New Game! Volume 7 - Manga Review - Chikorita157's Anime Blog

In 2017, the second season of New Game had aired. It focuses on the life of Aoba and her friends working on another video game titled PECO. The 7^thvolume starts where the second season left off with PECO finally going on sale. Also, Kou finally arrives in Paris as she meets her new boss.

Author: Tokuno Shotarou (得能正太郎)

Publisher: Manga Time KR Comics (Serialized in Manga Time Carat, English release Licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment)

Original Release Date: March 27, 2018 (Japanese) Unknown (English)

Where to Buy: CDJapan

Synopsis

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Kou finally arrives in France and meets Christina’s sister, Yamato Catherine Touwa (大和・カトリーヌ・十和). Catherine shows Kou around Paris and eventually takes her to the company building. Catherine plans to have Kou to work on the concept art team instead of 3D. She tells Kou that if she obeys, it will bring her happiness before she kisses her on the cheeks. She eventually shows her to the homestay, where Kou meets Catherine’s little sister, Sophie. At last, PECO finally releases and Aoba and her friends bought a copy. Hajime apparently wants Aoba to sign. Eventually Nene appears and ask Aoba for an autograph. This is when Aoba remembers the promise she made and signs Nene’s copy first before everyone else. During the company’s trip, they went to Hokkado and stayed at Tsubame’s family’s inn that her family owns. Tsubame tries to convince her mother to continue working as a programmer at Eagle Jump. However, her mother doesn’t think it she would make much money and would rather have her take over the inn. Tsubame eventually told what happened to Momo. Before heading back, Tsubame sent a note to her mother stating that she won’t change her mind, but she still loves her. Her mother eventually allows her to do it and will support her. Hajime and her friends secretly create a five vs five dodgeball video game that has catching mechanics. Tsubame and Hajime worked on creating a prototype together. Rin eventually catches them along with Aoba and her friends for working on a non-work-related project on company time and calls them in a meeting. Hajime tells Rin and Umiko that she intends to share the plan in a week. A week later, Hajime and Rin presented the proposal to Hazuki and Christina while Aoba and her friends test play the game. After Hajime and Rin presented, Christina eventually approved their proposal.

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Thoughts

At last, we finally get to see Christina’s other sister. As expected, Catherine is the opposite of her sister, Christina. It’s funny how she went up to Kou and put a jacket on her, thus freaking her out. It’s not until she told her name and knew Kou’s full name that she isn’t a stranger to Kou. Yes, Catherine even kisses Kou on the cheeks after getting a bit intimate with her telling to obey her wishes.

It’s obvious where Hotaru got the idea of kissing others on the cheek.

This can explain where Hotaru got the idea of kissing others on the cheeks with Christina’s fear of other people touching or coming close to her. Even so, it’s quite obvious why Catherine wants Kou to do concept art instead of 3D modeling. After all, I suppose she wants to use Kou’s strengths as a character designer. Regardless, it appears that Hotaru stayed at Catherine’s home stay as she leaves behind a portrait painting of Sophie.

While the break doesn’t come at a surprise, it’s nice to see the girls try on different clothes. It’s surprising that Hifumi is the one that ask her friends to go out for lunch together. When Tsubame look at the clothing, it’s quite obvious Aoba and her friends will become interested in it. Yes, the clothing they tried on looks cute.

Aside from that, the way that Momo tried to seek out Hotaru is hilarious. She created a big banner that has Hotaru’s name on it. Yep, she got everyone’s attention, including Hotaru’s. Still, it’s quite surprising that Hotaru allows her to see her work and even give her advice. This is not surprising since her work is leagues better than Aoba’s.

While Tsubame’s mother is strict, in a flashback, we see a different side of her.

At last, we see Narumi’s family and what her parents do as a living. While Tsubame’s father never shows his face, he communicates by shooting arrows with suction cup ends with a message attached to it. Given that her family is strict and her parents wants her to inherit the inn, it’s already an uphill battle for Tsubame to convince her parents, especially her mother.

It appears that her mother has the ultimate say in Tsubame’s future. During a flashback in chapter 72, she raised her to possibly take over the inn and Tsubame loves her mother can explain her reluctance. She even tries to convince Tsubame out of being a programmer by saying it doesn’t make a lot of money and they work long hours.

It’s somewhat true that game developers earn less than regular software developers and software engineers. To Tsubame, this a dream job as she wants to create games together with Momo. After all, not everyone wants to work in a job for the rest of his or her life that he or she doesn’t like.

Still, it’s understandable that she wants to see her daughter succeed. At the end of the day, Tsubame’s mother needs to let her daughter decide what she wants to do. By forcing her to take over the inn, it can affect their relationship. In the end, she eventually gives in and allows her daughter to chase her dream. After all, she loves her daughter and possibly don’t want her daughter come to hate her.

At last, it seems that Hajime’s game idea is coming into fruition. After so many tries and rejections, she finally has a breakthrough after Tsubame thought one of her game ideas are good. While it’s not a good idea to use company resources to work on non-work-related stuff, at least it’s nice that her idea finally receives approval from Christina. Sure, it seems risky, but since she sees a lot of confidence in Rin’s team, she is okay with it. After all, they did a good job on PECO as it’s selling well.

Aside from that, there are some nice moments. In chapter 73, Aoba got sick and of course, the cat disturbed her sleep asking for food. Also, another highlight is Rin visiting Kou in France. Rin got to see Catherine for the first time along with Sophie. It’s funny how Rin complains that Kou only takes her to ramen shops. Thankfully, Kou fixed that by going to a fancy restaurant and even knows how to order in French. At least Rin has a nice night or you can call it, a date with Kou on New Year’s Eve.

As always, the colored pages of the volume have a nice moment with Rin imagine herself dating Kou in a romance novel. Yes, it even includes a scene with a kiss. Despite Kou and Rin being far away, at least the Rin and Kou pairing is strong. Either way, I can’t wait to see how Hajime’s game proposal go along in the next volume. ¶