High Score Girl II

One thing that this show does nicely is deliver a wonderful nostalgia trip for us 90s kids. It is really something to be reminded of all these things I forgot about over time. For that alone, it's worth a watch!

However, outside of the setting this takes place in, the actual story itself is a lot of lost potential. Did I still watch both seasons? Yes. Did I still enjoy myself throughout its entirety? Yes. But, it could have been better.

The protagonist Yaguchi is passionate about video games, and more specifically, going to arcades. And there, is where he meets his love interest Oono. ... I liked the dynamic of these characters, but one thing I cannot stand with romantic plots is when they use a third love interest to cause friction. I hate love triangles, and it is so overused it's actually frustrating.

With this show, I will say I gave it credit for never having Yaguchi reciprocate Hidaka's (the other love interest) feelings. That made me happy that from the very beginning, he was all in with Oono, even if he didn't know it himself. However, the problem was that even when Hidaka acknowledges that she has unrequited feelings, she doesn't stop. Even worse, she sets up cringey situations between herself and Yaguchi that even Yaguchi looked uncomfortable to be in. It was painful as a viewer to be witnessing those scenes, and honestly, irrelevant to include since her feelings for him really did nothing for the plot. Utterly pointless.

That off my chest, another thing that was disappointing was that Yaguchi was reactive, not proactive. Everything he does, he does because someone told him to do it, or someone initiated first, and so on. I really can't stand characters like that because they get frustrating fast. He's a boy in high school...how can he possibly not know about kissing, hugging, and what it means to love someone? He mentions at one point wanting to develop games as an adult, but his ambitions are never readdressed. Sadly, he doesn't have any personal goals or development that he achieves other than his relationship with Oono.

The rest of the story was alright, again enjoyable enough. But, a lot of unanswered questions, like - why did Oono go to LA in middle school? And why did she come back? What happened to Yaguchi's dad?

That said, I still recommend it because I do overall like the love story between Yaguchi and Oono, and think it makes up for all the show does lack!

I would make a joke about this show as the opening of my review but it seems the 9 episode runtime of this season of High Score Girl is enough of a joke. High Score Girl 2 is the hyped(?) second season to the sleeper hit first season anime that mixed video games and romance in a way that felt new and fresh... well at least enough to make an enjoyable binge. Did the second season live up to the bar that High Score Girl 1 set or did this fun little gamer romance run out of lives?

The positive parts of this new season ... can best be seen in the animation. The biggest issue season one had was how spotty the animation quality happened to be scene to scene. The 3D CGI of the second season feels more smoothed out and consistent, never leaving you with hideous looking shots like the first season had from time to time. My next positive might come as a surprise but the 9 episode runtime felt perfect for the story. The pacing was never halted and nothing this season felt like filler in the way that some of the Hidaka episodes in the first season felt. It's hard to make a show feel natural with fewer episodes then a normal seasonal show, but High Score Girl 2 did it perfectly.

A lot of the issues I find with this show however come down to the simple fact that this season doesn't make an effort to change the dynamics of or characters. The vast majority of romance anime fall into this trap of showing our characters just dip a toe into the world of being a relationship and sadly this second season of High Score Girl spends all of the runtime just teasing you with the possibility of our main characters becoming a couple. When you reach the end and finally get the conclusion to the two season arcs for our characters all you're left with is...oh? I guess that's it. For most younger audiences i'm sure this isn't an issue, but for anyone who's older or have seen more romance anime it just feels like a waste of time and if you're a romance show that fails at being a compelling romance what do you have left? Maybe I'm just cynical though.

High score girl isn't bad. It's worth watching and if you can, you should binge the show because I think that's the best way to watch it. This show won't stay on your mind for more then a month though. It's just a simple, easy, average little anime, but sometimes those are all you really need.

High Score Girl II is the second season of the romantic comedy and 90s nostalgia anime that follows the rivalry and romance between the gamer Haruo and the girls Oono and Hidaka. However, this season disappoints by becoming a cliché and boring harem, in which the two girls run after Haruo and he pretends to be clueless and innocent. The plot does not progress, the characters do not evolve and the jokes are repeated. It does not seem to be an anime aimed at an adult audience (Seinen), but rather at a teenager who likes to see girls fighting for a boy. The only thing ... that saves this season is the soundtrack, which brings classics from video games and pop music. I give a grade 4 for this season and do not recommend it for those who expect a smart and fun romantic comedy.