When the sequel to
New Game! was first announced in Feb 2017, the game development community were not as excited for it, due to the first season being not as positively received by game developers who aren’t artists.
New Game!! (note the double exclamation mark) is quick to realise its mistakes and explores actual game development in both character art and programming teams, and tones down the exaggerated cute-girls-doing-cute-things tropes that plagued the previous season, in favour of realistic human interaction that will tug at your heartstrings. (Minor gripe: they missed the chance to name this
New Game+ !!!!)
I am a game developer with focus on game design and programming. This review is written after my second viewing. Unlike its light-hearted predecessor, New Game!! features a prominent plot and gets pretty heavy (for a CGDCT anime) as early as episode 2. Nevertheless, the anime manages to find the perfect balance between playtime and seriousness. This review contains mild spoilers. Explicit spoilers are hidden.
One year has passed since Suzukaze Aoba entered Eagle Jump, and post-release busyness for the recently released title Fairies Story 3 is almost over. The executives at Eagle Jump now want to create a new intellectual property (“IP”) distinct from the Fairies Story franchise. A character design contest is opened, and whoever wins the contest will be the character designer for this IP. Aoba, who is a fan of Fairies Story since young, has always wanted to design characters due to Yagami Kou’s captivating character designs for said franchise. To Aoba, this is a dream come true. Of course, Aoba becomes the lead character designer for the new IP.
Meanwhile, Sakura Nene is bad at art, so she focuses on programming (heh, same as me). Nene has been developing a game by herself in secret, wanting to give her childhood friend Aoba a surprise. However, since she is a programming newbie, she makes a lot of rookie mistakes and gets disheartened. She turns to Ahagon Umiko, her superior during her part-time stint at Eagle Jump, for help on her programming issues. After hearing from Umiko that there is no such thing as a bug-free game, Nene gets back her confidence and continues developing the game. Not long after, Nene decides to join Eagle Jump as a part-time programmer, juggling work and university studies at the same time.
(Apparently, she wrote her own game engine in C++ before showing Umiko, so she is already way more advanced than me! But then again, one can always copypasta code from ‘MeTube’ tutorials without actually understanding anything which was hinted later in the season, so, meh.)There is also some manpower movement prior to the development of the new IP: Tooyama Rin is now producer; Yagami Kou replaces Rin as art director; Shinoda Hajime becomes one of the game designers for the IP on top of her animation workload; Takimoto Hifumi becomes character team leader upon Kou’s recommendation and encouragement; and Umiko is promoted to programming lead. With the exception of Rin, we see character development for all the above mentioned characters. Kou learns to accept what happened in the past and become a ‘good senpai’ for Aoba and the others; Hifumi is willing to step out of her comfort zone and tackle her fear of social interaction; and Iijima Yun realises that she was unable to grow due to her constant negativity. After the reshuffle and character development, the anime continues with a fresh dynamic, different from the first season.
In the later half of the season, office drama is introduced with the entry of Mochizuki Momiji and Narumi Tsubame as interns. Momiji joined Eagle Jump for the same reason that Aoba did – Yagami Kou – but the difference is Momiji had actual modelling experience from vocational school, while Aoba had none when she first joined. Momiji views Aoba as a rival after learning Aoba is the lead character designer at her age, and the contrast between the two is purposely made evident with their behaviour, as well as in their names (Aoba: 青葉, green leaf; Momiji: 紅葉, red leaf). Tsubame started programming at a young age due to Momiji’s influence, and starts looking down on Nene upon learning that she had no aspirations and picked up programming on a whim.
The contrasts between the two pairs are purposely made evident, highlighting the parallels between Aoba & Nene and Momiji & Tsubame; and also showing the polar opposites that are Aoba & Momiji and Nene & Tsubame. Even the tensions between the characters are contrasting. Momiji, even though seeing a one-sided rivalry with Aoba, respects Aoba as character designer, takes pride in her work and ensures her work is of top quality. On the other hand, Tsubame scoffs at Nene’s programming bugs, and says mean things to Nene such as her getting employed due to her connections to Umiko. Tsubame gets her programming done hastily and doesn’t care about the quality of her work, as long as it secures her employment at Eagle Jump.
The healthy and unhealthy tensions developed feels fresh, and is a much needed spice to the story since it was mostly all high jinks prior to the interns’ debut. It was also necessary to grow the four characters involved.
New Game!! addressed most of my complaints in the first season by putting a lot more emphasis on the actual game development this time round, mentioning field technicalities and issues that may arise during game development in the characters’ daily conversations. Game developers often have conversations like that, even in our arguments, and are definitely not forced into the show just to sound knowledgeable. As a programmer myself, I am amused that the anime makes a point to show that even seasoned programmers make the same mistakes beginners do!
New Game!! also features the publisher meddling in the affairs of the game development, although it is extremely minor in the anime compared to those in the real world.
Not only does New Game!! explore the art and programming aspects of game development, the anime presents an actual game idea that works — the new IP that Eagle Jump is developing this season could actually sell well in the real world; I have praise for the background lore given to the final boss, the worldbuilding, game mechanics and the creative direction of the game – it already has all the details down. If one lifts the idea, develops the game and markets it properly, I have no doubt that it will be positively received.
The season also fixes its storytelling. The growth of Aoba as a character designer is now shown on screen and not told. The anime shows, with moderate detail, Aoba’s initial struggle to win the character design contest, to her cognisance that being chosen to be lead character designer made her pompous, to her realisation that she needed to be more humble around her peers as she only had basic knowledge of 3D modelling. One can empathise with Aoba’s frustration in her determination to win Kou in another contest, started by none other than Aoba herself. We see each bit of growth of Aoba and it makes me attached to Aoba as a character; I find myself tearing up along with Aoba, even though I am not an artist.
Spoiler, click to view
Kou’s submission is definitely more suited for key visuals, since it gives an idea of what the gameplay would be like without any explanation – the protagonist in a plushy disguise attempting to cut another plushy using the scissors, and getting found out by other plushies. Aoba’s submission places the protagonist in the background, with enemy plushies all around her. Other than depicting the game world, we know nothing of what the game is about. However, if the submission is intended to be placed on box art, I would use both – Aoba’s submission as the front cover and Kou’s as the back.
Upon seeing Aoba’s submission, I deduce that Aoba did not understand how to capture the essence of a game in a promo art. Of course, Aoba has only a year of experience so it is natural that she doesn’t have the knack for it yet. The publishers are actually prudent in having Kou do the promo art, and it is a logical choice that I support. In the real world, if the team is big enough, the person/people responsible for promo art, posters and the like is/are not lead designers of the game, because doing the art for these purposes is another field on its own (game marketing). However, not crediting Aoba as the lead character designer for the game is an absolute dick move, and should be frowned upon.The anime manages to find the balance between fun and seriousness, whilst not downplaying the negative feelings of Aoba, Kou and the other game developers due to high-level decisions. The cute-girls-doing-cute-girls tropes are played out on an acceptable level, and does not cause mood whiplash when alternating between the light and heavy elements. The character interactions feel very real, resembling actual game developers brainstorming ideas, frolicking in the office, and then panicking later on when it doesn’t seem like they can meet the deadline.
Hikasa Youko did a phenomenal performance in portraying Kou this season. The initial bitterness and jealousy towards Aoba as well as the regret after venting her frustrations out on Aoba stood out in the voice acting remarkably, and the feelings of guilt and sadness imbued were so spectacular that they made me feel a lump in my throat even on my second viewing. I could tell Hikasa had a lot of fun voicing Kou, even her improvised humming of the bear song turned out to be superbly addictive, and her final exclamation of 「へぇっ！？」 after seeing Hifumi run off made me laugh harder than I should.
▶
The only negative that I have for
New Game!! is that it goes over the top with the yuri elements between Kou and Rin, and then have Rin try extremely hard to explain that she doesn’t have that kind of feelings for Kou, only to fail. This recurring gag falls flat from the second time and juts out from the comedic direction of this season, and does not fit with the season’s realistic narrative. If this was in the first season instead, it would have been perfectly fine.
In conclusion, New Game!! is a far superior successor to New Game!, having more game development elements and issues that often occur. Even though the main focus of the anime is on Aoba the character designer, the programmers are given their well-deserved screen time in the last few episodes of the season. If you are a game developer, aspiring game developer, or just interested in what game development really is, New Game!! is a must watch for you.
