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In episode 5 of No Game No Life, when the two siblings saw the home of the Flugle, they said something and their clothes changed.

I'm pretty sure it was a reference to something, but I can't figure it out.

What were the two siblings referencing?

Aki Tanaka
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CrimsonWarStag
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5 Answers5

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Judging by how they said "Laputa is real" as soon as they see it, I googled 'Laputa', and it seems to refer to Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which is a Studio Ghibli film. The poster on the Wikipedia page has the main characters who seem to match the attire that Sora and Shiro change into.

As for the partly censored word they say later, when trying to figure out how to get up to Avant Heim, I am not sure if it is linked to the movie since I haven't seen it. However, considering they comment that "the servers here are better", it seemed like they were using an abusive/offensive word to see if something would glitch. MMORPG games usually kick out players who use such speech, and while I can't recall exactly which game / instance this might be referring to, I have heard similar references before.

TheGamer007
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The previous answer is possibly correct and it may be likely that it is referencing to the Studio Ghibli film. I also agree about @TheGamer007's theory that they were testing to see if using an offensive word would get them 'kicked'.

However, it would be also possible that it is a direct reference to a much earlier literary work, specifically Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, written in 1726. Laputa is a flying island in the story.

Castle in the Sky's Laputa was also derived from Jonathan Swift's story so it's possible that it's the same for Avant Heim.

W. Are
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Laputa is the floating sky castle in Castle in the Sky

Balse / Balus is the "spell of destruction" the two main characters say to destroy the castle at the end of the film. That's why Sora and Shiro remark that "it's not falling" and "it'll take more than magic words."

Also, their clothes are changing to match that of the protagonists in Castle in the Sky.

user51852
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I just watched this episode of No Life No Game and can absolutely confirm it is in reference to Castle in the Sky by Studio Ghibli. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid. The phrase they used was censored because it is a direct word used from the movie to cast the spell of destruction to bring Laputa down, "balse". The pose and clothing they were in while they said it were pretty much exact to what the characters from Castle in the Sky wore when the spell was cast. With all of that combined it is riding on infringement so thats my guess as to why they censored it. This entire episode and the one following actually had a TON of references in it to other movies as well. It was quite fun to watch!

Jessica
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They are correct it’s 100% Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and the censored word is Balse. Here’s the clip english subbed and if interested you can see for yourself here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohsNX936ME8

SideShow
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