What is it?

Making a new game.

How Did I get Into New Game?

I got into New Game because one of my close friends of mine who doesn’t watch anime but is into programming, recommended the anime to me. He knew I just got into anime a few months ago, and I wanted to watch a bunch of short animes first to see what genres I like and dislike. I decided to try it because I too want to become a programmer sometime in the future too, and I wanted to see what kind of anime he watched as his first anime (It was quite different from my first anime, Attack On Titan, to say the least).

Synopsis

Suzukaze Aoba just graduated high school and got a job as one of the artists in Eagle Jump, and joined the character team there. Aoba is met by a lot of friendly and welcoming people at Eagle Jump. She realizes that her boss is the character designer of her favourite game when she was a child, Fairies Story and Fairies Story II. Later that night, when the character team was leaving Eagle Jump, it was revealed to Aoba that the next game they are making is Fairies Story III. How will Fairies Story III turn out? What other games will Aoba and the Eagle Jump company decide to make in the future?

Any Flaws/Dislikes?

Some things that I disliked from the anime is that I got to experience some things I did not get to experience during Promised Neverland and Attack On Titan. I got to (unfortunately) experience anime girls in underwear, showering, changing, and literally naked. This kind of made me uncomfortable, since I prefer my anime characters to be fully clothed. There are some parts that they sexualized that I didn’t really like, like a zoom in pan of someones butt or underwear.

One thing I love in either a game, book, or anime is a huge and complicated story, and there isn’t very much of a story in this anime. The main story is the progress made for Fairies Story III and other games they’ve created in season 2 of the anime. The end goal of the anime was essentially to finish a game within the timespan, and other little side story elements. This type of story is totally different than killing beasts in order to save the world.

I also feel like they could’ve stretched some parts out of the story, with the main one being:

Spoilers For S2 In season 2, there was a meeting between Yagami, Aoba, Hazuki, Christina, Rin, and Umiko. Christina and Hazuki told Aoba that she couldn't make the key visuals, even though she was the main character designer(For PECO not Fairies Story III) and Yagami should do it instead because Yagami's name will bring more revenue and she is more experienced. Firstly, this was one of the first times they brought up the profit and businesses aspect of money FOR A GAME in the story. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like Hazuki and Christina were being too harsh on Aoba even though she only has 1 year of art experience. Rin also agreed with Hazuki and Christina, which I find kind of weird since I felt like Rin would be the one supporting Aoba. Some of the things Christina and Hazuki said to Aoba were:

"If you don't do it Yagami, we'll hire a professional"

"You don't stand a chance against Yagami's 8 year experience"

"It's a fixed result you know Aoba, no matter how good your art piece is, we're going to use Yagami's artwork for the brand name which'll lead to more sales"

I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say this to someone who is in their first year of art experience, it could break their confidence. Furthermore, how do you get experience and get your name out there if you can't do things that'll get you more experience. Also, Aoba's dream is to be like Yagami, and I feel like in a way, Hazuki and Christina are preventing that. Typically, I wouldn't be defending a main character this much because they have to get ragged on for the story, but Aoba is too nice and pure of a person to get ragged on. One thing I found crazy was that Aoba just shrugged it off like it was nothing, and there was no sense of tension between any of them.

Aoba and Yagami did the competition to see who gets the key visuals, and obviously Yagami won. They didn't even show the competition like the first competition for the character designer for PECO. One thing I wished was that this would've been more than one episode, not even, like 10 minutes of an episode because I feel like they could've expanded on it more just like the first competition.

Characters

The characters are all either very cutesy or very socially awkward. Not going to lie, this is what I thought an anime would be, very cutesy artwork with not much of a story, and a very cutesy or socially awkward personality. My favourite character, like most people in the anime, is Hifumi Tamimoto. She’s very shy, socially awkward, and really pretty too, with her blue sparkling eyes. Hifumi Tamimoto

Yun Iijima’s face kind of reminds me of Elise from Fire Emblem Fates too but with much shorter hair. Yun Iijima’s personality kind of matches Elises too – very cutesy and positive.
Yun Iijima Elise

Spoilers S2 and S3 Hopes I like how we got the backstory of the new programmer, Narumi because ever since she joined Eagle Jump, she seemed way too perfect -- being able to program games really quick with no errors or any bugs at all.

As for the New Game season 2 ending, I love in the grand reveal of their newest game PECO, Yagami credited Aoba for her character designs and told Aoba to come up on stage, which Aoba didn't expect at all. The final episode was very emotional since the face of Eagle Jump, Yagami, revealed to the whole company, and not just Rin, that she is leaving to go to France and work on games.

I'm certain that New Game season 3 will come out, and some hopes for season 3 are:

-Once Yagami goes to France, I would like to see who gets the Art Director or Character Designer position between Aoba or Momiji

-I would like to see the continuation of the competition between Aoba and Momoiji

-I would like to see Yagami visit Eagle Jump or Eagle Jump to go to France and visit Yagami and her company

-How Eagle Jump operates without the face of their company

-What new games will Eagle Jump be making and what new games will Yagami be making?

-How is Yagami's company in France compared to Eagle Jump?

-Will Yagami return to her shy self just like when she joined Eagle Jump?

Music

As for the music, the season 1 opening was pretty decent, it was cutesy and it show’s everyone’s personality at the company very effectively. Not going to lie, the anime opening felt pretty long, being 1:30. However, Attack On Titans was either the same or longer, so I guess the New Game intro didn’t hook me in that much Season 1 Opening. As for the season 2 intro, I really enjoyed it, especially the chorus. The chorus is really really catchy. Out of all the music played in New Game, the season 2 intro is my favourite Season 2 Opening. For the season 2 intro, 0:47 is very much waifu material… Season 2 Waifu Material

Season 1 and 2 both have the same outro song. The outro was decent, with the chorus being pretty catchy. As for the animation, it seemed like they were in a video game world simulation that they programmed and made art for, which I thought was pretty neat. Season 1 & 2 Outro

Final Thoughts and Grade

This anime was definitely a different vibe and genre from the action and deep story of Attack on Titan and Promised Neverland. Nevertheless, I still relatively enjoyed the story, characters, and music. This was a good insight on a rough idea of what a video development company would look like, since I would like to be apart of a programming company sometime in the future after university. It is confirmed that there will be a New Game season 3 coming out sometime in the summer of 2022, and I will update this blog when it happens. As for now, I would have to rate New Game! a 7/10 due to the lack of story, some uncomfortable scenes, mediocre intro, and great cutesy and relatable characters.