New Game!! Episode 2 Review – “This Is Just Turning Into Cos-purr-lay!”

A little competition causes a few to become frustrated.

(Spoiler in this review) 

Said competition is for character design for the company’s upcoming game. Employees are to submit concepts week after week until a winner is selected. Yagami is the favorite to win said “contest,” but her designs are just an extension of what she produced for the Faires Story franchise. As a result, they are rejected. Meanwhile, Aoba’s incomplete idea, which was based on her sleeping bag, was approved as long as she fleshes the concept out for next week’s competition

This turn of events cause Yagami to snap at Aoba out of frustration. Consequently, Yagami is ashamed of her own conduct and Aoba is upset that Yagami, her idol, is lashing out like this. With a little advice from Rin, however, Yagami manages to reconcile with Aoba and the two women are able to submit a design that allows Shizuku (along with Rin and some other lady) to choose Aoba and Yagami as the game’s character designers!

While this episode took on a serious tone, the overall mood of the story didn’t stray far from its usual “settings.” In short, it was well-handled drama!

Yun also received some character development in this episode. Continuing from the previous episode, Yun is acting quite similar to what I would call a jellyfish – she’s taking it easy and is just drifting along with no motivation or goals in mind. She initially convinces herself that it was pointless to try and that the others were being fools, but she ended up being the biggest fool for not even trying. After seeing Aoba’s earnest efforts paying off, Yun tells Aoba that she’ll start trying, too. A bit late, but good going, Yun.

What really impresses me with New Game!! is how these characters feel very relatable. I can understand how each of them feel or behave because I’ve done or felt the same things they’ve done before. I’ve felt frustrated at my own inadequacies. I’ve gone in with my best effort knowing that it’s possible I’ll fail while knowing I’ll be satisfied if I deserved to fail (I might be describing my undergraduate career. I also probably wasn’t content to receive failing grades). I’ve felt unmotivated to try, feeling as if nothing mattered. And yes, I’ve binge watched stuff while blowing off responsibilites. New Game!! really stirs up nostalgia and this helps make the series enjoyable, in my opinion.

Be that as it may, the fanservice may turn some viewers off. The series definitely cranks up the moe factor, but it doesn’t get in the way of enjoyment too much (I wish the same could be said for a particular series that featured a 9 year-old with bouncing breasts). Fanservice certainly there, but it’s relatively reigned in for this episode. And it’s not like fanservice is inherently bad. Reasonable doses are fine.

All in all, I’m looking forward to the next episode! I’m also wondering when these new characters will be introduced since this week’s episode featured the actual OP and we saw a few new faces!