No Game No Life - Episode 11

The game is afoot against the Warbeasts, and although Shiro and Sora have effectively been placed on "home territory" as the nature of the virtual reality they'll be playing in is revealed, it seems like it really couldn't be any worse for our pair of shut-ins; in fact, it's fair to say that a game set in Tokyo is the last thing that they wanted.

However, Sora in particular is quick to recover once he's been suitably reassured that this indeed only a game, and once you look at it as being like Steins;Gate then things don't seem so bad and he can even live with a little direct sunlight. Thus, it's onto the game itself, which - let's make no bones about it - is basically Gal*Gun with a twist or two, giving the players guns that shoot hearts and marauding NPCs who want to drain them of their love energy given half a chance. The game ends when either Izuna or Blank and their team have all been shot and their hearts "captured" by the other, which seems unfair given that it's four against one.

Of course, that turns out not to be the case. Izuna is incredibly proficient at the game in every way - a little too proficient to the point where it's clear that cheating is actually involved, albeit in a way that's impossible to prove. So, instead Blank have to play with the odds stacked against them, using their brains and more than a little of Shiro's FPS skills to try and get the upper hand - something which seems futile, yet might just be anything but.

After all of that build-up, this was another sensational episode of No Game No Life - hilarious in its referencing of various games in an admittedly lazy way that was no less enjoyable for it, and once the game itself started absolutely stupendous in its delivery and depiction of its high-octane heart-shooting (and panty-dissolving) action. It almost feels like this was the episode that the entire series was crafted around in terms of this anime adaptation - its aesthetic suited the scenario down to the ground and there was a wonderful energy about everything that it had to offer which was born from that. If it can deliver a strong finale then this will probably be my surprise of the season - a series that I began watching while rolling my eyes somewhat (which admittedly the show continues to make me do from time to time), but one which I'm now decidedly in love with.