The year is 1994 and while numerous events happen around the world, Haruo Yaguchi is still a gaming-obsessed moron. Koharu Hidaka has no idea how someone like him can live the way he does — going to arcades when he’s not supposed to, playing games in class, and not actually studying. However, thanks to a snowstorm and having to take shelter at a nearby shop, she runs into him there and gets to actually know who he is. After this encounter, she starts questioning a bit how she lives her life.
…While also understanding that Haruo’s likely too far gone with games to be totally rational.
Hi Score Girl volume 2 picks up in Haruo’s second year in middle school, when gaming continue to explode. Capcom releases many versions of Street Fighter II. Mortal Kombat debuts in Japan. And the first 3D polygon game, Virtua Fighter, makes its presence felt. All these games only makes our male lead froth at the mouth. Or maybe slob since that actually does happen at one point in this volume.
But, while still totally into games, each thought turns back to Akira Oono and his time with her. At certain points throughout this volume, he thinks back to those memories, whether it’s when he whines about being down in the dumps after Guile got nerfed in the latest SFII games, or when he ends up talking to Hidaka, who, before knowing Haruo, went home and watched Mito Komon. So not surprisingly, those memories intensify when about 2/3 into the volume, Akira returns!…and is not only still dominant, but she even knows about the secret character in Super SFII Turbo!
…I seriously wonder how people reacted to making that discovery back then!
All of this, however, makes Haruo wonder if they’re even actual rivals. What he doesn’t realize is this is the start of something more than just that…because he’s a dummy. While Akira doesn’t take up most of this volume, she definitely knows she likes him in her own way (that means using Haggar to beat up his character). But Haruo has no idea, for various reasons in addition to him only having a brain for games. So he’s got a lot to learn in the near future.
Anyways, while he’s important since he’s the main character, this volume introduces Koharu. While not always happy about Haruo’s arrogance, she’s very much in love with his passion. This is in stark contrast to what she was doing before, and now she’s suddenly being brought into a world by someone who’s simultaneously an obnoxious gamer but is also someone who doesn’t turn her away from what he loves, and even encourages her. That’s probably why she ends up developing feelings for him. She’s got some work to do to get that through his thick skull though.
As always, one of the neat things that makes Hi Score Girl stand out is all the games shown in the manga. I can imagine some of these games were obscure, but back then, you went to the arcade and played whatever’s available. And also not think too hard about a shooting game where there’s a random girl in a bikini on a battlefield (Operation Wolf, what is happening on that battlefield?!?). And through one person’s mind we get some knowledge that’s fascinating and worth knowing about — like discovering arcades had a Rainbow edition of Street Fighter II.
So between its main story and the two special chapters — one that not only involves Haruo and Akira going to a festival back in 1991 but even having Koharu appear in it (they don’t meet then) — Hi Score Girl volume 2 is a pretty solid entry. Now of course, we’ll have to see soon how the romance part plays out in this series. While also wondering in manga form whether Haruo will again get drunk off of melon flavored Cheerio…