Love Video Games? Then Watch ‘High Score Girl’!

I’m sometimes quite vocal about attempts to convert the traditional hand-drawn-and-digitally-colored animation style that we all know and love into a fully CG experience, trying to capture the “cel-look” of traditional animation using computer software. While I decline to watch most shows that try to save on their animation budgets with trashy “CGI moe,” I’m actually fine with CGI-based anime as long as there’s a reason for it, such as the incredible visuals of Land of the Lustrous, or the intense camera angles and world that BEASTARS was able to show us.

Another CGI-based anime series I really love is High Score Girl, an adorable romance between a video-game obsessed boy, the quiet rich girl he’s in love with, and a classmate who comes to love him. It’s a story told against the backdrop of video games in the 90s, which flew under my radar when it first came out, but I’ve since discovered thanks to feedback from social media. High Score Girl is available on Netflix.

Today I’m writing about an amazing anime for anyone who lived through the 90s, High Score Girl, about video games and a love triangle between three gamers.

Are you a fan of the show? If so, why?

(audio fixed) pic.twitter.com/QWtwbTaBww

— Peter Payne (@JListPeter) July 10, 2020

The year is 1991, and the Gulf War has the world on pins and needles. But young Haruo doesn’t care about that, because he’s in love with video games, especially the original Street Fighter II. Although Haruo can think of nothing but perfecting his skills at the game, a rival appears in the form of Akira Ono, a mysterious rich girl who’s turned to video games as a way of escaping the strict environment she faces at home. Haruo is annoyed at this taciturn girl he can’t defeat…yet curious about her, too.

Time passes, and as Haruo grows, so does the world of video games, with Street Fighter II giving away to Champion Edition, then Turbo, then the first Virtua Fighter, then Vampire Savior/Darkstalkers. As the story progresses, Haruo and Akira become closer, using their shared love of video games to form a bond that blossoms into a form of proto-love. But one day Akira has to go live abroad, and Haruo doesn’t know how to feel about that.

I’m pretty sure this scene in #HighScoreGirl #HiScoreGirl was the first time I felt strong emotions towards any characters who were being animated with CGI. pic.twitter.com/6ltWowywmi

— Peter Payne (@JListPeter) July 10, 2020

Enter Koharu, an introverted girl who doesn’t do much more than studying. When her father buys some video games to put outside their family shop, Haruo comes by to play them, and she begins to learn about video games from him. Eventually she develops feelings for Haruo, who still hasn’t matured to the point where he can consider girls to be more important than the latest score in Samurai Spirits. Koharu realizes that to defeat Haruo’s heart, she must be able to defeat him in any video game.

Things take a twist when Akira moves back to Japan, and suddenly a love triangle between Haruo, Akira and Koharu starts to get serious. Which girl will attain the “high score” and enter her initials on Haruo’s heart?

Why Should You Watch High Score Girl?

First, the nostalgia level is over 9000. If you spent any time in video arcades in the golden years of the 1990s, or played the console games of that era, you’ll appreciate the meticulous detail the creators have put into capturing what it felt to be a gamer back then. The show follows the characters’ obsessions over the most famous games, of course, but minor games are shown, too, including titles you played long ago but forgot about. The show expertly makes use of video game music and sounds, too, making the experience really special.

Second, it’s an amazingly well-written story that draws you in quickly. As much as I love anime, I’ll be the first to admit that there’s an over-reliance on standard character types and story tropes, and often very little time is paid to telling a well-structured story or having the characters grow and change as they go through their lives. This definitely isn’t the case in High Score Girl, where characters end up in a very different place as the story move forward.

Why I Don’t Mind CGI Anime…If There’s a Reason For It

As I’ve said, if there’s a reason for an anime to be made with CGI, I’m totally in favor of that. And there definitely is for this show, which expertly combines characters in the real world playing the video games of 30 years ago with outstanding visuals, even interacting with the 16-bit characters on-screen. This is something that couldn’t have been pulled off using any other type of animation.

Are you a fan of High Score Girl? Tell us why in the comments below, or on Twitter!

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