Sep 29, 2018
High Score Girl's soul fundamentally lies in it's throwback setting to the golden age of arcades, the fighting genre and videogames in general, but the show doesn't use this setting as a crutch but rather makes something special out of it.
Yaguchi is an arcade/videogame addict who self-proclaims that his only value as a person is his talent in video games, so he always spends his time in arcade, beating other people and feeling good about himself. So naturally a girl named Oono comes and beats the sh*t out of him, both figuratively and literally, story ensues.
The show mainly uses videogames as a
...
parallel to our world, but it's not forced, so it makes the show feel more legit and realistic. The main story on the other hand is more about the youth of these particular characters and how their interaction with each other affect them. It's basically a romance story with slice-of-life influences and video games as a bit of fanservice (and advertisements, a lot).
The very first moment I went into the show I immediately hated how anything looked, because this show unfortunately uses low-quality cg in it's art direction which is always concerning when it comes to anime. It's sad to know that this show will always look old and dated, as it already looks dated even today. But then things seemed to get better looking as the episodes went on, not sure if I was just getting used to the awful cg but then I realized what actually was going on.
The thing is, in stark contrast to it's low quality cg, this show actually has surprisingly good cinematography and atmosphere, provided by some nicely laid out background art. You're never confused as to where the characters are in relation to each other, it gives the show that visual depth to make the onscreen action believable.
It's snowing outside... we quickly rush into a local shop and play some video games as we catch some heat, it's cozy as hell.
Even though one of the biggest reasons why I enjoyed this show is undoubtedly the characters, and they are decently written characters, when I look back I come to realize they were'nt really anything too exceptional. Rather, it's more interesting how these characters interact with each other, and how they shape each other as people as the show goes on, it's quite fun to see how much Oono changes Yaguchi as a person.
My main problem with the show is that it doesn't have any finality to it, as it quite simply can't since the manga is stil going. There will be two more episodes coming though (with the BD release if I'm not wrong) so maybe those will give some completeness to the show, but with the manga still going, I doubt it.
High School Girl gets a strong 7.
While nothing too special, it's still a show I very much enjoyed and would recommend to anyone who likes cute romance stories, SoL and video games. It's definitely worth watching if you're into the genre.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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