

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?


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no-game-no-life
What were the two siblings referencing in episode 5 of No Game No Life?


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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.


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The previous answer is possibly correct and it may be likely that it is
referencing to the [Studio Ghibli
film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_in_the_Sky). 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laputa) is a flying
island in the story.

[Castle in the Sky's Laputa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_in_the_Sky)
was also derived from Jonathan Swift's story so it's possible that it's the
same for [Avant Heim](https://no-game-no-life.fandom.com/wiki/Avant_Heim).


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2019-05-07T05:06:43.427
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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.


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2020-02-04T02:17:40.480
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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!


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2021-04-07T04:57:59.853
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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>


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