No Game No Life - Episode 9

No sooner did Sora announced his intention to embark upon another game as part of Imanity's attempted conquests than he disappeared entirely - not just the man himself, but all memory of him from the minds of all and sundry.

All, that is, aside from Shiro, who continues to remember her brother as we're regaled with the story of how the two of them first met.  Such are the convictions of those around her that she's lost a game and somehow been implanted with false memories as a result that both Steph and Jibril seek to play a game Shiro with a view towards reversing and removing these memories - an idea that she almost assents to before changing her mind at the last moment.

Newly convinced that there's nothing false about her memories, Shiro begins to piece together her brother's disappearance, eventually piecing it together with his desire to get an Elf on-board with his quest, which in turn leads to the realisation that Sora's vanishing is actually part of the game itself, and what's more Shiro is another player on the board. Are the two siblings really so in touch with one another's thought processes that Shiro can complete the game Sora has started without knowing any of the rules or what has transpired so far?  Why, yes. Yes she can.

It still didn't even come close to beating "materialisation shiritori", but there was a lot to like about this week's No Game No Life - the treatment of Shiro's distress and the accompanying changes to colour palette were predictable but worked really well, her piecing together of her brother's strategy was enjoyable, and Blank's final triumph was both emotionally satisfying and entertaining. Stretch the plausibility of its concept it might have, but it's the kind of thing that this series can get away with thanks to its overall premise, and as a result No Game No Life continues to be a lot of fun that surprises with its flashes of intelligence and emotion.