We finally reached the climax and everything ended on sentimental note. Haruo won the second round of the game and the competition started to become tough. At first I was starting to think that Haruo will win the match. But, then Akira didn’t let his strategy work and gave him a defeat. Both were happy with it and as they both wanted this and it proved with their teary eyes. With the passing of time Haruo became depressed and aloof. He lost interest in games. He realizes that Akira will be gone soon and that makes him dejected. Later we came to know that Akira didn’t win the last match and we are not shocked as it wasn’t what she wanted in the first place. Instead, playing with Haruo was her only goal. There is so many things going on with the leaving of Akira and in the mind of Haruo.
The climax was quite quick and honestly it wasn’t something that we don’t see in romantic shows. It was quite clichéd where the girl is about to leave the country and boy is dejected and doesn’t want that to happen. Suddenly there is something he wants to tell that becomes the reason to reach her as fast as he can to have one last romantic moment with her. It’s just the same what happens in all romantic movies and series. The only exception here is that it is combined with theme of video games. It is so sad that we still get to hear anything from Akira.
I thought the one who would come up to motivate him would be Makoto or his mother but surprisingly it was Hidaka. It shows how her character has developed so far that she was capable to talk so maturely to Haruo and tell him how silly he is even when if that shatters her heart. Well that’s maturity. I liked how she lectured him about being foolish and not trying enough because he is not the kind of person who would give up so easily on anything he cares for. He is so passionate about video games then why can’t have the same thing for Akira? Returning the ring doesn’t necessarily means it’s over. How can he give up so easily? It was really the point where I wanted him to get on his bike and rush to her. But thanks to Hidaka for doing that. Clap for her. It’s painful to be at her place but she is a likeable character. It wasn’t good ending for her but good for her that she understood her relationship with him and moving forward in her life. She also got a new look and that proves that she has moved on.
Though it was quite a cheesy romantic scene but the video game characters made that scene very interesting as they helped Haruo to get to her to the airport particularly when Sonic Boom was trying to stop the plane or something like that. Than scene made my eyes full of tears. We saw the most despairing and true side of Haruo and it was really touching when they rush towards each other and embraced each other. Haruo expressed his feeling towards her and vowed to do everything he could to meet her again like arrange for the passport and then he unexpectedly proposed her.
I was expecting and very much looking forward to Akira speak something to him. She was smiling and there were tears in her eyes and I thought she would say yes but no, she still didn’t say anything. After that cheesy but cute moment we moved to the scene where we see airplane departing and Haruo standing there while it leave.
Honestly, I’m not happy with his ending. It should have last a little more and I think it ended quite quickly. I wish it ended like Tsuki ga Kirei and showed something in the future like their meetup or how they get together. It feels incomplete. I still can’t forget when Makato said that her parents would find someone for her to get married. That could be another big issue in their relationship and I really want to see how Haruo will face that obstacle and it also sounds interesting. Long distance relationship was hard back then since technology was not that advanced that time. In 90’s there the communication was not that easy and fast like it’s now in this time. It was a sweet and nice episode but I wanted to see more.
Final Thought
Well this episode was very entertaining. To me High Score Girl was an unbelievably captivating anime that bought a lot of good moments. How they showed the setting of the scenes and sentimentality with the idea of video games and the arcade scenes which was not a part of my childhood. Arcade has a huge role in Japan, even today, I manage to play in arcades on and off again in arcade when I was a kid, but they were always opened. In the present time the only ‘arcades’ that are near my location are the ones situated near places like Buster and Dave. The original concept of Arcade does not exist here, to me it was very entertaining and awesome to witness the video games and arcade environment from the 90’s with the view of the kid. Now I dream that I could have lived my childhood days surrounded by arcade.
Of course, all the moments of video games are one of the best thing about the show, will impact you even more if you have interest in gaming. But even so if it’s not the case then still you are going to enjoy the really fun loving relation between two friends. It was a really well made story between Haruo and his romance buddy, the mystical Akira. Akira had her won luggage to face against, and while the peers had problems when they meet each other for the first time, but it wasn’t long when they started to feel comfortable around each other and that took the form of love. Due to this friendship, Haruo changed his personality because of Akira and on the other hand Akira started to feel better while playing video games but despite that she was able to spend quality time with Haruo. Their friendship become stronger and stronger each day, and this season did a really fantastic job in gradually growing Haruo’s personality.
This season had not too many episodes, but it was more than enough. To me Makoto is the most lovable character of the show, it was really nice to see how she self-reflected on her action, also how aggressive she was on Akira. This show did a wonderful job in character development and they all had their unique moments to shine, which makes it difficult to choose one from all of them. Makoto, Hidaka, Haruo and even her mom, everyone was lovable. I’m not criticizing Akira but she had her own character growth, but the thing that made her least favorite was her being mute whole time. There was not backstory of her, giving the reason of her condition, maybe because there is no reason, but at times she does speak to other, but not when Haruo is nearby. So these question comes in my mind… why? If there really no history behind her muteness, couldn’t they share her thoughts to us? She still communicated through facial expression and body language though the former was not even showed later on. I was just expecting anything all the time.
High Score Girl showed to us a very sweet, funny and fun story. There was not a single episode which I didn’t enjoyed and it makes me depress it’s finished. I’m aware about the news that a manga will be released soon where we will see the adult version of Hidaka. It will be so exciting if we get clues or pictures from both Akira and Haruo in the story? But a story dedicated on for Hidaka seems appealing and I’ll definitely check it out, just for the sake of this show. When this show hits Netflix again, I’m going to watch it once more and one more time in dub version. Yosha!
