New Game! – 05

Yun has a heavy influence…

So, what’s your perfect aircon setting? Mine is around 79°F (around 25°C), but that depends on a circumstances; exactly what we see going down at the EagleJump offices.

Leaning In, Coming Out

So in an episode full of endearments and gags, the one I found with the most of both was in the cold open. I just love that Aoba is leaning in so heavy to see her work reach – not just her own personal next stage- the next level of development that the gags just pretty much write themselves. Yun only had to pay attention and collect laugh points. Now that I think about it, wouldn’t that be a neat way to show progress on Faerie’s Story 3? Not just – or even at all–  in technical detail, but in how it enriches the characters?

Just shoplift it! That would make a cool story!

So things got a bit crazy as Hajime (you can spell that with a zed if you like) found herself having a mid-day identity crisis. I’ve misplaced personal effects before – haven’t we all? – and it does sometimes make you feel like you need to relinquish your adult card for the time being. I found it very apropos that she sat out the whole trip like a lost child in the dept. store waiting for mommy to come find her; even it was to fill out paperwork in case her wallet turned up there. Of course the real jab to her dignity was that it wasn’t really all that lost, just left behind in the office…No wonder Hajime just up and surrendered, and gave in to her dormant cute side. Or course Aoba had to confuse that side of the senpai relationship for her; Yagami’s disapproval of the overabundance of cute permeating the office was just icing on the cake.

It’s a reason in the season….

So the next day leads us to the Battle of the Aircon! This is something I used to hate about working in the summer. I had to wear a work uniform most of the time…usually all black, and usually long sleeve, nearly like Yun in that last respect. I’d go from a cool inside to an outside hot, to a bus aircon, to a hot outside, to a restaurant aircon, and then to a hot restaurant patio. So it was sweats then chills then repeat all day long. So yeah, just like Hajime. But our aircon controls were usually in the office, and we weren’t ever allowed to touch them – Except for  chef, nearly like Yagami Kou, working next to the ovens/fryers/grills, etc. or drafter’s tablet. We could complain, yes, but….most restaurants do have the equivalent of a Rin working for them…All and all easy gags, but hard to talk about unless you make it personal, right?

..the best is to come…

After that, Aoba arrives early and gets a peek into Yagami’s sometimes at-odds nature. She’s very direct, our character designer, and I sometimes feel that way myself. With little skill or time for small talk, no desire to ease anything in, you just shoot from the hip and get it done. Then obsess over the details until you’re done. It might just be me, but I can see Yagami’s sense of frustration in that photo. She’s unhappy with herself, and feels she can do much better. I think that’s something that Rin has either already realized or is – even more interesting as far as an emerging story is concerned –  learning to accept just now. But…she’s happy with her work all things considered, and she’s happy to see that could filter down to Aoba, as past episodes looked like they were trying to imply.

More to go on…

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All in all this episode followed a lovely theme of what we’re like when the unexpected comes along. That when all is said and done, there are bits of us that come out. They are the unexpected, be it cute, or odd, or any of the interesting things we say and do when our guard drops. These are the qualities that make us who we are in as much as our sense of composure or what we assume our composure will be. Mixed in with that was Yun’s concern about her weight and Hifumi’s confession that she’s just able to talk to Aoba easier than most people’ mostly cause she thinks of Aoba as non-judgmental. Then there’s Rin really laying it down as boss when it comes to the aircon. Just little peeks of our true characters….

Cute or mature….just feed your hedgehog, OK?

About skylion

All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion