The battle of tastes: best of anime

This article is dedicated to anime

February 20th is the date for the first match of the renovated  NAVI.GG.BET roster at . Surely, the fans of NAVI are looking forward to the first games of the team. The first opponent on the battlefield will be  Fnatic - the winner of the regional SEA qualifiers.

Both teams had some changes during the reshuffle period, and it is crucial for both teams to have a good run in Poland. However, the dedicated fans know that there is something else in common between  Fnatic and NAVI - both SEA team and our squad have an anime fan!

We're talking about the core players of  NAVI and  Fnatic - Vladislav "Crystallize" Krystanek and Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao. In this article, we are going to talk about anime and find out if the tastes of the cores are different or still similar. Let's dive right in!

Vladislav "Crystallize" Krystanek

Crystallize started to watch anime about 2 years ago. One of the first works to be watched by Vlad was the anime adaptation of a light novel Sword Art Online by a Japanese writer Reki Kawahara. The plot is likely to be attractive to most fans of gaming. In certain sense, it is a representation of something modern players can only dream of.

The main action in Sword Art Online unravels in the MMO with the same title. The technologies of the future made the full immersion into a game possible, trapping the players in the virtual reality. The developers removed the logout button from the menu and declared that the game will only stop if someone will manage to reach the highest level and pass all the challenges.

Of course, there was a catch to this - if the player dies in game, they would also die in real life. The protagonist of the novel "Sword Art Online" is Kirito, one of the beta-testers of the game which almost literally imprisoned the gamers. As of now, there are 2 seasons of Kirito's story, the third one is already planned as well. Crystallize said that the first anime that truly captured him was exactly "Sword Art Online", and it got him interested in the anime as a whole.

The second anime named by Vlad was "Code Geass" - a well-known anime series, released in 2006. The body of the plot takes place in an alternate reality: the British empire maintained its power all the way to the present days, and it is the most powerful state on the brink of the XXI century. The Empire wages wars and the diplomatic conflict with Japan escalates. Finally, Japan gets under the British sphere of influence, and is renamed to "Zone 11".

The protagonist of this anime is Lelouch Lamperouge, son of the British emperor in Japanese exile, who gets hold of an immense power (Geass), allowing him to control people's mind. Lelouch joins the rebels, later on even becoming its head, hoping to restore justice and take vengeance. There are 2 series of the anime, with quite a number of spinoffs, as well as a movie adaptation. The sequels are also planned.

It is quite interesting that EternaLEnVy, a long-time anime fan, also has Code Geass up high on his list. His personal favorite is the second series. As he said, Lelouch is one of his favorite anime characters. Jacky also likes some female characters, like Himeko Inaba - the protagonist of Kokoro Connect.

Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao

A girl, together with 4 friends, is pulled into a rather extraordinary situation: they realize they can swap bodies with each other. This rather strange experience helps them deal with the internal problems, learn to understand the ones that are dear and value others' thoughts and wishes. Of course, there are some love stories in Kokoro Connect - for all you romance fans out there!

The second place in   EternaLEnVy's top is another school-themed anime "Toradora!" Here, the plot revolves around the teenagers who go through the first love, disappointments, rivalries, solving some daily problems meanwhile. The central figures of the story - two extremely different characters, Ryuji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka, who are ready to work together to help each other finally find happiness for themselves. To sum it up, pretty light and romantic story with comedic elements.

By and large, tastes differ! We hope the article helped you to get to know the cores of Natus Vincere and Fnatic a bit better. Now, it is time to find out who's going to be stronger out there, in the battle for the Ancients! Crystallize and  EternaLEnVy will face off against each other today at . We wholeheartedly wish success for the Born to Win, and are hoping you will come and support us on ESL One Katowice broadcasts!  #gonavi