Irregular Magic Highschool The Movie V.S No Game No Life Zero(100th Post Ranting)

Highest Patreon Supporter: KBKYZD, Abdul Knight for the 100$ dono!!!!(New!) RegisRagnarok, SinAria, Alice and terror100 !!!!!
TL;DR: Translator-san was bored and wants to share his feelings about the recent movies that he loved and adore when he read the Light Novel and watched the Anime before in the past.
Okay first off, you might be thinking, why the heck is a translator who is supposed to focus on translating his/her own web novel series and instead chooses to waste his time ranting about some weeb anime movie that had just came out recently? Well, you aren’t wrong, I am still translating Level 1 Guy just fine(shameless promotion), but I can’t keep these thoughts any longer and I just wanted to share it with my readers who clearly knows I LOVE NO GAME NO LIFE ESPECIALLY SHIRO OMG SHE’S BEST WAIFU!!!!
Ehem….So yeah, why not for my 100th post, I thought of doing a sort of ranting/comparison of my two most beloved anime shows of all time, No game no life, and Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei(Irregular Magic High school). What they did right in the movie and what they did not. So yeah, if you think that you can’t handle some criticism then please go ahead and close this or go and read the latest chapter of Level 1 Guy or Fantasy Falls why don’t you~
So let’s start, oh and before I forget…
Oh and also…..
Okay let the games begin, I mean ranting…
Let’s begin with the most recent one I’d just watched, no game no life zero. In the past, when I was reading the LN of no game no life, I’d instantly fell in love with it, the characters, the plot, and most importantly, the psychological usage behind each words and actions Sora and Shiro made. I was immediately immersed into the so-called “Disboard World” and soon I read finish Volume 5. I won’t get too in-depth with the story of the books I read as people who are reading this might not have read the book yet(assuming), so for those who know what I meant, be prepared to be.. TRIGGERED!!!
So yes, when I went on to read Volume 6, which was about the movie, my interest plummeted, like the anime SAO when I watched it till episode 12(just sayin’). It started really normal at first, where Tet was playing a game of chest with Izuna, and as they were playing, Tet was talking about what happened before Disboard became what it was as of right now, but as soon as it cuts of to talking about Riku, I was like….the hell is this??? Why is it soooooo booooriiing!! It was all ranting about this and that where they suffered and the war blah blah blah. Okay, granted I did not get pass even two paragraphs of the book(maybe exaggerated a little), but still, this book took away what was joyful of reading this LN, the psychological warfare between each race. So yeah, I closed the book, did not bother reading it and told my friend(who’s my editor now KKinji), that if they were to come a time where the Author would come out a movie about this, I will 1000000% watch it instead of reading it, because showing it visually would be more interesting to follow, and viola! They granted my wish!
For those who have not seen the movie, please check out the trailer! (OR just watch it before reading ahead)
Okay onto the movie part, again I won’t talk much about the entire movie as I’m afraid people might not have watched it yet and was about to but got ruined by me, so I’m just gonna go onto the gist of things, it WAS FREAKING BRILLIANT! I loved everyone moment of the scene and the visuals were, *MUAH* *MAMAMIA* FANTASTIC-AH! The battle with Jibril was awesome, #manlytears and all in all, it was what I had hoped for from the Author himself. So, someone might be wondering, what are the flaws then? NONE! Is what I would say if my friend did not mention that they were a lot of details they left out in the movie, which was kinda weird when I was watching and some parts just didn’t make sense to me. BUT, that’s not the point, the point was for me to get interested in the LN again and made me want to read the Author’s books and anticipating a season 2(Which I’m afraid might not be out..ever!).
Having a backstory as a movie, was what they nailed it for me, it was what’s needed to make this already brilliant LN great again! Not spoiling so much for the Anime but also having subtle references where you would get when watching the first season, and also wanting to KILL SOMEONE SO BADLY!!!! So yes, I would give this movie a 9999/10, but sadly that’s impossible, so I’ll give it a 9/10, because critics can’t give a full mark to any movies.
Oh, before I forget, the song at the end? Nailed it as well, they took Konomi Suzuki, who was the OP singer for NGNL, to sing their new movie, which was another plus point for me. So for those who have not listen to it yet, I recommend you go and listen before I start complaining…I mean ranting about Irregular Magic High School. (It helps to sooth your nerve)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQYUjrTcBA
OKAY! ONTO MAHOUKA!!!
First off, this picture on top sums up the entire movie. For those who have not read the book for mahouka(I’m gonna refer the title mahouka from now on), who the F**K is this girl? And why does she look like the smaller version of Miyuki??? People watchign this would not even know jack-sh*t about the movie, even I who have read the LN quite far don’t even know what the heck was going throughout the movie.
Let’s start of with what went wrong with the movie.
- As mentioned above, if the viewers did not even read the book or at least, AT LEAST watched the anime, you wouldn’t even know what’s going on and is left there thinking to yourself, “Why did I agree to come and watch this?”.
- For NGNL Zero, if you did not like the movie it was fine, but at least you understood how Tet became The One True God and why was Sora and Shiro was chosen to come to Disboard to begin with. For this, what the hell? The scene starts with a lot of chibi girls(from the picture above, because CTRL+C and CTRL+V is a thing) being put in some weird machine and is used to, power up something? Then they immediately jump cut into a beach scene(obviously fan service) where you see all your lovely characters wearing a bikini. When I watched the entire movie from start to finish, I was like, what was the entire purpose? I don’t even know what’s going on, who’s that blonde american girl? what’s even going on??? It does not even try to relate with the anime and just let those who have read the entire LN to enjoy.
- Okay, I know this is not important, but I still have to point it out, the price ticket I spent for this show was twice the amount I spent watching NGNL Zero, which was shit because it made me feel that I wasted THIS MUCH to watch a pointless filler movie? Sign me out.
Okay, I know I have a lot of other things I would’ve rant about but I don’t want to make an already long post longer by pin pointing everything that was flawed about this movie, I suggest you go and watch the movie or at least watch the trailer to understand my point of view, which is down below if you have not watch it already.
Now, onto the next segment of what they would’ve done right, or what they could’ve done to make it to not fuck up the movie.
They could use a different side story, maybe the one where they talk about the past of Miyuki and Tatsuya and how they came to know each other and why is Miyuki and Tatsuya such a bro/siscon. I find doing that would’ve strengthen the story telling potential like NGNL Zero as, yes it has nothing to do with the main story, but at least now you know who Tatsuya and Miyuki truly is, and also why is Tatsuya like how he is today. I find that would’ve turned out to be a much more compelling movie to watch. I know this is very subjective, others might think that the one right now is fine or maybe another side story would do, but come on! You don’t even know who she(picture below) was when watching the entire movie. The entire time I was like, “Who’s this girl? Who’s these people? What is their motive? Who’s these duplicate lolis?” It just leads to more and more questions instead of an answer for the audience.
Okay, I know this isn’t a “What they could’ve done right” part, but I’m still gonna mention it anyways. The song choice, yes I know they took in Garnidelia to sing their part, and I really love her and the song too, but here’s the thing, the song, in my opinion, did not make me feel the same as when I watched NGNL Zero or even Kimi No Na Wa(Your Name) where the “feels” just kept flowing out when listening to the songs. For this, I was like, “There was a song? And it was by Garnidelia??? What have they done?!?!”. Anyways, you can check out the song too down below.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it’s just my opinion on this subject, you might think that “Oh, Translator-san is just bias about both the movies and would stand up for NGNL no matter what.” and yes, you might be right about that in some aspects, but did I not mention from the start that I love both this anime/LN? They were both great LN that I started when I first picked up a LN. As I was sitting with my editor(KKinji) and discuss about any flaws for NGNL, there were practically none, because they did it so well that I have no comments for it but praises for not only the Author, but the director of the movie too. Like it or not, that is the truth if you’ve watched both of the movies. Even in the anime for Mahouka, don’t you think it seemed a little….rushed out? Especially after the Blanche’s incident? Don’t you have questions about what’s going on? And yes, they are Anime, they can’t fit in everything into an anime. Then tell me this, why fit 3 arc into an entire season that consists of 26 episodes when you know that one book is as thick as my English textbook I used to toss it towards my friends(exaggeration!!).
Anyways, if you have read this far until here, I congratulate you with all sincerity that you actually read my stupid rant. So here’s my reward for you. You can comment about your like and hate for both this movie because I really want to know how y’all feel about these two movies. And lemme throw in a little more fun for you, have you heard about the controversy being spread about the Author of NGNL? Where he stole other famous Pixiv artist’s poses and literally CTRL+C and CTRL+V the poses? And that was part of the reason why season 2 was cancelled. To me, I don’t really care if he takes the exact pose and just uses it for his books, because it’s still his art when he draws it, and the main point of it is about the story, not about the art. Well the art is also important as it was my first time saluting to an Artist who drew such beautiful and magnificent art for an Anime.
So what are your thoughts about that too? Lemme know about it. Welp this was a really long post, now back to translating more Level 1 Guy I suppose. Chao~
Thank you to Jahanama02 on the comments for giving the link for No Game No Life movie online!!!!
No Game no Life Zero full movie at ==> https://t.co/ltMqP0rnct
Thank you so much to all my patron supporters who have been helping me since the beginning, and to those who are helping me right now as well.
7 Comments
Kaisershin · 20th September 2017 at 11:49 PM
I love both anime and I’m also anticipating both 2nd seasons(which we all no won’t come). Until now, I’ve been replaying mahouka over and over again(especially how OP the MC is). I would love to read the LN but sadly translations had stop and links are dead. I hope i get to watch both movies even though i won’t be able to read the LN versions.
kkinji · 21st September 2017 at 3:06 AM
The translations for NGNL stopped at book 7 currently, and the movie is book 6, just google search and it will pop out, same thing for Mahouka, the translation is currently at book 18 if I am not wrong.
Rasta · 21st September 2017 at 3:31 AM
I used to like NGNL before the 6th volume.
Now I feel the normal parts were lacking, and Riku and ShuVi are superior.
Anonymous_Potato · 22nd September 2017 at 1:31 AM
I think one reason why NGNL dropped its popularity was that it was licensed i am pretty sure it gained its height when it was still fan translated. Also the anime and books were somehow different although both were good( i cant comment about the movie because i cant afford to go out my place and buy a ticket). But now that only one book is depicted in one movie we can assume that they can take out the best of the book unlike the anime adaptations where they would cramp 4 books in 12 episodes so many descriptions, depictions and epicness would be left out, i mean the books already have a flow so cutting a part of it would ruin the story. Even though some parts would seem off but if taken together they would connect with other books. For the mahouka stuff i would agree that the anime was rushed. As a person who reads before watching i can say that the books of mahouka are better than the anime because again from above the flow was already distorted. I also ranted haha…
Shiro · 22nd September 2017 at 8:59 AM
Don’t mind don’t mind~ The whole point of commenting is to rant about your feelings towards a topic/something. And yes I totally agree that in the anime, both NGNL and Mahouka had left out a huge chunk of content from the LN and, although it was sad to say this, but it’s inevitable as they want to appeal to the audience to buy their merchandise and LN…It’s a form of promoting their sales so they had no choice but to, as you mentioned, cramp 4 books into 12 episodes.
But then again, I have no idea how Mahouka, compared to NGNL where each Volume is just like a normal “novel” sized, can cramp..Idk…8-9 volumes(Can’t remember the exact volume) into 26 episodes?? Each volume is so thick that it could be like a J.K Rowlings book, and they expect to fit all that into a measly 26 episodes…So yeah, that was where I was going for when looking at both these series.
Anyways, rant too much again >w< Thanks for reading the entire thing and giving your thoughts about this! Hope that season 2 of both these anime will be out and won't suck!
Jahanam02 · 11th October 2017 at 11:11 PM
No Game no Life Zero full movie at ==> https://t.co/ltMqP0rnct
Shiro · 26th November 2017 at 12:35 AM
YOU’RE A GOD!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I’ve been looking for the movie for the longest online! You my friend deserve a medal!