Wouldn’t you want the panties of that loli foxgirl?
For last week’s episode I speculated that the werebeast women were going to actually look like humanoid animals as per the visuals shown during Jibril’s explanation of their history, but who am I kidding. Of course it’s all a bunch of hot babes with animal ears. Steph even told us as much when the werebeasts were first mentioned a few episodes ago. But hey, as long as it doesn’t go into furry territory, I like hot babes with animal ears so it’s all good.
Even better was how the official ambassador of the werebeasts turned out to be a shit-talking loli who Sora and Shiro got to caress pet. But wait, even if the older werebeast is clearly the real ambassador in practice, having this loli be the official ambassador is pretty odd. Wouldn’t it make more sense for her to just be an ambassador in training, since she’s not even that fluent in the language of Imanity and doesn’t seem all that fit for the job? But oh, I guess otherwise we wouldn’t have an excuse to have a loli nekomimi to gawk at.
I really liked the big reveal behind the werebeasts “mind reading ability,” and the deductions that Sora and Shiro made. Perhaps it should have been obvious that the werebeasts mind-reading ability was really just them having the keen hearing and observations of an animal, but eh. So now we know just about everything about the mystery except for what the actual game is and why people keep losing. Not really much else to say about that though.
Morally speaking, it’s rather questionable for Sora to wager his Race Piece, since that’s essentially betting the lives of all Imanity. Of course, we pretty much now for a fact that Sora and Shiro aren’t going to lose to the werebeasts. But still, their risking the lives of all these people, which at least on principle is more than a little repugnant. I mean really, it’s no wonder why the people of Elkia would turn on them in protest so quickly. But on the other hand, they will win, so I guess it’s not worth thinking about too much.
The ending came out of nowhere, what with the creepy static and Sora suddenly disappearing. My first guess was that this has something to do with the werebeasts, though others have pointed out it might have something to do with another unrelated opponent. But nah, I’m betting it’s the werebeasts. The static and glitches were also just creepy in a more cheap or gimmicky sort of way; nothing too shocking, though it was still nicely done I guess. The changes they made to the ED were a nice touch too, albeit I barely saw them since I always skip the ED for this show (I always watch the OP though.)
Hopefully next episode we’ll actually see Shiro get to be the problem-solving hero, and not just sob about her brother the whole time. I know Shiro is supposed to be even smarter than Sora and all, but No Game No Life has yet to really show us that. Each and every episode it’s always Sora doing most of the talking, and so it always seems like Sora is running the show rather than it being both he and Shiro. (I still make a point to say “Sora and Shiro” though instead of just “Sora.”) I mean, the only time we’ve really seen Shiro win a game without her brother’s help was way back in episode 1 when she played chess with Tet.
Anime Is (Not) Dead 
You had your chance to title this post “A Game of Thongs”. You lost it.
And yeah, Sora’s action are pretty morally questionable – but they’re like that, like, ALL THE TIME. Though this was a new low. He’s basically a sociopath and a thrill-addict. But hey, that’s what makes him interesting.
Plus the last conversation (the one with Steph and Jibril) hints that maybe they think, knowing how Tet set up the game for the world, that losing one’s Race Piece will have different consequences from the one forebodied here. After all, if it has never happened, how would they know? And would Tet ask someone to win all 16 pieces before challenging him if that meant 15 races would go back to the much despised old condition of “tooth and claw”? I mean, what if one of those races were the Old Deus, wouldn’t he pretty much be screwed then?
I’m just too hipster for a title like that.
Yeah I get that Sora is supposed to be morally questionable to begin with, it’s just these new lows he keeps making that make me raise my eyebrows a bit. But then again, this was sort of in line with the anti-hero stuff that I expecting early on, so I don’t know why I’m surprised.
That’s a good point about the Race Pieces. I’m guessing that with the Race Pieces of others, Sora and Shiro will just have control over them, which would mean they could also keep them from destroying each other so they can challenge Tet.
Odds are Izuna is the ambassador proper because she is the player proper – the diplomacy in this world ultimately ends up with a game most of the time.
Ah, that would explain it.