No Game, No Life
Directed by Atsuko Ishizuka
Based on the Light Novel Series by Yuu Kamiya
Produced by Madhouse, Media Factory
Voice cast: Ai Kayano, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Mamiko Noto, Mugihito, Naomi Shindo, Rie Kugimiya, Risa Taneda, Yoko Hikasa, Yuka Iguchi, Yukari Tamura.
Air dates: Streaming Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. CDT on Crunchyroll

Slacker. Ne’er-do-well. Non-conformist. Hippie. Hermit. Otaku. NEET. Hikikomori. Societies all around the world have come up with a wide range of names to describe people who have decided, for whatever reason, to drop out of the mainstream of society. Usually, there’s a lot of social stigma attached to the label, and the people who have to endure these labels seldom feel welcome in their respective cultures. Sometimes, the desire to get away from everyone and everything can be a very powerful thing. And that’s partly the motivation for a pair of gamer siblings in No Game, No Life, a series directed by Atsuko Ishizuka that is now streaming Wednesday mornings on Crunchyroll.

No Game, No Life tells the story of a brother-and-sister duo of gamers who have devoted so much of their lives to gaming together that they have become an urban legend, known only as [ ] (literally “kuhaku,” or “blank space”) with a reputation of never having lost a single game out of thousands of sessions across 280 or more different games. The pair is actually siblings Sora, 18, and his 11-year-old sister, Shiro, who are both NEETS (short for Not in Education, Employment, or Training) and are also Hikikomoris, or shut-ins.

Witch Craft Works
Directed by Tsutomo Mizushima
Produced by J.C. Staff, Lantis, Kodansha
Voice cast: Yusuke Kobayashi, Asami Seto, Ai Kayano, Shiori Izawa, Ai Matayoshi, Yuka Kuroda, Kana Asumi, You Taichi, Sayaka Oohara, Natsumi Hioka, Momo Asakura, Shiori Izawa, Yuuko Iida, Rie Kugimiya, Shiina Natsukawa
Air Dates: Wednesdays at 1:15 CST
Currently simulcasting on Crunchyroll

Put yourself in this situation: Let’s say you’re a below-average male high school student. You’re scorned by your classmates, and to make things worse, you have to sit next to the most popular girl in the entire school every day, an arrangement that singles you out for all sorts of physical and mental abuse from her fans – both male and female – on an equally daily basis.

Now imagine that the only thing keeping you safe from an entire army of large mechanical rabbits that just invaded your school, hell-bent on your destruction, and the cadre of witches leading them, was a single fire witch who referred to you as her “princess,” and said fire witch is none other than the most popular girl in school.