Man, this was a chore to read.
Granted, No Game No Life is not the easiest read due to all the tricks that ” ” pulls off and Kamiya’s tendency to make long comparisons. However, in this volume, the game that’s being played is just no fun…and it’s going to continue into the next.
Blegh.
Sora, Shiro, and several of their (willing and unwilling) companions agree to a game against the Old Deus that lives in the Shrine Maiden’s body. The game of choice? A roll-and-move game, but of course, much more complicated than Chutes and Ladders or The Game of Life. There are 12 rules (plus some subrules), and even the characters get confused by all the ins-and-outs of the game. (Granted, they have amnesia in regards to the game’s setup.) Basically, each person starts with 10 dice, and the number of dice the player currently possesses ages them up or down. Players roll any number of dice (after which they lose one) and land on a Task written by one of the other contestants. Completing or failing a Task gains a die from them or loses one of their own. They can also choose to work in groups to give dice to a teammate.
Well, that sounds relatively normal for a magical board game, but between the perverted elite gamer siblings, stubborn Werebeasts, and the other oddballs, did you really expect the Tasks to be sane? And did I mention that the total board is about as long as the continental US? And there may be a traitor in the game?
So a large part of No Game No Life volume 7 is about survival, something Sora and Shiro are ill-suited for. But if you’re hoping for some really cool traps or monster-slaying, that’s not here. Much of the story is Sora and Shiro whining or Steph suffering. And if you think the novel spends much of its time on Tasks instead, well, prepare to be disappointed again. I mean, there’s not much for an author to describe when Sora’s group starts falling into a volcano and has about 30 seconds before being burned to a crisp. Solve a Task, then the novel checks back with them a week or so later after Their Royal Majesties start whining about the trek again and provide some confusing sort-of explanations about the game. Again, even they aren’t sure because of their missing memories.
So to fill in the pages between these short escapades, Kamiya features some long flashbacks and unimpressive check-ins. Ever cared about the history between Ino and the Shrine Maiden? I sure didn’t. Maybe you’ll understand Chlammy and Fi’s role better than even they do and will care about their parts. Either way, it’s a whole lotta talkin’, and I kept zoning out for something really interesting to happen, some part where it’s easy to understand just what the heck is going on. Even though the ending sets up for some player vs player life-or-death confrontations, because of the group amnesia it’s hard not to feel like there’s not going to be some sort of, “Psyche! This was all an act!” revelation. Even the rolls aren’t exciting because the siblings have managed to use speedrunner techniques to seed the RNG. Way to take the excitement out of a dice game.
Speaking of the siblings…if you were acutely aware of Shiro’s crush on her stepbrother, well, it’s a roaring bullhorn now. Other ecchi moments are included as usual — with Steph the usual victim — but the loli elements are not likely to go away. I have to wonder if Shiro’s advances toward Sora will become more blatant despite the fact this attempt already is. And regardless of how you feel about this, at least this scene shows off some of the psychological reasoning and verbal back-and-forth the series can do so well.
Because quite frankly, No Game No Life isn’t nearly as fun when talking about long thousands-of-miles treks across fake copies of Disboard. Maybe some of this will make sense when the challenge comes to an end, but for me, the bigger challenge was getting through this.