Adaptations have to be judged on their own terms. Being faithful to the source material doesn't excuse bad writing.

What, you can't blame the anime for the manga's fault. Unless they had pulled a Yuri Kuma Arashi and made a totally different anime and manga, there were no way they could add drama on season 1.

I'm not saying there needed to be a lot of drama, just a suitable amount of it.

But there were a little of it,it was mostly Aoba trying to get her mark in the team.Like Serenata said, the manga don't start off to be drama heavy so it was a given the anime won't have it either.

The author obviously takes his art seriously and wanted his work to be critically successful.

Why did the drama in season 2 will made season 1 bad ? The story progress so it's a given that there will be new problems, especially when it's Aoba first A to Z game and not coming in a 70% finished game.

Here's an idea: if you want to write a story that you think is better, then do it. Let the author do what they want with THEIR story. Also, the yuri goggles were hardly needed this chapter (84).

@AvantApres
You seem to think your point about drama is being misunderstood. I don't think it is. You seem to be implying that New Game, a light-hearted Slice-of-life anime/manga needs drama to be considered good for some reason. If that is not what you are implying, consider rephrasing your point. If it is, then maybe don't go looking for drama themes in SoL anime/manga. You're not gonna find a lot.

(Also, I don't think you're going to find a lot of people agreeing with you, considering that the addition of drama seems to be what a number of people are citing as the reason they're losing interest.)

A personal opinion (Blastaar) isn't an argument/fact you can use to represent the general view... what if I find someone saying that they still like the manga now, would that change your mind? He FEELS a SENSE of SOMETHING, that's pretty vague to prove a point by the way (and sorry for simplifying), you can agree with him and that's fine but that's pretty much all there's to it.

Also... Just for the sake of discussing, adding drama to season 2 is easy when people are already familiar with the characters and they reach a high point such as game Release! and I don't consider Hifumin struggling to communicate as drama by the way, is just a struggle, something they have to deal with as character for growth.
Adding drama right from the start makes it awkward, you just have to make your characters interesting and a good story to keep people engaging until you reach a point where things get more serious... And that was season 2, season 1 was like an introduction.

And yes the last two conflicts were handled very poorly but that was discussed like... for 40 pages if not more so I won't go there again.

Okayyy dang there's lot more text here than the last time I hopped in here...

Well my opinions on why I feel like this latest arc is dragging on is because I think it's lacking what I enjoyed in the earlier parts- a lot of jokes about corporate work life, that even people who don't work in the gaming industry can relate to. I think I just miss the relatability of this series, that I feel was completely lost when Momiji won the competition. I mean it was dragging a bit before that, but it was still fun seeing Yun and Hajime finally move up in the company.

Yeah the argument has been made before that this manga isn't the least bit realistic, but to me it was as realistic as it could be for a SoL CGDCT manga until a freakin intern won the contest and became head character designer....I dunno, it just takes 1 thing to break you out of the universe and that was it for me.

@AvantApres

"If New Game! didn't need conflicts to be good, then why did the author add drama?"

There seems to be a confusion around 'drama' and 'conflict'; conflict is ok, and they were present in season one...In fact you pointed out several instances in one of your posts.
Like:

Do you think the Aoba vs Kou arc was well handled and good drama? If all the conflicts were all written naturally and coherently like that, then what would your opinion of the story be?

I hesitate to refer to it as 'drama', but yes, I thought the Aoba vs Kou bit was good, and resulted in positive character growth for both of them, and represented Aoba becoming more of a professional. Even if it seemed weird that a newbie like Aoba won over Kou, there was better motivivation behind the decision, in that the boss-lady feeling like Kou was stagnating. In comparison, the recent contest had a lot less motivation behind the outcome. Momiji didn't seem to have a good reason to win the contest over the two other (more experienced?) artists. And the last 20 or so pages of comments cover that, so I'll stop there.

I guess my main point is that the drama/conflict in season one is different from season two, because in season one, the conflicts came up more naturally(usually), and were generally resolved more easily, often in favor of the characters with more motivation, I.e Aoba winning over Kou because she was specifically motivated to do her best. Where as in season two, the drama around Momiji seemed pointed at making Aoba question/doubt herself, and didn't seem necessary. Then the competition comes along, and it seems like Yun has the most motivation behind winning and Momiji has the least, yet Momiji wins and there doesn't seem to be a particularly good reason.

tl; dr : in general, the conflicts in New Game were almost always resolved favorably through/for character motivation. I.e, Aoba beat Kou because she was determined. But then suddenly, in season two, there are conflicts (or at least one big one) where the outcome seemingly has nothing to do with the characters individual motivations, and it represents an unnecessary shift from the tone that was consistent throughout the rest of the story.

(P.S. I'm not sure how much sense this post makes, but meh, it's early, maybe I'll fix it later)

Edit: Apparently my memory of when events took place is off, so when I say 'season 1', just replace that with 'before Momiji was added', i guess.

last edited at Jul 17, 2019 10:25AM

I have no idea why the issue is being structured around the supposed presence or absence of “drama” or “conflict”—you can have an interesting conflict over picking a restaurant for the office party or deciding whether to leave accidental panty shots in a finished game.

My problem with most of the post-Kou series is focus—precisely what plot or character issues are we supposed to actually care about, and why? Which relationships among which characters are at issue and why?

As it is, my main point of interest is wondering how Rin and Kou are getting on.

EDIT: Oh, BTW, I could give a shit about the anime—I’m a manga reader.

last edited at Jul 17, 2019 9:16AM

I guess my main point is that the drama/conflict in season one is different from season two, because in season one, the conflicts came up more naturally(usually), and were generally resolved more easily, often in favor of the characters with more motivation, I.e Aoba winning over Kou because she was specifically motivated to do her best. Where as in season two, the drama around Momiji seemed pointed at making Aoba question/doubt herself, and didn't seem necessary. Then the competition comes along, and it seems like Yun has the most motivation behind winning and Momiji has the least, yet Momiji wins and there doesn't seem to be a particularly good reason.

Season 1 (arc 1) didn't have Aoba vs Kou; that was season 2 (arc 2). Season one was Fairies 3, season 2 was Peco, and "season 3" (arc 3, doesn't have an anime season yet) is this game that they're working on right now.
The first arc didn't have much conflict, but it introduced the characters which gave room for future conflict, which is something we got in the second arc.

I do agree tho, the conflict in this arc is not that great

For me, this series died when it started adding pointless badly written drama. Naru forgetting the very basics of coding while her supervisors never checked was simply unbelievable, but when Kou just forgot to tell Rin she was quitting and moving to France was the straw that broke the camels back. Sad to see the series hasn't recovered.

I guess my main point is that the drama/conflict in season one is different from season two, because in season one, the conflicts came up more naturally(usually), and were generally resolved more easily, often in favor of the characters with more motivation, I.e Aoba winning over Kou because she was specifically motivated to do her best. Where as in season two, the drama around Momiji seemed pointed at making Aoba question/doubt herself, and didn't seem necessary. Then the competition comes along, and it seems like Yun has the most motivation behind winning and Momiji has the least, yet Momiji wins and there doesn't seem to be a particularly good reason.

Season 1 (arc 1) didn't have Aoba vs Kou; that was season 2 (arc 2). Season one was Fairies 3, season 2 was Peco, and "season 3" (arc 3, doesn't have an anime season yet) is this game that they're working on right now.
The first arc didn't have much conflict, but it introduced the characters which gave room for future conflict, which is something we got in the second arc.

I do agree tho, the conflict in this arc is not that great

Yes arc 1 was Aoba getting settled in and feeling more confident about herself. Arc 2 was her starting to come into her own and showing off her abilities. Arc 3 is about Aoba taking what she has learned and using that when it comes to interacting the new employee.

last edited at Jul 17, 2019 11:14AM

Is hard to reply to you now AvantApres , you said that no one had told you why but I told you that season 2 had more drama because it was the right time to do so, when you come saying that the author "suddenly" Decided to add drama is really weird, no, that was the natural course of action and we had all the season one to love the characters enough to care, while when it comes to Naru and Momiji, they came and then shortly after there was trouble... and it was all awkward, and replying your last question of course, everyone said so, the last two conflicts (in the manga) could've been handled much better just like with Kou back in the days.

I know a lot of us would welcome with open arms the next arc and want this side game with no high expectations and handled by (Arguably) the less capable person to lead to be done with soon at least... Because we're not very invested in it and we rather see Kou and Rin doing stuff than the team working on Hajime's game.

Also, remember all this drama stuff started mostly because you said that season 1 needed more and we told you that this isn't (or shouldn't be) a manga with such tone and in fact, some of the latest conflicts was too much for some people to tolerate and like the translator for this manga said some time ago, looks like the author realized this and is going to spend most of future chapters trying to fix the tone by making things more slice of life and peaceful and not fuck things up so bad again because I know he doesn't want people hating his characters.

New game needs drama? some would be nice of course for each climax in each arc but now we know that 4/6 times the author tries to make it too dramatic he fails so in this case, I rather if it's keeps to minimum, because the author is much more suited for moe, jokes, love, slife of life and game bits than it is handling competition and well just stressful situations... I rather if the story is kept light hearted.

PS It doesn't bother me that an inter won the competition considering is a side project handled by someone new at the job with a small bucket and expectations, if she wasn't qualified she wouldn't be working there and she wouldn't be allowed to compete... The difference between Aoba and Momiji when it comes to talent isn't as big as Aoba and Kou where they told her than even if there's a competition, we will still go with Kou's design because she has a reputation and talent to handle their big game... When you look at it like that, it isn't really breaking the immersion... But her design wasn't good enough to beat Yun, that was the real bad thing.

Now we know that Momiji winning means Yun getting more recognition and better spot in the company and having Aoba acting the senpai role, everyone right now is in a good position in the art team ... IT was how they get there that it's bothering, but hey I'm willing to leave that in the past already.

last edited at Jul 17, 2019 11:36AM

For a 4koma SoL, this really became uncomfortable to read.

last edited at Jul 17, 2019 8:31PM

that competition is when the story go down hill for me, I was ok with other arc but some how i can not process this because it so goddamn unlogic that Momo won that competition; the manga didn't even show us how she can earn it. To be fair it should end that arc with Yun winning that. I thinks people start have doubt when they removed Kou but this arc just created a breakpoint that we can not handle anymore.

The series has just lost it's sight when they made Kou leave to France. I had assumed that it'll give other characters a chance to grow but all it did was highlight how elemental Kou is to New Game.

Kou centered in most character's development. For Aoba she was a mentor and a RIVAL that made her aim for great heights. Kou was significant in getting Aoba through her emotional run downs. For Hifumi too, Kou was the one that suggested and encouraged Hifumi to take her slot.

Kou was the center of best comedic skits in the series. And best yuri-sm moments as well.

The thing here is Momoji and the other newbie aren't that interesting characters.

And no one actually stepped up to take Kou's role. Aoba for all intents and purpose is a freshman in the company it is unlikely she'll be any guiding major events there nor does Aoba has the maturity to play that side role in any character's development, if anything her own mentor spot is void.

last edited at Jul 19, 2019 9:36AM

The series has just lost it's sight when they made Kou leave to France. I had assumed that it'll give other characters a chance to grow but all it did was highlight how elemental Kou is to New Game.

Kou centered in most character's development. For Aoba she was a mentor and a RIVAL that made her aim for great heights. Kou was significant in getting Aoba through her emotional run downs. For Hifumi too, Kou was the one that suggested and encouraged Hifumi to take her slot.

Kou was the center of best comedic skits in the series. And best yuri-sm moments as well.

The thing here is Momoji and the other newbie aren't that interesting characters.

And no one actually stepped up to take Kou's role. Aoba for all intents and purpose is a freshman in the company it is unlikely she'll be any guiding major events there nor does Aoba has the maturity to play that side role in any character's development, if anything her own mentor spot is void.

And what’s with putting Umiko on the back burner? She always brings a unique energy to the story, an energy sorely lacking in the senior staff since Kou’s departure.

The only problem I have with Momiji is that she is taking time away from Hifumi. Momiji is pretty much Aoba's main pairing now.

The only problem I have with Momiji is that she is taking time away from Hifumi. Momiji is pretty much Aoba's main pairing now.

I wouldn't even mind that that much if she had a proper character. She feels like she's just a mix of Aoba, Kou, and Hifumi. She also likes food. Such a good character

Aah geez, well... Here's a spoiler of Vol 9 for the most biggest complains Kou comes back and is helping the team with the final designs and issues with the game, but I don't know if she's back to stay because I can't read Japanese And we're halfway through vol 8 right now.

And yes I agree that more Hifumi is always good!

Serenata, you changed your avatar? It's a completely new look!

I thought the last one was too suggestive hahaha so now I go with Kimetsu no Yaiba hype!

Kou comes back and is helping the team with the final designs and issues with the game, but I don't know if she's back to stay because I can't read Japanese

Do you have a link.

shermanchurchill posted:

Do you have a link.

You can find the raws in nyaa.si

Drunk Aoba is too dangerous, too honest with her feelings and actions... Poor (lucky) Nenechi. Now I need drunk evil Aoba but only Hifumi can summon that.
Feels kinda wrong to see these "kids" drinking sake lo/ and cute puke.

Thanks for the double dosage!

last edited at Jul 23, 2019 2:00PM

I really liked the two chapters, they were fun.

Yay I'm glad it seems the competition arc is coming to a close. These 2 chapters are more in line with what I liked reading New Game for.

If you want to discuss spoilers that are a long way off so badly, I could give you spoilers that are a long way off. I generally hold off on it because it's really not useful, but if you want to post spoilers, then I will just pre-emptively post all the spoilers.