New Game! – 04

Got Goggles?

…and if you do, are they on too tight? Maybe getting a touchy steamy? Remember yuri=close relationship, but, close relationship doesn’t always =/= yuri…

A handful of nuts (no bolts?)

Hazuki and Umiko keep the ship running with equal parts aloof and bossy…

So the gang spent quite a bit of time talking about work, more so than actually doing any of the work; at least that is the way Umiko probably sees it, right? You do get the no nonsense/very serious types in any work environment, and she seems to fit that outlook well; and honestly they’re kinda needed.  I’m hoping they get a bit more into her character as the series progresses – not to mention making her counterpart more than the typical cat-lady? It looks like she and Hazuki share a lot more than just production duties, as they have their own routine down pat. But for all intents it was a very lovely spending a few working days with the employees of Eagle Jump. I think once it gets to the crunch time that was mentioned we’ll see a touch more of what it takes to do the work, and maybe get some of the nuts about bolts about it?

Happy families are all alike

I think it’s important to spend time with them this way, as it allows them – and us – to bond over the very things they share in common (you know, other than drinking and the love of games and design) I mean, it’s a pay stub, but it’s one of the big reasons why they’re there; in addition the answering a creative call. Now as for the paychecks & dreams,  I don’t really know if you could break down their personalities going by what they all bought with their first real paychecks, but there were some interesting guides. For Hazuki, the age jokes aside, it means that whatever was important to her then, probably has been replaced by what’s important now. For both Yun and Hajime, I think we can say they still love being big grown up kids. For Hifumi? Distance, perhaps. Cosplay is just the remove she seems to want to function in. For Aoba it’s a bit more conservative in nature, but no less joyous. It’s giving her folks a bit of the happiness she feels back. They only touched on these things in brief, but that will inform us the rest of the series, I think. But….

…I do well because you do well because I do well…

…we got goggles on don’t we? I have no doubt that both Yagami and Rin have a very close friendship. You can see them side by side in the picture on Rin’s desk. They came up together in Eagle Jump in looks like, and probably even shared goals of what they wanted together at the time. But…time does move on and you start wanting other things. I think the detail of their friendship that I enjoyed the most is that neither one is perfect. Yes, Yagami should have remembered that onsen trip, and Rin should perhaps see that the “face of the game” is everyone that she is able to lead, and to take that lead seriously. Yeah, those are not easy distinctions to make, but that is something that makes us really work as humans. It’s our untidy, sometimes unmet or unmatched, details that make us interesting…and this one showed that very well.

Smooth and Silky…

Aoba makes some shocking discoveries…

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I’ve heard quite a few complaints about the show being formulaic. My typical response to that is usually, “Yes guilty. Now what exactly is the crime?”. Nothing has told me yet that this story is going to go wild and free and jump some pre-supposed rail, and I doubt it will. I’ve seen far to many shows that try to go off formula only to forget how to tell a basic story. The point of the story is to experience it, and this one is full of experiences, if you stop and let them happen. Verisimilitude goes a long way….and sometimes I think we benefit from a show that takes pride in the nuts and bolts of everyday life rather than taking the plow and ramming into territory it doesn’t need to go into quite yet. This is a pleasant ride, enjoy it…

..or you can pout about it, whatever you like….