Chapter Summaries

Zhang Siyu reviewed Anime Carnival’s extraordinary attendance and profits, realizing Fang Zheng’s costly investment had quickly paid off and boosted A Company’s reputation. Fang Zheng told her to establish a carefully supervised charitable foundation, leaving the company to decide how to use its new earnings.

• Anime Carnival drew more than six million visitors and earned around 2.5 billion in ten days, far exceeding Zhang Siyu’s expectations.
• Zhang Siyu reflected that Fang Zheng’s investment in Anime Carnival had nearly recouped a quarter of its cost and created lasting attractions for future revenue.
• Zhang Siyu told Fang Zheng that venture capital funds had offered to buy shares, but he refused financing because A Company did not need the money.
• Zhang Siyu asked Fang Zheng what the company should do next, and he instructed her to establish a charitable foundation overseen by trusted people.

Fang Zheng established a charity foundation and arranged a modest tuition subsidy for Shuchiin Academy. Seeing Anime Carnival dominate online coverage, he celebrated its success as another step toward his 2D Empire.

• Fang Zheng decided to establish a one-billion charity foundation and allocate money to Shuchiin Academy to reduce tuition and miscellaneous fees.
• Fang Zheng finished discussing company matters with Zhang Siyu, who then left to return to work.
• Fang Zheng read widespread online reports about Anime Carnival and felt proud of its success and its role in popularizing 2D culture.
• Fang Zheng reflected that 2D culture was becoming more accepted and attracting people through anime, otaku dance, and Cosplay.
• Fang Zheng poured himself a glass of red wine and celebrated the first step toward his 2D Empire.

Otaku fans welcomed a wave of newcomers and gleefully misled them with anime recommendations and promises of romance. Their teasing stopped when news spread that Fang Zheng had posted an update, which revealed a grim claim about humanity's dependence on A Company.

• The growing number of anime fans turned former newcomers into veterans and made Fang Zheng's rare appearances the stuff of legend.
• Veteran fans fooled newcomers with recommendations, including Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and Kancolle, and offered to help them find girlfriends.
• A message about new news from Fang Zheng spread through fan groups, sending fans to check his Weibo.
• Fang Zheng announced that scientists had predicted and confirmed humanity could not survive in a world without A Company.

Fang Zheng announced that A Company would expand and promised fans an “advertisement,” leaving them unsure whether he was joking or teasing a new release. After fans complained about the lack of new anime, a group member claimed marketing accounts had confirmed that Fang Zheng really was about to release a new work.

• Fang Zheng posted that he would expand A Company and prepare fans for advertising.
• Fans mocked his claim and complained that his post did not announce a new anime.
• Disappointed fans left his Weibo page to rewatch older anime and recommend classics to newcomers.
• A fan group member said marketing accounts confirmed that Fang Zheng was about to release a new work.
• Skeptical fans decided to trust their group member and investigate the claim.

Fans believed A Company's official Weibo post announcing that Fang Zheng's new work, "New Game," would premiere on June 15, rather than trusting Fang Zheng's teasing post. Liu Jingqu complained that the fans still called her team a marketing account, then refused her colleagues' attempts to flee lunch duty.

• Fans flocked to A Company's official Weibo post and praised its straightforward announcement of "New Game"'s June 15 premiere.
• Liu Jingqu complained to her colleagues that fans had not called her the official Weibo girl despite her revealing inside information about the BOSS.
• Liu Jingqu's colleagues made excuses and asked to take the day off to avoid their department's customary cafeteria meal.
• Liu Jingqu saw through their excuses and told them she would not take them to the cafeteria that day.

Fang Zheng postponed Shuchiin Academy’s enrollment until his new anime aired, hoping it would attract students, and discussed plans with Zhang Siyu. He learned that Ding Muyu had recovered and arrived in the Magic City, where she could help with his workload.

• Liu Cheche grew angry at the marketing-account comments beneath Fang Zheng’s official blog, while the young girls tried to calm her down.
• Zhang Siyu asked Fang Zheng when Shuchiin Academy would begin accepting students, and he said he would wait until his new anime aired before announcing enrollment.
• Zhang Siyu told Fang Zheng that Ding Muyu had recovered, arrived in the Magic City with Shen Anping, and was staying in Shuchiin Academy’s student dormitories.
• Fang Zheng praised Ding Muyu’s drawing talent and planned to train her as an assistant who could eventually help teach future students.
• Fans who had received accurate news eagerly awaited the new anime’s airing that night.

A Company's fans watched the premiere of Fang Zheng's new anime, "New Game," and discovered it was set at a game company modeled on A Company's headquarters. The episode introduced new employee Aoba Suzukaze and left viewers reflecting on the gap between her excitement about starting work and the harsh reality of job hunting.

• A Company's fans speculated about Fang Zheng's new work before gathering on the company's homepage to watch its seven o'clock premiere.
• The warm-colored opening and smooth animation eased fans' fears that "New Game" would be depressing.
• Aoba Suzukaze introduced herself as a high-school graduate who had been hired by a game company and was starting work.
• Fans recognized the anime's game company as a direct advertisement for A Company and joked about Fang Zheng recruiting employees.
• Viewers who had entered the workforce recalled how reality had crushed their hopeful expectations of finding respectable jobs.

The chapter followed Aoba Suzukaze as she nervously arrived at her new workplace, prompting viewers to recall their own first days in society. She met Tōyama and learned that her new acquaintance was an art director, not an assistant director, leaving Aoba startled as she entered the company.

• Fans watched Aoba Suzukaze rehearse her introduction outside the company and reflected on their own first days at work.
• Tōyama approached Aoba and teased her for acting like a child at the company entrance.
• Aoba apologized, then introduced herself as a new employee and followed Tōyama toward the elevator.
• Aoba tried to make conversation by asking Tōyama about being an assistant director.
• Tōyama clarified that AD meant art director, and Aoba looked dumbfounded.

Aoba Suzukaze began her new job at a game company, where her attempt to seem mature and a surprising encounter with a blonde coworker entertained viewers. She joined the art department and settled into an office full of young women.

• Aoba Suzukaze ordered unsweetened black coffee to look like a mature working adult.
• After hearing a strange noise, Aoba picked up a keyboard and investigated, finding a blonde woman in lingerie beneath a desk.
• Aoba was startled when the blonde woman mistook her for a middle school student, and the encounter suggested a yuri romance to viewers.
• Aoba officially joined the company's art department to work on 3D graphics and character modeling.
• More female employees appeared, and viewers joked about the office and wished they could work there.

After watching the first episode of New Game, viewers envied Aoba Suzukaze’s cheerful workplace and blamed Fang Zheng for making their own jobs seem miserable. The episode ended with the A Company forum buzzing about the gap between anime studios and real game companies.

• Viewers compared Aoba Suzukaze’s cute coworkers and pleasant workplace with their own jobs, and accused Fang Zheng of using the anime to recruit people.
• A game-company intern described real-world workplaces, where producers pressured planners and planners pressured artists and programmers.
• The intern’s account prompted fans to joke about familiar workplace conflicts and share their own job frustrations.
• The first episode ended, and New Game dominated the A Company forum as viewers joked about their bosses and debated finding jobs like Aoba’s.

Fans praised the appealing workplace in Fang Zheng's anime advertisement, "New Game," and envied Aoba Suzukaze's job at A Company. As viewers compared the fictional office to their own workplaces, they joked and complained about how unrealistic its all-girl, welcoming staff seemed.

• Fans joked about game companies and admired Aoba Suzukaze's office, where cute girls and beautiful bosses worked together.
• Fang Zheng's advertisement made viewers interested in working at A Company, though employed fans hesitated to quit without any guarantee of getting hired.
• Fans interpreted "New Game" as Fang Zheng's attempt to lure workers to A Company and squeeze them dry.
• As "New Game" grew popular, fans shared workplace complaints and joked that real offices were full of men rather than cute girls.

The chapter described the contrasting realities of Aoba Suzukaze’s workplace and introduced Hifumi Takimoto’s shy manner in person and boldness online. Aoba’s curiosity about Hifumi’s lunch led her to suspect that Hifumi had a boyfriend named Sojiro.

• The narrator noted that Aoba’s kind coworkers and pleasant workplace were balanced by newcomer chores and late overtime.
• The narrator described Hifumi Takimoto as an experienced art-team veteran who was timid in person but outspoken online.
• At lunchtime, Aoba asked Hifumi Tani whether she was going to eat.
• Hifumi Tani panicked, unplugged her headphones, and said she had eaten at home.
• Hifumi Tani said she had wanted to eat with Sojiro, and Aoba wondered aloud if he was her boyfriend.

Aoba Suzukaze learned that Hifumi Tani’s supposed boyfriend was actually her pet hedgehog, Sojiro. When Aoba praised Hifumi’s rare smile, Hifumi tried to hush her with a banknote, leaving Aoba and the anime viewers stunned.

• Aoba Suzukaze asked Hifumi Tani to show her a photo of her boyfriend.
• Hifumi showed Aoba photos of Sojiro, revealing that he was her pet hedgehog rather than her boyfriend.
• Aoba noticed Hifumi smiling and praised her expression.
• Hifumi handed Aoba a banknote with practiced ease, apparently trying to hush her.
• The viewers laughed at Hifumi’s bribe and flooded the playback page with praise for her.

Aoba Suzukaze joined her seniors for a drinking party, where questions about boyfriends exposed Yagami Hikari and Tōyama Rin’s bashfulness and stirred up pairing jokes among the viewers. After a glass of wine, Rin told Aoba to show trust in her senior with a toast.

• Yagami Hikari asked Aoba Suzukaze whether she had a boyfriend, and Aoba blushed as she denied having one.
• Aoba asked Yagami Hikari whether she had a girlfriend, prompting Hikari to blush and explain that work kept her too busy to date.
• Tōyama Rin visibly changed after finishing a glass of wine and announced that she did not have a boyfriend.
• Tōyama Rin, already speaking with a slight slur, urged Aoba Suzukaze to toast her senior.

Tōyama Rint taught Aoba Suzukaze how to pour beer at a drinking party, then promptly passed out after drinking only two glasses. Aoba was left marveling at the adult world while the audience joked about drinking-table culture and pressure to drink.

• Tōyama Rint criticized Aoba Suzukaze’s beer pouring and asked Yagami Hikari to demonstrate.
• Yagami Hikari poured the beer as Tōyama Rint instructed, and Aoba watched in admiration.
• Tōyama Rint dropped her glass and slumped into her chair after drinking two beers.
• Aoba Suzukaze called the scene an adult drinking party, and the audience corrected her and discussed pressure to drink.

The fans enjoyed the warm drinking party in "New Game!" and praised the anime for helping them relax. After the episode ended, Fang Zheng learned that Shuchiin Academy had received approval, and the chapter ended as he prepared to recruit students for his otaku-industry training school.

• The fans praised the drinking party for letting everyone drink at their own pace and shared their dislike of being pressured to drink.
• The fans were surprised to see shy Hifumi Tani happily drinking wine and recognized her as the party’s strongest drinker.
• The anime ended, and the fans praised "New Game!" for its warmth while joking that it made real work seem miserable.
• An employee told Fang Zheng that Shuchiin Academy had received approval and could begin recruiting.
• Fang Zheng planned to use the university-scale Shuchiin Academy to train artists and other workers for the otaku industry.

Fang Zheng explained to Zhang Siyu that A Company could employ many more people by expanding beyond anime into comics. He outlined a plan to train new employees as comic creators and adapt the most successful works into anime.

• Zhang Siyu warned Fang Zheng that the academy could train nearly fifty thousand students, far more than A Company could hire.
• Fang Zheng reassured Zhang Siyu that A Company could take on many employees and would not be threatened if some students joined other companies.
• Fang Zheng explained that ACG covered more than anime and gave Zhang Siyu a document about comics.
• Zhang Siyu examined the comic panels in the document and asked Fang Zheng what they were.
• Fang Zheng described his plan to have new employees create comics, adapt successful works into anime, and help grow the supporting industry.

Fang Zheng explained manga to Zhang Siyu and ordered her to prepare A Company to enter the manga business. He left the company preparing its own manga department and publishing house before introducing manga publicly.

• Fang Zheng explained manga as a visual storytelling art, and Zhang Siyu found it convenient and lifelike after reading it.
• Fang Zheng told Zhang Siyu he would not teach manga to others until A Company's own manga had established a reputation.
• Fang Zheng instructed Zhang Siyu to create a manga department and negotiate with printing companies and publishers.
• Fang Zheng decided A Company should establish its own publishing house to publish manga and other reading material.
• Fang Zheng asked Zhang Siyu to research suitable contracts for manga artists so creators could earn a living.

Fang Zheng explained how Shuchiin Academy could supply A Company with manga artists, and Zhang Siyu began planning recruitment and advertising. As Newgame gained popularity, fans both loved its cheerful workplace and envied the company it portrayed.

• Fang Zheng explained that Shuchiin Academy graduates who did not join A Company could enter the manga industry and create works that might attract the company.
• Zhang Siyu accepted Fang Zheng’s plan and asked when Shuchiin Academy would begin enrollment.
• Fang Zheng said enrollment would start on the first of the next month and pointed to Newgame as an advertisement for working at A Company.
• Zhang Siyu recommended conventional advertising too, and Fang Zheng entrusted the work to her.
• Newgame’s workplace scenes comforted corporate drones but also made them jealous of the anime’s kind, attractive coworkers and pleasant company.

Fans gathered to watch the final episode of New Game! and reflected on the series’ appeal as a warm workplace story. The episode showed Yagami Hikari and her coworkers waiting for the game they had developed to go on sale.

• Fans discussed how much they loved New Game! and hoped for a second series, while doubting that Pipi Shrimp would make one soon.
• The narrator described how Aoba Suzukaze’s cozy workplace routine and the anime’s consistent warmth appealed to stressed viewers.
• At seven o’clock, fans went to the A Company homepage and watched the newly updated final episode.
• With development complete, Yagami Hikari and her coworkers visited a shop to buy the game they had worked on as a keepsake.