just win baby
Categories: general review
Tagged: no game no life
9 Comments »
Make Al Davis proud.
I always wondered what would happen if we had a story where the protagonist just kept on winning. And winning. And winning some more. Maybe even acquire a harem on top. There are many plot types, but the one where the “good guy” not only wins but increases his lead with minimal opposition and no setbacks is a rare genre. Most of the time, there are speed bumps. Simon was tossed in jail, had Nia ripped away from him (twice), and saw Yoko black widow two of his friends.
Is it interesting to see someone win all the time? It’ll at least be something new. Too often do writers equate losing with drama. Like they assume to be a hero, a character needs to overcome some adversity. What if the hero is too fucking awesome for adversity? You didn’t watch Jordan play because he had to play JV instead of varsity in high school because he was too short. You watched him because he dominated every game and won most of them. Anime can use some of that: an unstoppable protagonist. An Ash Ketchum who learns from his mistakes, keeps his legendary Pokemon, mecha-evolves Pikachu into 00 Pikachu Wing Zero, wins with ease, and is a stallion with the ladies (okay that might be too much to ask for).
Well, I’m hoping No Game No Life is in that never gonna lose genre. There’s a lot of things wrong with the show (instagrammy color saturation, using cheap reveals to hide plot or game points, paint by numbers haremettes, ridiculous “theory” behind a few games, lack of Flappy Birds, no sabermetrics), but it does one thing right: Blank just keeps winning. Deal with it.
Therefore, I’m rooting for Blank to win all the way, make the 1994 Chicago Bulls look like wannabes, steamroll all adversaries, and have a harem exploding with melonpan. This development is what I’m going to be cheering for now that I can’t root for Joffery to be even more evil and hated. Though I’m hoping Joffery reincarnates using the Aegis of the Immortal, imposes Prima Nocte in King’s Landing, uses baby rabbits for sword practice, and bans net neutrality even though Westeros has some of the worst broadband services in the world. Even the fucking Dothraki have better LTE coverage.
I want Blank to kick everyone’s collective asses. I want them to out ping pong the Cobra Kai Kaio, Wong, Peco, and Smile. I want them to spike the Karasuno crows into the ground. I want them to make the Blindfold gang look like the three blind mice. I want them to deliver diagnosis faster than Ginko. I want them to be the prom king and queen of DWMA. I want them to headshot the Coffin Princess. I just want Blank to win. Just fucking win.
That’s how I’m going to enjoy No Game No Life. I want them to pull victory out of their asses irregardless of the game or situation, even if it is the Kobayashi Maru. It’ll be interesting and awesome because it’ll be a fresh new take. Creepy loli imouto with hikikomori oniisan? Done many times before. One dimensional haremettes? Dime a dozen. Games that boil down to a “You activated my trap card!” moment? Yawn. Sports team or individual slowly improving after major early setbacks? Only four other shows with that theme this season. But Blank winning? Game after game? Getting more and more Joffery-like cockiness? Acquiring more haremettes with each victory? Sign me up. That’s what I want to watch.
(Watch Blank lose two episodes after I publish this post. Anime jinxes…)
(Footnote: KILL la KILL kinda flirted with this win baby win theme early. They swerved into the motherly incest genre slash evil Uniqlo slash Mako genre, which also is under served.)
9 Responses to “just win baby”
Leave a Reply
In case you haven’t checked, Mondaiji also fits the “always win” genre.
Didn’t you get enough of that with Star Driver?
*twitch*
Going by the light novels up through volume 2, they seem to be going on a steady steamroll pace. The coloring in this series is terrible. I almost quit watching as soon as the first scene started. It turns out it is pretty fun though, if only because Blank are cocky as hell.
Just wondering — are you thinking of making a thin slicing post, or is this season just too terrible?
I want a DSP.
I always wondering if you were watching this series since I haven’t seen the usual thin slicing this season. But this episode had some of the funniest dialogue i’d heard in a long time in modern anime.
You got a GF then fraked off on thin slice. Im fine with it. simply pointing it out.
I tend to think of GTO as being of the always-win genre, though maybe it’s due to the students being the ones who bear the burden of “losing” instead of Onizuka. And it’s not always due to his own abilities, given the number of times the chairwoman seems to bail him out (or at least pull a couple strings when need be).