MiNiSoTaN'sThe God of High School Review
The God of High School's story starts simple enough. We follow our main cast as they set out to compete in a combat tournament aimed at high school students. Before we even see this happen however we are met with a scene of criminals being flattened by a giant hand supposedly sent out by a shady individual. From the very beginning we know that some sort of super natural presence is known within the show. We don't know what it is or how to control it, but we know it's a real entity which will most likely play a pivotal role throughout the show, and it does.
The main hype around The God of High School is the action and the fights and honestly this is where it is at its best. The absolute beautiful animation coupled with amazing choreography makes for some of the best action in modern anime. Hand to hand combat is something pretty difficult to master without it seeming stale or repetitive but the God of High School defies these odds and keeps each fight unique and to be anticipated.
Alas, this is really the only strength of The God of High School. There are some underlying sub plots, the main one being this strange cult trying to interfere with the God of High School tournament. Which in all honestly is a very lame concept for a main arc villain. Cults are just really borrowing to watch because there's never any exposition of them, they're just always there and always have been. There is never a face or a name to put onto the villain which gives no motivation into wanting to continue the story. Several times I felt very fatigued watching this show because I didn't exactly know what I was watching it for. What was the point? I started watching to try and see the goals of these characters achieved, but as the show expanded and try to develop it got so inflated I didn't exactly know what was going on.
Daewi Han goes from trying to get money for his dying friend, to know just competing for the heck of it because his friend died but he didn't want to let his other friends down. Mira Yoo goes from wanting to find a husband to help her obtain the family sword to obtaining it on her own yet still competing to not let her friends down. Mori Jin is the only one with a goal that doesn't end within the first few episodes because he wants to find his grandpa.
Another big plot point of the series is the use of charyeok which is essentially harnessing the power of a god to fight in battle. Think of it like your quirk from My Hero Academia. The problem is that we never really learn what this is or how to obtain it. You apparently not everyone can obtain it, but some people need years of training where as others just have a feeling for it. This is extremely lazy writing. Take for example nen in HunterXHunter. There is basically a whole episode dedicated to how it works, the different types, how to obtain it etc. From that point on we have actual knowledge of it. Compare that to The God of High School. There is no explanation or justification to its use. Sure it looks cool, but the plot armor is so thick that we are never exposed to its inner workings. This could be due to the fact that the season is only allotted 16 episodes, which is understandable, but again it must be judged for what it can do in that amount of time.
There's also an alarming amount of unnecessary side plots and characters in the show including but not limited to Mira Yoo's wedding and the back stories of every single fighting opponent. My answer is the same to all of them. I really just don't care. I'm barely invested enough as it is with the main character's plot, but trying to introduce me to more characters with more backstories just to write them over a few minutes later continues to rub me the wrong way. Too much attention to serviced to other aspects to the show that were left too weak to stand on.
Overall The God of High School's story left a lot to be desired. It continued to try and push the envelope and enlarge itself as something much larger than it actually was. With proper focus on the main story along with a more compelling villain and better lore exposition, it would have been a much more convincing attempt.
Mori Jin Although childish at heart, Mori is a likeable character for his lackadaisical nature yet powerful demeaner. There's no doubt he is destined for something greater within the show. Although we don't know exactly what his purpose is, he's shown to be the most compelling character within the cast. His goals are simple to get stronger and to find his grandpa. Throughout the show he doesn't necessarily mature much from his youthful nature, but rather matures in his style of fighting. Mori is an overall solid main character you can't help but root for.
Daewi Han The most adult-like of the main trio, Daewi has the typical "cool guy" attitude. He likes to avoid conflict and focus on himself in order to keep his focus. His main goal was to win the tournament to help his friend that was dying. Unfortunetly he died before the tournament completed, now he's kind of just there. I think Daewi had a lot of potential to be a better written character than he actually was, but unfortunately he doesn't have anything moving him forward besides the plot. I think he's an excellent character who deserves more within the story.
Mira Yoo Mira is the only character of the main cast who I'm indifferent too. I think it's nice they have a female fighting alongside her mostly male counter parts, but her story isn't really one I'm all that invested in. She wants to unlock her family sword, but how that happens is kind of just left up in there air, but never receive a definite answer. It doesn't really matter since she still gets it from just determination during a fight later in the series. Mira's story is the only that most people, myself included didn't much care for in the series.
Ilpyo Park This is the "main" side character within the season. His main purpose being that he knew Mori's grandfather and he inherited he nine tailed fox's power, yet he still lost to Mori somehow. I didn't really understand his character or why he was so focused on when he didn't play that prominent of a role.
The characters within The God of High School were not one of its strong suits. Most were one dimensional that already served their purposes midway through the season. I was hoping for a lot more but was met with an underwhelming performance across the whole cast.
The animation quality is nothing to scoff at. The God of High School reaches the pinnacle of modern animation throughout its 13 episode run. Motion capture was even used for some of the fights which was super cool to see. The amount of colors in motion throughout the fights was incredible to see. There was so much going on throughout the fights yet it all was fluid and easy to follow. As stated previously, the God of High School is at its best during the fights and for good reason, they're amazing to look it. It fills you with a a small dose of adrenaline watching the characters fight each other. I hope to see other shonen anime follow the style MAPPA did with this one, exceptionally brilliant.
The God of High School's soundtrack isn't particularly one I loved. It was fine, nothing besides the opening and closing themes stood out to me. The opening theme was actually one of the cuts that did surprise me. KSUKE - Contradiction (ft. Tyler Carter) was a super interesting take on a shonen anime opening. Normally you think of something on the side of anthemic or metal when it comes to shonen, having a electronic dub-step club banger great you was a welcomed surprised. Its closing theme WIN by CIX also followed this root albeit to a much more melodic tone. The sound quality throughout this season met expectations well.
I was pretty excited for this anime leading up to the summer 2020 season. Unfortunetly I was disappointed with this season overall. I will admit I have not yet read the webtoon, which I will try to do before the second season airs. I felt there was a lot left to be desired all around the board from character motivations, to major plot points, but about everything fell flat for me. My enjoyment came strictly through watching the action, and as a shonen, that's basically your job which I think The God of High School succeeded in. It's issue comes when trying to throw all these sides plots, characters and lore and me without explaining anything. I hope there is an improvement in season 2 because this show does have potential.
Favorite Episodes
Episode 1 "Set up/Stand up"
Episode 2 "Renewal/Soul"
Episode 5 "Ronde/Hound"
Episode 12 "Fox/God"
Official Scores
Story: (6/10)
Characters: (5/10)
Art: (9/10)
Music: (7/10)
Personal Enjoyment: (6/10)
FINAL SCORE: (6/10) OK
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