New Game!!

New Game is back better than ever with this second season, which in my opinion was a solid improvement of the first.

One of the strongest points of this sequel is that it found the right balance between the cute and funny parts, and the more serious, work related moments. In the end, New Game is about these lovable girls working hard to achieve their dreams in the videogame industry, all while becoming closer to the others and having fantastic experiences, and the viewers can definitely see both things, sharing their feelings and cheering for their success.

Talking about the characters, god, I love everyone! New Game ... balances well their screen time, which mixed with how likeable they are it's no surprise one ends up attached to them. This sequel also introduces two new girls to the cast in the form of Momiji and Narumi, two close friends who add new dynamics to the cast and form interesting duos when paired with Aoba and Nene respectively.

Doga Kobo delivers as usual in the artistic part, with colorful and visually pleasing art and solid animation. In the music department, the background themes keep properly helping to establish the mood of the scenes without particularly standing out, same can't be said about the fantastic opening and ending themes, which were unskippable to me. If I have to be honest, I never expected the new opening to surpass Sakura Skip from S1, which is an opening I absolutely adore and will most likely never leave my playlist, but STEP by STEP UP↑↑↑↑ still did a fantastic job as a mood maker and made me excited to watch the episode. This sequel also featured two ending themes, which are pretty much tied up as my favorites of the season.

Overall this sequel of New Game was a step forward for the series and a joy to watch from start to end. I really recommend to watch it if you liked the first season, and if you read this review wondering if this anime is worth it, sure, give it a try!

Enjoyed New Game! ? Thought that the sequel would be that good? I thought like that too and started watching New Game!! and what followed was an extreme test of patience of restraining myself for not dropping it. It's that bad.

While New Game! was one of the perfect SoL anime I've ever seen, it's sequel single handedly destroys all the praise it received. There's no perfect plot, the characters have no development whatsoever and every episode looks like a subtly designed yuri bait. A bunch of new characters are added who serve no use to the original cast and are only thrown in for the ... sake of lukewarm comedy.

Aoba does nothing here which develops her character. Hifumi develops a little and that's all. The rest are busy trying to make you understand how much hard they are trying to show that there's no yuri love between them, but fails miserably. Yagami, my favorite from the last season, does nothing and I am disappointed. A big BOOOOOOO!

The OSTs are horrible. I skipped the ED and the OP every time and made sure not to listen to it accidentally. The art is good, like, very good. That's the only part I have praises for as the rest thoroughly disappoint.

People may diss may all the want for this negative review, but I was a real fan of the original New Game! and enjoyed every moment of it. New Game!! just destroys every enjoyable aspect of it's valiant predecessor and tries to create a cute girl anime with tidbits of yuri tingling thrown here and there.

I would have given it a 5, but the last episode made me give it a 6. The last episode was really good, makes you wonder why we didn't get all the episodes like this.

Should you watch it? Depends. If you like me, loved the first season and have had high hopes for the sequel, you are in for a disappointment. You can totally ignore it and be fine. But if you like softcore yuri stuff and get excitement from watching cute girls then you can watch it.

If you're here reading this then I will assume you had at least a passing affection for the first season of New Game and will try focusing on what is different from the first season. I will be giving my overall opinion too so if you want to skip straight to the second season of the show for some reason I will try presenting the anime as best as I can.

Right from the title the second season of New Game!! let's you know it means bussiness because it now has two exclamation points! Everything is going to be more intense! Drama, action, game development, furious ... blushing! You're in for a ride now!
Or perhaps it's just going to be more of the same with a few extra bits and bobs to change up the pace and make for an even better season than the previous one.
New Game's second outing is extremely similar to its first, so if you liked last year's season you are probably going to enjoy this one too. That being said there are several changes, some for the better, some for the weirder which make this season just a little bit better.

Right off the bat the anime shows us that it's grown up by throwing some mild fanservice our way. The first few episodes of the new series are full of either hardcore lesbian bait or shots of characters in cute and/or revealing outfits. It seems like a lot of experimenting went into these first episodes figuring out what identity this season is going to have, particularly since the main new changes have yet to be implemented. It had to differentiate itself somehow for the time being so the writers opted to go for some fanservice which at times flows well enough into what is happening while at other times is just shoved straight in your face (I'm looking at you Cowoba!). I don't particularly mind these scenes, but I will concede the fact that they are not very fitting of a „Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” show like this.
Some of the more minor changes in that are perhaps worth bringing up before moving onto the main course include shifting character dynamics. The returning cast is shaken up a bit by changes in management at Eagle Jump and must adapt to their new jobs. This makes it so that while the main casts personalities start off largely the same they do show some change as the season progresses, making it feel less like a rehash. The first season had some character progression too, mostly for Aoba, but this time the anime tries to give each character, or pair of characters, a chance in the spotlight to either further develop them or give them more screen time than they had in the first season. In fact, the latter half of this season is quite fond of giving almost entire episodes to characters besides Aoba, Hifumi and Yagami who ate up most of the screentime last season.
In terms of the plot we also get to see a game being made from scratch all designed and programmed by the characters we came to know and love. Because of this the anime does manage to establish a better connection to the overarching goal of the season and gives you more incentive to care. You want Aoba and the gang to succeed in making a good game because you've seen how hard they worked on even just coming up with ideas for it. However, as with the vast majority of Slice-of-Life shows focusing on an all female cast the plot is secondary here. The added depth is welcome, but it's nothing major and it doesn't need to be.

Arguably the biggest change to this season is the understandable and somewhat necessary addition of two new characters. I say understandable because the show needed to drastically shake itself up somehow to keep itself fresh and adding to the main cast is a good way to do that. Combine this with the previously mentioned changes and more focus on previously sidelined characters and this second season of New Game decently fresh.
The two newbies we get are Momiji the stone-faced and competitive artist and Narumi the prim and proper programmer. They largely fit into the already existing cast well and with both being students looking for a future hire after studies they bring a competitive air into the show and actually manage to create a little bit of discord between themselves and some of the other characters. I feel like this is where people may have a bit of an issue, up until now things have mostly been rose coloured with only the occasional tense moment which never really came from friction between characters. And here we get introduced two new characters whose first order of business is getting way too serious about their job. I can see how that might ruin the overall relaxing atmosphere of the show, but I personally didn't mind it at all.

Speaking of breaks in the rose coloured world of the show: season two manages to create some genuinely touching moments of character development, specifically between Yagami and Aoba though much of the crew get at least small moments like this. These scenes aren't anything ground-breaking, but they do their job well and one scene around the middle of the anime and one at the very end actually manged to get me emotional with an intensity I never thought the show was capable of.
Now mind you scenes like that are very few and far between and the anime will never compete with the likes of, say, Clannad, but again it was a nice change of pace and they were well executed.

The returning cast of the show also goes through some changes, some more than others. For example, Hifumi is put in charge of the team making her have to get over her fear of talking to people, Ahagon gets trainees which shows us a caring side of here we didn't really get to see before and Hajime gets a job designing mini-games where we get to see her being her usual self – I suppose she didn't really change. In fact, with the focus being shifted away from just the character team to the overall production team some characters are left in the dust which is kind of weird considering that they do get an adequate amount of screen time. The writers just don't seem to know what to do with them, Yun and Hajime are a good example of this. They both get segments of episodes dedicated entirely to them as they did previously, but curiously they stay largely unchanged for the show while everyone around seems to be moving on. Even weirder is how disconnected they feel from the rest of the cast in hindsight. They don't really interact in any meaningful way or change much of anything. They have their same old gags and side-stories that they had before.
I suppose with a cast as large as this something's got to give. Though overall I feel like the show did a good job sprucing things up, adding new elements and changing the old that new season didn't feel like a total repeat of the first which considering the overarching plot it absolutely could have.

The anime makes no effort distinguishing itself in the art or sound departament though. The art is style the same ultra-colourful, ultra-bright style that could blind you if you stared at it too long. It's generally pleasant to watch however, and doesn't have that many, if any, inconsistencies or faults. It does it's job at being a cute and fluffy Slice-of-Life show really nicely.
Now would be a good time to also mention the dub which is relatively well acted, with the exception of maybe the game director Hazuki, though I can't help but feel some roles were horribly miscast. English dubs aren't the best when it comes to moe, mostly due to the lower pitch of western women so when you hear a character who had a relatively high pitched voice in Japanese have a lower voice or other characters who sound like they have entirely different personalities it can be a bit jarring. A couple of the faces and personalities just don't mesh with the voice coming out of their mouths (But maybe you want to listen to the dub just to hear Aocchi mispronounced as Ouchie which was just hilarious).

All in all New Game's second season is what a sequel to this kind of show should be. It keeps much the same formula, but changes enough so that it doesn't feel like you're watching the first season again. It's a good effort, and one which could be met with a bit of resistance to the sheer amount of change happening, what with the first season being rather stale. I definitely enjoyed my time with New Game!! and would obviously recommend watching it if you liked the first season even a little bit. Maybe all the changes will make you like this season even more. And I did joke about how only weirdos would watch the second season first, and while that is still true, I also feel like this is self-contained enough that if you wanted to just watch this then you could though I would not recommend it.

New Game !! is back with more enjoyment, cuteness and crazy but adorable characters.

After a hard day at work , after a bad day at school or after you had a disappointment in what you had in mind the best remedy to treat your sorrow and bitter taste is to play a game. Be it with your online friends or real life best friend even with your family a game is always the best thing to put a smile on your face . New Game !! is an anime that it’s main purpose is to present an aspect from the game making industry ... with the help of the light comedy , daily lifestyle of the characters and a little drama added to them.

When we were children what we liked the most to do was to play games and have fun. Imagine yourself growing up and working for the company that made your favorite game that you loved as a child and inspired you to choose this path in life and now you can contribute and improve it for other children to have the same experience as you did. Pouring your whole soul and attention in something you love doing is the best experience that someone can have, a feeling that cannot be described by words thus New Game!! purpose is to portray that feeling through the help of our characters and story.

The characters are exactly what this show needs , they are fun to watch and their unique quirks and personalities makes them adorable.The characters although their grown ups with responsibilities the anime also presents their childish side which is essential for their job . What I want to say is that they don’t forget to have fun while doing a job with a huge responsibility for them and the others around them.Who wants to see a stiff old geezer working for a company that makes games? That would ruin all the atmosphere for this anime and the final product(game) would be plain. You need to have a innovative mind and some crazy personality to come up with entertaining ideas for the game which in the end it’s all purpose is to have fun. In this regard the characters accomplish what I mentioned above , providing a lot of enjoyment.

The development of the characters is done through the use of the light-hearted comedy but also through their own work that they must complete for finishing the game . A little drama is added to each character to portray their struggles that they must overcome for the success of the game their making but also for their own sake. Season 1 focuses more on developing Aoba and Yagami but season 2 comes in stronger and helps the other side characters to grow on their own. Season 2 uses all the details from season 1 and manages to grow Nenechi as a programmer and Hifumi who finally manages to solve her social interaction problems.

Although it has a serious atmosphere Season 2 doesn’t forget to provide enjoyment and with the introduction of two new characters the light-hearted comedy is guaranteed. You know the saying “The more the merrier” , those two characters have a huge influence on the development of our old ones and with their vivid and adorable personalities they paint the anime with the color of “excitement”.

Despite all the comedy and enjoyment New Game also shows how much detailed work, patience, investments and staff is needed for a game to be released . The cute and silly stuff is used to make it easier for the audience who isn’t familiar with the environment regarding a game company to understand it’s basic concepts starting from the programming team , character design team and finally to the debug team . Everyone has a important role and what matters is to work as a team and enjoy afterwards the fruits of their labor and not forget the most important factor in making a game :To have FUN!

New Game is an anime that encourages the viewers to pursue their dreams , to work hard and not choose the easy path , the determination , time , patience and loved poured in doing something you love doing and finally the feeling that you get from the fruits of your own labor. It shows how different people can grow and change their perspectives, expand their own small world and knowledge. An anime that knows what means to enjoy doing something you love , an anime that manages to put a smile on your face after a bad day , a show that doesn’t treat the process of making a game as a stiff one but with a light-hearted atmosphere using the ideal art style and characters who provide enjoyment . I love this anime with all of my heart and the characters have a special place in my heart because they resemble some of my old experiences. Thank you for such a great anime that gave a lot of mixed feels and emotions.

* Im still getting used to these Reivew things so bare with me if i dont do a good job*
In every seasonal anime you need a palette cleanser or something that you can watch to make yourself feel good. Usually they are rom coms,comedy or slice of life.
New Game!! is a slice of life comedy that does a really good job at doing this because of its loveable characters and animations. In most slice of life animes the mc is super annoying and is surrounded by talented people in every aspect. However in New Game!! the mc is talented in ... her craft and is easily likeable. If your looking for something that makes you feel warm and happy after every episode i highly recommend watching this anime. If you haven't watched the first season make sure you do so! If your a slice of life fan this anime is a must watch

A friend of mine saw me watching New Game!! and smugged: "Dude, you sure don't know how a real game-developing workshop looks like." Right. It's not real. This is just some altered reality where designers sparkle with flower patterns, ADs go around smile and talk gently, and coders simply blush over a fatal bug. But who cares if it's not real? Or even, isn't it because of that unrealisticness that we are able to enjoy it so much?

PLUS:
- The art cured my internal cancer.
- Lovely style of comedy.
- A rare case of a "cute-girls-doing-cute-things" slice-of-life anime with actual character developments.
- Talented, pure and hard-working ... characters. Make you admire them and adore them at the same time.
- Soundtracks provide good ambience-feeling. Mostly cheerful. The OP/ED is nice, too.
- They actually put in some tension this season. Not too dramatic, but enough for you to understand how hard it is to make videogames, while still having you enjoy the show as a cute slice-of-life one.
- Yuri hints. Yuri hints everywhere. Yuri banzai!!

MINUS:
- Sometimes it feels awkward with the cuteness-overload high-pitched voices.
- Ok, this is personal, but I don't like Umiko's voice.

I think if you can stop being serious and put reality aside, then everyone, from a guy who has no idea how videogames are made to a coding wizard with pitch-black undereye circles, can have this anime put a stress-relieving smile on your face.

I loved New Game! because it was a relentlessly-positive experience that oozed joy in every episode. NG!! starts strong, but halfway through, when the two new characters are introduced, it tanks hard. Everything becomes more serious, more dramatic, and less fun to watch.

It's the same trap 90% of comedies fall into: they start with hilarious jokes and great vibes, but then halfway through the small seeps turn into gushing floods of needless melodrama that overwhelmingly destroy the lightheartedness. I thought the first series was incredible because it's so rare to maintain cheery atmosphere without being sunk by crap; NG!! fails in this regard.

The two ... new main characters are total bitches. I knew from the start that they would have their "reasons" for being bitchy, and they did come at the very end, but for 4-5 episodes the two of them dragged every scene down with their negative attitudes. It completely spoiled what made NG! a fantastic experience. Not to mention, the final episode is a complete drama-dump of feels, and while I did believe it was genuine (and it was written fine), it just completely ruined the entire second series.

The tone shift from series one to series two was a huge mistake.

New Game!! is back and after the first season and a ski trip in between it's time to design new characters.....but with some massive changes for Aoba and the gang in the process of it all.

Well with a NEW GAME for Aoba and the gang to get back to work and all what changes does Aoba and the gang faces?...well what you expect from second seasons, new characters aka. interns and a restructure of the character design team and character growths LA didn't expect from certain characters.

Let's start off with the new characters that actually appear in the later half of the anime in the ... form of Momiji Mochizuki voiced by Arisa Suzuki a character designer who has a friendly rivalry with Aoba and has almost the same aspirations as Aoba and looking up to Kou and Tsubame Narumi voiced by Hitomi Ohwada, Momoji's best friend and a programmer. There is another character that was technically introduced in the finale of the first season, Christina Wako Yamato voiced by Kaori Nazuka, one of the Producers for Eagle Jump, but she gets less screentime compared to Momiji and Tsubame in this season and she's briefly looked at, mainly because she's sisters with Shizuku Hazuki. At first LA thought Momiji was going to be the annoying rival to Aoba and was gonna thoroughly teach Aoba a lesson in being a character designer, instead LA was surprised that Tsubame was the one who did this and to Nene at that, though LA understood WHY she was acting up like that to Nene (as she got an internship with Eagle Jump through her contacts aka Aoba to become a debugger where Tsubame worked diligently and as hard as possible without her family's help) but nonetheless her attitude was by the most part unacceptable, thankfully she got her comeuppance with Nene helping her which resolved the matter, both of Tsubame's failings and patching things up with Nene.

Now the restructure of the character design team definitely helped many of the main cast in this season, mainly Hifumi, Aoba and Kou as a result of this. Hifumi for LA was a character LA ignored in the first season due to her shy demeanor and odd but interesting way of communication she had, here in the second season however with Hifumi now the de-facto leader of the character designer team, she was interacting with her peers more and communicating in general thus she got better and increased her screentime as a result of this and hey she even got a few good quirks that aided in some of her more funnier comedic skits in the anime. Aoba became lead character designer for the new game which was named PECO in which caused some strife with Kou because of this and saw that not only that Aoba was growing as a character designer but also showed that Kou wasn't the perfect character designer we hoped she was and this lead to both of them having actually some good drama because of this and again helped these two grow further form their limits as characters. We do get into more insight to Yun and Hajime in one episode but LA thinks that was enough as their placing wasn't changed due to the restructure. Now Nene is quite interesting and as you would have guessed from what LA aforementioned about Nene helping Tsubame, Nene getting an internship working at Eagle Jump was good character growth for Nene as not only did she actually got to help Aoba with a game she created through character designs but she grew as a character through having her own hardships as a debugger and programmer and her own work drama in the form of Tsubame and her work in general and heck it has a flow on effect to Umiko as she's essentially become Kou but for the programmer team and opening up to her interns and members of her group. Seriously this second season did not let up on it's character development and growth of it's already quirky cast of characters. LA is gonna leave the best character til last as she becomes important in the finale.

The animation done once again by Doga Kobo was expected moe from them, with the typical art style of character designs from the first season and the same 3D CGI work used on the in-game character designs. It's the same vibrant atmosphere and the typical comedic moments and inflections it has in it's animation. If it's ain't broke, don't fix it is what the animation is for the second season's animation really.

The voice acting was decent and even the new voice actors of Momiji and Tsubame voiced by Arisa Suzuki and Hitomi Ohwada were great additions to the anime voice cast. But LA having watched the dub of the first season of New Game!, LA thinks it's wise to add in what LA thought of the dub of New Game! here as the majority of the core cast would be reprising their roles in this second season. LA will say this here and now but this dub by Funimation doesn't have the problem of doing moe horribly, this mainly comes in the form of Megan Shipman as Aoba, Jill Harris as Hifumi and most definitely Kristen McGuire as Rin who was on par with her Japanese counterpart Ai Kayano. Some problems arose for LA when it came to certain voices however, in this case, Tia Ballard as Hajime as they gave her a too masculine and too thick accent to go with Hajime, LA gets the masculine part as Hajime is like that but did Tia had to make her accenting thick? Leah Clark as Yun was given NO regal accenting when that was exactly her character archetype instead given her a typical normal voice but the character voice that irked LA the most was Michelle Rojas as Kou and LA says this because LA utterly loves Kou Yagami as a character in this anime that LA needs to talk about her dub voice. Michelle Rojas' take on Kou was that although at times she did her interpretation of Kou well especially in the more comedic parts, Michelle had tendencies to come off as TOO abrasive as Kou, where in Yoko Hikasa's case, she had the balance of nowhere near as being abrasive yet snarky when she needed to and Michelle Rojas just didn't get that balance right. LA still loves this Funimation dub without a doubt even if Michelle Rojas and Tia Ballard irked LA. Ohh and if you thought LA would be annoyed by Bryn Apprill's voice acting for Nene, well no, as her inflections and mimicking Madoka Asahina's vocals and character mannerisms were almost exact thus more commendable as a matter of fact.

So the finale and about Kou, well it was a tearjerking finale LA but it was definitely a well done finale nonetheless and again gave Kou growth as a character as well as Aoba by the end of it and was a nice farewell to New Game!! in more than one way. This finale essentially gave opportunities for the whole cast to evolve from Kou's decision not only through character interactions but through their work in Eagle Jump for them to strive for more and this finale did a great job at relaying such as message to the cast albeit in a tear jerking way god damn it!.

New Game!!'s second season maybe the same thing as the first season, but made this second season worth while watching through it's character growth, integrating new characters with new conflicts for them, giving genuine drama with it's main cast as well as it's new characters. New Game!! did not disappoint and with a strong...tearjerking finale to boot.

TL;DR:A new sensation,a good start or a bad beginning?(Updated)

Please beware that new game season 2 has changed a lot,I could see a tremendous change when comparing season 1 and 2 and it's more meaningful,life-encouraging and realistic.

-The intense game-making environment

At first,I thought this would be a pretty poor idea for putting a serious environment into a tittle that should be relaxing,yet I was totally wrong about that.

After I have looked for more episodes,I feel this show is more realistic,since New Game season 2 has given us a feeling of working in a game company.You would be in charge of character designing in a limited time,feeling ... lack of ideas and hopeless,all the stress and pressure that you would be received from a job environment.The word "realism" plays an important role in New Game season 2.

-Teamwork and Encouragement

Don't forget at your back,you'll have a group of teammates,who are willing to help your working process and give you new ideas.When you are hopeless,there'll be people encourage you.Even when Aoba and Yagami are in rivalry,friendship walk first and they'll help each other.Ideas couldn't be think off,if there is only one person,it'll be better if there're more people to help.The word "Friendship" also plays a large role in New game season 2.

These are parts that season 1 doesn't show off,yet season 2 improves a lot and take the game development to the heat.Speaking of the story messages,it fulfils all my expectations that a game-making anime should have and it definitely spot on.

-Character inner feelings

Characters inner feelings are also a main reason why you should watch season 2.Other than the detailed story,he new season has deepened the description of characters.When Aoba is trying to give out ideas when her model is being turned into 3D,she feel herself is useless as she is totally inexperienced in it,while others are joining into the discussion.But even Aoba knows she is inexperienced,she is willing to learn and doesn't give up or relying on others.As you can see,the elements of story also connect to the characters perfectly.Thats why season 2 is more eye-catching than season 1.

For those who wants to know more about game-making environment and a life-encouraging story,this new season should fit you the most,yet what season 2 is lacking of is the hilarious moment,if season 2 is trying to add more funny moments to the story,this will be flawless and impeccable.

Last but not least,the animation in this show is pretty promising,it keeps the "kawaii" environment and the diversity of animation backgrounds from season 1,which would probably satisfy most of the fans.However,the usage of soundtracks is still not very notable,because in most of the time,voice acting covers the background soundtrack,causing less enjoyable and a more silent environment.Fortunately,op and ed are pretty relaxing,sound effects in op and ed are pretty cool and fits the anime properly,so it isn't too bad in general.

Summary:
+More tends to characters and seriousness
+Story become more consistent
+Continues cool animation
+cool op and ed
+More realistic and meaningful

-Less hilarious moments
-inadequate/silent soundtracks

Story:8.5/10(A)(35%)
Animation:9/10(S)(10%)
Sound:6/10(C)(10%)
Character:9/10(S)(25%)
Enjoyment:8/10(A)(20%)
Overall:8.325/10 (A) (Outstanding)

So New Game! made a splash with its cute cast of gaming grill nerds dedicating its entire runtime to making games combined with various antics in the office cause quirkiness is a staple for this kind of show to keep things interesting. To no one’s surprise, we got a sequel. So…how’s the sequel, I guess is the question. (Missed opportunity not calling it ‘New Game+’.)

Story:

Now finished with their current project, we return back to Eagle Jump one year later from Aoba starting as a character designer for the company as we continue viewing the lives of the women who work at the ... company. Now with an expected new game rearing its head on the horizon, the team buckles down again for another round of game development.

As expected, the story for New Game!! (now with two exclamation marks) is something of a rehashed storyline cause in a moe show dedicated to game development, you don’t really have much variation to go off of from the base plot. So really what you saw in season one is gonna be done again in season two, but done in a slightly different manner, with that ‘slightly different manner’ being a new duo of characters, a new game (how fitting), and a myriad of littered sidestories to make the overall product something more than just ‘a show in the moe genre’.

The small sidestories added development to give the show a little bit more to work with in terms of how to use its runtime, as several sections of the show is devoted to showing how characters have grown, small bouts/tension moments to give the show a bit of a serious atmosphere, and resulting change to make the relationships between these girls more meaningful. The problem here however is how little the show attempts to facilitate and keep those things in the foreground. Sure the moments they’re presented in are important, but the lack of time investment to make it something more than what’s on the tin is rather disappointing cause there was actually a good amount of tonal shifts to be more serious in order to instigate change among its cast members, yet they didn’t really pack the kind of punch that made the subsequent changes anything largely substantial. It’s cute and all, but if you’re going for serious, really shooting for that angle helps.

In the end, New Game!! is a harmless sequel to a show whose potential was limited from the get go. Its attempts to be serious are vastly overshadowed by its naturally fluffy nature, and was an aspect that would’ve added a lot to the show had it not been so focused at showing the cute girls doing cute girl things. I will agree the ending was impactful enough to make up for some of what the show lacked, but not enough I feel to really make up for what else the show had.

Overview:
+ Attempts to be interesting
+ Surprisingly good end
– Largely the same show

Characters:

The cast is…largely the same as season one. In terms of shift, the two more prominent character designers, Aoba and Ko, receive a decent amount of the show’s attention by providing an overarching narrative for how the new game they’re developing is going. This in turn gives average growth of character to Aoba as she becomes more comfortable in both the work environment, and in the creative space. As far as Ko goes, the show treats her with a weird imbalance, as for a majority of the show she’s something of a character on the side, before becoming the main focus RIGHT at the very end. It was handled well enough to be a good plot point, but didn’t have enough impact I feel to really be enormously substantial.

By contrast, the rest of the ‘main cast’ of girls get specialized time focused to them, imbalanced with the rest of the story by more or less by only giving attention to them once before shoving them to the side so they can do more cute girl things. Hifumi, Yun, and Hajime all get this treatment, and I find it disappointing cause there was potential to do something significant with them.

In terms of new cast members, the show provides a heaping handful of development to its new additions Momo and Narumi, as well as giving Nene time in the spotlight as a more explored character. While the show did devote attention to its older cast members, practically all of the latter screentime is focused on these three in some way or another. As such, a majority of the show’s attempted serious/tonal shift moments happen here, and it’s here where the problems with season two become clear. The show really tries to build up all three of these characters to have higher stakes to prove themselves and make them more significant. Yet in spite of that, they just don’t seem that severe. Their stories, problems, and flaws are practically written out and/or are resolved within the episode, cutting away any and all of the tension pre-established in the scene. Ultimately, the arguments or problems seem kind of petty, and not really that fun to watch due to its naturally predictable nature.

Overview:
+ Development for its cast
– Most of the development is rather quick and/or not impactful

Art:

Produced by Doga Koba, the art for New Game!! retains the company’s standard bright and shiny visual style with a light color palette in order to emulate the show’s naturally carefree and happy nature. As such, the visuals look cute, have very few dark colors added to it, and is overall standard fare for the company’s track record since nothing about the show’s artwork really has any outstanding or super clearly pretty moments added to it.

Sound:

Similarly, the soundtrack is a remarkable average that has few memorable qualities about itself that make it truly unique or have a special quality about it. The show’s OP “STEP by STEP UP↑↑↑↑“, and its two EDs “JUMPin’ JUMP UP!!!!” and “Yumeiro Compass” are all sung by the seiyuus of the four main girls: Aoba, Hajime, Hifumi, and Yun, with each song sounding strikingly similar to each other with the show’s OP and first ED sounding almost like the same song.

Admittedly, the second ED has a more mellow tone to it with less energy to its other counterparts, but overall, the soundtrack is surprisingly samey, and overall just doesn’t have anything about itself to be a memorable piece. They’re fine and do what they’re intended to do, but that doesn’t stop the songs from being quite generic.

Overview:
+ Ok songs
– Entire soundtrack is quite samey

Personal Enjoyment:

Honestly, New Game!! is a show I didn’t really care for much. Moe fluff is moe fluff, and after watching so many, I feel quite jaded by the repetitiveness and overuse of certain tropes in the medium. New Game!! was sadly no different. Sure it gets props for at least attempting to be serious and having a setting that not many other shows can say they’e done, but that doesn’t save it from the fact that a majority of what it has in its screentime is devoted to your typical cute anime girl stuff, and most serious tonal shifts are swept under the broom due to their easily solved nature.

What did I like about this anime?

As much as I’ve complained about it, I’m happy the show tried to do something different for itself, even though most of it didn’t work out in the end. Sure the glimmer of hope that there would be development usually vanished in thin air a couple minutes after the plot was kickstarted, but it at least had development, and again, had a really nice and impactful ending relatively speaking.

What didn’t I like about this anime?

Momo. She just feels like a lazy character because her motivations during her introduction just didn’t seem interesting at all. The whole ‘claiming rivalry’ thing is just stupid to me. Also not enough stuff about Hifumi and Sojiro. Not putting in more scenes about a girl and her pet hedgehog is a crying shame.

Would I recommend this show?

As a piece of moe fluff…I guess it’s alright. It’s got at least something going for it, so if you liked the first season or want to watch a half decent moe show, New Game’s a decent starting place.

New Game!! was a fun and enjoyable anime to watch. It's about Aoba and her coworkers working on a bear fantasy video game. A lot of new characters that werent on season 1 are introduced in this second season. These new characters were great and I was a fan. There were a lot of fun moments throughout that made me laugh but this anime also had a lot of sad moments and drama. This anime did a great job being a roller coaster ride of emotions. If you liked the first season of new game I 100% recommend this 2nd season, you will enjoy it.

*Please note I watched both the first and second seasons in succession so there may be crossover in this review*

Upon first glance, my assumption was for this to be a moe centered anime, profiting from cute girls, thus I didn't watch the first season when it came out. Seeing that it got a second season, I presumed there must be more to it and decided to give it a watch. My assumption was wrong. This anime really hit home with me, a brilliant artstyle which personally I don't think I've seen elsewhere, lovable characters with a strong sense of character development and an engaging, exciting ... and at times emotional storyline.

Story- 9
The story centres around a 18/19 year old character designer named Aoba Suzukaze at a games company, working under her idol Kou Yagami. The story was engaging and interesting, yet easy to follow, going on an idea that as far as I am aware is untapped in the creation of video games, New Game!! managed to balance a serious story, with hints of slapstick comedy and romance.

Art- 10
I am personally a big fan of the artstyle used in New Game!! the main highlight being the eyes, which admittedly are what made me initially assume the anime would focus on being moe, because lets be honest, they're frickin cute. But that isn't the sole feature, the visuals were fantastic throughout the series, the realistic game promos and artwork within the games, everything was exceptional.

Sound- 8
I thought that the music for this anime was great, nothing stand out, but catchy tunes and well thought out BGMs, helping to set the mood of different scenes.

Character- 9
The main feature in terms of characters was the addition of 2 new characters, whom initially I didn't like, upon first impressions the new characters seem callous and as though they may disrupt the existing calm environment, however as with the other characters of the show, these 2 characters develop with time and become very much lovable. We get to see the ups and downs of each character, demonstrating emotional instabilities and understanding and showing how different situations effect different characters helping to humanise them, and help the viewer relate. A personal favourite part of this for me, is showing how severe Hifumi's social anxiety is at the beginning of the first season, and being able to see visibile progress across each episode as she begins to open up as a character. And they did manage to get the moe in, all of the characters are cute girls, the hints of fan service that are pretty much essential in this generation of anime, such as Kou's panties, Hifumi's cosplay and any bath or shower scenes, were made in ways to keep from making them the centre of attention, making them whimsical to the story and not having any lewdness to keep the innocent slice of life feel to the show.

Enjoyment- 10
This has been one of my best watches in a long time, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the series and may go back and watch it dubbed too, the overall experience tugged at my heartstrings and although the ending satisfied me, I can't help but want another season.

Overall- 9
In summary, the New Game! series is great, I would definitely recommend it.

*This is my first ever review so constructive feedback would be appreciated rather than flame*

Hmmm, where do we start?

It's basically the same vibe as the first season, but this time with new characters, and more yuri senses tingling lol...

Imo, the new characters were quite a turn-off, completely irrelevant to the whole series. I think the season would have been 100% fine without the addition of new characters. Fortunately, towards the end they resolve the itching that the new characters produce, but I still wasn't very fond of them.

On a side note... what kind of dark character is Aoba!? Like... chopping up sentient beings to use them as skins, and then cannibalism? Dang, she's something different, that's for ... sure...

New Game!! is the 2nd season of the New Game! series. When I first watched New game! last year, I was really motivated. The anime was really good and it helped me a lot when I used to be a game developer. The second season of this series is even better; it has a lot of improvement over the first season.

While the first season focuses on comedy and some problems that game designers have while developing a game, the second season shows more of these things and focuses more on the problems that game developers and programmers have while working on a project. One more ... big improvement that the second season has is, the developing in the drama part of the anime. The second season shows a clear improvement over the first season.

The second season of the anime hit me right in the heart. It might not be the same situation for all people. However, for me, as I used to be a game developer, the anime hit me really hard. This anime had and will always have a special place in my heart.

Overall, for all the people who love to know more about producing and developing a game, I highly recommend this anime. It has a really nice, cute story and a good sense of humor.

Overall rate: 9/10

Right, so my second attempt at a review, so bear with me.

So this is the second series of NEw Game. Same great cast, back again.
This is just a continuation of the first season, they are all back for their next project. In terms of development, characters haven't necessarily matured, but some have found new positions in the company and so need to take on new roles and responsibilities. But this is generally the same as the first as I have said.

The art is just as Moe' and colourful, if not even brighter than before.

If you haven't seen the first season of this ... series would definitely say to watch it. No real difference but would add a bit more depth and history to the characters and how they interact with one another. Otherwise you could actually just start with this season and pick up or at least understand what is going on.

Overall would say 8/10 *(As of episode 5) It is just a nice chill, wind down anime. Easy to watch and digest. usually the same 2 halves each episode. 1 minor task or story and then another part of the day. before you know it, Ed is rolling through.

A late (and slightly spoiler-free) review for "New Game!!":

"New Game!!" takes the workplace life and drama on a whole new level than with its predecessor, "New Game!". This anime in particular delves deep into friendships, hardships, relationships, and "ships", but with also a slight spice of the fanservice that fans quite asked for after the first season's hype.

In this new season the characters were portrayed in a much balanced manner than with the first season which almost totally deals with Suzukaze Aoba, the main heroine, and her difficulties and developments at work. Now we get to see more of the other characters' sides which mainly ... includes two new characters and Yagami Ko's character development.

For those with a slight hatred or sadness or boredom for their jobs, New Game!! puts you in a likable bind in which you will find bliss. One of the best parts about this anime is that you will get to see that there is so much more to your jobs than those being something you do everyday repeatedly just because you need them to make a living. If that is the case, I'd call subjective relativism, but personally, I believe that New Game!! is more than just that―happiness and contentedness with one's job served on a platter―no, it is not that. Realistically speaking, the company the characters are working in and their workplace environment seems almost impossible, BUT that is not the focus of the series. Ultimately, I think that New Game!! is REALLY for those people (the target audience) who are lonely at work; those people who are suffering mentally; those people who are just at work for the sake of money. There are many more possibilities.

In a sense, New Game!! might be a new take on "curing" depression from work. It might not be enough, but for the sake of those suffering, I suggest you people watch this series. Watch the entirety of it, know the characters, know their feelings, and know their resolve and confidence, it really helps A LOT.

I recommend this jewel in the rough not to just those lost, but also to everyone looking for a good time. The happiness and passion in this series is just oozing, and that may lead to an ultimate inspiration (just like how I was touched by this series that actually lead me to write a review).

My verdict: 9 out of 10

PS: Not enough Hifumi in this sequel! Looking forward to a third season!

Oh my god, the FEELS.

Now, you may find my review short and biased, as I am not a long-time anime watcher, so if you are looking for review from some experienced, check somewhere else.

But this anime is awesome. Best thing about is is pacing. It's perfect. Both seasons. No silly situation was stretched trough the entire episode like in stupid sitcoms. You laugh at them, not feeling cringy.

Characters. Sure, it's just cute girls doing cute things, but god, they are ALIVE, I lived lives of everyone of them. They grow, they change, they live a live. It's the thing you expect from this genre, and ... yet it surprised me so much. Also, besides living, they love. It's the love without kisses and words. Purest love possible. It's so good.

Season 2 was extremely good, and it's even better when tied together with season one (standalone, it's ~8, but together they make strong 10). I love how it's started just like season one, just to bamboozle viewers (and cut this joke after few minutes, because stretching it would be stupid, but, as I said, pacing is perfect). At first I was little skeptical about two new characters in season two, but they integrated just fine, and they also were somewhat interesting in the end, but for me, both of them are just step stones for Nene and Aoba.

I recommend anime this to everyone, who want extremely kind, pure (but with bit of fan service in form of panties), and not so silly story to rush trough because it's so good.

After watching both seasons of New Game I thoroughly enjoyed the series, however the 2nd season didn't quite match the enjoyment I felt while watching the first season.

It is important to note that this is mainly because of the addition of the 2 new characters; Momiji Mochizuki and Tsubame Narumi. Throughout New Game!! I found the majority of the cast from the first season far more interesting and fun to watch than those two in particular. The second season also felt more story-driven. By this I am not referring to a more serious tone, but rather a direction outside of office itself.

On a ... disappointing note this season didn't produce as many high points and memorable moments as the first season did, but it is still enjoyable overall. On a positive note this change in direction allowed the friendships of some characters to further develop.

I have no clue whether a 3rd season is in the cards, but if it is I eagerly anticipate its release.

Not a lot of anime can leave a positive yet bittersweet feeling behind. Especially when the topic is related to boring reality -- working.

First off, I just want to state that New Game II took a slightly different direction, one filled more with co-worker interaction and goodness of fit rather than individual struggles and the need to finish your projects before those dreadful deadlines.

Nevertheless, the key elements that made New Game what it is can still be seen throughout the episodes. That occasional comedic moment. That serious moment of stress. The cute moe characters. The innocence of the Original Four. And of course, can't forget ... about the memorable pervy boss, our fav shippings and the lazy cat meowing around.

This shows that there was a progression in the timeline where Aoba lives in. An advancement. Different times for different plotline and the course of this anime did an excellent job.


※ STRENGTH ※
- Strong character development. Everyone has or should have a goal. Especially in the work culture where it is competitive and you want to make a name for yourself. Whatever it is, each character has their own unique goal that they want to reach and that part of strong character development definitely make you feel something.

- Different personality. This can clearly be seen with the introduction of the two new characters, seemingly to give off a Darwinistic type of view. Work can be fun but only if you open yourself to new possibilities and see others as friends. It was definitely enjoyable to see the two slowly adjust to their new work environment.

- Novelty. New Game. New plotline. New set of characters. New type of conflict. New type of resolutions.

- The strive for self-improvement. Everyone is trying to fit in. Whether it may be trying to hide your otaku self or trying to become the best character designer. Goals and willpowers are especially worthy to be mentioned.

- Makes you think. This can be whatever resonate with you. For me it was the funny moment when the boss explain his reasoning to hiring only girls. And made me slightly envious of the work culture that they have. Or perhaps the reality that people come and go. Whatever it may be, my brain was wearing a thinking hat throughout the show.

- There's a lesson. You can take something away from watching it. Whether it may be needing to improving yourself to be the best you can be or finding yourself a role model you can follow. I felt that I took away something from this anime and can apply it towards my life. And animes who do this are a big plus.


※ WEAKNESS ※
- Less screen time for your favorite characters. If you were to compare to previous season, you can clearly tell that some of your favorite characters screen time were cut time. Whether it may be your ships, miss cosplay senpai or Yagami, I felt that there was less of it.

- Different arcs. I felt that there was a different set of progression for the first few episodes compared to the last few, especially after the newbies join. There was a slight rough transition there but it was not that big of a deal.


Did I get the feels? HELL YEAH. NINJA BE CUTTING ONIONS IN FRONT OF ME.
Would I recommend? YES ITS A MUST IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF AN ANIME.

I personally love the ending twist, given that different people have different priorities in their life. It's almost as if seeing someone finally graduate and move onto a new phase of their life. It can be bittersweet but ultimately, it's for the better!

Season 3 pls?

New Game!! by studio Doga Kobo. This is a brief review just to go over some points as I carry on.
This comedy and slice of life anime, is different from many other that fall into the same or similar category in a very good way.

When I finished season 1 of New Game last year, I realized how it was no ordinary like the other comedic, slice of life anime series; it felt so special to me that I went to make my current account for myanimelist only to give it a score of 10. I was wishing New Game would get recognized by many anime ... fans, and was hoping for a second season to be released soon after.
Well... season two came, and I'm so glad many people recognized this anime to be very good and gave it high scores and good reviews.

So what makes this anime special to be appreciated?
New Game series has its outstanding elements such as the character design, being so charming and the colorful art, which together help to create a truly amazing atmosphere that fits so well with this kind of anime.
The animation is fluid and the voice acting was fitting with the characters. This anime is peaceful and bright that watching it at any given time or in whatever mood, it would make you relax and enjoy at ease.

New Game season 2 mainly talks about cute girls working on a new game just like the first season; however, there were somethings made me a little irritated; like when Aoba was distressed to the point she was crying because Ko was a little frustrated in the heat of the moment..?! OK that's cute. But WHAT?!! The reactions in these dramatic moments/situations were too much, making them so unrealistic and you couldn't relate to.
The workplace also lost its solid atmosphere compared to the prequel, and I wish the characters' expressions weren't too obvious so that we are left out to dig in and discover their deep feelings for ourselves a bit.

In the end, I enjoyed watching season 2. But in my opinion season 1 was far better than this one. I give this a 9/10 because it's special to me, otherwise it's an 8/10 compared to its amazing prequel.

I would recommend the series for anyone who is looking for something new or anyone who wants a break from action, gore, or tense anime, as this one is not something serious or thrilling but peaceful and humorous with very cute characters <3 Seriously though~~ Hifumi-Senpai alone is worth watching the entire series :D <3 <3