Score Girl

[Florene Pothoven]

Butwhat I love best are the people, and the experiences I have with them. There were the Daytona USA matches where the boys in my class were all trounced by the girls; or that time my brother and I burned through a stack of tokens to finish The Lost World: Jurassic Park light gun game.

And then there are the experiences with strangers. Those moments of completing Time Crisis 2 with a single credit, aware that a small crowd is building behind. Or trying not to run away screaming when the guy you beat at Tekken 5 comes at you ready to initiate round two, but IRL.

Hi-Score Girl is a manga series written and illustrated by Rensuke Oshikiri, later adapted into an anime series by J.C Staff that is currently airing on Netflix. The story begins in 1991: the renaissance of arcade gaming. Street Fighter II would just be dominating arcades everywhere, and new, innovative, experimental games would be popping up faster than anyone could pull a quarter circle input.

Hi-Score Girl also has some of the most positive depictions of female gamers, particularly Akira and Hidaka. From the moment we are introduced to her, Akira is portrayed as a gaming prodigy, able to pick up any game and master it with relative ease. Hidaka is also talented, but her prowess is also earned through dedicated practice. They can, and have, defeated Haruo in fighting games.

Haruo Yaguchi is an arcade gaming fanatic whose ego gets deflated by a girl named Akira Ono, who is even better at games like Street Fighter than he is. Seeing her as a rival at first, his feelings for her grow more complex over time, even though she's gone from his life for long stretches at a time- AND even though he's being pursued romantically by ANOTHER girl as well, named Koharu Hidaka, who's willing to become an arcade ace herself if that's what it takes to get his attention.

I had a little trouble getting into this show at first, since I was a little turned off by its cartoonish character art. (It reminded me a little of Mob Psycho 100's character art.) The characters do begin to look a little more "normal" as they age, though. (The show's timeline starts in the early 1990's, and one of the most interesting aspects- if you're INTO that sort of thing, of course- is the show's coverage of the evolution of arcade games AND the emergence of home consoles as well, all complete with depictions of the on-screen action in each game. If Sega, Sony, and the like DIDN'T pay this show for product placement, they certainly owe it some money.) If you're NOT particularly interested in looking at old game screens, the most interesting thing here is Akira herself, because she NEVER SAYS A WORD (even though there will be times when someone inexplicably talks about "having a conversation" with her); her communication is ENTIRELY by her expressions and gestures- which do include violence; she punches and kicks a lot. (She also CAN cry, and, rarely, even laugh.) She's from a rich family, and is supposed to be her family's last hope as an heir, since her elder sister Makoto turned out to be rebellious and a bit of a delinquent. (Makoto DOES talk- rather LOUDLY, too- and is sometimes pretty hilarious, especially when paired with Haruo's mom, Namie, who's pretty over-the-top herself. I never did see Haruo's dad though.)The main dynamic here is the rather familiar one of competition (sometimes via arcade games) between Akira, and the other would-be romantic interest, Koharu, for Haruo's attention. Koharu's got it figured out that she'll need to become a hardcore gamer herself to get Haruo's attention, but she's at a disadvantage, for Akira is as much a TRUE gaming fanatic as Haruo, while for Koharu it's mainly just a means to an end. (The end being HIM, of course.) Puzzling out exactly what's going on in Akira's head at any given moment, from her expressions and physical gestures, can be kind of fun. There are some specific memorable lines and scenes as well:(1) Koharu's line, "Yaguchi will probably accomplish things unrelated to academics in the future", is hilarious understatement. Haruo is a TERRIBLE student, though he apparently can be a dedicated worker- to raise funds for his gaming obsession, that is.(2) Haruo is fighting, at one point, not to immediately "win" Akira, but just to leave the door open for her to come through at a later time. I thought this showed a commendable amount of patience (and willingness to indefinitely delay gratification.)(3) There's a line, "Any gamer that's loved by a woman isn't a real gamer", that I will offer no further comments (or judgment) on here.(4) Haruo and Akira both have "imaginary friends" that offer them advice- and that happen to be their favorite game characters. (Akira, interestingly, likes to choose game characters that nobody else picks- and then kicks everybody else's butts with them.)(5) My favorite scene has Koharu, Makoto, and Haruo's mom ALL thinking Haruo needs more practice dealing with girls, so they have him play the dating sim Tokimeki Memorial while they watch- and offer their ruthless critiques of his responses to the girls. (This segment could have easily been expanded, in my opinion.)(6) I thought the First Season closer was wonderful- a sweet, very Japanese tune with storybook graphics. (The show is divided into two unequal seasons; First Season is the first 15 episodes; Season Two, the last 9.)

The arcade is one of the few things in the video game past that I miss a great deal. Heading out with your buddies to a place that was full of video games is a feeling that most people will never get to experience. Netflix feels this pain and has brought an anime dedicated solely to the arcade and the nineties. Hi Score Girl is about the arcade and what happens when one gamer meets his match.

Haruo is not mad because he was beaten by Akira at Street Fighter II. He is not mad because Akira happens to be a girl. He is mad because video games is the one aspect of his life where he is the best and now the most popular person has made him feel second best. From this first meeting, a strange friendship/rivalry forms, with the arcade games of the nineties along for the ride.

The changing times also reflect the different attitudes towards the arcade. The arcade begins to be seen as a place where kids should not go. Luckily for our heroes, home gaming systems arrive to the rescue. If you are interested in arcade culture, give Hi Score Girl a whirl. If you are a nineties kid, it is a must watch.

Ah, the '90's - what a brilliant time to be a gamer. Arcades were pumping out some amazing titles with Street Fighter II leading the charge and redefining the entire hobby - competitive play was at its peak, and Hi Score Girl is set during this fabulous decade.

Haruo Yaguchi is a loser outside of the arcades - no real academic ability, lousy attitude and average looks, he's going nowhere fast. The only thing his manly pride can latch onto is his incredible gaming ability, and he's never more at home than when playing Guile on Street Fighter II. His skills are legend, his techniques unmatched... until a snooty rich-girl from his class kicks his ass using inferior fighter Zangief. His kingdom publically obliterated, can it really be that Akira Ono, a girl no less, is a better gamer than he is? Inconceivable!

Firstly, the passion for gaming of this era is clearly evident, and during the episode there are explanations of playing techniques and why some characters are better than others. There are common gamer phrases thrown in, like "turtling" whereby a player constantly blocks and charges countermoves against frustrated players. With this, the series gains an air of authority, not to mention explaining to newcomers exactly why the characters are reacting the way they do to certain techniques and situations. Very smart.

It's not all Street Fighter either - Splatterhouse, a scrolling horror beat-em-up, is used to set up a pretty good joke, and Final Fight gets some serious screen time too (when the legendarily hard Ghouls & Ghosts is the only other game on offer). There's an authenticity to this series that really works in its favour, and I for one was completely won over, even before we got to see some classic arcade cabinet facts at the close of the credits.

I'm surprised too by just how much they fit into the first 20 minutes. The story is told entirely through Haruo, since Ono doesn't say a single word throughout the episode. His frustrations and realisations are all narrated, with the English dub being of sufficient quality to convey the drama effectively. Ono's actions speak louder than words, and after punching Haruo, beating up a couple of whiny gamers and jabbing Haruo repeatedly while he tries to help her with Final Fight, she's clearly a force to be reckoned with. I was pleased to see that she wasn't unbeatable however, neatly avoiding her becoming a Mary-Sue character.

Sadly given the current climate I'm sure the shock conveyed by Hasuo that he was beaten by a girl, and his attempts to help her on a game she clearly understood better than he did, will be met with outcry and labels of misogyny applied. This was the 90's however, and hardcore female gamers were certainly not the norm back then. Anime feminists can rest easy knowing that the show is historically accurate. Hopefully, anyway.

The show, however, has not been without controversy elsewhere. The anime was originally announced for release in 2013, but the use of SNK Playmore characters in the manga, allegedly without permission, led to the publisher's office (Square Enix) being searched by police. Gaming Historia gives the full rundown of events, but the issue was only resolved once SNK was purchased by a Chinese operator, and charges were dropped. Which bizarrely created more legal problems, and only now has the manga series been revitalised as Hi Score Girl CONTINUE, with all SNK properties removed. Quite the stir for a series that clearly loves gaming!

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