High Score Girl...
An actual Romantic Comedy about gamers, involving gaming! Unlike that other series that came out a few years ago!
I remember many years past when the manga source of this series began, I read it since chapter 1 and how fun the story seemes to be. It has become one of my best loved RomComs about gamers from the many that had come years prior, and that other novel one that made certain controversy.
What I liked about High Score Game was the down to earth story about typical gamers and their life. It also teaches about the gaming history for console games and games that came our since 1980s.
The flow is regular, and they actually show gaming in it.
The romance is the typical rival-turns-love type, and the love rivalry drama Japanese otaku loves to much (with the competition of who is best waifu).
I remember that half way I started wishing that the manga would obtain an anime adaptation... and I was disappointed that, that other one got the anime adaptation instead.
But when I heard High Score Girl had the chance, I pumped my fist up and yelled "YIOSH TTAAAA!!!"
And then I finally managed to hear Oono Akira's unpoken voice for the first time... I actually cried.
It was so adorable!!!
What I didn't like much about the series was the animation though... I can't believe this story, having the better story plot, recieve such poor cheap animation.
Its all corcky and sometimes looks like stop-motion.
But what you expect when this anime was animated using 3-D models in an advance form of Cell-shading instead of the normal digital animation of frames by frames.
Maybe if they had used motion-capture, it would had look better or at least give it a bit more revision for more fluid movements, but most of the characters moves as if they were robots.
Anyways... High Score Girl is the story about Yagushi Haruo, a gamer Otaku who started his unbeatable championship in fighting games since elementary school, and his meeting with his arch rival, Oono Akira... a Ojou-sama that became his beacon in life for the crown of gaming in his town.
Haruo is just a typical kid, laid back and loves games. He always talks about games and always playing games. He had the title of undefeated until Little Akira stole the crown from him, and since then he has seen her as a rival and object in life (to beat).
Akira is just your average rich girl "princess" who was submitted into carrying the family inheritance since her older sister abandoned everything. Since she could not make a life, she dedicated herself to play games as a stress relief making her a gaming genius.
Then there is Koharu Hidaka... the love rival... because Japan can't live without the stereotype love rivalry drama in their series....
Koharu was Haruo's class mate in middle school, she began to get interest in him after seeing him playing a fighting game in her dad's shop and then got introduced to gaming. She went into the world of games to try to make a place for herself in Haruo's heart just to learn that Haruo mostly does things for just one girl... his arch rival, Oono Akira.
Since then the love rivalry for Haruo's attention began between the rich girl and the commoner girl.
Of and all, I really love this series and how the author was creative with it to make something believable in romance between gamers.
But acquired all those copyrights to be able to use official names for actual games must had cost a ton of money... which maybe is why the budget was so limited and the animation was mediocre.
It would had been epic if it had fluent well done animation.
So my final judgement would be:
10 for such an unique story and well done plot.
10 for such an original artwork that is not like another.
7 for sound because well it was average.
10 for such unique human-like characters.
10 for enjoyment because I love this story.
and 7 for overall because well... like I said; the animation could had been better.
