Hi Score Girl S1, S2 & OVAs

Title:Hi Score Girl S1, S2 & OVAs
ハイスコアガール
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: AMASAKI Kouhei
Animation - JC Staff
SUZUSHIRO Sayumi
Back in 1991, the one thing Haruo Yaguchi is really good at is playing arcade type video games. His favorite is Street Fighter II. Imagine his humiliation when he is thrashed by Akira Oono, his wealthy model student classmate (and a girl).

12 episodes (S1), 3 OVAs, and 9 episodes (S2).
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Stretch [series:3812#628]
(All episodes watched):

I got some serious laughs out of episode one, as the two main characters slugged it out in Street Fighter II and other games. Haruo feels a definite need to show off to Akira (who never says anything), but that isn't easy when she's better at video gaming than he is. Many shows start off with a fairly funny gag premise, but just keep trying to milk it when what they really need is an interesting longterm plot as well; I hoped this wouldn't be another of those. For awhile I got the impressions that views of the screens of video games took up most of the episode; that was wrong, but they were often what made me laugh the most. it's not just that the graphics and action of 'nineties games was laughable in comparison to those of today, no, sometimes Haruo speaks to the character he's using and the character responds. And the losers of games swearing and cursing cracked me up at times. It's not often that an anime makes me LOL, but this one does. Nostalgia definitely plays a major part. After watching an episode I dug out my old Sega Genesis machine and played Streets of Rage for awhile. Haruo only cares about getting as good as he possibly can at these games in order to beat Oono someday, but she and later another girl, Hidaka, (who is not bad at video games herself) start to have feelings for him, which he remains completely oblivious to. A romantic triangle develops, though he's unaware of it. The first season doesn't really end with a climax and resolution so much as it does with a cliffhanger, which indicates that the story is far from finished. Indeed, three OVAs and an abbreviated 9 episode second season follow. Suffice to say that Haruo won't be able to completely ignore romance anymore from here on. It's all one story, and the romance is moving at such a glacial pace that I felt there was no need for a separate page for season two or the OVAs. I had to watch the final four episodes with audio, video and subtitles out of sync (which basically meant matching lines that were spoken to actions that occurred several seconds later), but the fact that I did so shows that I was enjoying this show. By this point a good deal of the 'freshness' of the premise had worn off and I was getting a little weary. Something like four years have passed since the story began yet Haruo has barely moved an inch from his romantically ignorant state of mind, and it's hard to picture him ever confessing or something like that. My overall impression of HSG at this point had become one of a series that was still sometimes LOL funny, but whose plot had become a tiresome slog. What can you do with a romance when one of the main characters never speaks? In the final episode of season two it finally dawns on Haruo that Oono is more than just a competitor; his imaginary friends from within the games help persuade him. This is a radical change for him, and yet it felt as if the story wasn't quite complete and maybe a third season was in the works. They've still got a major problem that they need to overcome, after all.

Last updated Monday, August 10 2020. Created Friday, March 13 2020.

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