High Score Girl

May 30, 2016

Bacchai

Recommended

Preliminary (35/65 chp)

I was looking to chill for a bit and browsed around looking for a new manga to read. I ended up reading Hi Score Girl with at first not much hope for it : the theme seemed like some tweek of the ordinary, and the art, especially the design of the characters, suggested it was going to be a simple comedy.

I ended up feeling so enthusiastic about it that I'm a bit sorry to write about it while being so obviously biased. But in the meantime, I just want to tell how much I found this manga so surprisingly good. I'll push my qualms away ... and just go for it.

The manga is built around two themes : video games, and school life romance. Both of them seem pretty basic, but they are here used very smartly.

First, they are told through time. In a lot of mangas the pacing is a huge problem. And it could clearly have been -- and a reader less enthusiastic than me might very well feel that it's still slow -- without the fact that the author studies these themes through time. Years go by fast, and although the characters don't evolve that much in these 35 first chapters, consequences are told and it all feels dynamic.

Second, both themes are tightly intertwined. The video games just seem to be the excuse for characters to meet and interact ; the characters' story are also an excuse to talk about old school video games.

But all that would only be smart, while this manga is just beautiful to me. The reason is that all three of the main characters are very touching.

Haruo is completely addict to video games. A lot in him pisses me off. How can you spend so much time on them ? How can you be so oblivious to so many things because you're obsessed with games, all the more arcade games ? In the meantime, his struggles with very human things -- self-confidence, friendship, love -- made me forgive his flaws and root for him.
Also, the game addict characters' obsession is often depicted as coldness and despise towards the "real world" (for example : The World God Only Knows), Haruo is kind and often considerate towards others -- but can also be very selfish, but hey nobody is perfect.

Oono is an oujo-sama, again one of these perfect students all around, from a very rich background, popular on top of it. This kind of character just pisses me off, because mangakas use them so widely and are usually straight stereotypes. But nothing about Oono is ordinary. She just doesn't speak -- which kinda bugs me since I can't get how such a problem wouldn't raise concerns. And she secretly is also very passionate about video games.
Her rivalry with Haruo changes into a deep bond ; and with time Haruo is able to read her mind with just the smallest facial expression, or any time they have a conversation where Haruo speaks for both of them, I just smile, feeling like I'm witnessing a very deep relationship.

Hidaka, last but not least, is at first a very diligent student. She's studying all the time because she doesn't know what else to do -- contrary to Oono, her parents don't mind her fooling around, even encourage her to do what she likes. She seems to have very little friends at the first appearance in the story. She doesn't seem to have much in common with Haruo, except she admires his ability to just chill and have fun. So she follows him in his video game world with a touching sincerity. While Haruo can't seem to think about anything but video games -- with selfishness a lot of the time -- she sticks with him, carrying on admiring him all throughout. Her behaviour is paradoxical yet very human : we've all been amazed by things we didn't understand.

The characters are unique, they are studied with quite some finesse, and a bit of drama did the trick for me. I'd recommend it blindly even for people that don't care about video games since I haven't read a better manga for quite a while.

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Oct 23, 2017

crapster_goh

Recommended

Preliminary (100/65 chp)

This isn't a well known manga, but it is one of my favorite.

Story:
This is a story about pure childhood love, about how we behaved immaturely about our crushes when we in primary school, and how the characters relationships continue to develop over time, as they bond over their mutual obsession over games.

What really impressed me about the story was how the author managed to achieve such depth of character development, when the female lead NEVER utters a single word throughout the entire course of the manga. This makes the story cute and sweet, as the couple bond over games, and communicate through actions and expressions

Art: ...

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Apr 28, 2014

Ranigad

Recommended

Preliminary (16/65 chp)

A manga following the life of a game-addict and his life in the 80s/90s during the infancy of arcade and console games. A poor student, the protagonist spends nearly all his time thinking about and playing video games. One day, he is defeated at the arcade by a female classmate, sparking both a rivalry and friendship that is central to this manga.

The actual story takes a bit to take off, and feels very slow and unexciting until it does. However, once it does progress, you find yourself in the midst of a heartwarming relationship that you can't help but root for. The two main protagonists ...

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Sep 9, 2022

foxhunt99

Recommended

Hi Score Girl is a manga made by a gamer for gamers. If you were not a gamer you wouldn’t understand many of the plots and jokes. I am a gamer, love video games, and grew up in the same period depicted in this manga. Thus, I loved this manga.

However, video game reference is not the only thing this manga offers. It is a quite good love story centered around video games. More amazingly the female protagonist does not talk at all during the entire 10-volume manga. And she is not mute. All her feeling are displayed through her facial expression and action.

Let’s ...

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Dec 19, 2023

Aikon83

Recommended

STORY & CHARACTERS 8/10
This is a simple yet lovely story about three main characters and the troubled dynamic between them in what is esentially a love triangle. Although the story is focused on two characters only early on, with the third character being introduced later. To describe HSG as just a love triangle story would be understatement, however. The story takes its time to develop each of our three characters individually as well as each of the dynamics between two of them, making our love triangle a web of feelings of love, rivarly and friendship.

To talk about the plot is to talk about the characters ... and their need of growth. The tension of the story comes from the different wants of the three protagonists, their struggle to express it to others and how it reflects on their relationships. This is where lies the strength of this story.

This is gag manga with quite effective and creative jokes. The comedy relies mainly on putting our male protagonist Haruo in absurd situations with goofy people in which sometimes he gets harmed either phisically or emotionally. It doesn't get to a point of inhumanly torturing the prota, just life being unfair to him from time to time. Although the story is comedic in nature, it does a good job in setting serious moments with relevance to the development of the characters. Comedy never interferes with the developing plot.

The story seems to have a loose direction at times resulting in it deviating of the plot and it extending subplots more than necessary. Some side characters could have better development. However since this is a fairly short manga spanning 10 vols it doesn't get too annoying, especially if you like both characters and comedy.

Another strong point is the whole retro-videogames/arcade theme. This a common interest relevant to our protagonists. It is what unites them and it is what drives the situations our characters get in. The plot becomes a competetive sport type of story at times. It is not the main focus and it is worked on superficially. But it serves our characters relations and development in a way that it is, nonetheless, very exciting.

ART 8/10
The art is very cartoony and it's not super detailed. It can be exaggerated to the point of being ugly for comedic purposes. However, the characters are designed in a cute way resulting in "ugly-cute" art overall. When seriousness is due, the visual element of the story serves in portraying the characters' emotions with detail. It's very distinct, unique to the author. I personally really like it.

ENJOYMENT 8/10
Loved the characters. Loved the romance. Loved the videogame theme. This is not a very complicated romance story but it is filled with both wholesome and heartbreaking moments. It is neither too long nor too short, reaching a well made conclusion when it needed to. Loved it overall.

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Aug 26, 2022

PixelB

Not Recommended

High Score Girl is about a Haruo, a guy who is obsessed with video games with no particularly redeemable traits about him, and the innocent romance with Oono, a girl who beats him in every game they play in--oh, and she also beats him up in real life too.

The beginning was pretty good. It showcases the innocent romance that young people go through, and it goes pretty well. Haruo, awkward as hell, only talks about games, slowly becomes more familiar with Oono, who despite hits him and teases him, clearly appreciates his company. Both the characters have different backgrounds. Oono's a mute, rich girl that's ...

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Aug 14, 2021

potentialPizza

Not Recommended

I came into Hi Score Girl expecting a classic fighting game experience. Two people pushing each other to improve, at a competitive format all about putting in the time and effort to overcome those better than you. Maybe a dash of romance in there too. Unfortunately, it had the opposite balance. Hi Score Girl is certainly not in the vein of sports series about improving and competing; at its core it’s a love triangle romcom. A painfully bland one.

What does the fighting game backdrop add, then? Certainly not an in-depth look at the skills and mindset one develops to improve at competitive games. It’s mostly ... nostalgia. If you’re invested in FGC culture, or classic gaming from the late 80s and early 90s, there’s a lot you may get out of it. You see the main character’s excitement as new consoles and iconic games are released, and within the games he competes at, there are plenty of references to specific combos or strategies that I’m sure are completely accurate to the time and the games. The author’s own nostalgia failed to inspire me to feel the same, but he shows a genuine appreciation for the culture of the time.

That’s as far as it goes, however. The plot only occasionally delves into the characters having a desire to practice and overcome each other, and when it does it’s mostly offscreen. It’s circumstantial, driven by whatever stage their romance drama is currently in.

And oh, the romance drama. If you’re looking for the kind of series with realistic relationship progression, then stay away. This is a pure love triangle about people too cowardly to realize their feelings. Love triangles honestly are not always bad, but the first half of the manga is all about people who are incapable of acknowledging that they’re in love. It fails to give that ignorance a youthful charm; it just feels like nothing significant is actually happening.

It is technically a romcom, not just a romance, but I didn’t find much real comedy to speak of. If the main character saying something stupid (because he doesn’t realize the girl likes him) and the girl enacting some over the top physical violence on him is enough to make you laugh, you’ll have a blast. Don’t expect much humor beyond that.

Why do the two main girls love the main character, Yaguchi? He’s an immature, gaming-obsessed child far more focused on whatever’s coming out than remotely understanding either girl’s feelings. Yet I’ll admit, with Oono, it honestly works. She doesn’t speak a word of dialogue throughout the entire manga, too shy to ever properly express herself, and the art does an acceptable job of characterizing her and showing her emotions despite that. It makes for an easy excuse for her to never confess her feelings, but it does help make her believable as a shy person who found a genuine connection with someone who had the same interest as her.

It doesn’t work as well with Hidaka, the love rival. She falls in love with Yaguchi because she’s enamored by his passion and drive to openly care about fighting games. She’s shy too, so I can at least understand that she wasn’t constantly finding better people, but the reasons the story gives just honestly don’t feel believable enough. In the first volume, before Hidaka was introduced, Yaguchi and Oono’s relationship feels somewhat charming and special. Hidaka turns it into a “the most beautiful popular girls are both in love with this unappealing nerd” fantasy.

In the second half of the manga, Hidaka does start to be legitimately open about her feelings with Yaguchi, matching him in fighting games and asking him out multiple times. It doesn’t matter, because unless this is the first romance you’ve ever read, it’s absurdly obvious it’s not going to happen and he’s going to end up with Oono in the end.

The drama is a hodgepodge of standard tropes. Tropes that are not inherently awful, but I was bored by the usage. Oono has an oppressive home life and is forbidden from going out and playing, except for the multiple times she runs away to spend time with Yaguchi. Expect multiple nights together in hotels where obviously they aren’t going to fool around together or have any romantic progress, as it’s just bait for the readers. And the finale uses one of my least favorite romance tropes I’ve seen way too many times. I won’t spoil the specifics, but it’s one of the cheapest ways to force a confession.

The finale is the only time the art grabbed me. There’s finally some interesting compositions and perspectives, as it realizes it can use art to convey emotion. Before that… well, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

The art is ugly. Art styles are subjective, so you can disagree with me on this, but this has one of the most unappealing aesthetics I’ve seen in a professionally serialized manga. It’s not that they’re chibi, although the faces and the head shapes are unpleasant. It’s the awful anatomy, which leads to character designs with no consistency, that constantly feel off-model, deformed, and warped. If you like the art, please enjoy it. But few other manga make me HATE their art this much. Not dislike, or be bored by, but feel genuine disgust and loathing.

With how negative I’m being, even I’m surprised I’m rating it a 4/10 and not lower. Honestly, for everything bad I’m saying about it, deep down there is some level of charm. Maybe it’s in the characters, who do feel like the author put some heart into. Their relationships bored me, but as people there’s something to them. The main three aren’t generic or shallow, but have fleshed out personalities and desires. It’s not who they are that’s the problem, but what happens with them.

Something did keep me reading instead of dropping it, and I don’t think it was just my persistence to not leave stories unfinished. The author had a vision. I saw it through, but I wouldn’t recommend you do the same. Not unless you personally think the art looks fine, feel nostalgia for that era of fighting games, or don’t mind drawn-out love triangles.

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