The author really forced in Momiji winning, probably just to give each character a chance in the spotlight, without even trying to have it make narrative sense.

He kind of spends the entire rest of the arc trying to clean it up.

I dont like that Momoji won the competition, its not that i dislike her but in my opinion her art wasnt the best of the three, its feels forced by the author to make Momojis that "wall" for Aoba to surpass, even though Aobas art was much better.

I guess it's the author's own limitation in style and skill to show the real difference between 3 skilled artist, specially because Rin, Aoba and Momo have similar styles and you have to make a story telling that one is clearly better than the other while keeping your manga in the same Moe style... So it is frustrating but we have to believe their words maybe more than our eyes, Yun was the only truly different and really coming up with something fresh like Splatoon... Too bad she lost.
I just hope the author doesn't make more awkward moments like this one... It took some time to recover from the last one.
Well I saw the raws with some very sweet panels so I'm hoping that's actually the case

I don't think even more Hajime x Yun can save this arc.

Fight-o Aoba-chan!

You'll win next time!

Yun was robbed.

Yeah, Momiji winning it felt weird, considering she basically copied Yun concept and Hazuki explained earlier the reasons why Yun should have been picked with how close their design were (being the one who came up with the idea, having more experience and so on). Heck, even Momiji felt she should have lost this one.

It really feels like Yun was robbed of the victory when she's the one being the whole urban style/turf war concept, but I suppose this is the lot of being a secondary character when the author was focusing mostly on the Aoba/Momo rivalry... The fact that she was the first eliminated when she actually brought the project this way was frankly unfair in my opinion.

Personally, I think it would have been more interesting for Yun to win this : it would have given her a boost in confidence that she really need, seeing how she feels stuck in her career and forced both Aoba and Momo to stop for a while and consider why they lost this one, giving her more chance to grow outside of having someone to be a rival.

Honestly, there are so many issues with this chapter, both logically and narratively, if I started on it I could write entire essays on it. (Which I ended up doing in several other places...)

For example, (Paraphrased)
Hazuki: "You admit your copied your designs from Aoba. So there's no reason to pick you over Aoba."
Also Hazuki: "Well, pick whoever you want, idgaf. Hurry up and do it right at this moment, with no discussion or advice. While Aoba's still up front with her presentation."
(Several chapters earlier: "Hazuki, you're staying on the team as an advisor to cover for Hajime's inexperience.")
Hajime: "I know who I should pick in this situation, but I'm not going to."
Christina and Rin: (nothing)

Everyone involved seems to be acting terribly irresponsibly. Hajime is even self aware about it but still does it.

I really don't get the author anymore...

When Aoba was competing against Yagami it was like: Yeah, Aoba did well, but the company really doesn't give a shit about anyone other then the established lead character designer to promote their works, despite how good they are.

Now it's like: yeah we don't give a shit. You're an unknown 3D artist in our company nobody knows you, you're leading the new game, just pick anyone. Even the newbie. We really don't give a shit about anything....

The fuck?

I think I'll put this on hold... the first part was good, but nowadays I don't think the author has any idea what to do with their work and just keeps producing more and more crap...

Also remember:

Momiji's employment contract doesn't actually begin until she graduates. She's technically still an intern.

Yeah this latest arc just feels very blehhh. I'm ready to move onto the next storyline now.

Now I hate Momo for making Aoba cry
The win also feels so biased

last edited at Feb 23, 2019 7:57AM

I wonder if author San received similar criticism in Japan, I really don't want something like this to happen again or worse, getting axed... I wonder if the author realized that there was a problem or decline in interest beyond the fact that Rin was gone.
Also it's funny in mangadex some people are saying that Momo is worst girl, wasn't her roommate/wife last time?
Not sure what the next arc is going to be like... I only saw raws of vol 8

last edited at Feb 23, 2019 10:10AM

I completely lost track of this after the author started trying to force drama again. I clicked the chapter and I just didn't felt like reading it. I skipeed though pages barely reading enough to understand Jun didn't win for some reason, and Aoba is crying so I get the pink haired girl won.
At this point, I think the company should fire the entirety of the design team, and hire new interns for a year every year, since apparently that translates to better quality.

last edited at Feb 23, 2019 10:42AM

Agreeing with everyone that this felt very strange if only in terms of the way the company was previously shown as working. It had been established that, all things being equal in the aesthetic quality of the actual designs, elements beyond that were equally or even more important—the experience and name recognition of the designer, who the other people in the production system felt confident about, etc.

Here the decision seemed almost like judging a student art show, with not much input from the corporate side of the house who have to, you know, try to make money with the product.

Aoba the slightly sadistic senpai is rather charming, though, just as a contrast to the rampant cuteness, as long as it doesn’t get out of control.

Just to try to add another point-of-view: the current game they're working is a smaller project, and as previously stated in the story they have to also consider the complexity of the designs. They need to consider the time and effort needed to implement the designs, and the performance impact of more complex design or inclusion of extras like the bots. So, the way the competition went isn't entirely dumb... however, only the author knows if such things were actually considered. :)

But... they didn't consider any of those. They demanded a split-second decision solely by someone who clearly couldn't pick and doesn't have the experience to really take any of that into account.

What a strange way to decide who wins..
Hey you! Pick one YOU like!
.
.
Is this not the kind of thing you vote about ?

This series really has gone down hill since Naru and Momo were introduced.

Welp, it looks like I might get run out of town considering most of the reactions here, but here's my take...
I think Momiji's designs are the best choice.
I loved Yun's designs a ton, but I don't think they were the best for the game. In fact, I'd agree that the competition ended up being between Momiji and Aoba's designs.
Yun's would be fantastic for something turn based or maybe 1v1, but the more complicated characters would be too busy to be clearly visible at all times in a fast paced 3v3 competitive game. Furthermore, they suffer from a similar problem as Momiji's mecha designs. Those characters would take more work to texture, model, rig, etc. compared to the simpler more uniform characters of Momiji's and Aoba's pitches.
There's a lot I have to say about this sort of thing. Like A LOT. But that would take a sizable wall of text nobody would want to read. And I wouldn't particularly want to write all of it either. >.>

In the context of the story there's also the fact the none of their names carry the weight Yagami's does, so all three of them are on pretty equal footing there. Aoba's name was only ever made a big deal of by Kou at that launch party for PECO.

Now this isn't all necessarily the reason why the author decided to use Momiji's, and doesn't explain the way they decided. Could just be for the newcomer to stir up some drama. But there's my case for her.

edit: frankly, the entire "hold an internal competition to decide" thing seems bizzare. It has every time it came up.

last edited at Feb 23, 2019 10:03PM

edit: frankly, the entire "hold an internal competition to decide" thing seems bizzare. It has every time it came up.

I have no idea (and actually care even less) how this sort of thing is done in a real game company, but as a trope in the story, this iteration of the contest reminds me how much less seems at stake (to me that is) in the rivalries among the younger artists as compared to when Aoba was earning her stripes as Yagami’s protege and then taking lead on her first game.

Don’t get me wrong—it’s still a pleasant enough read, and there have been some nice individual moments, but looking back it just feels like a certain amount of focus, and to some extent energy, was lost when Yagami left.

I don’t exactly mind Momo and Naru, but (again, to me) they don’t really make up for the loss of the Aoba/Yagami interactions and (maybe especially) the Yagami/Rin dynamic.

Author could at least change Momiji and Yun's work so it could make sense.

What a strange way to decide who wins..
Hey you! Pick one YOU like!
.
.
Is this not the kind of thing you vote about ?

It's at least the kind of thing you discuss. What a strange chapter.

I also feel this arc really detracts from Aoba as MC. Her whole theme is hardworking, insecure, gifted prodigy who's kept Nene's ability to simply have fun with games. Where Momo's the uptight, certified, by-the-book girl who envies Aoba. They could have easily either kept Aoba on top to recreate the Yagami/Aoba dynamic as Aoba/Momiji, OR actually created a coherent scenario where it would be even likely Momo would win. I think thematically she is behind Aoba and Yun, really,

I stopped reading the manga after the anime released,now I picked it up again and all I can say is... what happened to this manga?

last edited at May 22, 2019 11:23PM

Wow, this is going nowhere! im pretty sure this new game will be a total failure, having big tits as the director fell super wierd and forced, she is super indecisive about what she wants and thats a no good for a director, she really is not up there yet to have that post.