Definition
Paramount
1) Having supreme power
2) More important than anything else
3) The ending of an anime
A lot of things about anime are important to different people,
many are fans of ... the characters, the artwork
even something as simple as
How anime makes you feel?
For me though, I enjoy anime for the experience that it gives me,
and a rather large part of that is the story
that is trying to tell
Not only that, but the best stories, of course to me
are the ones that ends.
If you have a story that never ends,
and then it remains in this kind of purgatory,
it might still be enjoyable to consume.
yes, but there is a high likelihood that
then Julie you will fall out of love with it
that's one of the reasons why I've never been
able to get into long-running show in it.
I much prefer shorter shows
shows that are concise,
and of course shows that end well.
The ending of a series is that last part you will experience
and one of the parts that will stick with you
until the end of time
If your show has a good ending
it'll leave you satisfied and content with what you've experienced.
If it has a bad ending
it'll leave this whole in your heart
that might never be filled
because sequels aren't usually a thing with anime
except with No Game No Life
but not in the way you would expect
Now there are about to be some spoilers for No Game
that are unavoidable when talking about ... you know,
Endings
So if you've never experienced the story before
you can watch it streaming over on crunchyroll
or you can read the manga,
which you can purchase digitally from Kadokawa's ebook store book walker
which by the by if you use the coupon code 'grarkada' in all lower case during checkout
you can get a 600 yuan discount on any single item
so you can get the first volume of no game no life for just around $2
as a special bonus, any no game no life novel purchase between July 24th and the end of Aug 7th
Pacific Standard Time
will be entered to with either a no game no life figure of Shiro
or a special No Game No Life poster
Either of the things I guarantee will be more satisfying to look at than the ending
of the anime
Of course by reading the manga
you'll be further caught up in the story
that what the show represents to you
so you might be able to better understand
what frustrates me about this particular anime ending
because today we are taking a look at endings
and why I consider them to be
paramount
Let's begin the game
First, brief synopsis for those who don't care about spoilers,
No Game No Life is about a duo of sibling gamers
who get brought to a fantasy world by its god Tet
in what we assumed to be
his unique of making the world more fun
over the course of 12 episodes
the siblings compete against several of the major players in this new world
eventually trying to gain enough power and influence to challenge the god himself
But we never get that far
The series spends a decent amount of time
with world-building laying out various continents
and races of beings were controlling the small little part of the world
and as is the way in this universe
they are all very good
at playing games
But by the end of the series
their end goal is never achieved
in 12 episodes they only really managed to conquer the human ground
gain some additional allies
and then finally take down the eastern Animal Kingdom
but there is still so much conquering to do,
not only did the series just end here without any semblance of resolution to the overall plot
but it also went out of its way
to have an end credit scene
that screws with continuity
just for a cliffhanger of moments
that didn't need to be there
okay, so
No Game No Life was able to adapt
just the first three dish novels
out of six that were available at the time
but its final scene is actually taken from the ending of volume 6
this is an example of having a cliffhanger ending
literally
for the hell of it
while I wouldn't have been absolutely happy with how it ended
even without sad scene.
It would have at least
not have ended on a tease
for a continuing story
that we might never see animated.
I don't need a happy ending
I grew up with them
Yeah, you watch enough Disney films
throughout your childhood and the premise is happy ever after
sounds like the only way to do things
but there is a difference between a sad or bittersweet ending
and an unsatisfying one
In a bittersweet ending, you might not be happy
you might be miserable
Actually, you might watch something like Grave of the Fireflies, or Anohana.
and be emotionally devastated by the time the final credits roll.
You can watch the ending to Cowboy Bebop
and be sad
but still regard it as one of the greats.
These endings are not happy ones,
but they're still ones that tell the conclusion of the overall story.
Now beyond that you can have endings that
attempt to wrap things up.
When a studio is trying to adapt
an original material like No Game that isn't finished,
you sometimes get what is known as an anime
only ending something like
Soul Eater
or the original full metal alchemist
Our shows that wrapped up their stories
long before the original material did
and while it's arguable
at how well they accomplished
that and how good their endings were
The endings still were able to wrap up most things
in a way that was decently satisfying
No Game No Life takes the third road
in that it just stopped
in the middle of the action
with no conclusion in sight.
Joining the likes of Spice and Wolf
and now thankfully retcon season of Black Butler
that nobody ever has to watch now.
Endings like that are just
endings in name only
because they are the last
'The End'
But not because they actually finish anything.
Largely, these endings tend to be
advertisements
in a way.
Most anime itself is just one big advertisement for the material
that it is based off
because the vast majority of them are adaptations,
not original anime.
And what better way to get people interested in the original material
than to get them sucked into the story
with the anime into the world
with the anime only for it to leave them hanging
and it works!
because, help, if BONES for example,
stops animating My Hero Academia after season 2,
you bet your ass that I'm picking up the manga
right quick,
because Deku is my boy!
You think though with No Game No Life
that this cliffhanger ending is the worst of it
You think that's the worst thing
that they can do
to tease you
about something that you might never get.
No, that's not the worst thing
which is why we're talking about
No Game No Life
and not some other series.
because in the realm of paramount endings,
No Game No Life did something
far worse
After going out of their way to add a cliffhanger ending to the original series
that didn't need to be there
after sitting on the franchise for 4 years,
we are actually
getting another adaptation
of No Game No Life.
Rejoice!
For there's a God after all.
Unfortunately, this God likes to play games with us,
because this new anime is not a sequel show,
but a prequel film.
Sure, it's still an adaptation of the light novel
but we're skipping several volumes here.
I have no idea how good this prequel film might be,
I have no way of watching it legally as of yet.
It could be amazing and I'm sure I'll find out one day,
thought a part of me right now
doesn't care.
What I do know is that the story has little to do with the No Game No Life,
that I've been introduced to.
So much so that it might as well just be
its own thing.
Of course though is that it's tough for me to get invested,
And I can tell you,
that I would be fully willing to follow this news story
even as a prequel.
if we know that the story of Sora and Shiro ended.
If we knew how it ended,
but why should I emotionally invest myself
in these new characters
When I've seen how that investment played out last time,
when that investment led to a cliffhanger ending,
which is still sitting there taunting us,
When I started using the phrase
'The ending is paramount',
I meant it, and I still do
because I can't look back at No Game No Life fondly.
The only way to resolve these endings
is to read the original material,
which for the longest time,
it was not something you could do.
Now though a lot of these books and manga have been brought over, thankfully.
The advent of digital distribution makes translating and selling these stories
much easier to do
than even several years ago.
So thankfully there is another option
in that I can see the ending of No Game No Life
or at least the continuation as the novels
are still ongoing.
Ultimately though I would prefer it if we got another actual sequel animation.
As anime is what I love more so than manga and light novels.
It's not like the material isn't there,
when the last anime ended
there was still enough material left for another 12 episodes with the same pacing
and there have been several more volumes written since that.
But if it comes down to a choice between
reading the original material and nothing
Well, I'll pick up the material.
And hey I've been told that the original is always better.
Right?
Thank you for taking the time to watch this video.
I hope you enjoyed it as always
I want to thank my patrons for supporting my videos.
As without them, they would not be possible.
More specifically though,
I would like to thank
for being specially awesome.
That's it for me.
Until next time these gentlemen and others
Stay Frosty