First Impressions / No Game No Life

「一手《インタレスティング》」 (Itte “Intaresutingu”)
“Interesting”

It feels increasingly rare to find a show that starts strong, and then continues strong. No Game No Life’s latest episode proves that it’s not doing that – it’s getting better.

The Busty, Fanatical, & Erotic Empty-Headed Academic

It took no time at all for me to love Jibril (Tamura Yukari) unconditionally. It would be easy to gush about how she’s sexy, scary, silly, and sexy again, but I think there’s a more unifying reason why she’s such a fun character, and that’s dichotomy. As a god-slaying angel of death, we naturally expect her to be this fearsome creature, but she’s not that at all…and then again, she’s that as well. That difference between our expectations and Jibril’s reality makes her interesting, just as it does with Sora & Shiro and Steph and nearly every major character so far. Hell, take Clammy – she was never so interesting as when she broke down crying, because that was at odds with the ambitious woman she was before. Dichotomy means unexpected depth, and Jibril (and the others) have that.

The Ultimate in All Ages Fanservice!

Outside of the tactical reasons, I was laughing my ass off when Sora was making himself a fanservice paradise. I have seen many anime where they didn’t show the naughty bits, but I’ve never seen one where they justified it ahead of time! Get rid of the nether regions, the nipples – take a quick detour into Marilyn Monroe-mode Steph – and then right over into All Ages Nudity! And he even left Shiro’s knee socks! I agree with Shiro – omega good job!

“Mere” Imanity

One of the most interesting themes in this show is the idea of power versus wisdom. Here we got another facet of that, with the showdown between the god-slaying Flugel and two “mere” humans. A game of Shiratori against a nigh-invincible god-slaying angel of death who knows 700 languages should have been impossible, but it’s in the Flugel’s record of winning, winning, and more winning that Sora & Shiro got their chance. Whether it be powerful corporations, political dynasties, ascendant nations, or even we humans of Earth ourselves, the powerful tend to think that their power is enough to let them triumph, forever.

But what of the ant? They have as much biomass as us humans, and they’re liable to weather an atomic winter better than we would. Or let’s go even further and talk about the tiny tardigrade. (Yes, I’ve been watching Cosmos.) They can survive in nearly any environment on Earth, and even up into the vacuum of space. Whose to say they’re weak, even if they cannot do differential equations or build skyscrapers? It is our arrogance that makes us believe we’re more powerful than them, when in reality we could be wiped off this planet while these critters would keep marching on. They were both here long before we arrived, after all.

Curiosity, Respect, & Fear

“If you think long life and toughness gives you power, you’re the stupid one here.”

Jibril winced at that. She has a great deal of pride, and that led to her downfall. Jibril was wise to be curious about the unknowns that are Sora & Shiro, not to least the 40,000 books they offered. Where she failed was in not respecting and even fearing them. When the powerful become complacent, they believe they can do anything – and that’s when someone comes from out of nowhere (though usually they’ve been quietly powering up for a while now) and takes them down. Take that to heart, my friends – even if you’re powerful, stay hungry and embrace that fear. Otherwise we’re doomed.

Checkers & Chess

I said last episode that the others races were playing chess while Imanity was playing checkers, pre-Sora & Shiro. This time, the tables were turned. Starting out with the hydrogen bomb (they friggin’ nuked themselves, DAMN!), Sora & Shiro lulled Jibril into a false sense of security with their silly choices, all while they were tearing the ground out from under her. Literally. This is where Jibril’s arrogance showed. They took away the mantle (she doesn’t know what that is), the crust (that neither), and finally the Lithosphere, and suddenly they were in free fall towards the core. All because Jibril thought she could handle anything they threw at her.

But what I loved is that they kept going, and kept using real science to beat Jibril. They used circular breathing to survive without oxygen (bonus points: working in a non-incestuous incestuous kiss. They really can do the impossible!), and then they expelled all the air from their bodies prior to getting rid of the atmosphere so it wouldn’t burst out of them like an alien. This is all beyond insane – even doing that will only give a human maybe 10 seconds of consciousness in space? But when you’re trying to kill a god-slaying death angel, you have to go that far.

Coulomb’s Gamble

Perhaps the single greatest thing about Sora & Shiro is that it’s so easy to see them losing. It’s hard for us humans to imagine a million to one chance, which is why we joke that they crop up nine times out of ten (trope!). They had plenty of chances to win, had Jibril been weaker than she was, but when she drew her next answer in light, I thought they were screwed. But they gambled it all on her pride, and that she would take the bait and throw their insult from earlier right back at them – and she did. That’s when they whipped out Coulomb’s Force and create a godsdamned hypernova to kill Jibril. That’s insane, beyond insane–but it worked. They gambled it all on a vanishing chance and came out on top. Just how easy it would have been for them to miss and die makes it all the better.

Looking Ahead – Pet Flugel

Sora & Shiro won! Now they have all the knowledge in the world (well, a lot more than they had, at least), as well as Jibril unequivocally on their side. And Sora is going to let Jibril read his 40,000 books after all, d’awww! I have no idea what’s next, but I expect (after a few hijinks) they’ll move onto whatever race they want to battle next, armed with the knowledge to come out on top. With a gamble or two, that is…

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – When it comes to Materialization Shiritori, Sora & Shiro are playing chess while Jibril plays checkers. Wisdom beats power #nogenora 06

Random thoughts:

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Personifying your muse; This doesn’t belong; Your muse is a lie; and Write by outline.

Full-length images: 25, 32, 47.

 

Preview

172 Comments

      3. No, he wouldnt win at all if he said mouth, but he would have easily won in the second round, remember he said “Spirit Circuits”, which took out most of Jibril’s physical prowess and flying ability, BUT had Sora said “Spirits”, she wouldve died seeing as she explained from the very beginning that all creatures in their world has spirits in their bodies meanwhile Sora and Shiro doesnt have them, which means they are from another world, or as she called it an unknown.

        Ryner
        Reply

      4. @Ryner
        That won’t work. Jibril already said that you can’t directly cause a player to die make him/her unable to continue the game.
        To give the missing example from the novels as explained by Jibril there, if anyone of them said ‘heart’ or ‘water’, it will only be Steph who’d lose her heart or the water in her body.
        Taking out the Spirit Circuits was allowed since Jibril can still continue the game even if it was gone.

        belatkuro
        Reply

      5. @belatkuro: Thanks for clearing that up. Glad to see that it now makes sense for us anime only viewers on how the game was played out, now it makes sense and is quite epic way for Sora/Shiro to win by causing Jibril to die indirectly.

        It makes sense that the only way for Sora/Shiro to win is to cause Jibril to die seeing as, it’s just my hypothesis but theres no way for them both to win otherwise seeing as Jibril is quite knowledgeable and the fact that she doesnt eat or sleep? will cause both of them to be fatigued first.

        Also can you explain belatkuro on how the novels explained that taking out Coulomb’s force or law would result in a hypernova? Sorry I’m no physicist but I thought it was kinda farfetched seeing as wouldnt taking out the force that binds the atoms together form molecules and for the forces that bind atoms and molecules together to form solids and liquids both kill them at the same time? Or is it because of the rule that they cant cause direct death to each player prevent that? Thus causing the planet itself just to die out? Still that doesnt really explain a hypernova… Very interesting game they had, and quite fun to see science used in anime in a fun and humorous way.

        Ryner
        Reply

      6. @Ryner

        Bro, Even though Jibril said that all beings have spirits that doesn’t mean you would die by losing your spirit. Plus, the game’s rule where you can use words that your opponent doesn’t know makes no sense. Words are created, “how exactly?” right. just specific noises used consistently giving meaning to an existence in an individuals perspective which makes this entire word game illogical. (despite the fact I just committed a red herring fallacy). Now back on topic, the main characters are still alive and they have no spirit that doesn’t mean you die without it. plus, if the spirit was that vital you can’t get rid of it as it would cause your death smiliar to that of the heart. Plus, you can’y just go off saying things that are obvious.Jibril chose the game, she knows how to play and slip through rules so obviously saying “mouth on her wouldn’t cut it. she knows magic to make words without a voice. Also the only reason why she didn’t say mouth was, because Jibril is too prideful. that again was her downfall. plus the main characters had already prepared for her something for when they can’t speak (the paper that said columbs force) jibrils lust for knowledge also kept her wanting to learn more as you saw her amazement when they said “hydrogen bomb.”

        thats all i got to say.

        Kim
        Reply

    2. Haven’t played Skyrim before, but I do know about that meme-status line. :p
      As for other references in the episode, Sora mentioned that Jibril was imitating the speech of some rather well-known person…Who would that be?

      *Don’t really know most of the references so far; haven’t played Phoenix Wright or read/watched Jojo, but Ep05 last week inspired me to watch Laputa for the first time. Damn its a rather great movie for its time too, along with Nausicaa.

      Anyway from what I gather so far, this is the progress of NGNL.
      1) Pick a great, non-generic story for anime adaptation.
      2) Get a team who’s already proven their mettle on another loved series. (eg Sakurasou)
      3) Add in references to well-known elements in the gaming / anime world.
      And, tadaaa, great way to draw in more fans as the episodes go by       🙂
      From what I notice; NGNL has made it into overall Top 100 anime on MAL.

      Techim
      Reply

  3. This show is… AWESOME!! Seriously, it just keeps getting better and better. The game was insane and funny from start to finish. I didn’t mind that I had to pause several times to absorb and think about the “science” during the end of the game. In fact, I kinda loved it! Plus, Steph and her reactions are always the cherry on the pie for me. No Steph, no life!

    Tassadar
    Reply

  4. Ahhh, finally the episode that I was waiting for, this word-game of epic proportions. And I loved every minute of it! Earth-based science for the win!

    As for the gamble in the end, in the Light Novel, they said they had prepared another 30 steps or so to get the flugel killed, so it wasnt a single gamble without backup. An answer that surprised the Flugel even more in how far they looked ahead in this game.

    Faolon
    Reply

    2. Another 30 steps ahead?! I don’t know how they expected to survive for three more seconds themselves! I like the idea of them being masters of Plan B (and C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, etc…), but that may be a bit much, lol

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. I think it was meant as they had about 30 alternative paths to lead her to this ending, ways ot force her to say words ending with a specific character. And not steps beyond “supernova time”, but rather different ways to get to that point.

        Faolon
        Reply

      2. Yeah Jibril in the novel asked what if she had said a different word other than “Anjaku” and Sora said he had about twenty different alternatives prepared for.

        Xacual
        Reply

      3. Sora didn’t have 30 moves since he wouldn’t have that time while falling to the core.

        Here’s the quote from the LN translation:

        “I had twenty other answers, if those didn’t happen, then I would be clueless.”

        He had prepared 20 other words besides “Coulomb’s Force” depending on what Jibril answered, be it she took the bait and used “Empty-headed academic” or used other words.

        Kamui04
        Reply

  9. Poor Steph! Aside from the basic bullying, she got eaten by a cthuloid creature, dropped into the core of the planet, suffocated, forced to breathe pure oxygen, and then had her body explode from internal pressure. Do you have any idea what that must have felt like? It’s a miracle (literally) that she’s able to be sane after having all that happen to her, because that is really a pretty horrific way to die.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    1. I know this is probably one of those story points that shouldn’t be taken seriously, that Sora and Shiro also took the same risk (minus the actual dying part), and there likely wasn’t any other way to win against a Flugel, especially one of Jibril’s caliber, but damn did I wish Steph got a better acknowledgment than what she got after what she was forced to go through.

      Beedle
      Reply

      3. Well, if you think about it, books are filled with ideas, which come from brains, which are IN peoples’ heads! So in a world where collecting heads by removing them from their owners is forbidden, this is probably as close as they can get.

        Also, I had my “duh” moment tonight looking at the credits. Sora 空 + Shiro 白　= 空白 (Kuuhaku) Which means “Blank” in Japanese. And it only too me 6 episodes. Derp.

        “Hey, wait, the plans for the Death Star are INSIDE R2D2!”

        s_w
        Reply

    1. It made sense, just not how they explained it. Removal of Coulomb’s force (electrostatic force) would have resulted not in the nuclear forces (strong and weak) reigning supreme, but rather gravitational force causing the hypernova.

      Pancakes
      Reply

      1. Actually, with no EM force to balance the strong force, every proton inside every atom greater than Hydrogen would instantaneously collapse into each other. Not sure what would happen then, but it wouldn’t be pretty.

        Hochmeister
        Reply

      2. Yes that’s true, the way the coulomb force worked would have led to something cataclysmic like that. But the problem in the game is that if you removed the force, it would affect and destroy everything, including the main characters. Inexplicably it didn’t work on them, but if everything had been physically correct, everyone would have died instantly, and perchance they do survive (somehow) they still wouldn’t be able to think, since the brain relies on the coulomb force to operate, removing such a fundamental force of nature will just destroy everything, and kill all life instantaneously.

        If we were going for proper physics then you probably wouldn’t get a hypernova (still relies on the coulomb force) but something like a neutron star, although it would still be as equally unpleasant. And no of course a fantasy show like this doesn’t have to rely on physics they’re just doing whatever they want, but if they’re going to make the laws a plot point, they may as well get them right.

        Blackbird
        Reply

      3. @Blackbird
        I’ll point you to my comment above as that also applies here.
        The loss of the Coulomb’s force won’t affect the players’ bodies themselves as that’s a direct interference that will make them unable to continue but anything and everything else will be affected by that loss. Cue the big explosion.

        belatkuro
        Reply

      4. But the problem in the game is that if you removed the force, it would affect and destroy everything, including the main characters. Inexplicably it didn’t work on them

        No, they did die too, but since they were slightly higher than Jibril (remember, they climbed the temple and jumped as high as they could while saying “lithosphere”), she died a fraction of nanoseconds before them, thus losing (she even said this herself).

        Chnossos
        Reply

      5. To be honest. If that’s the effect they want to get at – Coulomb force, they might as well make it quick and just state the strong nuclear force. Everything would be gone in an instant – as the strong nuclear force is the force that binds the nucleus together. No need for hypernovas whatsoever.

        Actus
        Reply

  12. Probably the best game played so far and most entertaining. Got a great kick out of Shiroe still wearing the pantsu on top of her head before the game began (which mysteriously disappeared after the hypernova event). Not to mention dear Steph being mutilated, stripped, dominated, chased, choked, burned, and finally killed all before being told to beg like the b*tch (female dog, it’s semantics people) she is.

    Also the heavy petting of Jibril’s wings, cannot forget that along with the faces of Sora as his fantasy is let down by the provocative (not) angel. The greatest moment however has to go to the previews with the Skyrim reference. Now that completely ruined my sides.

    Pancakes
    Reply

      1. The items removed/created during the game get undone once the game is over. Obviously, otherwise their universe would still be an utter mess after removing one of the fundamental forces.

        I Like My Hat
        Reply

  13. So, Stilts, would you like to be an ant or a tardigrade? Honestly, I think you’re too focused on embracing the weakness part, while it’s nothing to be proud/happy about. Sure, one shouldn’t underestimate the humanity, but that “wisdom” they’re talking about is essentially both collective and accumulated strength. Sora&Shiro have never done any scientific research, they haven’t contributed to creating the environment they grew up in, which includes computers/networks/games they simply enjoy. Heck, even their game strategies are inevitably based on what has been done before them. A single amnesiac human is indeed an extremely pitiful creature.
    Races like Flugel, on the other hand, are strong individually. Jibril is fine on her own, and was so far doing perfectly well relying just on her own ability (and it’s quite possible that Flugels have had only one generation so far, so nothing’s inherited). Someone like that is bound to make individual comparisons, and it’s clear how she fares against any single human. Taking on a human civilization spanning thousands of years of history is an entirely different affair, though. This is humanity’s way to overcome their weakness, and it involves recognizing and admitting it to be able to move forward, but the point is in leaving it behind. You sure don’t want to go back to caves, do you?

    Conrad
    Reply

    1. and it’s quite possible that Flugels have had only one generation so far, so nothing’s inherited

      It is said in the LN that Jibril was born 6 thousand years ago. All that said she indirectly said that Flugels can breed like any other race so …

      Chnossos
      Reply

      2. In this setting, can races breed with other races? Seeing how they’re nearly immortal, flugels probably don’t have nearly as strong a desire to procreate as humans do, if any, and it’s not clear what their social practices are. Doesn’t look like they are the kind to get along with one another extremely well. Immortal winged bears hibernating in libraries.

        Conrad
        Reply

    2. One of the central themes of No Game No Life is less about embracing weakness (though that’s part of it) as much as deriving strength from weakness. Sora & Shiro embody this, in how they’re broken when apart but unstoppable when they’re together. Humanity’s individual weakness but collective strength (through culture, science, and education – extelligence, to borrow a phrase) falls in line with this.

      Other than that, I’m not really sure what your point is. Humans are individually weak but collectively strong, which is why we still respect (and fear) the unknown, whereas the individually powerful Jibril did not. So…what was your point?

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. Once again, I think you come dangerously close to stating that individual weakness is a good thing, while individual strength doesn’t matter much. You can look at ants as a cool piece of biomass because of their ability to survive, but living a life of an ant is hardly an attractive proposition from a human point of view, isn’t it? Individual limits placed on a single ant are also what ultimately limits their entire kind, hence no differential equations for them. I wonder about the maximum height of an ant hill if they were to really go at it, though. Anyway, while their numbers and some of the things they can do despite being so primitive are amazing, do people really respect them, much more every one of them individually? Children are known for being honest with their feeling, and how exactly do they treat those ants?
        That lack of respect stems not from ant being individually weaker, but from them being inferior. An ant can’t overcome a human, yet a swarm of army ants can easily do that. The real difference comes from a qualitative advantage in terms of mental capacity, thus we make civilizations, not colonies. And we only do so once we fail individually. Humans need to form a group to beat a single wolf, and they need weapons to beat a wolf pack, which already requires accumulation of knowledge.

        “Higher” races pretty much trace the same path – brute force worked against human groups, not civilizations. Once they learned to accumulate and make use of knowledge themselves, they ended up with advantage both on individual and overall levels. As long as humans don’t raise themselves to stand on the equal ground, it’s perfectly natural for other races to look down on them, and their individual strength is a great thing that they can be proud of. Now that Sora&Shiro are breaching the gap quantitatively thanks to seating on a larger pile of knowledge, the real question is whether the “higher” races can step up to the next level or not, i.e. if their innate advantage over humans is of the same quality as the advantage in mental capacity that humans have over lesser species. And by now it should be clear why trying to go deeper and devoting at least a paragraph every week to weakness and its implications can lead to a mood quite different to that of the show.

        Conrad
        Reply

      2. The “dark” emotion like envy and fear are a “good” weakness if you can pull out the best from it (like the feeling to improve or to overcome them) while they are “bad” if you don’t.
        The same is for the “good” emotion like happiness. If you indulge in them, it isn’t a good thing. The feelings are good\bad by default, but you have to examine eache case for case to understand their real value.

        passerby
        Reply

      3. Single ants aren’t actually considered whole organisms in and of themselves. The ant colony is the organism, and individual ants are only a part of a whole.

        If we take that idea and apply to Shiro and Sora, they represent not the game world’s imanity but they are the end result of humanity, all the resources that it took to make them and taking resources of humanity with them. They have had the opportunities of modern technology and civilization.

        So, as the Flugel aptly observed, they’re not imanity — they they look like it.

        If you think about it, Shiro and Sora could not exist without being propped up by all modern technology, ideas, and culture granted to them by their NEET lifestyle, propped up by human civilization. Game training, Psychological development, and their family brought them together.

        Additionally, they brought resources back from human civilization, not imanity– specifically their tablet, cellphone & charger, and all the information within. In this episode that tablet was the bartering tool bait.

        Individuals do matter, but proper credit is due, like Isaac Newton said of his own work, “If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.”

        The denizens of the game world are actually facing the power of our world represented by Shiro and Sora.

        Drasca
        Reply

  14. I’m impressed that CR subs made sense (for the most part) while still keeping the words connected during the game.

    Anyway, this game was amazing, even better than the chess one.

    Andrew
    Reply

  15. Gah a bit disappointed that Shiro didn’t really do anything again this episode =(.
    Since this game is a lot more logical than the last it seems to me like it would have been perfect for her.

    What i really love about this show is that it could very well just have been another cheap otaku pandering, run of the mill series but instead manages to remain VERY logically sound as well as entertaining. Your suspension of disbelief is never pushed to it’s limits even with some of the more insane things.

    And i agree that knowing Shiro and Sora could lose very easily if one of their calculations were slightly off is good. Those are the kind of OP characters we need! We know that they are ridiculously smart and will probably win in the end but seeing them genuinely struggle makes them much less bland compared to someone who barely breaks a sweat with each battle.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    1. “We know that they are ridiculously smart and will probably win in the end but seeing them genuinely struggle makes them much less bland compared to someone who barely breaks a sweat with each battle.”

      Barely breaks a sweat *cough* Tatsuya *cough* Mahouka *cough*

      Tassadar
      Reply

    2. Shiro clearly knew all the moves they were making, as seen when she said important lines like Lithosphere and atmosphere. I think they collaborated ahead of time / along the way. Since I believe it was noted that the Flugel only ever play the one game (Materialization Shiritori), they would have been able to prepare ahead of time.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. Well i think that’s kind of the problem. It’s pretty easy to assume that they worked out a plan ahead time which is how you could factor in Shiro’s involvement but the issue is we as the audience never see her doing anything interesting compared to Sora. She usually just sits in his lap and makes remarks about about things which tie into the gags but not much else. It’s been worrying me because I’m starting to see her as just pure lolicon/otaku-pandering fuel and not much else. Sora has definitely made his character properly stand out but Shiro has yet to do so imo.

        leatherhead333
        Reply

  17. Omfg, the most intense game I’ve ever seen so far. Drop a hydrogen bomb to start the game, and remove surface, oxygen, atmosphere (ozone?) etc. Wow, I am very impressed. I can’t wait for “blank” to challenge more people. These games are amazing!

    inferno983016
    Reply

    1. Also, a random thought, does this change in the game appear on a worldwide scale or just contained somehow within the room? Kinda funny if it’s a worldwide scale and other people just suddenly get thrown into a supernova and all those random stuff. If I’m warbeast/elve and whatever other races there are, I’d be terrified that imanity can use their knowledge and destroy the world. Haha, simply amazing.

      inferno980316
      Reply

      1. Sadly it isnt as grandoise as happening to the entire world. It wasn’t stated here in the episode, but in the LN it stated somewhere that it was in a self-contained dimension of sorts that the game transported them to.

        But still, was fun seeing this animated 😀

        Stratski
        Reply

  18. My god. I was so freaking shivering and giddy over this episode. Its my favorite game in this entire series. The first move, so freaking crazy, Sora WENT GANDHI RIGHT AWAY LOOOOLLLLLL!!!!

    Sheesh, so freaking good animated. So perfect in its visual cues and demonstration. The execution. XD

    Damn Jibril is definitely my spirit angel. I’m drooling over this episode.

    Perfect. Just a perfect episode.

    Netto
    Reply

      2. I suggest you look again at the difference between scientific law and legal law because Coulomb’s law is very much scientific law. I have never once heard of it called a theory. This isn’t Natural Selection or the Big Bang we are talking about, this is a fundamental physical phenomenon backed up by a substantial body of evidence accumulated over the past 300 years. Hell we even know Coulomb’s constant up to around 16 significant figures.

        Pancakes
        Reply

      3. Both actually, when we are scientifically discussing gravity, we can talk about the law that describes the attraction between two objects, and we can also talk about the theory that describes why the objects attract each other. Both are fundamentals of gravity but just in case you wish to differentiate the two, refer to the above examples.

        Vandsy
        Reply

  22. https://randomc.net/image/No%20Game%20No%20Life/No%20Game%20No%20Life%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2037.jpg

    Outside of the nakedness, this was giving me crazy Utsuho Reiuji vibes (especially when the menacing stare came).

    Then there was that Elder Scrolls joke near the end, lol. I don’t know if it’s because of the author not being japanese, but these parodies are so friggin’ amazing.

    It took no time at all for me to love Jibril (Tamura Yukari) unconditionally.

    Took the words right out of my mouth. Yukarin was as amazing as usual and I always love when the seiyuu’s sound like they’re having a blast. Hope she doesn’t turn into one of those characters that only shows up once in a while.

    It just boggles my mind how this didn’t sell that well before the anime began and even that it’s not even close to Love Live! in sales. If I remember what I saw correctly, the LN didn’t even have 10,000 sales per volume before the anime. (Though it’s recently picked up to 70,000.)

    The only thing if I’m extremely jealous of Kamiya-sensei. Not only is he a complete boss in the art department but he’s also a competent writer. That’s pretty darn rare.

    Kuntzy
    Reply

    1. even that it’s not even close to Love Live! in sales
      Well,NGNL has a broader appeal, so it’ll probably have a bigger fanbase if given time?
      *Haven’t seen LL, the impression I have of it so far is music/idol/cute girls genre.

      If MAL rankings are to be considered a benchmark for non-Japanese fans on anime popularity, NGNL outclasses both seasons of Love Live by a lot.
      LL S1 #974
      LL S2 #745
      NGNL #080
      *ranking as of the period I checked today.

      Techim
      Reply

      1. Unfortunately, the sales are not decided by a Western audience with limited access like on MAL, but in Japan, where idols are popular due to them being something of a cultural phenomenon. Let’s just hope and pray NGNL’s Bluray sales go well, because I really want a Season 2, and a Western release.

        ShanHaxx
        Reply

    2. Good news for you: Jibril is a prominent character that will be involved in basically everything that goes on. Shes part of the main cast alongside steph and the two MCs. She is the competent sidekick (whereas steph is the butt monkey).

      Broxis
      Reply

    3. Do you know why it doesn’t sell before the anime? Because eventhough the arts of the covers of the LN is great it makes the books seem like some kind of harem crap rather then the master piece that it is. I myself is one of those people who went & brought the 1st four volumes of the mandarin translated LNs after the 1st two episodes.

      LGM
      Reply

    4. Quick correction on my last sentence: if is supposed to be is. *facepalm*

      @Techim

      I’m not too sure how good NGNL’s pre-order numbers look but I do know the top selling shows this season atm are Love Live! and Sidonia no Kishi. MAL ratings also don’t affect whether or not a show gets a second season the way sales do.

      Granted, if a series sees a substantial increase in its source sales then the likelihood does go up. Mondaiji-tachi was an example of a source material’s sales increase not guaranteeing a second season though. (A shame tbh, but it’s still early.)

      I do think Love Live! cheats a little bit with a promotion being added in for those who purchase the discs though.

      That and Japan’s love for idols.

      I actually like Love Live! as well, I just get a bit miffed over such a disparity of the sales between a legit quality show and a decent one.

      @Broxis

      You just made me a happy camper! It’s always a good thing when best girls don’t get pushed off to the side. *cough* La Folia from StB *cough*

      Plus that means more Yukarin for me to adore weekly. 🙂

      Kuntzy
      Reply

    5. Kuntzy:
      I don’t know if it’s because of the author not being japanese, but these
      parodies are so friggin’ amazing.

      AFAIK the author, Kamiya Yuu (Lucas Thiago Furukawa), is only “not Japanese” in
      the homeland sense not in the cultural sense, this is what I understand from an
      interview to Made in Japan [Portuguese].

      He immigrated to Japan at early age (7 year old) and says that the only memories
      of the homeland is from mosquito bites (his family lived in the countryside).
      This is a translation of a small part of the interview:

      […]the author does not maintain strong ties with the homeland,
      quite the opposite, “sometimes I realize that I was not born here [in
      Brazil].[…]”

      Kazuo Teramoto
      Reply

      1. I suppose I should have worded that better. I was trying to say that seeing as how he’s not Japanese (in the “born from” sense) that he’s more interested in western media than usual, hence the jokes you don’t normally see in Japanese media.

        But yeah, unless there was a non-Portuguese version of that interview I never would have known that bit. I stand corrected.

        Kuntzy
        Reply

    6. That’s nice to know about the bump in the source material sales. Just remember that quality doesn’t always = sales…ideally it would, but there is too much reality between such a clean-cut valuation.

      Also, it’s not cheating to add in promotions to stimulate sales, that’s just good business (if it works).

      Stilts
      Reply

    1. I know, right!? I never expected something like this. It’s a really clever way of getting crap past the censors, and it fits Sora (and even Shiro, lol) really well. Omega good job!

      Stilts
      Reply

  24. Damn that was the most gar thing I’ve seen since Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann! I knew it was gonna be a super intense fight when they opened with a frakkin hydrogen bomb, but I never thought that they’d break the universe!

    Steph’s got some tough competition for the title of best girl now… Jibril’s made a helluva first impression on this series. Wish Shiro got more screentime in the fight though, I was expecting her to take the lead in this game. Also the fanservice got ramped up to 11 and was a bit too much for my tastes. Other than that, another awesome episode from what is still by far the best show this season.

    Wait, what’s this?!?
    Skyrim reference FTMFW!!!

    Hochmeister
    Reply

  25. This episode is fucking awesome! Holy shit! They supernova-ed themselves! The whole point was just to kill themselves. Holy shit! And I haven’t seen classical Anime nudity like that in a long time.

    Damn ,judging by the intro the Dog Days kingdom is next. That angel is awesome and his H-game skills with the wings LOL. Anyone else noticed SHiro had Seph panties on her the entire time?

    I cannot believe that Shino from Seitokai Yakumono is Seph voice actress, that’s like night and day! And she was getting chased around by …a dinosaur ? Poor girl! She feel into the earth core and died first lol!

    I want 26 episode of this anime damn it!

    Duzz
    Reply

  26. “even doing that will only give a human maybe 10 seconds of consciousness in space?”

    If you empty enough air (but not all you’ve got) to avoid possible lung damage, the only thing space will do to you, is making you lack… air, and nothing else.
    So you can pretty much be conscious and live 1 mn or more in space and return in your shuttle without any trauma.
    You also may have the water in your eyes and you mouth boil because their’s no pressure (you will not get burned by it).

    Cold is not a problem, there’s nothing to get the warmth out of you, it’s emptiness.
    But if you are exposed to long directly to the sun, you’ll have a good sunburn :).
    A few minutes isn’t enough to make you too irradiated, except if you’re out of the van allen belt and/or their’s a big solar flare on the way.

    vaelrock
    Reply

    1. I looked into it a little more, and it looks like many people would be unconscious in 10-15 seconds (maybe 30 on the outside), with death happening for all sorts of unpleasant reasons within 90 seconds.

      It certainly wouldn’t do nothing, though. Remember, the human body is made up of a lot of fluids, and they do interesting (and fatal) things in a vacuum.

      Stilts
      Reply

  28. I feel like I should point out that there was likely a big error in Crunchyroll’s subs this week. Our lovely angel of death’s name is most likely a reference to the Islamic name for the angel Gabriel, in which case it should correctly be spelled “Djibril.” If somebody more familiar with the source material knows of some official romanization of it that says otherwise, then I’m just making myself look ignorant; but yeah, kinda bugged me a little when I kept reading it. >.>

    Toto
    Reply

    1. There are often different ways to Romanicize Arabic names (look how many ways people spelled the former Libyan leader’s name), and Jibril is one of the variants of Djibril, at least according to Wikipedia. It’s also the variant that the Baka-Tsuki novel translation team uses, which was probably the kicker on CR choosing it.

      quigonkenny
      Reply

  29. Oh my god! that was so epic I am lost for words. A feast of fan service mixed with an epic does of action and real life science just made NGNL officially my faveourite anime of the season, heck even the best anime this year so far! :3

    All age fan service, it’s official now! I would’ve never thought, but I ain’t complaining :3 now I get to ogle at steph, shiro, and jibril all I want and it’s legal! Also, the “body check” was awesome, made Jibril very happy indeed, if you know what I mean.

    But that shiritori game was just too epic. I don’t know where to start. From dropping a bombshell literally to creating all age fan service to making the lithosphere, crust, mantle and atmosphere disappear, and then wrapping it up with a fricking hypernova that was so epic I was speechless the whole time! Science for the win!

    Steph is still a dog, awww Shiro and Sora, never sleep again and she’ll be your pet for the rest for your life! >:D And now you also have a pet angel, damn Sora raising flags left and right! Now onward and conquer the land of kemonomimi!

    PS: loved how Jibril was drooling over books, that was so d’aww and cute 🙂 and sora still allowed her to read the books at the end 😉 Looking forward to the next episode!

    TrapMaster
    Reply

  31. so for so epixxx but you never know when the show will nose dive into GUSHI Half Hearted feeeelings D: im squinting at you chu2!!! D: sooo good then sooo what was that?!?!?!

    GoodStuffs
    Reply

    1. https://randomc.net/image/No%20Game%20No%20Life/No%20Game%20No%20Life%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2019.jpg
      Chikubi(ちくび) is nipple. CR/HS translated it as “hooter-nub” just to connect it to the h in beach(びいち, biichi) before it and the b in bikini(びきに, same) after it.
      I commend them for their effort at localization but the word choices were a bit poor. I would have liked it if they just kept the romaji of the word followed by the actual translation.

      belatkuro
      Reply

      1. What was ソナタ (translated as Nodes) and 種植え (translated as Sepia) in more every-day terms?

        I think 種植え refers to plants but I’m not sure about ソナタ。

        I Like My Hat
        Reply

      2. ソナタ is sonata, an old way to say “you” or “you people”. That’s why a bunch of people disappeared on the right side behind Sora. Why Steph didn’t disappear when it may apply to her as well is beyond me.
        Not quite sure on 種植え(taneue). It does seem to refer to plants. Something disappeared on the left side behind Sora when he said that which I assume were the plants in the previous setting. The translation in B-T used ‘Sow’.

        belatkuro
        Reply

      3. ソナタ is “Sonata”, referring to the group of musicians who were performing before the atmosphere was removed and 種植えare “Seed Planters”, the farmers who were going about their work before they met the same fate as the musicians.

        Sphaela
        Reply

  33. wow im ..speechless..

    i kinda knew some huge explosiong was coming (because of the preview) but d4mn …they just blew up the solar system..

    i have no words.. no words enough to express how much im liking this show..

    just wow

    wow

    inanis
    Reply

  36. Is “Jibril” the official, author-sanctioned romanization of her name or is it just a misromanization by the community? Because I’m quite certain that the proper English version of that name would be either “Gabriel” or the feminine “Gabrielle.” The spelling “Jibril” tends only to be used when referring to it within the context of Middle-Eastern/Arabic culture or religion…

    Zen
    Reply

    1. Her name in Japanese is ジブリール (Jiburiiru). You don’t really get more straightforward than that, so the Arabic pronunciation/representation of Gabriel is certainly what the author was going for. Luckily CR didn’t localize it to “Gabriel”, or “Gabrielle”, or “Samantha”, or whatever 4Kids would have used.

      quigonkenny
      Reply

      1. Hmm, well I guess he author just wanted her name to sound a little more exotic. A little disappointing though that he didn’t think to make use of the inherent reference of this particular form of the name to Middle-Eastern/Arabic culture and make the Flugel some kind of desert-based civilization or something- that would’ve been a nice piece of implicit world-building, swap out the angelic form for a race of powerful magical Djinns or something. Saying through a mere name, “Hey, I know I haven’t really explicitly done a lot of world-building around this race- but much of what they are you already know.” Dunno, just me- not into the whole odd romanization for no other reason than flavor thing- I kinda prefer it to have some kind of logical context within the world…

        Other than that though, great episode. And I thought last week was an acid trip- this week’s game stepped things way up. Lots of batsh*t crazy fun- no other show this season is as much fun to watch…

        Zen
        Reply

      2. @Zen

        I don’t think it’s about him not thinking about that, but rather him not wanting to take that path. He wanted to have some death angels and he pinched a cool sounding name for one.

        Personally I prefer completely unrelated named myself, though…then there’s no unnecessary connections like this to cloud the view. That’s just my style though.

        Stilts
        Reply

    2. The spelling of Gabriel and Jibril existed almost at the same time, if I remember my history right i.e. during Abraham/Ibrahim time. And in Islamic literature, we mostly use the spelling Jibrail.

      So I’m going to have to contend your statement that Gabriel is a ‘proper English version of the name’ since it was the Tiberian (based on Wiki since I no longer have my history books) that came up with the vocalization based on the Hebrew language.

      Long story short, Gabriel is also within the context of Middle-Eastern/Arabic culture or religion and was not a product of the English language.

      aeria
      Reply

    3. Etymologically, it’s the same thing, isn’t it? Different cultures tend to have similar sounding names for the same people and locations depending on their language’s structure and grammatical form. As an English-speaker, you are probably mostly used to the Anglicized version of the said names.

      Another example would be Alexander the Great transliterated as Iskandar in the Middle East, with that name being used by the Servant Rider in Fate Zero.

      echykr
      Reply

    4. Etymology isn’t the issue here. What matters is common everyday colloquial use. “Proper” here is defined as what an audience from an English speaking culture would normally expect to be the “right” romanization when a character is designed to look and feel like the Christian, not Muslim theological conception of angels. Because the manner in which this version of the name was used runs contrary to what I have observed and expect of society’s practical, colloquial everyday use of it, it feels a little out of place and jarring to me personally. “Proper” here was used as shorthand for my own personal tastes which were governed by sociological expectations- that’s all…

      Zen
      Reply

  37. When Jibril gave Sora the first choice, I started thinking about what I would do if I was in his situation. Maybe food? Then I see Hydrogen Bomb and burst out laughing.

    This series continues to impress and entertain. And props to Crunchy TLs for the translations. I can almost hear them groan after realising they need to tl a game of Shiratori.

    Electron Degeneracy Pressure
    Reply

  39. @Stilts

    did you notice that Jibril isn’t just your common flugel ?

    In the subs she say’s “I, jibril member of the counsel of 18 wings of the exceed rank 6 flugel”

    So it looks like they “catched” an important flugel 🙂

    Teutates
    Reply

  40. Sadly they didn’t put the most exciting fact of the light novel version in this
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Chrome
    Reply

    2. I think your comment isn’t a spoiler anymore given that the episode has technically covered that part of novel now. Being an Anime-only viewer I did consider the fact that Sora/Shiro played the Shiritori game in such a way to predict Jibril’s final word with some margin of error. They did cover probability/knowledge in the last episode after all. Also, if you think about it from another angle, since Sora/Shiro (Blank) didn’t reveal the fact that they put in a margin of error for guessing Jibril’s final word, it made their win so much more epic.

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

  41. Only thing that I found that didn’t make sense is the fact that if the mantle, and crust disappear there would be very noticeable changes in gravity because the planet’s mass changes by a lot.

    Cthulhu
    Reply

    1. As the Flugel said, everything after the initial move was a distraction, and Jibril was distracted by the game long enough care even if she noticed. Her focus was entirely on Sora and what she thought how the game would play.

      Little things like reduced apparent weight wouldn’t necessarily catch the attention of a Flugel who is used to the weightlessness of magical flight to begin with.

      Drasca
      Reply

  42. not even a god killing machine a match to blank… KNOWLEDGE is indeed POWER and that EPIC drooling… hahahaha this is the best EPISODE for now since i am expecting BETTER EPISODES

    The Last Idiot
    Reply

  43. Really, it’s not often you find characters as addicting and off-the-wall crazy as Sora & Shiro. Indeed, perhaps the most intriguing thing about them is that it really is easy to see them losing; Jibril could’ve won the match in a matter of moments if she hadn’t been so arrogant.

    Jibril aside however, I’m practically salivating at the thought of seeing our favorite pair thrust into the depths of despair. For two people who only have each other, what kind of expression will they make when they’re torn apart, I wonder? XD

    Ryan Ashfyre
    Reply

    1. i actually got a feelin that, that scenario will actually happen or already happened in the original material. and this will involved shiro since, in terms of being the overall main character (MC), sora is more like the real overall MC than shiro.

      one of my desired plots to see in case they are indeed separated?

      — shiro will get brainwashed to the enemy side and fight sora.

      The Last Idiot
      Reply

  45. Isn’t it a little too cruel what they did to Steph? I can’t help but feel that she has superhuman tolerance, because being publicly humiliated and stripped is one thing, but having your insides explode and being thrown into the core is another thing entirely. On the one hand, I expected her to quit, forcing Sora to get her back on board or for there to be an episode revolving around her deciding Imanity is worth dying for, and since I expected it, I’m glad it didn’t happen. But dying is traumatizing and what they did to her was unfair. Yes, Sora thanked her, but I’m just really surprised anyone could go through what Steph has been put through by her allies and not have a break down. In other news, when Sora made “nether regions” disappear, he must have also lost his nether regions, right? That’d probably be pretty uncomfortable for a guy, but, then again, maybe three naked and PG-rated girls are worth it.

    CTT
    Reply

    1. It was a little cruel, but she A) helped them win (by keeping all the things they were summoning off them) and B) don’t think about it too hard, lol. It’s comedic sociopathy (trope! …I’m too lazy to go get the link), it’s meant to be cruel but funny. It works as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

      Stilts
      Reply

    2. No, he didn’t lose his own.
      The word he said was ‘manko’ which means pussy or vagina. It’s just the translation used ‘nether region’ for it to connect to the previous word stallion (uma, horse).
      Good effort but again they shouldn’t have bothered to connect the translations as well. Shiritori just doesn’t translate that well to English.

      belatkuro
      Reply

  47. No nipple no p*ssy = The most blatant attempt to annoy the censors and getting away with full-frontal nudity I’ve ever seen. XD

    Expect a whole legion of fanservice anime exploiting this loophole in years to come. 😉

    echykr
    Reply

  48. Wow, this episode left me speechless (not to mention I watched it 4 times in a row just to let it sink in). The perfect combination of fanservice, comedy, creative twists, awesome characters and well thought out source adaptation truly makes this series a gem. Well, I’m quite the science nerd, this episode really tickled the nerd within me.

    I also have to say, this series really put Tamura Yukari (Jibril) and Yoko Hikasa (Steph)voice acting skills to the test and they passed with flying colors. Drooling/lustful/silly/serious Tamura Yukari and pouting/screaming Yoko Hikasa are firsts for me.

    With this episode, this series just shot up to the top of my “Anime BD to purchase list”…

    Aoihoshikage
    Reply

  49. So I just watch this episode for like the 4th time (that’s how good it was!) And something occurred to me that maybe someone can explain.

    How come sometime the object appear when they connect the words and sometime they disappear? I thought it had to do with size but Sora vanished clothes and that in itself is pretty small.

    Second at the end when Jibril worth “Empty Head Academic” Nothing appeared or disappeared.

    Thanks!

    Duzz
    Reply

    1. If they said something that didn’t exist, it would appear (aliens, beaches, temples, etc), while if they said something that was already there, it would disappear (oxygen, atmosphere, nipples, the words “empty-headed academic” on the piece of paper, etc).

      Stilts
      Reply

    2. He wrote earlier “Empty Head Academic” on paper and showed it to the girl so she knows how it is written in Japanese. In the end, she wrote the word he quoted earlier for insult him back and show its superiority (look, you showed me once that word in a language I do not know, but I ‘m remember it and I will return it to your face). The word on paper disappears, but he had planned it, and then shows the word “Coulomb force” behind the sheet. And since she cannot read Japanese, she cannot know the last letter of this word for continued the game.

      Zelloss
      Reply

    4. They can’t say anything that would instantly take a competitor out of the game, so even if they said (for instance) Jibril, she wouldn’t disappear.

      Also, yeah, it’s an abstract concept, so only the words disappeared.

      Stilts
      Reply

    5. Hope you guys don’t mind me entering this discussion because, as silly as it sounds, I’m still a bit fuzzy on Sora’s winning move in this game. So firstly, Sora psyched Jibril into uttering “empty headed academic” to make it disappear from the paper. So far I get that the Coulomb force word was already written there beforehand, and the last Japanese character of academic would coincide with Coulomb force, so Sora would get the last word. At first I thought it was the phenomenon of the explosion that would render Jibril incapable of playing. Then it was said here that the whole trick was showing Jibril a word she didn’t know how to write so she can’t continue the shiritori. I guessed that confused me because I thought Jibril was overall smart so I didn’t see possibility of Jibril losing because she was ignorant of something and went with the assumption that Blank beat Jibril by trying to kill her. So the way to understand this is that Jibril doesn’t know Japanese and go from there? Hope this made sense somehow. Tried explaining my confusion the best I can.

      Zhinvu
      Reply

      1. Actually, there’s a slight difference in here and in the novels.
        In the LN, Sora didn’t actually write down the word “anjaku”(I refuse to use “empty headed academic”) and showed it to Jibril. He was just speaking to Jibril and he mentioned the word just like what transpired in the episode.

        In the novels, Jibril wrote down the word in “human language”, which is Imanity language. Which means that it was meant to be read by the other party. Which mean that using a language the other party can’t read is not allowed. She could have written it in a different language than them but did not.

        Similarly, Sora’s word in the note would probably be in Imanity language as well to comply to that. How else would Jibril be shocked to learn that he had a pre-written word that predicted that she would use “anjaku”. The word on the paper was definitely not in Japanese because she was shocked with what was in the tablet as she can’t read it but understood that it’s a legit language.

        So Sora’s end goal is still the hypernova to kill Jibril and fulfill the 3rd win condition.
        That explosion would happen faster before Jibril can snap out of her shock and respond.

        belatkuro
        Reply

  50. I came to read this comment section hoping for a tame discussion on NGNL. Instead, I witnessed tempers flaring, and Otakus conflicting on what was realistic, or scientifically debatable within the entire series. Firstly, even if NGNL or any other anime made a factual mistake of any kind, they pertain the artistic license to pull one over us. Secondly, this ill natured rabble goes against the moral NGNL is trying to teach us, in that petty feuds and ideologies should be set aside for unified cooperation, because we are weak as individuals, and require strength in masses to overcome what can be truly considered as trials and tribulations.

    Other than that, greatly reviewed Stilts, I enjoyed every moment reading your article. However, I admit your analogy of weaknesses with Ants and Tardigrades is something I would not trade my humanity for. xD

    ShanHaxx
    Reply

    1. I think the discussion was fairly tame and I didn’t see any “tempers flaring”. People understand that this series is a great ball of fun and does not need to be 100% correct scientifically. But like most human beings, they are intrinsically curious and wondered “what would actually happen if the EM force is removed?” and I see nothing wrong with that.

      Aiyoku no Eustia
      Reply

  51. Stilts The translators generally made mistakes for this. He didn’t say “Crust” he said “Outer Core”. He did Mantle –> Outer Core –> Lithosphere (which includes the crust).

    ergZay
    Reply

    1. I don’t know if you want to call the translations “mistakes” as much as translators trying to get an English equivalent shiritori (word chain) going. If I were translating, I would have used the transliteration to romaji and then word meaning in parentheses like this:
      Sora’s “gaikaKU 外核 (outer core)” –> Jibril’s “KUrokku クロック (clock).” That way you keep the original word chain and teach a little bit of Japanese to viewers.

      Instead that translators chose to use similar English word equivalent to keep the word chain:
      gaikaKU (crusT) –> KUrokku (Timepiece)

      I thought they did a pretty good job despite the English getting weird at times or inaccurate. Looks like by the end of the shiritori game, they stopped finding English equivalents. For example, asa 朝 was translated to “Eos Lumo,” sonata ソナタ (meaning you people) was translated to “nodes” and taneue 種植え (meaning plants) was translated to “sepia.” It definitely left me confused for a while because I thought I had somehow learned my Japanese wrong…

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

  52. I may be wrong, but on some level science tries to deny the existence of higher beings such as Gods, right? So it felt kind of poetic to see science used to destroy a God made weapon of mass destruction.

    By the way, what are the odds one of the other ‘bad with magic’ races have developed technology?

    Rydin
    Reply

    1. You are wrong. Unless gods become empirically observable, they’re not in the purview of science. It does not waste time on things that cannot be observed, much less proven or disproven.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. What about theoretical physics? Surely it’s been theorised before actually finding evidence (and the technology) to support it – the most recent one being the higgs.

        Actus
        Reply

      2. Actually that’s incorrect Stilts, there have been several scientists now who have made the claim that our current base of knowledge excludes the existence of god(s), the most famous being Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking.

        Science is simply a method used to test answers, nothing more, nothing less. As long as a question can be posed, science can theoretically be used to discern the correct answer; the only limitation is our current capacity to test the correctness of each proposed answer. The problem is how the results are presented/manipulated. For all objectivity we attach to science it is not immune from people using it to try and support subjective and spurious claims. Just look at the debates surrounding climate change and evolution (to name the most known), there have been arguments made on both sides of these debates that have twisted the facts to support either pet causes or personal beliefs.

        As an aside you have not seen true anger, frustration, and rage until you have witnessed a pair of researchers try and prove which one of their pet hypotheses/theories is more valid than the other. The publishing side of science is a very nasty business.

        Pancakes
        Reply

      3. I did simplify a bit, but the problem isn’t in science, but in the slippery nature of the question. If a god is said to be omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and belonging to a spiritual realm that cannot be reached save through religion or after death, then science cannot answer the question because the question has specifically excluded any avenues to discern an answer.

        As for Dawkins and Hawking, I believe Hawking has stated that our knowledge of the universe does not require god or gods, but it doesn’t necessarily discount it. Dawkins has gone farther than that, but in doing so his scientific objectivity – yes, it’s a fantasy, but a fantasy worth chasing after – is somewhat suspect.

        But this is all highly tangential, so that’s the last I’ll say on this, lol

        Stilts
        Reply

  53. When Jibiril wrote “empty headed academic” in light, and since she herself isn’t allowed to take herself out the game, it would’ve been funny if more “empty headed academics” joined them before Coulomb’s force took action. Can you imagine? Bunch of Flugels suddenly appearing and wondering why the heck they were in a vacuum with lava and a hypernova about to rain down upon them

    mikomi
    Reply

    1. They could have if it was another phrase that ended with the first syllable of Coloumb’s Force, as per the rules of Shiritori. They had other options in mind apparently, but if she didn’t play into one of those, they would have lost.

      Stilts
      Reply

  56. If the mantle and crust were taken, shouldn’t the lithosphere already have crumbled under its own weight?
    And on that note, shouldn’t the core already have heated them up as they were falling towards it?

    D_Dusk
    Reply

    1. Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know the composition of the game planet.

      As for heat, it does take time to travel, and while step died pretty quickly (and let’s face it mostly for comedic effect), heat doesn’t travel well in air, and even slower in a vacuum.

      So it would be a matter of how far they were vs how fast they were approaching– both of which we don’t have the answers to, but assuming their planet is similar size to ours… I believe it’d much longer than the few minutes we were shown.

      Steph probably would’ve gotten outside of visual range faster, or died of suffocation, faster than heat death given the time it takes to travel to the core of a similar sized planet. The radius of Earth is over 6000 km. Free fall terminal velocity in air is roughly 195 km per hour. So it’d take over an entire day to reach the center with air resistence. Even without, it’d still take hours, not minutes or seconds.

      Death by other means (hypothermia, suffocation, atomic collapse, you name it) comes much faster.

      Drasca
      Reply

  57. Ah so many forces at play that I cannot account for.

    Reduced mass due to crust and lithosphere missing, forces any satellites (moons), solar wind, and all sorts of unimagineable magical things on their planet and planetary system.

    Basically, a toss up. We don’t know that should’ve happened, and all we know is that it did not within their game.

    Drasca
    Reply

  58. I have a question, maybe someone will be able to answear it. Why when they said atmosphere oxygen disappeared but the other gases didn’t appear (like it was with oxygen and saying air)?

    Urizithar
    Reply

    1. Kuuhaku made oxygen specifically disappear. Then Jibril said air, aiming to make the air reappear (because she thought she couldn’t breathe because they took away the air, since she didn’t know atomic theory), but what she actually did was make oxygen (which is a component of air) reappear while making all the other elements disappear…and pure oxygen is a poison. So that sucked for her.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. This part I get. I didn’t understand (but I do now – someone explained it to me) why when they said atmosphere oxygen disapeared and other gases did not appear. I was thinking that atmosphere = air (which is true but only for earth in normal situation). I was catch in a trap of relating to best known atmosphere but here it just means any gases that are surrounding a planet.

        Urizithar
        Reply

  59. Circular breathing:
    Actually they did this after the athmosphere was turned into pure oxygen (toxic).
    By breathing circular they slowly enrich the air in their lungs with CO2 and can breath relatively normally.

    Time until death due to lack of Oxygen in vacuum:
    Presumably similar to free diving, they had a last good (circular) breath, then exhaled and removed the atmosphere, so the timer should start there.
    The world record in free diving is 21 Minutes!

    ranma42
    Reply

  60. @op you obviously did not watch the first episode where the sister explains how to win in chess she says its the same as tic tac toe but the game of checkers is almost the same logic behind it meaning theres no point saying that immanity was playing checkers while the other exceed where olaying chess as its pretty much the same game with different peices and the same logic required to win

    techpriest35
    Reply

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