cheat but rather he is confident he will beat her. And my, he beats her! Gremoire is in shock. How could he have done so when her cheat is still in effect? Fay answers her cheating method: Using his comrades’ power. He figured out in the 2nd old maid game in which he knows Gremoire can only cheat if she has the joker on her side. This is so that when Fay picks the joker, Pearl will use her ability to swap the cards. This means Nel used her powers to flip the coin to Gremoire’s favour while Leshea also dealt a winning hand for her. As for the old maid game, Pearl had some cooling off period in using her power and that’s why her cheat couldn’t activate, ensuring Fay’s victory. Gremoire returns the wins to Nel as promised. The team also adjusted their victories to be equal so now all have 3 equal wins as Fay wants his team to get all 10 victories together. As Fay and co return to relay Miranda the good news, however there is a commotion and emergency. Over 200 Apostles were forcefully gathered to play some game in a labyrinth. But after nearly 60 hours, none has returned. Hence several rescue squads including Fay’s were chosen to go rescue them. It seems in this game, one can challenge it over and over again. However you respawn from the very beginning. This means the game has no end unless you clear it or you retrieve some item that allows you to return. Before the start, players can choose its difficulty. Pearl and Nel choose the easy setting while Fay and Leshea choose hard. They think a way the return is via hard mode. Only one way to find out. Upon entering, they are in some peaceful and scenic area. Pearl thinks of picking the apple on the tree but it attacks her! Oh dear. Respawn from the start! Now you know why. This is going to take a while. Meanwhile Gremoire is feeling bored when Uroboros visits her and wants to know where the humans who recently challenged her are.
Episode 11
So how many times must Pearl be defeated by an apple to pass this stage? Apparently a lot. Breaking your morale, huh? Why stupid apple only targets Pearl?! And when they’re done with this stage and enter the real labyrinth building, turns out all that was just the freaking tutorial! And so our Meep explains that in this labyrinth, one can do some crafting but be warned, if 1 dies, all team members will also respawn. This means all traps and bosses defeated will be reset. Though, they retain memories of their previous attempts and even have a counter over their head as progress status. Basically in order to pass this, one must have a flawless run. Then a brief history about the god who created this dungeon, she created it so hard that no humans could pass that she died of boredom. The end. WTF CAN A GOD DIE???!!! So we see Fay’s team heading through their first challenge. Craft some items, fight the level boss, die, rinse and repeat. Took a few times before they pass and they stumble into Ashlan’s group. Thank goodness this is not an illusion. Both sides exchange info and it seems the teams respawn in different places. Both sides have an item when combined, creates a key to unlock another room. In this room, it feels like there are no enemies or items. At least based on the items that Ashlan’s team crafted to detect them. But they soon could feel another presence. Fay then realizes the raid boss is sleeping. To wake it up, Fay and Leshea use their crafted alarm clock and bugle but some magic rays rain down on them and all die! They respawn several times to experiment with different tricks but still the same result. So as Fay decodes the death message and think about it properly, it seems they have to use an umbrella since it is raining? Yeah damn it worked! But now the raid boss is awakened and its life points is 2.5 million! All their attacks are only worth 1 point! OMFG this might not even finish in 10 years! However when it unleashes a devastating ground attack, everyone jumps and they notice the raid boss receives a lot of damage. So rinse and repeat this method until they finally defeat it. It drops a bell of revival. Nel accidentally rings it and the raid boss revives. Yeah, care to chip away its 2.5 million HP?! But don’t despair, this cutie drops in to save the day. Don’t remember her? She’s Uroboros! As the raid boss acts up, she isn’t thrilled it is interrupting her talk. Her single punch is worth 87 quadrillion points! OMFG THAT IS 15 ZEROES BABY!!! IS THIS EVEN LEGAL???!!!
Episode 12
The boss drops a save point key. While everyone is so happy that they don’t have to restart, Uroboros has to rain on their parade and reveal that this game actually has no ending. Remember what Meep said about the god who died? And to clear this labyrinth, one must defeat the final boss and if that boss is that dead god? See where this is going? That’s right. You can never clear this labyrinth! Gosh. Are we stuck here forever? Fay wants Ashlan’s team to use the key to return to the normal to report to Miranda. Fay’s team will continue to explore. Meep congratulates them but also gives a yellow card to Uroboros for her intervention. She warns she’ll get a red card next! Uhm, are we playing football?! So for now she is just tagging along? As they continue, we see Pearl getting pepper sprayed in the eyes, she having that rape face when tries to get a cute loli fairy (it ran away) and then some creature barfing stomach acid over Nel. Then as they are at the door to the next chamber, the angel Pizaristed Pinkethewmerkelbrilliant III shows up. WTF?! He will grant their request for the door’s key. However he realizes they are dirty! He purifies them all and they restart back at the save point. So, Uroboros respawning with them, she’s part of the team now? Wow, she looks so happy. As the gang go again, they stumble into a waterfall room. A treasure chest filled with bikinis! Sorry folks, no swimsuit episode because they decide to skip this! Boo!
Then coming across painting of apples, Pearl believes they’re going to attack her. However one ambushes her from the back! Hey, at least they didn’t respawn. But upon reaching Pizaplin (yes, we shortened his name so), the dirty apple scent has him purify them. Back to square one. Now they avoid everything to reach Pizaplin again. Well, guess what? He realizes they are still dirty from their previous attempts! Back to restart you go! Oh my. So the angel also carries over the experience? This is tricky. How? Well, the girls have an idea. But Fay can’t come. Sometimes it’s the girls’ turn to shine. Soon, all return and Pizaplin clears them. Finally. How? Oh man, you mean Fay hasn’t guessed it?! I bet he is just pretending not to know so as to give the girls some credit as they explain. The trick is the waterfall room where they clean themselves. Oh yeah. Swimsuit episode time! While this is the key to clear this level, the downside was that they spent so much time having fun! And we too have our moments gawking at our sexy girls! Fay is glad they’re on his team and this boosts their morale. Yeah, I still don’t believe Fay has not figured it out. Playing dumb, huh! The reward for entering this treasure room is a key that allows them to carry more items and even if the party fails, the items will not be lost. Meep then announces they will fight the next boss. But they have to fall through a pit? Meanwhile Dax and Kelritch have been given the green light as the next rescue team. Oh yeah, Dax can’t wait to meet up with Fay.
Episode 13
So they’re in the room where the final boss sits. However a note there says she god fed up of waiting since no humans have ever conquered it and left AKA died. How then? Remember how players and monsters respawn after dying? If this is so, the same is applicable to gods. They use that revival bell to do so but nothing happens. Fay then realizes another key point. The percentage of completion counter that lies above their head, he believes they must explore every part of the dungeon and collect every item. It may take thousands of hours and that is why they are meeting up with other players to exchange info. So thankfully we have a list of items and a mapped area so we can double check where we have missed out. When Fay’s side is faced with another raid boss known as Sphinx, Uroboros didn’t like how he interrupted her talk with Fay and so she punches it! Yeah, her quadrillion power is enough to defeat it! Of course as warned by Meep, this earns her a red card and out she goes. With 99.99% completed, they find a final area in which they have to make several 24 sided dice show is 1. What are the odds? Then here comes Dax to clean it and somehow his throw makes them all face as 1! WTF?! Is this his only prominence in this episode and game?! Then he has to leave because whatever nonsense he spouts about their rivalry that will last till the end of time, blah, blah, blah. Kelritch translates that as there are other players trapped here so they have to get them out first before they resume their rivalry. Yeah. WTF. But now the percentage shows 99.999%! What are they missing? Fay realizes the large hole outside where they started. Jumping in has them finally complete the whole thing and this hole is a shortcut to the final boss.
Anubis as the last boss shows up as the final fight is upon them. She summons several enemies to aid her. Cheating? As she has a raid boss rain down magic rays, Fay and co use their umbrella. Well it saved them but all other enemies got eliminated! Uhm, is Anubis a dumb god?! Let’s hope so. She summon puff creatures but seeing our gang has got an item that makes them their allies, the puffs aren’t going to attack. Anubis even forgets the spell to call forth her godly weapon called God Eraser? She screws that and just shoots from her wand! Oh damn, she can rewrite the rules as she pleases?! Isn’t that cheating and too much even for one who created this dungeon?! Fay and co barely survive her waves of destruction and even more so when she seals their ability to use other items! Nel tries to kick and return her blasts but it did nothing. Though, it gives Fay an idea because when Anubis threatens to just blow everything up in this arena, they go hide in a portal in another dimension. In the end, Anubis is satisfied because they played the game with passion. This was what she wanted to test when she created this labyrinth. So yeah, it is their win. She gives him this master key that summons items from this labyrinth and hopes to play again. Wait, how can she play again if she dies! Can god actually die?! When Fay and co return, they are given a rousing applause by Miranda and their fellow Apostles. Now Leshea and Uroboros fight over Fay’s attention because they want him to play with them next. Be patient, ladies. Because off they go to play the next god’s game. We’re on a roll!
Child’s Play?
You know, at this rate where Fay is at a constant winning streak, I bet he is going to beat this whole thing in record time! Don’t blink because before you know it, Fay will become the first person in history to obtain Celebration and save Earthrealm from being absorbed by the hands of Outworld ruled by Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat! OH SH*T! WRONG GAME!!! But yeah, seeing how exceptional and talented Fay is, humans can actually win this in no time. Everybody alive today will be lucky enough to witness this historic moment. Except for us viewers. Because we’re out of here and won’t be sticking around for another season! Oh God, please don’t torture us with another season!
For shows like these that focuses mainly on the different and weird games, it is only right that these challenges are explained clearly enough to engage and keep the viewers’ interest. Long story short, it did not do a good job here. A big reason and contributing factor that people like me give godly low scores. Understandably the games have to be weird enough and not your usual run of the mill to keep the intrigue since this is also fantasy. The big problem is that the games are given a few rules, mostly explained are the conditions of victories or losses. My guess is that if they want to get really technical and go over all the rules, it might take several episodes! So keeping it short is good and perhaps on a need to know basis.
However as we see the Apostles take on the challenges, it becomes a guessing game on how to clear it. Only prodigies like Fay can guess it because he is the main character and who knows? Maybe he bribed the gods and bought their rulebook! Sure, sure, his personality that loves games and is serious in playing them gives him the edge in whatever games he tackles. But for us viewers like yours truly, mostly we are left in the dark and being blur as we watch the players painfully going through trial and error. Imagine geniuses like Fay is so sharp and observant that after a few tries, he gets it already. And then he nails it. So easy. Are you sure this guy wasn’t an offspring of the gods who abandoned him during some civil war eons ago?! Just kidding. But yes, it was frustrating trying to understand the rules and I got confused even further. Especially that sugoroku card game which felt like anything goes. Seriously. Like as though they made up the rules as they go. My best guess is not to overthink or predict the challenges. Watch with your mind blank and when the key answers reveal themselves, just go, “Ah… I see… So it was like that…”. Who would’ve seen that coming, right? Oh well, as long Fay is having fun, which is what’s important.
One of my misconceptions is that I thought this series was set on Earth, most probably Japan. Then it is said that over 90% of this realm is unexplored. Which means that the humans here are just a speck of dust in this tiny universe? Are they just existing in a tiny sheltered globe of their own? It gives the impression that humans are the products and creations of some god. Well, it only makes sense because otherwise why would gods then be so eager to have puny beings challenge them to god-like games? Perhaps it is to see if these little creations of a certain god could best them? Or worse, could this be some sort of proxy war between gods? Yeah, looks like I’m straying from the path but I think this would have been a far more interesting storyline, don’t you think?! Oh well, back to the boring and weird games…
On a trivial note, when the games are in session, we see everyone in the city glued to their TV screens (like how in Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, everyone not in the racetrack is glued to theirs during the big race) and it makes me wonder who the f*ck is recording the games and sending them back to the TV stations?! Don’t tell me it’s God TV or something! If the cameraman crew are humans, in that case I think they are just as awesome as the Apostles to show us the angles and all, don’t you think?
The characters are a joke and unmemorable. Fay checks all the list of what is needed to be a main character and as a prodigy of such games, he has never had a loss record. Any games that are seemingly impossible to clear, just send Fay! I bet he can crack the code before any of us could have time to pause and think about it. So good, why hasn’t he cleared them all? Oh right. Got to remember he took a break to look for someone who looks like Leshea! What are the chances that person is also a god! That person left Fay in this world because she was targeted by other gods in some assassination plot! Oh heck, if that is too much of a stretch, how about this: What if that person is actually Leshea from the future! That’s why they look so similar!!! OMG I’m going off tangent again but this sounds more interesting than the confusing games we have seen! And so Fay needs someone who is equally as powerful by his side and who else better than to be a fallen god like Leshea herself. It’s not cheating if you play by the rules, right? The key to it all is that if you love and are passionate about your games, you’ll definitely shine through like them. After all, they’re only games, right? Hell, no! Some games are life and death to others!
I guess the rest of his teammates are to complete his mini harem. Heh. Anyway, they too are unmemorable like Pearl whom I believe exists to be the punching bag and comic relief of the series. It is only because she is a cutie pie, we somewhat do not see the ‘devastating’ effects on such anime clowns. Uh huh. Noticed that she is always the one who falls for the traps? For further humiliation, she thinks she could be as popular as the rest but ends up nobody knows who the f*ck she is! Oh Pearl, ready to hang up those boots anytime? Of course she perseveres and it’s only right because who else is going to take the fall as the group’s clown! Hey, at least she looks cute! Not a compliment? Whatever. Nel as the latest team member, it’s like she is trying to make amends for lost time. She’s trying to be perfect because the slightest mistake, she’ll go grovelling and apologizing. Well, we all know that Fay is not that kind of monster, right? Give her some time and she’ll soon fit right in.
Miranda as Fay’s boss, sometimes she sounds cunning but that has to be expected seeing she shoulders a heavier responsibility. Yeah, I suppose people in her position are not all fun and games. Especially it is a different kind of game she is playing. A political one and among humans. Uh huh. Perhaps that is more dangerous since we don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes. Then there is Dax who is the self-proclaimed rival for Fay. I don’t think he is admitting it but I’m going to say that he is clearly a fan boy of Fay! You see his eyes glow up as he makes his haughty proclamation of fate having them meet each other, blah, blah, blah. Feels like a grand way of saying he is happy to see Fay again, no? Any chances of anything gay happening between them! Well, let’s keep the games clean, shall we?! This Fay x Dax gay rivalry thingy somehow reminds me of Souma x Takumi thingy in Shokugeki No Souma. To counterbalance all that pride, I guess we need the taciturn and emotionless Kelritch who also probably serves to translate to us normal people what Dax says with his useless gibberish.
The gods are a mysterious bunch and as we have seen a few of them and their personalities are vast, from one polar end to another. They have the authority to do whatever they want. In the case of Uroboros, she could just go to another god’s domain and be a player? Well, the rules aren’t clear for gods. I mean, even Leshea was a full god before. She too doesn’t even have clues about her brethren. And now Uroboros is somewhat part of Fay’s team, can we guess that Fay’s team will turn into one heck of a super powered party? Yeah, I’m waiting for the moment Gremoire joins in because she’ll be as bored as f*ck while waiting for the next human to challenge her. I’m guessing nobody will have the balls to do so and thus she’ll leave her comfort zone and join Fay in more exciting games-cum-adventures! And when once a human defeats a god, how long will it be before they challenge again?
Art and animation are just average. While at first glance it may look like today’s anime standards, I still feel that it could have been slightly better especially some parts of the animation looked a bit wonky and could’ve used a bit more animation. Just because they distract you with bishoujos and cute familiars of the gods, the end results are still obvious. Well, better than some of the side characters who look strange as f*ck. I have got to remind myself that this is not a high school setting despite our main characters looking so. That’s why you could see buffed guys and overly mature ladies and men as some unimportant team members. Fay’s team looking really generic too because we’ve got Fay as the typical main guy in a harem, Leshea the feisty redhead as seen in so many animes (Eris in Mushoku Tensei, Rias in High School DxD, Sarasa in Liar Liar, Earnest in Eiyuu Kyoushitsu, Amelia in Hyouken No Majutsu Ga Sekai Wo Suberu, Stella in Rakudai Kishi No Cavalry, need I go on?), Pearl the uhm, dumb blonde (?) and the Nel the ponytailed silky long raven black hair beauty.
In addition, the overall visuals feel bland because mostly we see are the players all dressed in white (except for exceptional players who get to dress in black like Dax for visual differentiation). Even so, the backgrounds especially the settings and locations during the games are also as bland as f*ck. Uhm, are we supposed to focus on the game and not get distracted with the sceneries around us? Maybe the labyrinth halls were a bit of an exception since it’s like walking through some luxurious corridor but that’s about it. Sometimes, the hues and colouring get a bit odd and off and I’m wondering if it is on purpose since the Apostles entered the domain of the gods. Or did the printer slightly ran out of a certain colour when they made the final touches?
CGI is also used but mainly for the gods especially those in their monster form like that Titan golem and Uroboros in her beast form. It’s just passable. Probably the hues and colouring made them somehow blend in with the 2D human characters and hence not as glaring or awkward. But still is in some ways. This anime is done by Lidenfilms who did Tokyo Revengers, Yamada-Kun And The 7 Witches, Urasekai Picnic and Yuusha Ga Shinda.
Voice acting is nothing to shout about especially I felt some of the dialogues were just boring. I wasn’t expecting mind blowing quips or puns but I suppose they’re so basic that the irony and partly the reason why I really don’t understand how the game works. Some seiyuus I recognized include Akari Kitou as Leshea, Ami Koshimizu as Miranda, Miyu Tomita as Uroboros, Sho Hayami as Mahtma II, Shinichiro Miki as Pizaplin and Nobuyuki Hiyama as Sphinx. There is a different Meep for each game locations and hence a different voice manning them. The only one I recognized was Misaki Kuno and Rie Kugimiya for Titan and Uroboros’ game respectively. It never occurred to me Kappei Yamaguchi was Mahtma II’s Meep since he sounded so gay. Oh wait. This is how he usually sounds, HAHAHA! Sighs… And was it really Yuka Iguchi as the labyrinth’s Meep? Sorry, not Index version so slipped past my radar. Same case for Chiwa Saito as Gremoire. It’s been a long time I have heard from her so if she does other voices outside her usual feisty female character, I’m lost. I wonder if the first Meep is Anubis because Misaki Kuno voiced both characters (although as Anubis she was slightly unrecognizable as she went for a lower voice rather than her trademark squeaky squeals) and I’m starting to form dumb conspiracy theories that Meep might be gods too…
The other casts include Nobunaga Shimazaki as Fay (Shido in Date A Live), Hina Tachibana as Pearl (Nei in Mato Seihei No Slave – damn, at points I thought it was Nao Touyama behind her voice!), Kanna Nakamura as Nel (Anne in Nanatsu No Taizai: Mokushiroku No Yonkishi), Kent Itou as Dax (Hirotaka in Wotaku Ni Koi Wa Muzukashii), Miku Itou as Kelritch (Miku in Go-toubun No Hanayome), Seiichirou Yamashita as Ashlan (Cid/Shadow in Kage No Jitsuryokusha Ni Naritakute), Kenichirou Matsuda as Orvan (Gordon in Black Clover) and Yasuhiro Mamiya as Balleger (Gigantomachia in Boku No Hero Academia).
The opening theme is NewGame (no, it’s not a typo and there’s really no space and just a single word – songs names these days…) by Alia. It’s a very high energetic new age dance rock kinda music that is supposed to get you into the groove of the action but unfortunately it fails to do that in me. Maybe it would’ve worked at some high octane sports drink commercial. Yeah… As for the ending theme, I’m Game by Hina Tachibana is another lively piece but too bad this one too didn’t attract me since it sounds generic like manufactured pop.
Overall, this series is just mediocre and disappointing in many ways. Definitely it couldn’t be the next No Game No Life or even its closest substitute (like Kakegurui?). Heck, I won’t go so far to say that Liar Liar is better in comparison because damn, both are equally bad! Speaking of which, continue to keep waiting for that legendary series to have a sequel. It has already been 10 years since its release! Damn! Fay should win this whole thing and make a wish for a No Game No Life sequel! It says a lot when we’re wishing for another game genre anime than this crap. Because confusing and uninteresting games coupled with uninteresting characters (not buying it even if those girls are cuties) make the whole gaming experience one big bore and disappointment. Who am I to criticize these people playing such games? I myself am bad in Monopoly and heck, sometimes on occasion I still run straight forward and die on the first Goomba in Super Mario Bros! You should also see my dismal record in Minesweeper and Windows’ Solitaire. Wow. I really suck and have no talent in games, huh? Probably the same sucky talent that I have in picking bad animes to watch every season.
