Ever want to work for a video game company? Do you wish that you were surrounded by cute girls, each with their own form of social anxiety? If the answer is yes to both, then New Game! will be a show for you as it gives you a not-so-accurate, yet common look into the video game industry and what it’s like to work for a game company… sort of.
First Episode Impressions
Aoba Suzukaze is a high school graduate who gets accepted to the video game company Eagle Jump. She is working with the character design team on the upcoming Fairy Stories 3 game which she adored as a child. Her first day on the job is rather nerve-wracking as she feels isolated among her new co-workers, but she soon discovers that it’s due to the fact that they like to communicate through private messaging rather than speaking. Even when they invite her out to lunch, they’re rather nervous about doing so.
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the gist of the first episode of New Game!. We get your typical character introductions from her co-workers to her bosses, but outside of that, this is a slice-of-life show about Aoba and this episode mainly focused on the trials and tribulations of her first day on the job. Putting all of that aside, this show is cute as heck, though! Aoba is adorable and how everyone acts so nervously around each other at first is reminiscent of being stuck in a routine at a job and all of a sudden a new employee shows up and you just don’t know how to act. Inversely, the same goes for Aoba as she’s nervous when she tries to adapt to her new surroundings.
One little running gag in this episode was Aoba needing to use the restroom and getting locked out of the office. The first time because they never issued her an ID Card yet and the second time because she forgot it at her desk, which is rather humorous seeing how she had just received it a mere moment earlier and she already forgot it. Another running gag is that everyone suspects her to be a little kid that’s still in middle school due to her short stature and young looks. It’s just little things like that which sell the show’s comedy.
While I don’t believe New Game! is going to end up as one of the best animes this season, I do believe it’s a good down-to-Earth show that you can watch as a breather from some of the more intense and blockbuster shows that are out this season. It’s a show you can just sit back and relax with and have a couple of laughs. The comedy isn’t off the wall like you would find in other SOL shows like Working!!, but it does have a refreshing atmosphere about it. It’s like someone took Non Non Biyori and put it inside of a game company.
OP & ED Impressions
“SAKURA Skip” by fourfolium is the opening theme for New Game! and it’s performed by the voice actresses for the series. I hate to use standard fare here as a way to describe the opening, but once you experience it for the first two seconds, you already know what kind of opening this is. It’s your typical upbeat light rock theme with trumpets that you can find in almost any moe anime gracing God’s Green Earth. Add in the typical visuals such as pastel dots and backgrounds and you’ve got your cookie cutter moe opening down to a T. Song isn’t bad though… it’s catchy, but nothing that’s going to make me want to go out and get on release day.
“Now Loading!!!!” by fourfolium is the ending theme and yes, same voice actresses are singing the ending theme as well. Another standard fare ending with an upbeat JPOP style to it. Again, if you’ve heard one of these kind of songs, you’ve heard them all. Still, a catchy tune, but I swear, it’s like Japan has a piece of software that randomly generates this stuff and they just get the cast the sing lyrics to it. Take a chance with your openings and endings… Watamote did and it paid off rather well!
Worth Watching?
YES – I think New Game! is going to be a sleeper show this season because people may not be expecting much from it, but the first episode wasn’t really that bad. Yes, it does take some liberties with the reality of the game industry, but this isn’t supposed to give an accurate depiction of what it’s like to work for a game company. The show just wants you to relax and enjoy a bit of comedy and ignore all of the inaccuracies that it presents about the industry. If you can suspend your disbelief in such a way, you’ll enjoy this show,
