Line #1 YMMV/NoGameNoLife


1	* AngstWhatAngst: Kurami barely angsts at all over [[spoiler:being a slave]], mainly bringing up how it affects her relationship with Feel rather than all the suffering she endured. Granted, the Ten Pledges presumably limit how badly [[spoiler:slaves like Kurami]] are treated, but while Kurami has more than her share of unpleasant memories (which are never elaborated on in the anime's first season), she's decided not to feel sorry for herself.
2	* AwesomeEgo: Sora is impossibly arrogant, confident that there's not a soul alive that could beat him at games, aside from his kid sister. But he's not just full of hot air as he lives up all of his boasts and is an exceptional GuileHero. The light novels make it clear that this is mostly bluster... while he does have a giant ego, it's mostly tied up in his role as half of Blank; outside of this, he considers himself worthless, useless, and unworthy of love, as well as completely and totally good for nothing other than helping out his much more brilliant and amazing sister. His low self esteem is a driving force behind [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex why he yowls about how awesome he is so much]].
3	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
4	** The opening theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaksNlNniis "This Game"]], is simply fantastic, both in the emotional singing and accompanying visuals.
5	** The show's resident SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlYEDJHmokQ "All of you is all of me"]] (a.k.a. The King's Plan). You know the big twist is coming when you hear this song.
6	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQYUjrTcBA "There Is A Reason"]], the theme song from TheMovie. It's a touching and beautiful piece that almost comes off as a love song for Riku and Shuvi.
7	* BaseBreakingCharacter: The main duo, particularly Sora. Fans love their knack for unorthodox and brilliant strategies, and consider them well-developed characters with realistic flaws and shortcomings. Their detractors, however, may argue that they're overpowered wish fulfillment characters, and are turned off by Sora's perverted tendencies, Shiro's attraction toward her adoptive brother, and the way they both constantly abuse [[DesignatedMonkey Steph]] for their own amusement.
8	* BrokenBase: The fanservice. Part of the fanbase is fine with it, believing that it's at an acceptable level and/or is PlayedForLaughs enough that it can be funny. Everyone else finds it excessive, and ''very creepy'' when it comes to Shiro, '''who is eleven.'''
9	* CrazyIsCool: If Blank's fight against Kurami didn't tip you off on how batshit insane game rules can get, then the one against Jibril definitely will.
10	** [[spoiler: Sora betting his own freaking ''existence''! Kurami outright calls him insane]].
11	%%% DesignatedHero is being discussed right now. Please join the discussion page instead of readding it.
12	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Sora and Shiro are both stated to have a "communication disorder", which is a catch-all term in Japanese that incorporates those with NoSocialSkills and those who have actual disorders. That said, their shared inability to function in "normal" society and their individual quirks (such as Sora displaying an attachment disorder and Shiro's typically emotionless demeanor combined with being a ChildProdigy) has led fans to theorize that they really are neurodivergent in some way.
13	* DesignatedMonkey: Stephanie Dola. She's become Sora and Shiro's pet princess and personal toy and is constantly put into humiliating situations that are played for both [[PlayedForLaughs laughs]] and {{Fanservice}}, but it's hard not to feel sorry for her given how hard she's trying to help Imanity.
14	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Izuna Hatsuse, [[VerbalTic desu]]. She's a secondary character introduced in the later half of the anime's first season, and instantly became a fan favorite. [[TheCutie Downright adorable]], [[{{Moe}} endearing]], [[BadassAdorable immensely powerful]], and it probably helps that she's a [[LittleBitBeastly fox girl]].
15	* EscapistCharacter: Both Sora and Shiro for viewers who are both an anime fan ''and'' a video gamer.
16	* FandomRivalry:
17	** With ''Literature/ProblemChildrenAreComingFromAnotherWorldArentThey'' due to their similar premise where the main characters are transported to another world and change said world through games.
18	** ''Literature/BlackBullet'' as well due to both stories having a male main-character with a loli-girl sidekick; helped by the fact that they were both released during the Spring 2014 anime season.
19	* FollowTheLeader: A small number of people with exceptional abilities are, after responding to a message, summoned to another world where everything is decided with games and they group up with the lowest-tier nation in order to help them climb the ladder? [[Literature/ProblemChildrenAreComingFromAnotherWorldArentThey Where have we heard that before?]]
20	* HarsherInHindsight: In Blank's chess match against Kurami, in which the pieces have wills of their own, Blank's pieces refuse to obey orders to sacrifice themselves, with Sora pointing out that soldiers would not willingly sacrifice their own lives unless they respected their leader or morale was high. In the movie/Volume 6, Riku(who is implied to possibly be Sora from a past life) is able to order his subordinates to sacrifice their lives when necessary. They comply, partly because they believe in Riku and partly because the situation is that desperate.
21	* HilariousInHindsight: Sora uses ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' (or better said, "[[YouWannaGetSued Pers*na]]" to convince Shiro that they didn't go to back to Tokyo, but are in a video game, something they can handle. While the fourth Persona game (which is pictured) takes place in the small town of Inaba, ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 5}} the fifth game]]'' takes place in Tokyo, and has a [[{{NEET}} Shut In]] party member who's also an avid gamer.
22	* LesYay: The relationship between Fil and Kurami appears to be "girlfriends" but it's more like a mother-daughter thing. The line is blurred in one of the mini episodes.
23	* MemeticLoser: Stephanie has this reputation, as someone who isn't necessarily stupid- just lacking in gaming skills and being unfavorably compared to Sora and Shiro- but gets dismissed as an idiot in-universe and in real life, so much so that her name is used as an insult.
24	* MemeticMutation:
25	** "No Season 2, No Life" has become a popular slogan, as despite the first season's huge popularity and it ending on a blatant SequelHook, there have been no news regarding a follow-up.
26	** An image of Shiro and Stephanie in lingerie has become an infamous example of "When your parents enter your room while watching Anime".
27	** "Just a Steph"; Sora and Shiro's PersonAsVerb insult towards Stephanie.
28	* {{Moe}}:
29	** Sora presents Shiro as '''the''' example of cuteness to heighten the morale of his chess troops.
30	** Izuna Hatsuse of the Warbeasts is also adorable, instigating CutenessProximity in Sora and Shiro whenever she shows up.
31	** Tet is both cute and is also FunPersonified.
32	** Stephanie and Kurami most fit TheWoobie aspect of it, making viewers want to give them hugs. In fact, all of them to an extent, because they all have their quirkiness and individual appeal.
33	** Schwi is not only an example of this trope (being a small, cute and innocent girl with an endearing love for Riku) but her research into "the heart" apparently led to her creating personality routines for it (such as LittleSisterHeroine).
34	* NarmCharm: The opening sequence for "Love or Loved 2" would totally fit all kinds of stuff in the ClicheStorm department (Read: [[LargeHam hammy narration]] by Creator/{{Mugihito}}, saccharine singing by Creator/MiyukiSawashiro, LittleBitBeastly {{Idol Singer}}s kicking the crap out of a ''space fleet'', etc.) ... until you realize it's just an in-series video game.
35	* NeverLiveItDown: Jibril's introductory sentence, in which she speaks multiple foreign languages in an attempt to sound sophisticated, will never be forgotten.
36	* OneTrueThreesome: Considering Sora and Shiro's extreme co-dependence on each other, it's virtually impossible that Stephanie and Sora have a private relationship without including Shiro in the mix.
37	* ShockingMoments:
38	** The ending of the Materialization Shiritori game in Episode 6, has Sora going outrageously far with the game. He removes the Earth's outer layers to expose the core to make Jibril fall towards it, followed by removing Coulombs Force[[note]]the electrostatic attraction between particles[[/note]] causing the entire universe to collapse now that there's nothing holding it together and unleashing a hypernova of fifty billion Celsius that rivals the Big Bang!
39	** Episode 9 where Sora bets away ''his own existence'' in one of the most elaborate {{Thanatos Gambit}}s, just to get Kurami and Feel to see that he's genuine.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Each of the Reversi pieces represents a part of oneself, ranked in order of how much the player values them, and are taken away when they're captured. Sora allows Kurami to capture the piece containing his memories so she will have full access to his memories and realize that he isn't a spy for another race. This involves her also taking the piece with Sora's existence, but luckily, Shiro is able to finish the game.[[/labelnote]]
40	* ValuesDissonance: Shiro, who is eleven years old, is placed in {{fanservice}}y situations on more than one occasion. This can be ''extremely'' {{Squick}}y to viewers from countries where child sexualization is one of the biggest taboos around, to the point where it's turned some people away from the series.
41	* TheWoobie: Kurami. Despite being a crybaby by nature, she's unwilling to admit how much she's suffered [[spoiler:as a slave to the Nilvalen family]]- she alludes to Feel sometimes having to be distant from her for the sake of Feel's public image, but Feel's noting that Kurami cries whenever Feel takes her eyes off her might indicate that Kurami's bottling up her pain. While Kurami's friendship with Feel is definitely a bright spot in her life, she has trouble accepting it due to a mix of low self-esteem and guilt over what [[spoiler:associating with a slave and planning on ending slavery forever]] is costing Feel.
42	* {{Woolseyism}}:
43	** Regarding the word chain game in Episode 6:
44	*** The translation for the terms thrown around during the game must have required some serious thinking to get meaningful terms in English (out of Japanese) which still form the requirements of the word chain. Suffice to say, the translators did it brilliantly.
45	*** The German version instead establishes that the words used can be in any language (which is canon considering Sora specifically asks if it's okay), so Sora can use the English words "Suitcases" and "Earth's Outer Core" at one point.
46	** In the original Japanese, Izuna speaks rather rudely but occasionally inserts "desu" at the end of her sentences to seem more polite. In the English localization, [[SirSwearsALot she instead uses profanity]], while randomly ending her sentences with "please"(as well as "thank you" in the dub of the anime).

Context YMMV / NoGameNoLife