The 1990’s were a time of playing video games…for me at least. Sure I would watch whatever cartoon aired in the morning or Toonami in the afternoon after school, but then later on I would fire up either my Super NES to play something like Tetris Attack or Super Mario World or my Genesis to play Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, or Streets of Rage. I was very much into games back then.
Now? Nowhere near as much, but the nostalgia is still there and that nostalgia, alongside interesting character relationships, is why Hi Score Girl captured my attention from start to finish.
Hi Score Girl transports us back to the 90’s. A time with no cell phones, social media, etc. We meet Haruo Yaguchi, a school kid who’s an hardcore gamer. He is in fact so good he regularly beats people older than him in Street Fighter II at his local arcade. So when he faces a Zangief with his Guile, he’s thinking there’s no way he can be beat…until he is and not just beat by anyone — he was beat by the richest girl in his class.
Needless to say, Haruo wasn’t just surprised — he was completely flabbergasted. What’s this rich girl doing in his arcade, and not only destroying him in a match, but others as well? Well, Akira Ono may be a rich girl, but she’s just as much of a gamer as he is — somehow. I say somehow because she lives under strict rules — maintain her grades in class, do extracurricular studies at home, and get back by curfew in a house where she can’t actually buy games. And yet she’s terrific at it?
While Haruo’s not aware of her tight schedule, he is aware that he shouldn’t be losing to Akira, so he manages to break out a not necessarily cheating but very cheap tactic of turtling with Guile to beat Akira. His reward? A loss of pride and also getting punched by Akira. Neither are good things to happen to you.
And yet, this moment wasn’t the last encounter between the two. Haruo and Akira met up at different locales and bonded over games, the different types of games, the games on different consoles, etc. That is of course the main hook of this anime — and it works a lot. From finding a random, creepy looking arcade that housed the original (and terrible) Street Fighter to the local shop that had a couple of games lying around for people to play, Hi Score Girl is a major trip for people who played games back then.
There’s two parts to this series, one with Haruo and Akira in middle school. The second introduces us to Haruo in junior high school and a new character, Koharu Hidaka, who’s the opposite of Akira — in fact, she even thought gaming was a waste of time but that all changed when she interacted with Haruo more, and her thoughts on gaming shifted when she finds him playing Super Street Fighter II at her Dad’s shop.
Outside of the pleasant nostalgia factor, Hi Score Girl is simple from start to finish. It doesn’t needlessly add extra characters or have them stick around to hamper any of the main characters. Instead, it just introduces them typically. Like you’ll have your standard childhood friends, the non-gamer friends, or the usual parents showing up (though Haruo’s mom is legendary). Then you meet the different types of gamers, from Akira and Harou to Koharu, to the dude that gets angry about losing (you definitely have known this person) to the one person that has to have a specific character to win or else they’re done…you’ll recognize a few of them in this anime.
It also simply sticks to its 90’s timeline. The setting is Japan so you’ll learn about Japanese games, but it sticks its nose into American titles too, with one of the examples being Mortal Kombat. Getting insight into them, whether it’s from Haruo playing them or an extra information graphic at the end of the episode, you do learn a lot about games from this anime. I imagine this required a ton of research for the creator of the manga, and from its current run, it translates here as well.
The gaming aspect is its main hook, but the humor is the next biggest draw, simply because Akira doesn’t speak. How does this show manage to not get stale because of this? Well, it mostly doesn’t thanks to Haruo, and also due to the timing of everything that happens– like Akira steps on Haruo’s foot for the pettiest of reasons (getting certain items to drop in Final Fight for example) or how she might scowl at something Haruo did. It also introduces us to Koharu at a time where Haruo’s still the same game obsessed kid, but during this time in junior high, things begin to change for him, and alongside that comes a different dosage of humor.
The romance aspect is the last thing here — it definitely plays a part in how Haruo, Akira, and Koharu interact with each other and what drives their motivations. To what extent it may depend though, since throughout most of the anime Haruo was driven to become a better gamer until maybe 2/3 of the way in but it’s certainly there, even if Akira and Haruo don’t actually discuss it. If you want something a bit more direct, you’ll get that from Koharu as her gaming skills and her feelings for him evolves as time goes on.
Hi Score Girl is definitely one of the stronger anime series out there to watch, but it still has a few issues — if you aren’t into gaming in any fashion, would this be a worthwhile watch? The passion each character has when explaining or playing a game might be enough to carry some viewers, but for some others it could be dull. For me though, the second half of the anime was just ok. I think the Haruo/Akira dynamic and their competitive nature was great, but it took a bit for the Haruo/Koharu dynamic to really mesh. I did like Koharu’s character growth in the second half though.
The graphical style also could be a turn off, but honestly, it felt fitting. It’s CGI with some 2D animation, which in anime is rarely done well (maybe Knights of Sidonia is the best one), and, to be honest, I don’t think Hi Score Girl does it that well, but with there being no need for much action and the focus being mostly on the games, the aesthetic comes across well for me, and having it in standard 2D might have actually hurt some of the jokes in this one.
The translation/editing of Hi Score Girl is something to look out for though. It definitely isn’t super bad, but throughout the watch there were nagging errors or missing words that’s pretty disappointing to see, even moreso since this anime finished in the summer. I doubt it affected the dub too much, but in the first episode when each mention different win streaks, it makes you wonder to an extent. The streak thing is a minor change, but I did find it surprising though.
Finally, while the things I mentioned are subjective and not a big issue, the ending of Hi Score Girl at least should be definitive: it’s bad. It pretty much ends on a cliffhanger, which usually isn’t ideal for most works, so why would it be here? The only saving for this is if the extra stage OVA’s continue with this, or if there’s going to be a Season 2. None of that is confirmed though, so anyone watching this will be left in an awkward place, and I’d like to think the only way you end it as such is if you are going to continue the story. Until then, can’t think of this ending as positive in any way.
Thankfully though, the rest of Hi Score Girl picks all of its flaws up and gives us a very enjoyable journey throughout its run. From the games being played to the characters as they grow up in the 90’s, can’t help but feel that this anime was pretty great. I can only hope there will be more of this in the future so we can see what’s going on with everyone, and if gaming is still a big part of their lives.