Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin – 01

When the show cut from three schoolgirls running through an Indiana Jones-style treasure dungeon to a sardonic Kyon wannabe arriving at the umpteenth “academy city on an island,” I’ll admit I let out a bit of a groan. But when Yama Juugo moves triumphantly into his first apartment and finds the ghost of one of the island’s seven elite founders, things started to look up.

The ghost, the titular Ryuugajou Nanana, is a purple-haired girl voiced by Tanabe Rui right on the heels of another purple-haired girl voiced by Tanabe Rui I just finished watching. That’s okay, her innocent yet forthright voice is a good match so far. Nanana spends her days playing video games and eating pudding in the room she’s been bound to ever since she was stabbed ten years ago.

Anoher member of the “Great 7” and a fiend of Nanana’s happens to be Juugo’s landlady; and in addition to not letting a haunted apartment go to waste, she’s glad Nanana will have a young lad to keep her company. Juugo’s sympathy, as well as the not-unattractive ghost’s promise to play his live-in girlfriend, compels him to agree to help solve the mystery of her premature demise.

There’s also the little matter of much of her vast treasure of unknown billions of yen being hidden somewhere on the island, of which the broke, ramen-scarfing Juugo would certainly not mind a share. But whether it’s for money, love, compassion, or all of the above, there’s a lot laid out for Juugo to accomplish while he’s not attending high school. I’ve been itching for a nice breezy ghost story, and so far this hits the spot.

No Game No Life – 01

I wasn’t planning on watching this as I’ve never heard of it, but that seems to happen about once a season here at RABUJOI. Unlike WizBar, I’ve caught this right at the beginning. If every episode hence appoaches being as good as this first one, this could be a hell of a show. Here’s hoping this doesn’t crash and burn in the production values department in episode 11, too, because the visuals rock.

The show stars Sora and Shiro, a brother-sister pair of NEET shut-ins (or hikikomori) who are as otherworldly good at gaming as they are otherworldly bad at living in the real world (or caring about it, for that matter). The visuals establish their primacy right from the get-go: the outside world is bright, bleak, washed-out; the Lain-like interior (no coolant pools though) of the siblings is dark, but far more vivid in hue.

They already have one foot out of the world they were born into, defeating 1200 elite MMORPG players while controlling only four mid-level players themselves, when they’re contacted by a stranger who knows far more about them than they should. This isn’t Heartbleed at work though, it’s Tet, the god of the world where Sora and Shiro truly belong: a world of games called Disboard. There’s a great sense of wonder and adventure as we’re suddenly thrust into that new world along with them; ending up 10,000 meters above it.

As Sora remarks, when a protagonist often finds himself in a new world, stories tend to depict that person’s return home. But this world feels more like home to them than the old one; right down to the color scheme. They waste no time putting their not inconsiderable gaming skills to good use, procuring supplies, cash, and a room with ease, and analyzing a game between players vying to become the next King of the world.

This episode was an energetic,000 snazzy trip from start to finish, wasting no time getting Sora and Shiro out of one world, into the next, and into the thick of the action. While there was a glut of world-specific info for me to process (including Tet’s “ten commandments”), the show kept my eyes nice and busy while dispensing it, helping the necessarily medicine go down. My ears were also treated to the best soundtrack so far; broody and ethereal and brash and booming depending on the situation.

While Sora and Shiro are cocky and successful now (and would dismiss charges of beginner’s luck), things will really get interesting for me when they face off with a worthy or possibly even superior opponent. I look forward to that, and to the episodes with this pair of siblings being more than three minutes long, and containing no brother flesh-eating!