New Game Review – Shirobako’s Gaming Sister (Anime)
New Game! was one of the most popular airing anime of 2016, and it starred a group of women who wish to create video games. New Game! follows Aoba, a graduate fresh out of high school, as she gets a job at games developer Eagle Jump who are creating the third game in her favourite video game series Fairies Story.
It would be easy to dismiss New Game! if you’re not into moe art styles, and I was victim of this too — sorry guys, moe is fine but it isn’t a selling point for me. However, New Games’ fantastic characterisation and writing kept me glued, and it’s something I happily give full marks to. It reminded me of Shirobako – an anime of a group of women who work in the anime industry, which was their collective dream – in that it features a hard-working team who put their all into doing what they love. It’s heartwarming and funny, and I rooted for the team to be successful in the development of Fairies Story 3 and its launch — they face a fair few troubles, some of which will sound familiar if you follow games development, with long nights and stress trying to keep them down. I can’t vouch for its realism, but it’s very entertaining.
It’s something I happily give full marks to.
Animated by Doga Kobo, who’ve worked on the likes of the Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun, New Game! is delightful to watch with its bright, soft art style. Its warmth keeps a smile on your face and so will its sometimes outlandish humour — one of the team absolutely loves guns, and keeps many fake ones in her office which scares some of the other employees. Despite all of this, the show does a good job in being grounded in reality, and it’s quite motivating! The show itself is moreish and its visuals aid that, as you’ll wish that it lasted more than twelve episodes! Thankfully, a second season has been confirmed and it’s one of my most anticipated anime.
New Game! hasn’t been licensed for release outside of Japan just yet, despite it’s popularity, and so it goes without saying that there’s no English dub to speak of just yet. The Japanese voice-acting perfectly fits the characters and I have no issue with its casting, with Yuuki Takada, Yoko Hikasa, Megumi Yamaguchi, Megumi Toda and Ayumi Takeo, along with the supporting cast, giving wonderful performances which were pleasant to listen to. The soundtrack is as upbeat with uplifting opening and ending themes, as well as twinkling tunes throughout the course of the show.
Its warmth keeps a smile on your face.
New Game! is a cheerful, lovely show that you should definitely watch, so that you too can join me and others on the hype train for its second season. It’ll tug on your heartstrings, make you laugh and leave you wanting more, and you’ll also be wondering why nobody has licensed it for overseas release yet — the manga too! I love New Game! and many others clearly did, so I’m hoping that you’ll give it a go because it most certainly deserves it. And with that, I want to watch it all over again.
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