Kenka Dokugaku

The bullies at Yoo Hobin's high school are no ordinary trouble-makers: they are NewTubers, budding internet celebrities who force Hobin to partake in humiliating videos and host live-streams in his house. Hobin only manages to stay strong by reminding himself that he needs to work hard to support his hospitalized mother. However, during his classmate Woo Jihyeok's live stream, Hobin completely snaps after a humiliating incident. As a result, the two men engage in a grotesque fistfight that lasts until dawn.

The following day, Hobin discovers that the livestream of his fight went viral on NewTube, turning him into a celebrity overnight. After he realizes that making viral videos is a very lucrative endeavor, Hobin agrees to team up with Jihyeok to create a channel that features his martial prowess. However, Hobin needs to become a seasoned fighter and keep his distance from those who seek to use him for his newfound fame, unless he wants a lack of views to become the least of his problems. Thankfully for him, the unexpected discovery of a series of obscure self-learning videos might be just what he needs to survive in the content creation industry.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yoo, Hobin Main

Niwa, Satoshi Japanese

Lee, Gaeul Main

Fairouz Ai Japanese

Choi, Bomi Main

Ishikawa, Yui Japanese

Woo, Jihyeok Main

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Seong, Taehoon Supporting

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Samdak Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Yeo, Rumi Supporting

Aoyama, Yoshino Japanese

Kim, Moonsung Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Pakgo Supporting

Takeuchi, Shunsuke Japanese

Hwang, Mangi Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Mori, Akitoshi Producer

Otokawa, Masashi Producer

Yonemori, Hiroto Producer

Hishida, Masakazu Director

Reviews

Aug 23, 2024

Grimenio

Recommended

Viral Hit is a captivating anime that follows the journey of Hobin, a bullied high school student who discovers the power of fighting back. With its gritty realism and well-choreographed fight scenes, the anime immerses you in the high-stakes world of underground street fights.
What sets Viral Hit apart is its commitment to grounded combat. The fights feel visceral and dangerous, with characters facing real consequences for their actions. This creates a palpable sense of tension and excitement as Hobin navigates the treacherous social hierarchy of his school.
Beyond the thrilling action, Viral Hit explores themes of self-improvement, friendship, and finding one's place in a harsh world. ... The characters, while not always likable, are complex and compelling, making you invested in their struggles and triumphs.
While the anime may not have the most polished visuals, it more than makes up for it with its engaging story and memorable moments. If you're a fan of gritty underdog stories and intense fight scenes, Viral Hit is a must-watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 26, 2024

ST63LTH

Mixed Feelings

Hobin Yoo is a high schooler who falls victim to bullying and humiliation from his classmates. While slaving away at a part-time job to pay his mother's medical bills, Hobin discovers a faster and more lucrative way to earn money: NewTube, a social networking site where streams and videos that go viral turn financial situations. He sees his classmates, like Pakgo and Rumi, uploading content daily and is compelled to start his own.

Under the guise of a channel named "Viral Hit," Hobin challenges bullies, armed with effective fighting techniques learned from a mysterious NewTube channel. Determined to turn his life around no matter the ... cost, Hobin dives into the world of content creation prepared to put his life on the line. Will his efforts be in vain, or is there still hope for Hobin's career as a content creator?

Story & Character: 5/10 & 6/10
Viral Hit does well to articulate struggle and wit through its narrative, but it lacks depth and intensity. Any attempt to develop the story deeper is met with cheaply executed humor. The power scale is so arbitrary that battles with powerful foes don't feel suspenseful, and to make matters worse, the action sequences lack any form of animation whatsoever. Conflict slowly becomes more predictable as Viral Hit adopts battles of attrition, making them less interesting as the opponents become more prominent.

Viral Hit maintains a set of unique characters fairly well within a short time frame. There are delinquents, stoics, schemers, and many in-between. As the main character, Hobin feels like a convincing representation of an everyday high school student with his degenerate lifestyle and sly persona. His character execution was done a little too well to the point where I started to loathe his existence as the lead because his growth is belittled by fragile self-confidence. The drama felt more dynamic due to the shifts in each character's agenda to grow their following, which was a welcome inclusion despite being the only prominent source of drama in the series.

Art & Sound: 4/10 & 6/10
For a series that prides itself on its fights, there seems to be a major discrepancy with its animation. The consistent use of panning stills, re-used animations, and lack of movement limited the viewing experience. Character proportions, especially faces, fell apart whenever the character wasn't facing directly ahead or in profile view, which we see in characters like Rumi, Bomi, and Taehoon. However, the character designs were visually appealing when done right, with attractive eyes, hair, and teeth.

I enjoyed some of the soundtracks used in the background of the episodes; they featured punchy Korean rap in many of the conflict scenes, which set a wild and rebellious mood. Beyond that, there weren't many great attempts at thematic soundtracks or theme songs used in the series. The voice acting and sound effects met modern standards, so there weren't many gripes against either.

Overall & Enjoyment: 5/10
Viral Hit had me dying of second-hand embarrassment for lack of a better explanation. It was designed well in that regard, but it didn't have much impact visually or narratively, which made the progression and milestone events more or less unsubstantial. It was a decent watch, nothing spectacular in terms of art, character development or its plot. Not even an underdog style story because it lacks much of the assured growth you'd expect from constant self-sacrifices.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 7, 2024

PixelB

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (9/12 eps)

I watched 8 episodes in a single day. It's actually abnormal how much I watched when it was so bad. However, as if it was like a fever dream, the next day I picked up the show, it just got worse and worse to the point that I dropped it.

The more you think about a show like this, the more you realize how garbage it is. It truly is the epitome of "turn your brain off" type of shows. It hits all the shitty tropes and more when you look into it even a little bit. First off is the truly abysmal characters. Hobin is ... the typical isekai/cheat character where he gets to fight people much stronger than him and somehow come up on top due to a cheat-like tutorial video series that allows him to train for months to specifically target the person he's fighting. Similarly, despite never doing any sports, not being athletic, not being tall, not weighing anything, he's still able to fight people many times his weight class and size. Overall, it really is reminiscent of a typical fantasy hero-type character blessed with cheats to combat powerful foes.

Of course, I get that this show kind of hinges on the setting that Hobin is a bullied loser that has nothing. Plus, he's poor and has no opportunities That's kind of the only reason why he starts fighting back. However, how hard is it to just insert a time-skip where he trains for 5+ years before starting the show then? At the very least, even with his small build, he'd at least have good muscle strength. But no...Hobin just needs to go to his metabolic time chamber and cheat video series train one month to beat pro-level MMA fighters.

On the other hand, Hobin also gets love interests. Why not? Bomi is the main female love interest, and her only role is to be the damsel in distress and for the MC to have a reason to keep fighting. Bomi doesn't actually have a personality, and apart from her good looks, contributes nothing to the story. Hobin falls in love with Bomi for her looks, and that's about as much as you need to know. Incidentally, Hobin gets another love interest who's also cute and whatever. Hobin simping for Bomi was already cringe as hell, but double that now? Plus, He's in a love triangle with his best friend, Jihyeok loves Gaeul, and Gaeul likes Hobin. So boring. Hobin is simultaneously a guy that gets flustered easily, stutters, can't hold a conversation, but at the same time all the girls love him. Hmm...no wish fulfillment here I think.

Similar to Tokyo Revengers, the only thing you're here for are the fights. There's not really any character development or anything. Hobin fights stronger and stronger foes and befriends them, extending his social circle and social media presence while simultaneously finding harder and harder opponents for himself to fight. That's about it.

Also, for a fighting show, the animation is fairly below budget. Animation is reused constantly, slideshows are aplenty, and many times people are standing still, or otherwise reusing a very poor lip-sync animation. Backgrounds are dull, shading is done like the original webtoon (which is fucking as simple as possible), and overall the rendering of many fight scenes are just mediocre.

For a similar theme, Lookism is better on almost all counts.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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