New Game!! Episode 4 Review – “You…Dullard!”

(Spoilers in this review) 

The way I see it, this episode was split into three parts.

The first part had Hajime scrambling to secure a ticket to a magical girl concert live. She fails to do and she turns down Hifumi’s offer (since Hifumi was asking the girl if she wanted to have Hifumi’s one and only ticket instead). In the end, Hajime went, along with Yun and her siblings since Yun’s father isn’t into magical girls (which is totally his loss), to the afternoon show. Aoba and Nene bump into Hifumi at the night show and the three girls have a lot of fun cheering together.

The second part had Hifumi and Kou interacting with each other. As the two characters complimented each other over how they are both more expressive, Rin misunderstands and gets jealous over how Kou is acting all chummy with Hifumi. After she sets things straight with Rin, Hifumi is left exhausted and wanting to sleep, but Umiko barges in and tries to lecture her on getting enough sleep (much to Hifumi’s chagrin).

The final part has the girls anxious about getting their demo approved by the publishing company. Aoba is anxious, but the girls lightly scold her for having so little faith in her own product and her co-worker’s capabilities, which serve to cheer the newbie up. Hifumi is told to attend a meeting with Kou and Hazuki – it turns out Hazuki wants to ask if Hifumi feels like being the new project’s character team leader. After some encouragement from Kou, Hifumi agrees to step it up and accept the position. As for the game, the publishing company is impressed by the game demo, which means the project is to receive funding! The woman who announces such happy news is Yamato, a producer from the publishing company.

Long story short, this episode was very much focused on Hifumi and her funny/cute reactions. So rejoice, Hifumin fans, rejoice! That being said, she’s definitely has come a long way since the beginning of this second season, let alone from the beginning of the first season. The girl has made a remarkable amount of progress!

Kou also has made a lot of progress – supposedly. It’s not quite as apparent compared to Hifumi, but we’ll take the characters’ word for it, I suppose. This episode made me realize that Hifumin and Kou have known each other for quite some time compared to the others. I think they hold a special relationship since Hifumin is probably Kou’s first kouhai (considering that Rin joined the same time as Kou did). Yun also has progressed greatly as a character. Instead of just accepting that certain results are set in stone, she encourages an anxious Aoba and gets her to be more confident. Wait, aren’t all these girls developing because of their interaction with Aoba? Aoba, you’re too amazing…

Well, not like the game demo had much chance to fail, but it’s nice to see these characters develop as they continue to have varied interactions that weren’t seen in the previous season. I can’t remember the last time Hifumi was shown talking to Kou or Rin by herself – it’s usually Aoba. They’re also really milking Hifumi’s moe charm, wahaha.