No Game No Life - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[supermegasonic]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Tet totally teleported them outside to get back at them

passive-aggressive tet doesn't like being made fun of, lol

[Nvis]

Great speech by Sora.

Not enough elf girl though....

Angel girl looks scary/cocky/powerful.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by Von Himmel

wat

That kind of thinking is those of the opposition which is really off-topic from what I'm saying.

? Forgot to say that's what humans would try to pull on other races who had that power. Just that

[Von Himmel]

Oh yeah, that makes sense

[Wandering Soul]

That was a pretty good speech by Sora. I also find it hilarious that they had all those games simply because Shiro was afraid that Sora would use his position as King to build a harem and forget her. So now their end goal is to defeat Tet again.

[teja208]

Originally Posted by Kanon

This show is definitely the biggest surprise of the season. It's pure fun. Sora is pretty much the best MC of the season. He's smart, wise beyond his years, ambitious, and funny. His speech about humanity's weakness being its biggest strength was inspiring. You can tell he's no ordinary NEET and that he's already been through a lot in his short life. I wonder what kind of upbringing he and Shiro had to turn out this way.

Although I'm enjoying this show, I hope more thought will be put into the next games. The "chess" game was very fun, but it became more and more random as it went. I know it was meant to display Sora's outside of the box thinking, but the author went a bit too far. I hope for more grounded and intellectual game later. Ones with firmly set rules. The author is apparently a fan of Jojo, if he's learned anything from it, it should be good.

Grounded and intellectual is debatable and firmly set rules are easily bypass with how different races will likely pick games that are more (unfairly) advantageous to them both physically and magically (cheating wise).

To elaborate, I wouldn't categorize NGNL with the likes of Jojo or HxH in terms of intellectual and grounded. I'd rather put it on the same level as Mondaiji with less combat and MCs aren't as OP. I suggest to stay tune for next (big) game, and see it for yourself. If you think that's too much to handle, then perhaps it's time to consider dropping it unless you are a M.

[Newprimus]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

You're underthinking it. Why do you assume humans have more brains? Why are they the programmer?

There are plenty of athletes with white collar jobs. There are plenty of wimpy high school drop outs.

You're overthinking again. Humans don't have more brains. Every other race is as capable of intelligence as humans. The issue is that they didn't have to think as hard so they didn't, until the situation forced them to do so.

Which is precisely my problem. Why would being magically or physically gifted make you stupid? Isn't intelligence still an important weapon even if you have others?

No one's saying the other races are stupid. Period. We're saying that the other races didn't have to rely on their intelligence to make do as much as the humans did.

I don't want to spoil anything too much but,

Spoiler:

there's a GOOD reason why some of the races didn't have to use their brains as much, and you will find out possibly next week.

Little exercise: with this mindset, try to explain black Africa's status in world politics (current and historical) without sounding completely racist.

Lack of educational opportunities?

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Standard evolution is that every species you meet is made up of survivors. If the situation calls for intelligence, then the intelligent will rise, whether they have magic, wings, or whatnot.

Nothing to do with evolution. All the races are very capable of intelligence, some extremely so. It's just that they did not have INCENTIVE to use that intelligence as much.

It's like being born rich. You're obviously capable of being smart and hard-working, but there's no real incentive to do so.

And don't you see the logical problem in "being at the bottom of the pile makes you strong enough to be at the top of the pile"?

Sora's message is NOT that because you're weak you're automatically the strongest. He said because humanity were so weak they had to use wisdom to make up for their lack of strength, and that wisdom is what allowed them to climb to the top.

[leorodri100]

well some are disappointed with how the chess game turned out, i really liked that part in the novel and the talk with tet was also great i got goosebumps when oracion started playing in the background

NOW TO VOLUME 2

i REAAAAALLLLY have high expectations for the next game

[GreyZone]

Isn't the LN author directly involved in the production of the anime?

[~Yami~]

Sora's speech is killing that chess game and the audience...
perfect one!!
I can't seem to find words to compliment this episode...
It's just I'm enjoying every single bit of it... Confused Steph, crying Kurami, trolling Tet, Civ reference, etc

10/10!

[tsunade666]

Awesome adaptation. I love every bit of the episode.

[HayashiTakara]

If there's one thing that continuously bother me so far about Stephanie, is how slow she is... How many times does she have to say "Maybe those two can really..." I think she's said it about 4 times already. I don't get the freak out over the war declaration... wasn't that the point? to regain back their lands?

[Hmm....]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

And don't you see the logical problem in "being at the bottom of the pile makes you strong enough to be at the top of the pile"?

It's simply Sora's speech to the crowd anyway. When you make a rally speech, it don't need to be completely true, it just need to be logical sound and can fire people up. In other word, propaganda.

[takai]

Excellent episode. Fantastic speech by Sora. Embracing the weakness Imanity has always had, and using that experience to their advantage is smart. It's like the saying goes, the best part of losing is learning from your mistakes. And that wisdom will be the key to Imanity's victory.

I have to say, I love Sora and Shiro as lead characters. Confident, funny, charismatic, they have terrific chemistry, and they even still have a bit of mystery to them. Which I'll assume we'll learn about later on.

Having a new No Game No Life episode for my birthday was great.

Excellent stuff!

[Netto Azure]

Ah this was that awesome speech and exposition that kept me hooked into this series.

Love the plot line of humanity as underdogs with wisdom being the driving force of its strength.

Can't wait for more awesome battles in the Disboard

[kukuru]

Originally Posted by Miraluka

Really? I found it hilarious , but hey it's his opinion anyway and everyone has the right to post whatever they wants as long as it doesn't goes against the rules.

Well it is infact correct, but then what is the main audience of LNs and anime?

Let's make a incredibly boring government loving, society-correct, and completely without any taboos.

Ya sure.

I'll go with the neet and the wincest, and all the other shallowness.

It's like debating hollywood explosions. Anyone with a brain can tell you nothing explodes like that in real life, but it ain't stopping anytime soon.

[Netto Azure]

Some anime viewers nowadays seem to be fixated on the idea that a series must be grounded in a throughly morally gray setting with no simplifications for the sake of story telling.

Does the series have to be grounded in the ruthlessly realist and taboo-less setting like in "A Song of Ice and Fire" for those who want a mature series to be critically acclaimed?

It saddens me when people cannot simply enjoy an uplifting series for the sake of entertainment and expect an intellectual rigor akin to high fantasy or literature.

There is a reason why the source material is called a light novel. The target demographic is not mature adults, but young teens. Imposing such a high standard for storytelling is kind of off putting when discussing a series sadly.

Anyways, I don't mean to attack anyone but a lot of series nowadays such as this one recieve through scrutiny of internal logic and such that this observation just popped up.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Why would being magically or physically gifted make you stupid?

It wouldn't, at least not directly. But it might make you lazy.

Let me explain Sora's thinking on this. You're in a society where there's a war between the gods. Then when that battle is over, the one god left bans violence of any kind. You can't even steal. You can no longer use your superior magical ability to vaporize your enemies. You can no longer use your extreme physical abilities to out-muscle your enemies. You're out of sorts. So naturally the advantage goes to the race that never had any of that to rely on. At least temporarily.

Before, humans would have had to use their cunning just to survive, so naturally they'd be better equipped if put into a world where everybody could only use cunning to survive.

At least temporarily.

Humanity's problem is the other races caught up, as Sora said. No, having "phenomenal cosmic power" doesn't make you stupid. Nor does it dull your capacity for cunning. And once everybody was exercising those muscles, of course the groups who had other abilities would regain the advantage over the ones who didn't. Sora's hope is that since the humans "pioneered" cunning, they'll be better at it.

Maybe he's wrong, maybe he's right. Maybe he's full of crap and is just hoping to stall the inevitable end of humanity long enough to get some royal harem action. Whatever the answer, that's my take on Sora's speech. Hope it cleared up his justification.

Originally Posted by Netto Azure

Some anime viewers nowadays seem to be fixated on the idea that a series must be grounded in a throughly morally gray setting with no simplifications for the sake of story telling.

Does the series have to be grounded in the ruthlessly realist and taboo-less setting like in "A Song of Ice and Fire" for those who want a mature series to be critically acclaimed?

It saddens me when people cannot simply enjoy an uplifting series for the sake of entertainment and expect an intellectual rigor akin to high fantasy or literature.

There is a reason why the source material is called a light novel. The target demographic is not mature adults, but young teens. Imposing such a high standard for storytelling is kind of off putting when discussing a series sadly.

Anyways, I don't mean to attack anyone but a lot of series nowadays such as this one recieve through scrutiny of internal logic and such that this observation just popped up.

Or to put it another way, some people aren't happy with a work unless none of its characters are.

[teja208]

Originally Posted by Netto Azure

Some anime viewers nowadays seem to be fixated on the idea that a series must be grounded in a thoroughly morally gray setting with no simplifications for the sake of story telling.

It saddens me when people cannot simply enjoy an uplifting series for the sake of entertainment and expect an intellectual rigor akin to high fantasy or literature

I admit that I started fallowing this series expecting it to be more grounded and complex than what we have here so am I wrong for having expectation which NGNL failed to delivered? Naturally I should've felt disappointed, but in the end, I still find it entertaining despite some of the plot doesn't make much sense or entirely logical.

So it is just as you said, all that matters is whether they find it enjoyable, and if they happen to prefer darker and more complicate type of story than NGNL, I don't see any point of feeling sadden about it after all it's just their taste and there is nothing wrong with them feeling disappointed when a series doesn't match their expectation. Everybody has their own standard of what they find enjoyable and there is nothing to feel sad about if their standard is higher than yours.

So don't fret about it and cheer up, there are a lot of people who enjoyed this series, so just one or two who think otherwise isn't going to make me depressed.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

But being weak doesn't make you strong. It's like expecting every handicapped person to have superpowers. Being blind may make you focus on your remaining senses, but don't expect every blind man to be a ninja à la Daredevil. Being athletic doesn't make you stupid either.

And here... just because the other races are stronger doesn't mean they'll be dumber.

The humans used to dominate? Maybe there are other explanations. We don't know enough about Disboard's history, or everyone's physiology, to really say anything. Maybe they used fertility and numbers. Maybe, yes, they used cunning. Maybe they used different things against different races.

I think the issue here is also that this is a world of games. Therefore Sora is applying game logic to it: that all races must have a selling point, a strength that makes them able to compete with the others. Just like in D&D you'll have elves that are strong, dwarves that are resilient, etc. By this logic, humans usually always are the jack-of-all-trades: the weak ones whose best quality is that they can adapt quickly to any situation.

After all, why did Tet even look for someone to bring into his world if not, most likely, to balance out things? Humanity was losing but if the game doesn't go on forever it's not fun to him. Sora & Shiro are, basically, a balancing patch.

To who complains that the show trivializes NEETs and hikikomoris: I'd argue that NEETs and hikikomoris are part of its audience. Is this show a relatively silly power fantasy for otakus? Yeah, probably. Aren't many video games, superhero stories and YA novels power fantasies as well though? No one's going to buy "being a hikikomori's cool, let's be one!" - also because this show isn't about hikikomoris being, well, hikikomoris. How can you be a recluse if you're talking to a crowd that's crowning you King? It's about hikikomoris who find a world where they feel they fit in, and stop being such, because suddenly they find a purpose/something to do with their peculiar skills. Which could lead someone to wallow even more in blaming the world and refusing to face his own problems, true, but also just to feel more confident and try to apply his skills to something practical. I think the outcome depends a lot on the person. So in the end I just don't base my judgement on "what will this do for the social problem of NEETs in Japan" because it's not something that we know enough about to say this is going to have a net effect in helping or damaging those people.

It's like discussing female empowerment through a show like Kill la Kill - does the fanservice objectify women or the strong female characters empower them? Everyone can present one side of the argument, but without somehow quantifying the two effects neither can be deemed prevalent - I've heard women holding both opinions. It depends on the viewer. Same here.