Game production has always intrigued me for a while so New Game felt like a nice show to cover that topic. It does cover the main aspects of the game making fairly well, but truth be told, I’ve seen it better done on other shows. It’s not like the show doesn’t cover anything within the gaming industry, I just felt like (and this is coming from someone who has never had experience within the industry, so never take my opinion as final) it could’ve gone deeper. The protagonist’s department that she works on actually seems to get a fair amount of attention, however other areas are only touch on lightly and I would’ve wished that they would’ve received more depth. But, I still have to put in perspective that the series was only 12 episodes long and it can’t do everything in that amount of time, though.
The show falls under the slice-of-life and comedic genre and it truly does live up to it. The show is quite laid back and that creates the more light-hearted feeling when watching it, in my opinion. Some episodes do appear to be more serious than others, but it still does feel nice watching them. The art definitely helps the show. The colour schemes shown throughout are extremely bright and vibrant, making the entire environment that the show is set in feel much more alive and buzzing. The inside areas more or less felt the same but the outside scenery is what really caught my eye. It wasn’t spectacular in the way that other anime have done it, but everything felt … fun. I couldn’t help it but love watching the show.
The episode plots were, whilst not conveying too much story progression throughout, helped massively by the characters of the series. I appreciated the fact that most if not all were introduced by the end of the first couple of episodes mainly because of the fact that I knew I had a longer timeframe within the show to learn about each personality. However, there were some minor problems I had with the characters, one of which mainly ties into the plot. Whilst I did say before that I was looking forward to lots of insight into the characters, some just didn’t feel that they had that much attention during the span of the show. In a way, I felt like those characters’ personalities were sort of being used as an excuse to not be given more detail, as it could’ve possibly have been contradicting what they were like. In terms of another season to go into the characters in more depth, I would probably have to say that’s probably not likely. Not because I don’t want it, but mainly because of the ending, which I won’t spoil doesn’t really open up for another season.
On another note, sound I thought was a very good aspect of the show. The music used was extremely catchy and upbeat, definitely fitting comfortably into the general theme. The opening and ending themes I thought were especially good, fitting well with the crazy mood that the show sets. All in all, I found New Game to be an extremely enjoyable anime and I recommend you watch it if you haven’t already. If you’re fans of shows like Shirobako then New Game might be a good choice since they are quite similar in theme. To conclude, great show, hampered slightly by lack of development of characters but sound and art for example more than make up for it, creating an extremely well made show.
