History Manga / NewGame

** Zig-zagged in Episode 18, in which Rin sends a company-wide email to ask who ate Ko's pudding, which cost 100 yen (roughly a dollar). As strange as it is that Rin would worry about something so trivial, as Ko herself mentions, Rin makes the sound point that they're at a critical point and must be able to work together well.

** ''Insect 5'', A Sentai-styled show about colorful crime-fighting insects.

** The ShowWithinAShow ''Moon Rangers'' is primarily a reference to ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' (the light stick given out at the film is basically just the Moon Stick), but the practice of waving lights to cheer on the heroines during a theatrical film is clearly a nod to ''Franchise/PrettyCure''.

''New Game!'' is a 4-koma format manga by Shotaro Tokuno, published by Houbunsha in 2013 and serialized by ''Magazine/MangaTimeKirara Carat''. While it leans heavily on a cute aesthetic, [[WorkCom it also portrays how the video game industry works]] in a realistic yet light-hearted way. Since this is a 4-koma, [[HilarityEnsues expect lots of hilarious moments]]. Creator/SevenSeasEntertainment will release the manga in English in 2018. The Manga will end on August 27, 2021.

''New Game!'' is a 4-koma format manga by Shotaro Tokuno, published by Houbunsha in 2013 and serialized by ''Magazine/MangaTimeKirara Carat''. While it leans heavily on a cute aesthetic, [[WorkCom it also portrays how the video game industry works]] in a realistic yet light-hearted way. Since this is a 4-koma, [[HilarityEnsues expect lots of hilarious moments]]. Creator/SevenSeasEntertainment will release the manga in English in 2018.

* ZettaiRyouiki: Hifumi usually wears Grade A black socks.

* ContrivedCoincidence: In chapter 45/[=S2E04=], Hajime is unable to get a ticket to the Moon Rangers concert. It's fortunate for her that Yun managed to acquire four tickets, for herself, her younger siblings, and her father, and her father offered to give up his ticket so Hajime could go.

-->'''Christina''': A first-time game director(Hajime) and an irresponsible advisor(Shizuku). An art director who still has trouble communicating([[ShrinkingViolet Hifumi]]). And a character designer who isn't even an employee yet(Momiji). And she has communication issues, too. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck This isn't going to go well...]]

** ''Fairies Story'', the series which inspired Aoba to join a game company in the first place. It's inspired by the ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' series. Common traits include:

* CrapsaccharineWorld: The world of ''Peco'', Eagle Jump's latest project, is a soft and fluffy world that follows a cute female protagonist who kills other characters, skins them, and then wears the skin as a disguise to easily kill others. Saved from being gory because everyone else in ''Peco'' is a living stuffed animal.

** ''Fairies Story'', the series which inspired Aoba to join a game company in the first place.

** Large chunks of the narrative are taken up with the development of ''Fairies Story 3'', ''[=PECO=]'', and to a lesser extent ''Nene Quest''.

* ImprobablyFemaleCast: Everyone the manga focuses on is a woman. Aoba brings up that the department she's in is staffed entirely by females during her evaluation where we learn that Shizuku purposely only hires women. The {{Prequel}} manga further explains this; the ''company'' as a whole might be equal-opportunity, but ''team assignment'' isn't.

** The employees who are standing in line for the release of ''Fairies' Story 3'' are terrified of being fired when, after Nene blurts out a spoiler about the identity of the FinalBoss, people begin tweeting about it. Rin desperately tries to convince everyone that those who played the release version simply leaked the information.

* PerpetualPoverty: This is implied for Momo and Naru. Justified because they are originally from Hokkaido, coming to Tokyo to learn game making and only interning at Eagle Jump. Naru's parents also refuse to send money, since they hope Naru will give up on the gaming industry and return home to inherit the inn.

* InconsistentDub: In the dub, Aoba and a few other characters alternate between Rin by her first name and "Toyama," depending on the scene. Ko and Shizuku are always "Yagami" and "Hazuki" to them, though.

** Momo is shocked after getting Aoba's surname wrong.

* OrphanedPunchline: In the manga and the series, [[TheStinger A Stinger]] features a police traffic camera catching the girls walking home drunk. After Ko walks face-first into a street light, a thoroughly-soused Rin cracks a joke about '''Ko'''-lateral damage. However, since Ko's actual name was bleeped out to protect her identity, the pun is lost on anybody who isn't a ''New Game'' watcher.

** Many in the tech industry may take issue on Aoba's easily getting a job, or the series' sugar-coating of workload issues, but they do appreciate the series' depiction of groupware use.

* FatCat: Mozuku, Shizuku's cat, is rather overweight, and some characters, such as Aoba, bring it up from time to time.

* ClubStub: [[spoiler:In the {{Prequel}}, Hotaru was the only member of the art club.]]

** Ice weapons inexplicably dealing high damage to a Frost Giant

* WhatTheHellHero: Ko gets quite upset in episode 6 of season 2 when she's told by Shizuku and Christina that she'll be drawing the promotional art for their newest game, despite Aoba being the lead character designer and the person that would normally also do the promo piece[[note]]What Christina mentioned about using well-known freelancing illustrators for this purpose, however, in not uncommon in Japan.[[/note]]. However, Rin also sides with the two, since Ko had name recognition and would garner much more interest from the public than Aoba could. Aoba even reluctantly agree with the committee's decision, but asks to have a small contest with Ko anyway. Shizuku allows it, on the condition that Ko's work was still going to be used regardless of who won, and pointing out that Aoba has next to no chance of winning. Though Aoba understandably loses, she does at least accept the decision with no regrets, and Ko even compliments her piece since it was one of Aoba's best so far.

* LimitedWardrobe: Zig-zagged. Aoba almost always wears the same suit to work, but outside of work she changes up her wardrobe. Ko almost always wears the same clothes because she sleeps at the office often. Everyone else wears different outfits.

** Hajime once suggests that if she becomes Ko's boss, she'll stop using "[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics -san]]" on her. In the dub, which doesn't include the honorifics (or even use the rough equivalent "Ms. Yagami") Hajime's ImagineSpot merely has her speaking to Ko in a more bossy and demanding voice.

* AmbiguouslyGay: More or less everyone, though special mention goes to Rin, who is often hinted at being in love with Ko, and at one point even becomes jealous of Ko and Aoba's mentor relationship.

* ConfusingMultipleNegatives: Yun says she "wouldn't not be unbothered by" the prospect of Hajime having to move to a different cubicle. Hajime lampshades this trope by asking, "Which is it?"

* LostInTranslation: Hajime once suggests that if she becomes Ko's boss, she'll stop using "[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics -san]]" on her. In the dub, which doesn't include the honorifics (or even use the rough equivalent "Ms. Yagami") Hajime's ImagineSpot merely has her speaking to Ko in a more bossy and demanding voice.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Aoba and Nene are sometimes mistaken for middle schoolers.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: After Aoba is appointed as a character designer for a game, she gets in over her head and tries to act like a senior even though she's not as experienced as the others. Hifumi manages to talk her down.

* BrickJoke: In Episode 3, Aoba imagines a situation where Ko punishes her for being late by forcing her to stay overnight in her underwear. At the end of the episode, while facing the prospect of having to work overnight, Aoba blurts out that she doesn't want to sleep in her underwear in front of Ko.

** Naru is initially so preoccupied with proving herself and getting hired that she refuses to make changes that would put her group at risk of missing their deadlines, even if said changes would make the game better, and cuts corners on programming. Later on, though, she works with Hajime on developing a new game, despite there being a risk of her getting in trouble for it. Likewise, she goes from looking down on Nene for seemingly not taking her work seriously to coming to understand Nene's commitment and skill, and accepting Nene as a friend.

* SkewedPriorities: Aoba's parents are worried about her staying out late because it's bad for her skin, rather than it being unsafe to go home late at night.

** In Chapter 49, after Ko casually asks Aoba to do the visual, the meeting they're in suddenly turns awkward.

* WhamShot: In Episode 7 of Season 2, Aoba is told to sit in on a job interview with Umiko, but neither she nor the viewer knows who the interviewee is... until the door opens, revealing Nene. Averted in the manga, which makes it clear that Nene is the interviewee from the start of Chapter 51, which begins with Nene's POV.

** Naru is initially so preoccupied with proving herself and getting hired that she refuses to make changes that would put her group at risk of missing their deadlines, and cuts corners on programming. Later on, though, she works with Hajime on developing a new game, despite there being a risk of her getting in trouble for it. Likewise, she goes from looking down on Nene for seemingly not taking her seriously to coming to understand Nene's commitment and skill, and accepting Nene as a friend.

* FeudEpisode: In Chapter 21/Episode 10 Aoba and Nene have a fight after Nene expresses concern about how hard Aoba is working, and spend most of the segment fuming over the other. They make up by the end.

** When Hajime first introduces herself to Aoba, Aoba initially addresses her as "Shinoda-senpai". Hajime finds that too embarrassing and asks that Aoba just call her Hajime.

* IronicEchoCut: After Umiko lays into Aoba for some errors, Aoba doesn't have the best opinion of her. Ko says not to worry because Umiko's probably thinking she went overboard. In the very next strip, Umiko says she probably went overboard saying that Aoba looked like an apologetic monkey.

* PayingTheirDues: InUniverse, some of the junior employees start out studying various texts and doing training assignments before moving on to significant tasks. This may be why Aoba is more accepting than Ko regarding the BillingDisplacement in ''Peco''.

* SkewedPriorities: Aoba's parents are worried about her staying out late because it's bad for the skin, rather than it being unsafe to go home late at night.