So you watch New Game and you think to yourself, “this isn’t as good as Shirobako”. Well yeah few things are and this show isn’t trying to be Shirobako, which is a masterpiece, so get over it. I certainly had to get over it. For some reason my brain kept wanting to compare it to Shirobako so much that I’ve already said Shirobako four times and New Game only twice. New Game isn’t trying to teach you about how games are made. It certainly has some of those elements, but they all play into what New Game is all about and why I think it’s a worth while show this season. If you don’t know what it’s about, there’s a bunch of cute girls working at a game company and the main character is fresh out of High School.
For New Game every scene is about getting the cutest shot possible. From the moment our heroine Aoba has a romantic run in with her senior Kou(Whose a hot blonde that just woke up in her underwear), this shows goal is set in stone. You coral a bunch nerdy cute girls, with little to no romantic experience and we’re here to watch them exchange near lesbian conversations, while making the next Dragon Age. That is the main goal of New Game, if you are not interested in this sort of thing then New Game probably is not for you.
But wait there’s more, the single thing that makes New Game an endearing experience, and not just another “Yuri fest”. Which is Aoba living the life of someone who just entered the work force. This is where most people draw the comparison with Shiro… that other show. Now this is very much a Japanese style work place environment and it wont click necessarily unless your super “Japan-savey”, or have seen similar shows before. New Game however tries its hardest to focus on the joy of working instead of the burden of working. It’s very much a celebration of Japanese work ethics. Down to the long hours, the work etiquette, everything having to be a certain way. Some of these have parallel’s with the western world but its more extreme in Japan. So we get to follow our main character Aoba sort of wide-eyed and determined to do something she loves. And while there is failure and getting it wrong, the show focuses heavily on the motive and rewards of doing a good job. It’s a classic theme but put into a very relatable environment that usually isn’t explored in anime. Its escapism and its also not. If you let it present the emotions it’s trying to portray with its characters, they’re will be a lot to learn and compare with your own life experiences.
New Game certainly has things that are definitely pandering and I just happen to love those things. Its a cute girls doing cute things, but this time those things are something grown up that I can relate too. It’s not trying to overdramatize life, it’s taking a situation and showing you that it isn’t that bad and you can do it. Sure it doesn’t really have any dramatic stakes like “you know”, but the emotion is real and it captures that perfectly. It anything its a good sweet show where you can follow the main character nodding your head and say, “I know how you feel.”
