High Score Girl

The year is 1991, and arcade video games are the latest craze. Becoming a professional gamer is a far-fetched dream in an industry that has yet to spread its influence. Yet, that is the path sixth-grader Haruo Yaguchi wants to pursue. His aptitude for video games has earned him respect in local arcades and bestowed him with confidence and pride, both of which are shattered when fellow classmate Akira Oono easily defeats him in Street Fighter 2.

Akira is rich, pretty, and smart—as close as can be to a perfect girl. But Haruo had never cared about these things as, despite his multiple shortcomings as a person, his supremacy in video games was, in his mind, undisputed. So, now that someone has appeared who can rival him, part of Haruo cannot help but loathe her. Another part, however, itches for somebody who can compete with him on equal terms, and Akira is more than capable.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Oono, Akira Main

Suzushiro, Sayumi Japanese

Hidaka, Koharu Main

Hirose, Yuuki Japanese

Yaguchi, Haruo Main

Amasaki, Kouhei Japanese

Yaguchi, Namie Supporting

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Oono, Makoto Supporting

Akasaki, Chinatsu Japanese

Jiiya Supporting

Cho Japanese

Miyao, Koutarou Supporting

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Guile Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Doi, Genta Supporting

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Onizuka, Chihiro Supporting

Midou, Daria Japanese

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Abe, Michihisa Producer

Kimura, Yasutaka Producer

Miyagi, Souji Producer

Reviews

Jun 24, 2024

Longnines

Recommended

A middle school boy spends his afternoons and allowance of yen on the 90s arcade game scene, where enthusiastic kids and work-weary adults go to play the hottest new fighting games and classic retro ones. Having no ambitions to be successful in school, inattentive as ever to classwork, what the boy lacks for in passion concerning his education he makes up for doubly in his knowledge about and passion for games and gaming and does not lack skill at it either. One afternoon, however, he encounters an unlikely opponent at the arcade and forms a mysteriously quiet gaming rivalry for the ages.

High Score Girl is ... a love letter to retro gaming, each episode containing a plethora of references to and gameplay from some of the most iconic titles and series of the 90s. You need not be a game aficionado to appreciate the thoughtfulness of these references or the evident passion with which they are made, as the show makes it easy to follow along by providing immediate examples of what it is talking about where any mentioned game title is concerned. Thematically, the anime poises itself as a comedy, but works better if treated as something of a slice-of-life/drama. There is rivalry present, there are supporting characters throughout that provide a surprisingly positive synergy with the main characters, and there is a quiet sort of love triangle that evolves in importance throughout the season.

The writing is fair; rather, it is primarily about gaming. When games are not the focal point of a conversation or internal monologue, the writing resembles the average high school rom-com, but with notably less flustered nose-bleeding and blushing word salad (although, some of the conversations are rather one-sided), with characters having formed reasonably fleshed out connections over common interests. The main characters experience growth and development in ways meaningful for them, and the core characters of the show steadily define what their goals are and proceed to work towards achieving them. The animation for the series may require something of an adjustment period, as the viewer is immediately greeted by CGI-styled characters and will often encounter retro game graphics throughout the series; however, the style is not so unattractive and could even be considered complementary to the content of the show. The season wraps up with what can only be described as a major cliffhanger.

This is a niche-interest sort of series. If you are a fan of retro games and gaming, especially of the 90s fighter types, or if you do not recoil at the idea of a show that has strong gaming themes with elements of drama, rivalry, and lite romance, then I recommend this anime to you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 24, 2024

Two0ld4this

Mixed Feelings

(This review contains mild spoilers.) I went into this series having little in the way of expectations. The MAL rating at the time of writing is 7.75, which is kinda mid, so I had my doubts about the quality of the show. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the first 2-3 episodes, which were really charming, and hinted at an unusual love story between the protagonists, Haruo and Akira. I was very much looking forward to the next episode, thinking that I had found a severely underrated series. Sadly, the love story eventually turned into a love triangle, which is one of the most annoying ... tropes in anime (at least, if you've gone through several of them in your anime journey). As the story develops, Akira loses her charm and becomes cold, distant, and a Mary Sue: she's great at everything, although we do not see how she got those skills. She's also a violent tsundere, punching the wimpy Haruo to the point of making him bleed... and he just takes it. And yet we are supposed to believe that these two are destined to form a deep, mature relationship. Frustratingly, the other girl in the love triangle, despite being sweeter, prettier (imo), and putting more effort into her friendship with Haruo, gets left out, and we the viewers are left scratching our heads as to why. She appears in the opening credits briefly, which indicates that it's not her who' going to win out in the end. So why introduce her at all? The story also relies on the tired cliche where people don't express their true feelings (one is literally a mute), giving rise to misunderstandings and complications, in order to prolong the storyline. I have the impression that the main focus of this anime was to nostalgia bait people into re-living the old arcade games from the 90s, while the love story was just tacked on, choosing old tropes to fill in the gaps. Since I was never a very avid gamer, the depictions of 90s-era games never really grabbed my attention, and the love story falls flat mid-way through, so it failed to hook me on that end as well. Overall rating, 6/10. It had a lot of promise.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 12, 2023

AmineBee

Not Recommended

Funny

I still don't know what force of nature compelled me to watch this entire thing because it was an absolute waste of time. This show falls flat in basically every way and I was just in disbelief from how bad this show was.

The characters, dialogue, animation, art style, and story were just so poorly made and boring. There is nothing compelling about any characters, some being annoying and others painfully cringey. The main character we follow around is a total loser and not the kind that is funny or relatable but instead obnoxious and stupid. He constantly talks about how video games are all ... he’s good for and has like no character development whatsoever other than the fact he’s like “Wait a minute! I like girls!” and even then he doesn't grow as a person at all.

The main love interest Oono is not much better as she has no actual character traits and despite having a voice actress never speaks. It's not like she is mute or has social anxiety, she just doesn't talk for some reason.

Still don't know why I subjected myself to this but yeah it's just painfully boring.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: High Score Girl Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Sep 28, 2018	150 replies	by Yotsugi_Doll_ »» Oct 25, 11:16 AM
	Poll: High Score Girl Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 14, 2018	52 replies	by Yotsugi_Doll_ »» Oct 19, 9:28 PM
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