No Game No Life: Zero

No Game, No Life: Zero (Japanese:ノーゲーム・ノーライフ ゼロ, Nōgēmu Nōraifu Zero) is a Japanese anime film based on the light novel series No Game No Life by Yuu Kamiya. The film was directed by Atsuko Ishizuka at studio Madhouse (company). It premiered in Japan on July 15, 2017. The film has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in the United States, Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand, and by MVM Entertainment in the United Kingdom.

Plot
That's a tale from 6000 years ago. The [first legend] that led to the [new legend]. The tale that disappeared from the registers and peoples' memories now unfolds. Izuna and Tet play a game to wager food. As they continue their next game, Tet tells her of a story from 6000 years ago, during the Great War. The Old Deus have driven humankind to the brink of extinction as war is raged upon the heavens and the earth in their quest to become the One True God. Riku, the leader of humanity's last colony along with his sister Corone, lets another one of his companions die in a Demonia attack while sourcing for intel, tormenting him with nightmares and guilt. The colony is at a loss for what to do with their leader in this state, their reducing numbers, and the frequent battles that endanger their lives around the area. The next day, Riku returns to an Elvish hideout he found to investigate. There, he stumbles upon an Ex-Machina that requests for procreation in order to understand the human heart, an idea that defies logic. Although he initially refuses, his eyes light up at the prospect of a chess game she challenges him to, despite knowing Ex-Machinae' frightening calculation abilities. Riku loses and they agree to a terms of exchange whereby he gets to take advantage of her logical prowess, and in return she will stay with him and learn about the human heart. With only a designation code assigned to her, Riku names her Schwi, as a short-form for Schwarzer which means "black" in German, after her hair. Schwi accidentally forces Riku to confront the people he made die. While this causes a quarrel between them it helps her gain a deeper understanding into Riku's personality and helps him face his trauma. Through working together, both realize that they make an incredible team. They devise a plan to break into the core of the planet to achieve the Suniaster, a legendary instrument designed to give the strongest the power of One True God, by utilising the powers generated from the spirit circuit of all the races, and Schwi's machinery to shift its direction. Riku proposes to Schwi despite the differences in their races and the latter previously destroying the former's last home. When he starts to fall apart though, Schwi decides to acquire the Suniaster herself so that he will not die, inevitably meeting Jibril. A vicious battle ensues and Schwi dies, but remembers to lay the last foundations of their plan by reconnecting with her cluster of Ex-Machina and employing them to help Riku. As Jibril deals the last strike, Schwi uses the last of her energy to protect Riku's wedding ring, and Jibril, having all her power spent, temporarily reverts to a younger form and is put out of action. Devastated by Schwi's death, Riku forces himself to complete the plan, but his body fails at the last second. He prays aloud to a God of Games he used to play with as a child, to take the Suniaster and end the war. Tet, having spawned from Riku's imagination, grants his wish and changes the world forever. Returning to the present, Izuna notices remarkable resemblance of Schwi and Riku to Shiro and Sora, and their team being the descendants. Together, they look towards the future, ready to begin the game.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Since this movie serves as a prequel to the original No Game No Life series, unlike the original, where two siblings have been transported to another world to challenge a god, No Game No Life: Zero tells a dark story about war, destruction, and things that lead up to the main storyline.
 * 2) The story's tone may be different compared to the original, but it still managed to be a very engaging and an interesting war film.
 * 3) * Some of its tragedy and romance have a very similar charm and feel as mh:besttvshows:Your Lie In April, mh:besttvshows:Tokyo Ghoul, Your Name, 5 Centimeters Per Second, .etc.
 * 4) Fantastic animation. Even much better than the show it was based on.
 * 5) Likable characters like Schwi and Riku.
 * 6) * Schwi is introduced as a machine built to fight during the war, then became much more human after learning the human heart and emotions from Riku, and deciding to marry him. Not to mention, she is very adorable.
 * 7) * Riku was once a selfish young man who would do anything to survive, but after meeting Schwi, it lead to bring back his humanity, and found hope for him to survive the war.
 * 8) Excellent voice acting, both sub and dub. In fact, both Schwi and Shiro have the same voice actress, and Riku and Sora also have the same voice actor.
 * 9) This movie uses themes, like war, loss, tragedy and punishment really well.
 * 10) The heart wrenching fight between Schwi and Jibril is very well animated, choreographed.
 * 11) While short, the romance between Schwi and Riku is beautiful and heartwarming, a loving tale of growth, learning, and comical mishaps, despite her being a machine and Riku, a full-blooded human. They even made vows and got married!
 * 12) It tells the origin story of Tet, where he made a promise to Riku before dying.
 * 13) Beautiful and touching soundtrack. Konomi Suzuki's "There is a Reason" in the ending is very emotional.
 * 14) It had good morals that even if you can't fix what you've destroyed, and/or sugarcoat it, it's never too late to start over again.
 * 15) Schwi's cute dialogue: Hee-hee-hee, is this better enough for you big brother?
 * 16) * ''ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The ending left audiences an unsatisfying cliffhanger. When Sora, Shiro and the others are about to challenge Tet in a game of chess, which was supposed to be a set-up for the second season, but the movie suddenly ends there, and serves nothing but sequel bait.
 * 2) * Though this situation is pretty understandable, since the author Yuu Kamiya had suffered unfortunate health problems during the series' production, which prompted him to initially make it into a light novel, and are likely the reason there hasn't been a new light novel volume published since 2018.
 * 3) Jibril is really unlikable just for wanting to mercilessly kill Schwi and collect her head as a trophy without any reason why.
 * 4) * While it is true that she participated during the war, Jibril's presence in the film just felt shoehorned in last minute, and her relationship with Schwi is kind of bare boned.
 * 5) While likable,  Riku is a bit of a hypocrite. He blames Schwi for the death of his comrades when it's mostly his fault.

Reception
No Game No Life: Zero received a 74% on mh:rottenwebsites:Rotten Tomatoes, and an 8.3/10 in Myanimelist. The film opened at number 7 in the Japanese box office, before dropping to number 10 on its second weekend. It had grossed ¥500 million as of August 18, 2017, and ¥700 million as of September 30, 2017.

Trailer
 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MQkYCxyJGEU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FPHxFER6VOw

Ending Theme
https://youtu.be/wrpRv1pyV6I