If we’re still talking Hi Score Girl using video game terminology, most games have stages. Chapters. Routes. All of them have to be cleared in order to advance to the next one. Life is basically like that too. All of us will go through certain challenges that we’ll have to beat before taking on another new challenge, or until we actually find the ending to what we want.
So i.e., both Haruo Yaguchi and Akira Oono went through their own stages to clear from the moment the two first met. In their own way they were both gaming aficionados, but Haruo thought he could just bulldoze his way through life with just games, while Akira used games to escape the pressures of her demanding family. It was just that random encounter at the arcade back in volume 1, where Haruo got involved with a uncommunicative rich girl who responded to turtling Guile against her Zangief with ultra violence, who he believed was just a prim-and-proper student that shouldn’t be in this gaming space. The encounter where Akira met a lousy, tunnel-visioned boy with no tact whatsoever.
In volume 10, they approach their final matchup with thoughts way different from back then.
So the one thing I was wondering about for this final volume is how closely did the anime cover the manga’s ending years ago, and as it turned out, extremely faithfully. Which means I will have to knock it down a bit. As emotional as the actual scenario was, and technically, having gaming characters do whatever it took to have our two main leads meet up again was fitting. But the convenience of it all was a let down. I wasn’t totally enamored with how it went.
But naturally, that didn’t stop me from loving the anime, and in the end, the manga as well.
First things first: the shock of Akira losing in the first round and now having to win in the losers bracket just doesn’t compute — but in the end, when you have so many things swirling in your head, the pressure can get to you too. But it’s where getting back into your roots can work, and for Akira, she met someone whom she loves a lot, but reality isn’t always pleasant. But you can’t change everything about yourself, which is why her returning to the Akira we all know is not surprising in the least. Gotta send off Haruo knowing he still can’t beat you after all!
But then of course the rest of the volume involves Haruo coming to terms with everything — and despite what he’s thinking, he’s struggling. He’s now resorting to reading manga instead of playing video games! Everyone around him sees his depression, and on the day Akira’s leaving, he doesn’t want to see her. He just mopes around the city. He also ends up returning to an old joint — Hidaka’s shop. And that’s of course when meeting Hidaka again and what she says regarding when she faced off against Akira, Haruo had to realize he couldn’t leave things as is.
So, while I have misgivings about the lead up to Akira and Haruo seeing each other again, I was happy that they finally were able to have their moment of romance together, and start essentially a new stage in their life, but one at each other’s side. Well, we’ll just have to guess how hard Haruo will work to see her properly again, but getting confirmation is nice! From their rocky start to their interactions throughout the years as gaming changed around them and to the end, it was great to watch the two progress in a new manner.
As for Hi Score Girl in general, well, it was a journey. The documenting of years and what changed as arcade gaming and consoles took center stage brought back the days for me when I gamed a bunch. The reality of growing up also hit me as well, but between learning a lot about Japanese video game factoids to the types of arcade games they allowed people to play, it was pretty nice to get some history while also reading about some kids gaming. And soon enough finding love.
There is a new version of Hi Score Girl with Hidaka as the main character that’s ongoing in Japan that I’d love to read, and there’s still a few things I would’ve liked to see in this series (the Oono Family, some sort of update on how Akira is doing overseas to name a few). But this is about as complete a story can be for a manga series. So the crazy relationship between Haruo and Akira had many twists (and punches) and turns, and I’ll be satisfied just imagining how they’d be viewing the growth of games wherever they happen to be at.