Perhaps it’s not as unlikely as some might think.
Summary:
- Fans still hold hopes for No Game No Life S2.
- The franchise is still going strong in Japan.
- There’s enough content for multiple new seasons.
No Game No Life has been one of the most common answers for “what anime needs a sequel?” for years. After all, the original anime ended with a clear sign of an even more exciting story ahead.
Yes, we got a movie a few years after the series, but that focused largely on the backstory of the world and didn’t satisfy the fans that much.
It has been 10 years since the release of the first season. By all means, this should mean that there are virtually no chances of No Game No Life ever getting a sequel. However, fans still don’t lose hope — and they have some points.
Fan theories about it not getting a sequel because of the author are baseless
For years, many fans assumed that the reason No Game No Life is not getting a sequel is because of the controversy the author was involved in.
Yuu Kamiya, who both writes the light novel series and illustrates them himself, traced one of the fanarts for the series for an official illustration. As such, many assumed he would be essentially blacklisted from the industry, and his works would get no more adaptations.
However, that happened back in 2015. The movie for No Game No Life came out in 2017, and an adaptation of another work he wrote (although didn’t illustrate), Clockwork Planet, also aired the same year.
As such, the idea that he’s “blacklisted” from the industry makes no sense. No Game No Life continues to release light novels as well. Clearly, there are some other factors in play.
It’s still relevant
The anime is actually still quite popular in Japan. For its 10th anniversary, it posted several collabs, indicating at least some amount of relevance. As such, fans hope for at least some announcement regarding a sequel at some point in the future.
The light novels are still selling well. While not as popular as they were 10 years ago, they still sell well. The latest volume — Vol12, released in early 2023 — sold around 16 thousand copies in the first week in Japan. This is more copies sold than many other series that get adaptations.
There’s definitely enough content
Fans also feel like Kadokawa (the LN publisher) is trying to continue their series from the 2010s to capitalize on the sequel trend. After all, we did get the sequel for The Devil is a Part-Timer! (Hataraku Maou-sama!) a few years ago. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu) seems to be getting new seasons consistently.
NGNL has more than enough content for multiple new seasons. The first season adapted Volumes 1-3, while the movie adapted the prequel Vol7 — and with good sales, it’s really weird that we didn’t get a sequel yet.