New Game! Watashi, Shain Ryokou tte Hajimete nanode...

It's been quite a while since I discussed New Game, an anime about a group of girls working at a game company and experiencing copious amounts of les-yay. And in our continuing quest to balance out rubbish OVAs like Iron Virgin Jun, Mad Bull 34 and more, we're going to look at the New Game OVA.

Story:

Basically, our story takes place after they've finished releasing their game. They go on a company vacation to a ski resort. Which doesn't seem like a real thing, but whatever we'll let it slide. Basically, the OVA consists of them skiing, soaking in the onsen, going to the sauna ... and just having a good, les-yay fuelled time.

The big issue with the OVA is just that it doesn't really do anything to advance the characters and their dynamics. And the OVA comes across as more of an excuse to see the girls at an onsen than as there to tell any kind of story or advance anything.

That being said, it does have a lot of fun, entertaining moments throughout. Seeing Aoba play with the snowmen is fun. Watching Rin take care of Kou like a doting wife will always be adorable. The whole scene where Umiko gets sloshed is really funny. So, while it doesn't advance any relationships or do anything revolutionary for the series, it does provide more of the same endearing slice of life bits that it's known for.

Characters:

We see all the major characters from the series. Even Nene, although she only appears briefly and only interacts with Aoba through cell messaging. What really matters is that they remain a fun cast and their les-yay fuelled interactions/dynamics are nice to see.

Art:

The artwork is much the same as it is in the series. It's cutesy. It has some delightful elements and there's some pointless fan-service thrown in. And, frankly, the series would be better without the fan-service. And I'm saying that as a man who likes women. Yes, that is true. Don't mind the Due South review. It doesn't prove anything.

Sound:

Doga Kobo has some strong actresses in this series. Takada Yuuki, Yamaguchi Megumi, Hisaka Yoko, Takeo Ayumi, Toda Megumi, Kayano Ai, Morinaga Chitose and more all give strong performances. They use the same theme tunes as the series proper. And they are good tunes, so that isn't a bad thing. It is a bit lazy when an OVA or film for a series just uses the regular music though.

Ho-yay:
There's a lot of the same homo-erotic dynamics from the series. Hifumi still wants to practice cunning linguistics with Aoba. Rin still wants to do tribadism with Kou. Hajime and Yun still have that type of friendship that could easily get added benefits. There's also a little bit of Hazuki showing interest in the girls, but not so much as the other dynamics since she is a more minor character and doesn't get the level of screen time that the others do in this.

Areas of Improvement:

1. Seriously tone down the fan-service.

2. Switch the music up since this is a OVA and not part of the series proper. Even if that means you only have a single theme tune, it'll be worth it.

3. Have some kind of advancement in either character dynamics or something leading into the second anime series. Having a series of cutesy moments is all well and good, but it doesn't really justify having an OVA.

Final Thoughts:

This OVA may not give you anything new or crucial for the franchise, but it does provide more of the fun, cutesy, les-yayriffic content that fans of the franchise already enjoy. So, I do have to give it credit for being entertaining. My final rating is going to be a 7/10. It's pretty good. Maybe not required viewing for fans of the franchise, but pretty good.

this review will probably be short cause its a OVA also i haven't seen the main anime in like 8 months but i loved the anime but this was decent at best.

Story: so there really isn't much of a story to this really just that the eagle jump after getting there game out goes to a ski resort and that also Aoba is afraid of skiing

Art: art is pretty good for the OVA no idea if it up par with the anime sense i haven't seen it in awhile.

Sound: pretty sure there both the same OP and ED they are both pretty good.

Character: Aoba ... well is the only main character pretty cheerfull and good character for the series. im personally only gonna review her wish i would have made a review for all the characters when the anime first hit but didn't so i wont go in depth as i normally would but everyone else is really good.

Enjoyment: things that i liked: the anime is enjoyable i personally didn't laugh a lot but got a chuckle here and there also that it is pretty nice to just watch and chill. Things that i didn't like: the comedy really wasn't there for me but that's my only real complaint about it.

Overall: it gets a 7 out of me the comedy is decent at best but a nice and enjoyable OVA to watch if you guys ever wanna kill some time

The original series has a through line of completing a game so a lot of its unique aspects where it being a lighthearted workplace moe thing. They decide to throw that all away for a company ski trip where instead of skiing they all take baths together and eat stylishly animated food. The characters don't click if theyre not working towards some goal. At the very least they decided to ditch Nenechi and use her as they did for the first few episodes of New Game!
The opening scene is a dream Aoba has of failing to ski during her ski trip so you might ... think itll be a story of her overcoming her fears and learning to do something new. The actual skiing scenes only add up to about a minute while the shots of Hifumis bountiful cleavage and eggs being split with chopsticks were the real focus of the OVA but then why a ski trip? I guess then the bath scenes make a bit more sense than they did in the show but there was just so much of it I felt it forgot the shows original selling point: Cute girls in a workplace.