Hi Score Girl was obviously niche, but I loved it
There’s two key elements to the show: the narrative and the timeline/topic that was covered. I’ll cover each item separately.
The Narrative
The whole story is basically Kimagure Orange Road. There’s the male everyman main character, the proto-tsundere female character who will inevitably get together with the main character, and a more aggressive love-interest female character who will inevitably lose.
It’s a reverse love triangle; it’s a subversion of Urusei Yatsura, with roughly the same level of effectiveness. But it always works. It ALWAYS works. You could watch a million of these types of shows, yet the formula is specifically structured to manipulate your emotions. Take it as what it is.
You will sometimes hate the male character for being willfully obtuse and indecisive. You will prefer the first female for the author’s tsundere manipulation and for liking the male before anyone else does, but despise her for being completely mute. You will feel some element of sympathy for the second female for being a perfectly acceptable and confident, but not prefer her as she is not what the male character actually wants.
It’s all formula. In musical terms, I see it as a chord progression that refuses to resolve itself until the very, very end. The main character is the I chord. The tsundere lead is the V that comes along for the ride. I and V work well together, but there’s more to the progression.
The assertive female foil is the vi melancholy minor chord that adds some complexity. The situation boils over into a IV, which is almost the tsundere position, but not quite. Then the show ends with a rejection of the IV and an embrace of harmony on an I again.
The Topic
The overall concept is the key point of this anime series. The show (and its manga series) revels in the arcade scene beginning with Street Fighter II in the early 90s. There is also the home gaming element that tags alongside the arcade scene — the loving treatment of SNES, Saturn, Playstation, etc.
How do I know it’s loving, rather than cynical? The main character pulls out his NES/Famicom to play a specific game long after the release of the SNES/Super Famicom. Only a gamer would include that element.
I am the clear target audience for this. I basically lived at arcades from 1992 to 2002. I wasted tons of quarters on Street Fighter II. I played SFII on SNES with my best friend over and over again to hone my skills. I lusted for the opportunity to play as Vega (claw), and was a total sucker for Champion Edition, Turbo, Super, etc.
I grew up in the United States and Spain rather than Japan, but there is a constant stream of accurate memories throughout. I have had actual conversations with friends in my childhood that mirrored show moments, from complaining about Guile turtling to trying to figure out exactly what Raiden is saying in Mortal Kombat.
Hell, there was a complete episode of the show dedicated to the main character stanning the PC Engine (Turbo-Grafx 16 in the US). I was also an avid TG16 player, who loved Soldier Blade, Neutopia II, and Alien Crush.
PC Engine should have been huge in the United States, and it is only the tone-deafness of NEC’s Japanese branch that doomed the console. I will die on that hill. How can a console release Dracula X, Lords of Thunder, Ys, and Air Zonk, yet totally fail to get gamers’ attention in the US? Street Fighter II CE’s home port on PC Engine was so good. Anyway, that’s a reflection of just how in-tune I am with this series.
Overall Thoughts
The narrative is written as if it were catnip, and the topic hits my exact demographic. Does that make me a sucker?
Nah. Sometimes you just have to enjoy things.
Rating
