By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

It’s always dangerous when a title that you enjoy despite its many glaring flaws has a subpar volume. Suddenly there isn’t enough to enjoy to justify wading through everything. It doesn’t help that this volume was delayed two months for unknown reasons (possibly as the translator got burnt out – it did have a 3-month schedule before this). And it’s unfortunate that this is the first volume that wasn’t adapted into an anime, so will presumably have a lot of new readers trying to see what happens next. But yes, there’s no getting around this – this is just not a great volume of No Game No Life.

Everything seems to be just that little bit tired, starting with Sora and Shiro, who in the first volume were hideously broken people who just happened to be crazy otaku, but here the otaku part is in full swing and were it not for a few casual mentions in the text, you’d never even remember how codependent they are on each other’s presence. This is the first of a two-parter again, so it’s possible the next volume will up the ante, but it also has to be said that nothing really seems to threaten our heroes. Sure, they initially refuse to play the datesim simply because it’s just like that anathema, real-life romance, but once they’re in it, merely avoiding any love points seems to be fine with them. Sora and Shiro have been shown to be invincible, and that’s ALL they are here.

The other characters don’t fare much better. There are the usual NGNL levels of perversion, this time around involving the fantasy vampires and mermaids we see here. The fact that the dhampirs can suck bodily fluids other than blood is (pardon me) milked for all it’s worth, and the Sirens are succubuses whose lack of foresight and intelligence had better be undercut when we reach Volume 5 or I’m going to be pissed off. You don’t right an entire race of bimbos anymore just because it’s fun. And then there’s Ino, the old Werebeast grandpa, whose response in regards to winning the datesim was… memorable, but I’m not sure I get the manly part, and he was also used as a sexual gag regarding all the women he’d bedded over the years.

There is one bright spot in this volume, and that was the first scene with Steph, who has been left behind to deal with the kingdom while Sora and Shiro are negotiating with the Shrine Maiden. Having been forced to play against the two for thousands of games, and losing every single time, Steph has actually become scarily good at games, particularly the card games we saw her failing at in the very first volume. Of course, she’s not aware of this – she’s constantly trying to compare herself to Sora and Shiro, rather than, say, the average citizen. We are also reminded why Sora and Shiro left her there in the firt place – she’s really good at running a country, something they would be terrible at. Sadly, she then goes back to being a figure of mockery for most of the book, but that one brief shining moment was excellent.

It’s possible the next volume will turn this around. As I said, it is a two-parter of sorts. But I must admit that after reading this volume of NGNL I just felt tired.

By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

The usual caveats apply: there’s lots of skeevy art of underage girls, Sora spends much time discussing how to secretly film naked girls, and the not-quite-incest plot I was desperately hoping would be avoided from now on gets another peek. That said, I imagine anyone for whom those are a deal breaker would not be reading Vol. 3, so let’s move on to discussing Sora and Shiro, our heroes. It was refreshing seeing the start of this book from Shiro’s perspective, particularly as once Sora returned it went back to being mostly him, as he’s the one that talks. Sora and Shiro not only love each other like family (or more in Shiro’s case), but also idolize each other, and they each get narratives at some point bemoaning that they aren’t good at what the other excels in. Sora at one point mocks those who think this series is about the two growing stronger and maturing, as he points out they’re both already perfect.

The amusing thing about this, of course, is that it’s almost immediately undercut by Sora’s own actions, something Jibril cheerfully points out. Like it or not, this world is going to make the two of them change. That said, Sora also has a point – in terms of actual gaming ability, and the narrative need for victory, [ ] are already at the pinnacle. We don’t read this series to see how these two learn how to be better players – if anything, Stephanie fulfills that role in a way, though she’s still used almost entirely as comic relief instead. No, our heroes are already the best, and there is simply no doubt they will win – the question is how. Reading the long action sequence in the middle of the book, where they compete in a virtual shooting game against the Werebeasts, it really is astounding how much of the surprise twists were long thought out in advance by Sora beforehand. The same applies to the Othello game at the start.

Speaking of the Werebeasts, Izuna is the one who gets the most development in this book. Before the game starts Sora asks her whether she’s ever had fun playing a game. Of course the answer is no – with the fate of her entire nation always on her shoulders, this is a heavy burden. Plus she always wins, so it’s a boring heavy burden. But after her loss, she quickly realizes how exciting it is to be able to play someone who can kick her ass, giving her something to strive for. As for the fate of her people, what was somewhat clear in the first two books is made more explicit – the main plot seems to be Sora and Shiro uniting all of the 16 species into one nation, and the main difficulty is convincing everyone that they aren’t actually evil.

I’ve mentioned the books main flaws above, but as I hinted before, I really wish the author would do more with Stephanie – we’ve seen flashes of how smart she can actually be when she’s not dealing with Sora and Shiro or being humiliated, and I long to see more. Sadly, the fourth novel looks like a fluffy beach story, so I suspect I won’t get it. Other than that, the humor I liked in the first two books is still there, with lots of popular gaming references. There’s also some vivid horror as well with Sora’s fate towards the start of the book, and later Chlammy’s as well. There’s a fascinating series here beneath all the ecchi posturing and naked fanservice.

By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

I am starting to come to terms with No Game No Life. All the problems I had with the first volume are still there, with underage nudity, pointless ecchi fetishes, and another token loli added towards the end. But all the strengths are still there as well, this being a world with two strong lead characters, a fascinating premise, and enough humor that doesn’t revolve around panties that I found myself laughing quite a bit. More to the point, all the questions I had at the end of my first review are actually answered, always a plus for a light novel series. And unlike the first book, this one ends on a nasty, if rather sudden, cliffhanger that will leave you wondering what disaster has befallen Shiro and… um, was there someone else?

The girl staring saucily at us from the cover is Jibril, who is essentially an Angel, and probably the best addition to the cast this volume. She has a lust for knowledge (pretty much literally), a surprisingly vicious streak (the angels used to do mass slaughter till the ‘game board rules’ were enforced, and she misses killing), and a truly flaky personality that leads to the funniest section of the book, where she greets our heroes in broken gratuitous English. (The translation, by the way, gives this as broken gratuitous Japanese, which works, as well as a Kyoto dialect (Southern US) and ‘l33t-speak’ to convey just how silly and irritating Jibril is being.) The shiritori battle which follows is jaw-dropping, once again showing how smart and forward-thinking [ ] are (Here the translator is forced to simply give the Japanese word right after the translation, as it simply can’t be translated).

Stephanie, as you might expect, is mostly used as a figure of humiliation and humor, though she does get a few chances to shine, as she’s basically running the entire country while Sora and Shiro research how to possibly win against any other race. Speaking of which, we’re introduced to the first big challenge, the Werebeasts, who supposedly can read minds and also have animal attributes that make them scary, but to someone like Sora, that means only one thing – cute girls with animal ears and tails. And that’s exactly what he and Shiro get, as they meet the ‘ambassador’ of the Werebeasts, an 8-year-old with a tendency to swear copiously as she’s not used to the human language and doesn’t know better. She’s such a fetish figure that I almost have to shake my head and laugh, but I hope she gets character development later as the others here do.

I said in my first review that I wish the series could just drop the service and get on with it, but I suspect that part of the reason why No Game No Life is so successful is its ability to balance the two sides equally. The game theory is interesting, the plot twists usually surprising and well-thought out, and Sora as a large ham is fun. Shiro has less to do, but she’s far more introverted, and given the cliffhanger, I suspect a lot of Book 3 will have to feature her taking charge. And the fanservice is truly ridiculous (the chance of something pornographic happening, as with most Japanese ecchi series, is below zero), clearly not taking itself seriously – Sora even gives the naked girls Barbie Doll Anatomy at one point. If it weren’t for the fanservice, I’d happily recommend this to anyone. As it is, I recommend it to people who already know the series.