~Contains Spoilers~
New Game! surprised me. At it's core it was just another moe slice of life with yuri vibes, but as an anime fan, it's not commonplace to reject this as long as it stands enough on it's own, and New Game! does just that.
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STORY: 7/10
We've had plenty off anime about video games. Too many, in fact. But it's because of those anime that many gamers have shifted communities, and this all leads up to why New Game! is genius: it stars the two things stereotypical anime fans love most: cute girls and video games! I'm not interested in game design or anything like that, but I can say I was consistently entertained throughout the entirety of the show with only a few moments that I said 'Really, this AGAIN?' However, that didn't stop me from being bored at parts. The plot moves slowly, and while this may be intentional to further emphasize the realism, it's not what anyone was looking for in the series to begin with. To top it all off, the ending was anti-climactic. I mean, yes they released their game and all, but instead of feeling like the ENTIRE SERIES ended, it just felt like another episode ending.
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ART: 5/10
The art and animation are nothing to write home about; they live up to passable quality and that's about it, honestly. Though I will say I absolutely love the bright colors and light shades, I can't help but think that it made the series look a little too much like baby's threw up rainbows on the screen.
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SOUND: 5/10
Again, they're passable quality. I can't say the OST is remotely memorable in the slightest, and thought the opening and ending theme are pleasant to the ear, they're most definitely a temporary obsession, which in my case has already begun to fade. The sound effects, as well, are standard, and the voice acting... well all the characters sound exactly like they're supposed to...
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CHARACTER: 3/10
See, one of the great things about series that feature a group of characters with almost equal screentime is that everybody can pick one to like. New Game! is the same way, except that none of the characters leave an impression. Instead of all of the characters being memorable, like Baccano, NONE of them are. Which is a shame, because I love Aoba's design.
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TL;DR: 5/10
+Interesting and unique story concept
+Cute artstyle
+Fitting OP/ED
+Some good character design
-Slow paced
-Anticlimactic
-Below average OST
-Forgettable characters
New Game! achieved exactly what it wanted to do, it told it's story and I applaud it for that. However, lots of forgettable aspects to it hold it back from breaking into the 'good' range, and it falls into the slew of countless other anime that just didn't make the cut for above average. As I stated in the beginning, it was better than I thought, but I didn't have very high expectations to begin with.
