No Game No Life - Episode 12 (END) Discussion / Poll

[MonkeyDude]

Some parts of the novel were skipped for lack of time and an anime original ending beyond my expectations, but somehow I can't find it in me to get annoyed by it. Not only was that anime original ending a great way to whet the appetite for a potential second season, it was also a better ending compared to the 3rd novel.

I can't think of any light novel adaptation that comes close to what NGNL did. You have the inevitable cuts to the source for the sake of pacing, but everything was still adequately explained in comparison to the novel and in some cases expanded on it. You have the inevitable anime original content, but it was brilliantly done and also further expanded on novel content. Then you have the inevitable anime original ending typical to a 1-cour series that in my opinion was better than the actual ending of the novel itself.

Haters gonna hate, but you can't help but admire how wonderfully adapted this anime truly is! Sadly this episode's pace was a bit jarring due to time constraints, but you can see they made good use of the limited amount of time they had. Shame there wasn't a 13 episode to help pace things better, but hey nothing's perfect. And yes the fanservice had to be squeezed in there in hopes of getting a few more BD sales out of it. Getting a second season is a must!

Easy 10/10.

[Hiss13]

That was fantastic. The whole brains over brawn ambiance of the series was great and I have yet to find a series this season that I enjoyed as much as this one. Combine all the references, the dynamic nature of the series, and fun characters and you get this wonderful thing with a cliffhanger that actually leaves me wanting more.

Also...I need more Jibril. That girl is too much fun. (Plus, I have a thing for winged girls )

[Wandering Soul]

That was amazing. I really enjoyed this show with it's entertaining characters, amazing tactics and all the references. This show was a great example of how brains over brawns can be entertaining and fun.

One thing this show taught me is that Blank never loses

I really want a season 2 now. I also need more Jibril. Some more Izuna moments would be nice too.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by MonkeyDude

I can't think of any light novel adaptation that comes close to what NGNL did. You have the inevitable cuts to the source for the sake of pacing, but everything was still adequately explained in comparison to the novel and in some cases expanded on it. You have the inevitable anime original content, but it was brilliantly done and also further expanded on novel content. Then you have the inevitable anime original ending typical to a 1-cour series that in my opinion was better than the actual ending of the novel itself.

I would put the first season of Haruhi on par with this adaptation (there was no second season). Both adapted their material in much the same fashion, with excellent production quality, a clear love for the material, and a good sense of when and where to make the changes needed to fit into a televised medium. If only they had gotten a 13th episode and been able to extend the Volume 3 coverage into five episodes, it would have been perfect.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I would put the first season of Haruhi on par with this adaptation (there was no second season).

Sure there wa-oh....oh....OH. GOD WHY!? WRRRYYYYY!!!!!!????

[MonkeyDude]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I would put the first season of Haruhi on par with this adaptation (there was no second season). Both adapted their material in much the same fashion, with excellent production quality, a clear love for the material, and a good sense of when and where to make the changes needed to fit into a televised medium. If only they had gotten a 13th episode and been able to extend the Volume 3 coverage into five episodes, it would have been perfect.

Can only hope the (potential) second season doesn't go the way of the non-existent Haruhi S2. Though quite frankly if you just ignored half the season then it wasn't half bad!

[zerriet]

Fantastic episode and series overall. But one question though, what was the exact spell sora made steph pledge to? The subs are weird because it says to get steph to "follow everything shiro had written on the ground, but to forget it" so does steph follow or ignore?

[En do]

Originally Posted by zerriet

Fantastic episode and series overall. But one question though, what was the exact spell sora made steph pledge to? The subs are weird because it says to get steph to "follow everything shiro had written on the ground, but to forget it" so does steph follow or ignore?

It's something along let her body remember and do the instruction while her mind forgot the instruction. Also no Sora Awesomeness because lack of time huh, rather his and Izuna's position in duel were switched in this episode.

[Irenicus]

There were so many things that could have gone wrong that ended up going fantastically. What an entertaining anime -- brains, plot twists, panties, imouto, and sparkling rainbow color palettes that really emphasizes the beauty of this fantasy world, with a story told in self-contained fashion, not relying on gap knowledge from the source material to make sense of.

gg Madhouse. Best anime 2014.

[kukuru]

Originally Posted by frodonk

as for the episode itself, the fact that [] knew where izuna where would be standing at a particular time, even if they specifically lured her to that particular location, and then calculating the route an NPC would take that would also take that NPC right behind izuna where she couldn't detect her, all the while while carrying steph around, who can't see where she is shooting and while she is having her love power drained by being near an NPC... etc etc etc ALL had too many unpredictable variables that would have made it IMPOSSIBLE for [] to know PRECISELY where, how and when steph should shoot, while blind, that would defeat izuna.

Kinda had some director artistic liberties there. Orginally the Izuna win would be instant. [ ] Should have had no time to even dodge, like the anime, and thus the location is right under the building.

The NPCs AI are actually attracted to players. Thus the Zombie NPCs AI Shiro calculated the forumla and speed, and requirements to "gather at a spot". Then It was simply a matter of calculating how much time they needed to stall and the location to place Izuna in.

1: NPC gathering part
[ ], Izuna, and Jibril are all gathered at the same spot, via shiro's fake chase, and baiting Izuna who dragged Jibril.

=NPC gathered

2: Jump off the building which is high, so the NPC would be gather around aka zombie syndrome on the bottom.

Moment Izuna lands, she is either defeated, or have defeated [ ] and thus guard is completely down (recoil of the blood frenzy).

Basically, Dora was was treated as a walking land mine. All [ ] had to do was bait Izuna into it.

It's a very basic and human strategy and more or less, centuries old in concept. Gorilla warfare at its finest. Anyone could have done it...just not to such perfection.

[Newprimus]

I've been thinking this the whole ep, but Miko's tails are HUGE.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Newprimus

I've been thinking this the whole ep, but Miko's tails are HUGE.

The better to stroke them with

[-gold-]

This series has the potential to go one for a long time, I hope theirs a season for each race and a final for the battle with tet

[frodonk]

Originally Posted by kukuru

Kinda had some director artistic liberties there. Orginally the Izuna win would be instant. [ ] Should have had no time to even dodge, like the anime, and thus the location is right under the building.

The NPCs AI are actually attracted to players. Thus the Zombie NPCs AI Shiro calculated the forumla and speed, and requirements to "gather at a spot". Then It was simply a matter of calculating how much time they needed to stall and the location to place Izuna in.

1: NPC gathering part
[ ], Izuna, and Jibril are all gathered at the same spot, via shiro's fake chase, and baiting Izuna who dragged Jibril.

=NPC gathered

2: Jump off the building which is high, so the NPC would be gather around aka zombie syndrome on the bottom.

Moment Izuna lands, she is either defeated, or have defeated [ ] and thus guard is completely down (recoil of the blood frenzy).

Basically, Dora was was treated as a walking land mine. All [ ] had to do was bait Izuna into it.

It's a very basic and human strategy and more or less, centuries old in concept. Gorilla warfare at its finest. Anyone could have done it...just not to such perfection.

ahh now I get it, all the leaves is how steph had enough energy left to fire a shot while on the back of a NPC.

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I would put the first season of Haruhi on par with this adaptation (there was no second season). Both adapted their material in much the same fashion, with excellent production quality, a clear love for the material, and a good sense of when and where to make the changes needed to fit into a televised medium. If only they had gotten a 13th episode and been able to extend the Volume 3 coverage into five episodes, it would have been perfect.

I think the Monogatari series, and Fate/Zero should also count.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by zerriet

Fantastic episode and series overall. But one question though, what was the exact spell sora made steph pledge to? The subs are weird because it says to get steph to "follow everything shiro had written on the ground, but to forget it" so does steph follow or ignore?

She follows the instructions, but consciously forgets what they are. Since the instructions are bound by the Oaths, the Oaths will make her do it, even if she doesn't know (has forgotten) what she's doing, since they're not asking her to do anything that is physically impossible. The reason why she forgets is because they don't want to risk her figuring out what her ultimate job is. If she realizes she has to shoot Izuna, she may leak out some killing intent at that moment (same reason why he had her close her eyes) and be detected. More importantly, if she knows what she is to do and when she is to do it, Ino will sense anxiety from her (since she doesn't have a sociopathic level of emotional control like the sibs), and warn Izuna that something is up.

Honestly, a lot of that was Sora being extra careful, and was probably unnecessary. Steph would likely have been ignored in any case unless she was directly in Izuna's line of sight. Ino clearly did forget about her, or else he would have warned Izuna that she was approaching, even if it was just to tell her to mop up.

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

I think the Monogatari series, and Fate/Zero should also count.

I haven't read F/Z to know how faithful the adaptation was, though I did enjoy it immensely and get the impression that it was raithful to the original (shows generally flow better when that happens, which F/Z did). The Monogataris I'd have to disagree on. I saw the first couple, and they were enjoyable, but they've got such a distinct Shinbo feel to them that however good they are, or how faithful they are in plot, character, and dialogue, they can't be considered a "faithful adaptation" on the level of the other mentioned series.

One of the most important things in a truly faithful adaptation is a level of sacrifice and humility on the part of the staff, for the sake of the material. That's one of the reasons why the totally non-existent 2nd season of Haruhi was received so poorly (or at least would have been had it existed). It looked like it was recast with K-On stand-ins, because that's where KyoAni's character design had gone, and the showrunners decided to get cute with E8 and make it more about the adaptation and less about the original material. As good as the Monogatari series and Shaft's take on it may be, there's not a whole lot of sacrifice on the part of the staff in certain areas, and not a smidgen of humility on the part of the director.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

Honestly, a lot of that was Sora being extra careful, and was probably unnecessary. Steph would likely have been ignored in any case unless she was directly in Izuna's line of sight. Ino clearly did forget about her, or else he would have warned Izuna that she was approaching, even if it was just to tell her to mop up.

They pretty much wrote her off at the start of the game anyway. That makes it very easy to turn her into a sleeper agent - out of sight, out of mind, basically. The hard part would be to get her to follow the orders correctly, because they require such specific conditions and Steph gets flustered easily under pressure.

I must say though, I'm impressed. Way back when he challenged the Warbeasts, I wouldn't have predicted just how many steps he had planned ahead. People can criticize the writing, but the sequence of events spread over this entire arc requires a very imaginative mind that can pull all of these ideas into one narrative. I mean, I'll agree with Reckoner on one point: the writing, at least for the anime (haven't read the LN), relies on a lot of convenience and emotional string pulling for its moments of awesome. It doesn't mind glossing over details if it means pushing for more mood. But that's also the shows strength, because for a story like this the most important element is constantly keeping things fun and entertaining. It's the spirit of adventure that makes up the heart of the show, even when the brains element sometimes leaves things to be desired.

Games are supposed to be fun, right? In the heat of competition, I think people tend to forget that. Player toxicity is certainly something I see a lot in my online gaming, where winning becomes the only thing on a players mind and they lash out at everyone, everything, and anything when they lose.

[Pellissier]

Just a generic note: for the wrap ups on the series, please use the overall impressions thread:

https://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=126781

Leave this thread to discuss episode 12.

[Netto Azure]

And so the Kenomimi arc ends. It was a lovely episode overall. Epic cointoss heh.

The birth of the Elchian Federation has begun! Uniting all the races to challenge the God of Game Tet, ah Kuuhaku ever setting their sights higher.

[Fellen]

Great episode on it's own, but as a final episode not so good.