New Game!

Plot

Having been a strong fan of a particular video game when she was younger, Aoba Suzukaze, a high school graduate, begins working as a character designer at the game's developer, Eagle Jump. As she works on modelling and designing characters for games in development, she becomes acquainted with her fellow co-workers in the character design department, as well as those from across the company.

Characters

Aoba Suzukaze (涼風 青葉, Suzukaze Aoba)

Voiced by: Yūki Takada A high school graduate who joins the Eagle Jump games company as a character designer, as they made her favorite game. Due to her small stature, she is often mistaken for a middle school student.

Kō Yagami (八神 コウ, Yagami Kō)

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa The lead character designer of Eagle Jump. She spends a lot of time at the office, often sleeping there overnight in her underwear, and has a laid back but stern attitude. She was the character designer for the game that inspired Aoba to become one herself.

Rin Tōyama (遠山 りん, Tōyama Rin)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano An art director and head of the background department. She is close friends with Kō. Unlike Kō, she is organized and well maintained.

Hifumi Takimoto (滝本 ひふみ, Takimoto Hifumi)

Voiced by: Megumi Yamaguchi A character designer. She is a bit shy talking to others and prefers to speak via e-mail. She has a pet hedgehog named Sōjirō and secretly enjoys cosplay.

Yun Iijima (飯島 ゆん, Iijima Yun)

Voiced by: Ayumi Takeo A character designer who designs monsters and often dresses in gothic clothing. She has two younger siblings.

Hajime Shinoda (篠田 はじめ, Shinoda Hajime)

Voiced by: Megumi Toda A motion designer who works in the character design department as there are no open seats in the animation department. She enjoys sentai shows and owns various prop weapons.

Umiko Ahagon (阿波根 うみこ, Ahagon Umiko)

Voiced by: Chitose Morinaga A programmer who often gets annoyed when she has to fix errors and is embarrassed by her surname. She is a military fan and has several airsoft weapons in her workspace.

Nene Sakura (桜 ねね, Sakura Nene)

Voiced by: Madoka Asahina Aoba's friend from high school who is currently in university. She temporarily joins Eagle Jump as a part-time debugger during the summer, developing an interest in programming.

Shizuku Hazuki (葉月 しずく, Hazuki Shizuku)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura A game director with a strong interest in cute girls, hence why her department is entirely female. She is often told off by Umiko for sneaking from her workstation and making impulsive changes to the game design. She owns a cat named Mozuku.

Wako Christina Yamato (大和・クリスティーナ・和子, Yamato Kurisutīna Wako)

A producer who works at a publishing company.

Momiji Mochizuki (望月 紅葉, Mochizuki Momiji)

A girl who joins Eagle Jump as a graphic artist during the story's second year.

Tsubame Narumi (鳴海 ツバメ, Narumi Tsubame)

A girl who joins Eagle Jump as a programmer during the story's second year.

Hotaru Hoshikawa (星川 ほたる, Hoshikawa Hotaru)

Aoba and Nene's friend from high school, who was part of their school's Art Club. She is a skilled artist but has a weak condition. She is currently studying at a fine arts college in order to become a professional illustrator.

Chinatsu Hidaka (日高 ちなつ, Hidaka Chinatsu)

A teacher in Aoba and Nene's high school, who is good friends with Hotaru. Despite being an advisor for the Art Club, she has no drawing skills of her own and often prefers to play baseball.

Manga

The original manga by Shōtarō Tokunō began serialization in Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara magazine from January 28, 2013. Houbunsha has published five tankōbon volumes between February 27, 2014 and July 27, 2016. The fifth volume, subtitled The Spinoff!, takes place prior to the main series and features content not included in the magazine serialization.

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation aired in Japan between July 4 and September 19, 2016 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. The anime is produced by Doga Kobo, with Yoshiyuki Fujiwara as the director and Fumihiko Shimo as the series' script supervisor, featuring character designs by Ai Kikuchi. An original video animation episode will be available for those who purchase all six Blu-Ray/DVD volumes of the series, released between September 28, 2016 and February 24, 2017. The opening and ending themes respectively are "Sakura Skip" (SAKURAスキップ, Sakura Sukippu) and "Now Loading!!!", both performed by Fourfolium (Yūki Takada, Megumi Yamaguchi, Ayumi Takeo, and Megumi Toda). A second season will be produced.

Video game

A visual novel developed by 5pb., titled New Game!: The Challenge Stage, was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on January 26, 2017.