Hidaka finally says to Haruo what we’ve known already: she likes him and wants to go out with him. But it’s not your standard confession: she challenges him, and if she wins in the games chosen, it’s a done deal. But this oblivious dude had no idea Hidaka liked him like that, and between her and his relationship with Akira, Haruo has to come to terms with reality — but naturally, he’s shying away from it! And being told by Akira’s teacher Moemi to not see her again only adds to his stresses. Now he’ll have to come face to face with what’s actually going on before even thinking about gaming again.
Hi Score Girl volume 5 sticks out for a few reasons — namely, we got to see Akira’s perspective in 1991. We have gotten a sense of it, but since the story was told from Haruo’s frame of mind, we didn’t see everything Akira had to deal with, and that’s mainly all of the Oono family’s tasks being dumped on her. This occurs after her sister, Makoto, is tired of the strict teachings and requirements by Moemi, which led to Moemi focusing all her attention on Akira. Yep, the Oono family’s rich and elite, but basically depriving Akira of any type of break — she has to do various lessons every day — seems counterproductive.
Which, well, we’ve already seen so far in this series since Akira’s run away multiple times. We get to see the first time she did in this volume though, and she heads to where her family claims holds detestable characters — the arcade. She got the full arcade experience — seeing people fighting, lots of guys hogging the machines, and no one wanting to play Zangief or Haggar. Funny to say this, and I likely thought about it then, but in watching the anime you see how Akira’s amazing at just about any game she plays, but wonder how in the world can she be this good when she can’t even have a console in her home. Well, the strict training she’s done is being applied to these games, and for the first time it’s in a constructive, enjoyable way.
This of course eventually leads to her meeting Haruo for the first time, and well, we already know what happened then. After then getting banned from that arcade, they ended up encountering each other multiple times at other ones, and each not actually liking the other. But eventually, they both enjoyed being together. It obviously hasn’t been easy for her to make friends, but Akira found someone who could be so in Haruo — but now we flash to the present day, 1995, and her responsibilities in the Oono family only get more stringent. That’s why Akira hanging out with Haruo again felt different from usual (even the way she acts was different), but in the end, this meeting only gave the two clear goals they each have to accomplish.
For Haruo at least, that means finally accepting Hidaka’s challenge, which won’t be easy. As you know from volume 4, his detachment from games has left him lagging behind her, and now Hidaka’s about to learn frame data. Yes, she knows fighting games, but now she’s gonna learn about frames from an unusual group! So her desire to be with Haruo is pretty strong, if, as she acknowledges, it has gone pretty weirdly. He’s gonna have his work cut out for him since she’s really good.
As usual, there’s usually something to learn about games when reading Hi Score Girl, but one was tough to find. In the translator’s notes it noted something about HSW, and because there are no page counts (until close to the end of the volume), I initially had trouble. In counting what was accurate, however, the page count listed appears to be wrong (It was on Page 180-181). Unfortunate because it’s actually sneaky since it’s on a shirt, but the manga had to reference the legendary Atari game that’s too infamous to be ignored somehow!
So yes, learning about that, the Daigirin, whatever Haruo’s mom transformed into to frighten Haruo’s friend Doi in the behind-the-scenes section, and seeing how the three main characters handle their challenges was indeed a highlight in this fifth volume of Hi Score Girl.