Review of No Game, No Life: Zero
No Game No Life 0 is like watching the movie of something you liked, but didn't want to see. I suppose I'll just make this a quick sum up of my thoughts, but NGNL0 (no game no life 0) was something I wasn't hyped for by any means. After mixed thoughts on NGNL I saw the trailer for this movie and was surprised that it took away most of the things I had issues with (mainly the over saturation) the show. Going into the movie I had average hopes and I have to say that that hit the mark. Without getting into spoilers a lot ofthe characters are either just changes on the original cast of NGNL just with a more "edgy" personality, or don't have any meaning to the plot and are just cannon fire. Which is fine given that this is mostly a back story movie, or filler movie if a season 2 of NGNL is announced.
The story itself felt WAY to rushed, but at the same time felt to long with what they were showing to the point that you had one thing that's normally never done in an anime like this happen to the MC (which I praise this movie for doing) and 20 mins later the plot takes that away from him (if you've seen the movie you know what that is) and that leaves you wonder two things. One: Why do that to begin with if that's the pay off for it? Or Two: Why not just make a season out of this and let us get more invested in the characters, so that it leaves more of a emotional impact? Something I think they should have done.
The animation looks great at points, but at other points I thought i was just watching something with the budget of a regular episode and having that happen on a movie budget feels kinda like a let down from MadHouse whose normally amazing on movie budgets.
Over all I think NGNL0 was the type of movie that would have made a better season to the show, but wasn't something I think wasn't worth seeing. It's a fun ride that even people who haven't seen NGNL can watch and enjoy with very little of it running into the show. I'd hate to call it a gateway anime, but those words seem fitting.