New Game!

Genre(s): Slice of Life, Comedy

Age-Appropriateness: 13+ (Fan service, mild language)

Platforms: Crunchyroll, Funimation

Episodes: 24

TheAwersome Rating: 8.4 / 10 (Exceeded Expectations)

Premise: Since childhood, Aoba Suzukaze has loved the Fairies Story game series, particularly the character designs. So, when she graduates from high school, it is no surprise that she applies to work at Eagle Jump, the company responsible for making her favorite video game. On her first day, she is excited to learn that she will be working on a new installment to the series: Fairies Story 3—and even more so under Ko Yagami, the lead character designer. Follow Aoba and her coworkers on their adventure through the ups and downs of game making, from making the perfect character design to fixing all the errors that will inevitably accumulate in the process.

TheAwersome’s Thoughts: This was a surprisingly nice middle ground between the craft exploration of Eizouken and a workplace comedy like Wagnaria, Wotakoi, or Aggretsuko. As such we get to learn some interesting things about the process of game creation (specifically character design) while primarily enjoying a workplace sitcom.  There are some solid real issues that get addressed in this that I appreciated, specifically Imposter Syndrome, differing management philosophies, your usual workplace miscommunication dramas, strong variance in coworker personality, etc. As such, it isn’t just pure fluff. It does, however, conveniently avoid the very real and ugly topic of sexism in the workplace (specifically Japanese workplace) by having an all-female cast. Using the kawaii art style where everyone kind of looks like kids (but you can still distinguish age quite well) probably contributed to the decision for the all-female cast. They do hang a lantern on this aspect, so it’s at least acknowledged.

TLDR: A fun, interesting, and surprisingly substantial sitcom about making games.

Note: I probably wouldn’t recommend this until one is more acclimated to anime. The occasional fan service coupled with the kawaii/moe character design could be off-putting otherwise. That being said, Harbour’s experience for art and mine for programming made this both heckin’ cute and very relatable.