Challenger

Challenger (挑戦者) is the second episode of the No Game, No Life anime series. It first aired in Japan on April 16, 2014 on AT-X, and later on April 18, 2014 on other networks.

Plot summary
Sora and Shiro learn that the human kingdom of Elchea is in a terrible state, as the whole population is confined in the last remaining city, after the previous king lost almost all their territory to the neighboring countries. The duo joins forces with Stephanie Dola to defeat Chlammy Zell and save the Imanity from their damnation.

Plot
Sora provokes Stephanie into playing rock paper scissors. He tells her that he will only play paper. If Sora wins, he will get 1 small favor from Stephanie. If Stephanie wins, she will get a hint on how Chlammy cheated. Stephanie tried to out-think Sora, but failed, resulting in Sora winning the game.

Sora then told her that his favor shall be for her to fall in love with him. He then asks Shiro if it was good move or what, making it so she ill have to let him come to the palace and get all of her stuff. Shiro than tells him that he could've just told her to give him all her stuff. Sora, dumbfounded, realized that his subconscious wish to not be a virgin clouded his thinking. Stephanie, trying her hardest not to fall in love with him, started banging her head against the wall. Shiro started teasing Sora and pushed him into Stephanie, forcing him to grab her boobs. Stephanie was overjoyed, thanks to the Pledges they made, until she finally snapped out of it and kicked him out of the room. She then noticed Sora having a mental breakdown outside, rambling on about how he never wants to touch another girl, and then noticed Shiro doing the same thing, rambling on about how she doesn't want Sora to leave her. When Stephanie opened the door all the way, and Shiro and Sora saw each other, they immediately got up and hugged each other. Stephanie concluded that they were crazy.

When Shiro and Stephanie was in the bath, Sora explained why they had Mr. Steve around, and he tried to get Stephanie to show him her boobs by having her pick up something. But Shiro picked it up and showed her elbow pit, simulating the look of cleavage.

After Sora and Shiro received some clothes, and Stephanie remaining in a bed sheet, Stephanie offered to make some tea. When she went out to make some, she started thinking about her and Sora getting married, as a result of the pledges, much to the fear of some maids. When she went back to give them some cookies and tea, she told herself not to fall for his other-worldly charms, and then entered the room. She noticed that they were sitting on the balcony and then they talked about how Imanity was the lowest-ranked, due to their low affinity to magic. Sora and Shiro thought back to the girl using magic in the bar, and then went to the library.

At the library, Shiro immediately picked up on the Imanity language, and then encouraged Shiro to do the same. Stephanie thought about how Sora had amazing problem solving abilities and Shiro had an amazing intellect and they had perfect teamwork. She then thought to how they might be the two to save Elchea. Sora then asked Stephanie what her reasons were for wanting to be king, and she responded by saying she wanted to prove that her grand father was not a fool.

In the hallway they ran into Chlammy and when she saw Stephanie's rags, she gave back the clothes she won in her and Stephanie's game. When Stephanie tried to grab them, Chlammy dropped them and started insulting her. When Stephanie started tearing up, Sora told her that she was just proving Chlammy right and gave Chlammy the clothes back, telling her that she won the clothes and she will keep them...but not for long. Chlammy then noted that Stephanie had found some fools.

As Sora talked with Shiro, Shiro told him that Sora was having a blast, and he said it was better than living in their old world. Sora told Stephanie that they were gonna prove to everyone that her grand father wasn't a fool, and as they walked down the hall he made a note on his phone that he was going to become king.

Characters
The following characters are listed by the order which they appear in.

Major characters

 * Stephanie Dola
 * Sora
 * Shiro
 * Chlammy Zell

Minor characters

 * Speaking roles
 * Stephanie Dola's maids
 * Elderly official
 * Non-speaking roles
 * Fiel Nirvalen (flashback)

Events
For games, the challenger is listed before the challenged party.
 * Rock-paper-scissors match between Stephanie Dola and Sora, where the latter can only play paper
 * Result: Tie
 * Stephanie is forced to fall in love with Sora due to the pledges
 * Stephanie explains the 16 races of Disboard
 * Sora aspires to become the King.

Key differences from light novel
In the light novel,
 * Two mobile phones and laptops' cameras were deployed in the bath by Sora to peep on Stephanie, instead of just one mobile phone which Shiro blocked with her elbow. Shiro did not block Sora's cameras in the light novel, but later discovered the video of the two girls in the bath on Sora's PC.
 * Stephanie's home is located at the third district of the western region in Elchea, whereas the anime depicts her home to be within King City.

Trivia

 * The natural lingua franca for the Imanity is literally named Imanity-go (Imanity language).
 * The menacing look the siblings gave is a reference to Jojo's Bizarre Adventures.
 * In episode 2, as Stephanie Dola pounds her head on the wall, she screeches: "WRYYYYY!!". This is Brando Dio's famous cry from the anime "Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken".
 * When Sora yells objection (異議あり!) this is a reference to Ace Attorney (逆転裁判) in which Pheonix Wright regularly yells out this.

Credits

 * Screenplay: Hanada Jukki (花田十輝)
 * Storyboard: Watanabe Kotono (渡邉こと乃)
 * Director: Ikehata Takashi (池端隆史)
 * Animation director: Ozeki Miyabi (小関雅)