Look I know there where no apples but it’s just that a banana a day doesn’t have the same ring to it… it has en entirely different ring… You know what, that’s enough fruit talk for one day!
I’ve been too busy to get on social media much this week so I have no clue how people are enjoying this week’s episode of the God of Highschool. Maybe once I’ll be with popular opinion! Let’s find out.
I liked it! Thanks for stopping by!
I jest.. Well no I actually did like the episode. Once again the backstories of the main characters got flesh out some more by weaving flashbacks through the main fights. The episode was essentially split between Mira’s fight and Dae’ fight with Dea’s backstory in the middle and a bit of mysterious Jin fun at the end.
The God of Highschool is generally a very conventional anime but it does have little touches sprinkled in tat appreciate. For instance we briefly see Jin’s entrance form and it’s full of doodles along with the text which is a very nice way to enforce just how carefree he is. Mira’s opponent actually got a personality, a fairly fun one and a very reasonale motivation.
I do have to say though, there was once again some really fun camerawork which is good cause the images themselves are a little dull. Looking over my screencaps this is not images that would normally grab my attention but when you see them in movement, they becomes a lot more interesting.
One thing I noticed though is that the single elimination tournament structure right off the bat s a little anticlimactic. What I mean is that in most shonen, main characters can and often do lose a few fights, especially when they are just starting out. here’s always a possibility that the protagonist will not prevail this time, have to cut their losses go back to do some more training and try again. However, this is much less likely with a tournament because if the characters are disqualified, it ruins the whole structure of the series. Especially as the three aren’t so close that they would conceivably all stick together if one had to leave.
I’m not saying it’s impossible that one of them loses a match and has to maybe find a way back into the tournament, in fact that might very well happen, just not at the very beginning of the season. The problem is that if the audience has to see disqualification as a very viable stake, it has to stick. You can’t have people getting beaten without long term consequences right off the bat. So when I saw that two of the 3 main characters were fighting, it never even crossed my mind that they could lose, no matter how the fight was going.
Also, I’m throwing this here because it goes with the screencaps above, is it possible to write an interesting bully character? My mind tells me that it should be and there are probably dozens f really well written and complex bullies but it seems that all I can think of are guys just like Dea’s tormentors. And I mean exactly like that.
I already knew Dae was going to win because he’s a main character but if I had had any doubts, I would have been set when Baek(glasses?) mentioned that he entered the tournament to prove his theory. Man, Deak is fighting to buy meds for his dying friend and you’re doing homework? Of course you can’t win, heart always trumps head in shonen. I should have been tis id’s manager, I would have gotten him a super emotional motivation!
For all of this though, Jin’s plot was what interested me the most, and by far. Jin’s not quite normal, we already know that, but it seems the administrator figured it out as well and was happy to do a bit of attempted homicide to prove his thinking. Bureaucrats, am I right? And all this talk of magical fruit and double dealing was interesting enough for me but the fight with Green hair man got even more interesting.
Ok, one aspect f the fight. When he turned into the giant monster clown thing (Hisoka has ruined monster clowns for me), that thing had the same four point yellow star pattern in it’s sees as jin. It kind of looked like it may have been wearing a visor or something but the visual call back is just way too obvious to be a random design choice. Whatever Jin is, it’s similar to what the holders of the tournament are. I don’t know why but this little mystery got me invested.
So yeah, I liked this episode. Considerably more than the last. I guess we’ll see where this goes.
I tend to prefer the quieter character moments in God of Highschool, and Jin usually isn’t in them. I didn’t really like the fights in this episode much either, and I don’t care at all about the big picture, for some reason. The best part of the show for me were the hospital scenes; quiet guy and friend have a good chemistry going.
Overall, this was my least favourite episode so far, and I thought of dropping the show, but it’s in a pretty lonely slot, so it’ll survive for a few more episodes I think (maybe all the way through).
The terminally ill patient storyline is a bit dramatic for me. especially since I haven’t really formed any attachment to either character but they do seem to have that best buddies thing going on which I tend to like a lot. I have a feeling that for me to enjoy this series, I got to just let it was over me and enjoy the animation. Who knows though, could pick up.
The terminally ill patient storyline isn’t present that dramatically, though. The scenes go by fast, nobody’s crying, no sustained close-ups, no sappy strings, or at least I think so. It’s more an understated sense of tension for me than open drama.
For what it’s worth, I can’t get used to the blood-flooded noses and ears. I thought I’d get used to them, but so far I haven’t. It’s a constant source of very minor irritation.