No Game No Life Zero has made its US debut in a 2 day Fathom special event - October 5th subbed and October 8th dubbed. As a huge fan of the original NGNL series I decided to hit up the theaters as early as possible and went to one and only theater showing it in my area - during the only time available. Anime movies are not very popular in my area, but occasionally when we get a viewing like this or any other single viewing adaptations like Kizumonogatori 1-3, the theater is packed.

Theater Reception

This special release started with a roughly 10-15 minute interview with the English director and voice actors/actresses (who are all fantastic by the way). While I think this would be a fantastic option and bonus on a Blu Ray release, it failed in epic fashion for this particular viewing. As a reminder the October 5th release was SUBBED and we had a 15 minute interview with the ENGLISH voice actors who literally would not be heard that night. Not only did the actors explain how excited they were to work on another NGNL product and how they prepared for the role (again, irrelevant to a subbed viewing) they also explained relationships and personalities of the new characters. In a way this frustratingly acted as a mini spoiler to the movie I was about to see! The intro seemed to drag on forever to audible moans and complaining from the audience. When the final Achente! from all involved in the English adaptation came and the main event started to play, the audience erupted in a applause.

Zero opens with Tet, Disboard's one true God, and Izuna playing a game of chess to give an immediate shootout to the original series. Tet then tells Izuna of a myth from the Great War which is the rest of Zero. The story takes place roughly 6,000 years ago during the Great War and before Tet came to be Disboard's God. The story is told through Riku, a human, but not yet a member if Immanity. Human's are as Sora pointed out upon his coronation in the main series - weak. Humans do not possess magical ability, spirit energy of their own, or abilities that would aid them in battle against the other 15 races. As such, they are driven underground to the point of extinction and often become accidental casualties in large scale battles. What's immediately noticeable is that the beautiful, colorful Disboard we have to came to know throughout the series is portrayed as a dark, desolate, and merciless wasteland that is no less beautiful. The 10 rules are not yet in place, so races are permitted to war and kill as they please. As leader of a human colony Riku is hardened and extremely unsure of himself and the existence of life as a whole. We see him often alone and angry with himself and the 'meaningless' world he was born into. Still, just as Sora and Shiro believed in the original arc, Riku acknowledges the only way to improve human conditions is through knowledge acquisition. While exploring an abandoned Elven facility, Riku meets an abnormal Ex-Machina, Schwi, who has been abandoned by her Hive. Schwi follows Riku in hopes that understanding the human heart will grant her enough useful knowledge to rejoin her Hive. Riku and Schwi grow together and Riku slowly gains confidence and Schwi becomes less robotical in her actions. Together they formulate a plan to manipulate the Great War from behind the scenes without fighting directly in an attempt to stop future pointless loss of life. I'll stop at this point with plot as to not ruin how they go about this plan, or the results of their labor.

The Characters

Riku and Schwi were animated and voiced to be kind of pseudo ancestors to Sora and Shiro. Visually both characters look similar and audibly they are both voiced by the same English voice actress and actor. Couronne Dola is similarly a mirror of Steph although she has a more responsibly personality. Riku, unlike Sora, starts off very hesitant in his decisions and is angry at the world, but slowly grows into a character who parallels Sora far more than appearance and voice. Scwhi visibly looks like Shiro and even 'adopts' a personality where she refers to Riku as brother on more than one occasion further drawing the Sora Shiro comparison. What makes this comparison slightly awkward is the love interest that evolves, although it feels less sexually charged due to Schwi being an Ex Machina. Jibril also gets an appearance finally showing her dark and murderous side hinted on several times in the original series. Jibril is one of my favorite character personalities and designs in all of anime and it was wonderful to see her in a different light, even if the audience would disagree with her purpose at that point.

Pic of Riku + Scwhi to show the comparison to Sora + Shiro

Overall review

Overall I greatly enjoyed this adaptation. Visually it was stunning with NGNL's unique art sytle and vibrant color palate, but had much more contrast due to the darkness of the opening. The score wasn't anything I would write home about or download individually, but seemed to fit the movie well. More importantly, I would say that this can be a standalone film to viewers who haven't seen the series. While many of the comparisons would be lost, I think the story can hold on its own. Also, as a prequel I was still extremely satisfied with the world building and seeing Disboard before the 10 rules were established. While I feel many anime movies don't really add anything or can sometimes even subtract from the series, I believe Zero added to the NGNL universe. There are better stand alone anime films, but as a film based on a series this may be among my favorites. Overall I would highly recommend a watch to this to anybody who appreciated the original series even a little, and if not it could be a great introduction to new potential series view. Oh, and Zero is also marketed by Sentai so here's hoping for a cheaper Blu Ray release down the road. Aschente!