I’m honestly trying not to think about what will happen if Hi Score Girl ends at one cour and (probably) 12 episodes, as the announcement that Netflix will stream it in the U.S. next season suggests.  It will be one last time for the harrowing saga of this adaptation to rip my heart out and stomp on it – a fitting end to a journey filled with pain – because what’s to come in the story is truly spectacular.  It needs to be seen in anime form, deserves to be seen.  But that doesn’t matter with anime these days, and most certainly not with this star-crossed series.

The weird thing is though, I’m still happy to have experienced all this, because CGI and all the anime we’re getting is an honest representation of this modern classic of a manga.  The casting is great, the direction is polished, even the pacing (so far) is on-point.  Like Planet With, Hi Score Girl is capable of including a tremendous amount of plot movement and character development in a relatively short space of time without seeming rushed.  The difference here is that there’s so much seeming idyll on-screen, because this is a story of adolescence and that idyll is the centerpiece of the experience.

So much has happened that there’s barely been time to talk about Haruo’s best friend, Miyao Koutarou.  I don’t believe I’ve even mentioned that he’s played by Okitsu Kazuyuki (who has the distinction of playing major roles in the two summer series that truly matter).  Miyao is a pretty important guy, actually – not just because he’s fallen for Oono (though that’s obviously a crucial plot point) but because he’s the one cast member who sees Haruo most accurately for who he is.  “A numbskull, but a really nice and warm-hearted guy.”  Even the ones who love Haruo aren’t sure exactly why they love him – they sense it but don’t comprehend it.  Miyao-kun, with the benefit of intimate knowledge unencumbered by romantic longings, is able to comprehend the whole person.

Well, there should in theory be plenty of Miyao in the story to come – he’s Haruo’s unfailing advocate and the most insightful observer on unfolding events.  As he prepares to confess to Oono-san (Haruo doesn’t discourage him), he provides cover for Haruo-kun to escape the class trip (currently in Nara at Todaiji) to go to Osaka for a SF II tournament.  This is an element of Haruo’s character that I find quite admirable – he’s pretty much fearless.  He gives a fuck about what he gives a fuck about and doesn’t sweat anything else.  Personally I would have been terrified at 14 to sneak away from a school trip and ride the train to a huge city like Osaka (though if you live in Tokyo…) to take on adults in a gaming tournament.

This is an important theme at this stage in the story, and it’s hinted at later in the episode.  Haruo is free to be the person he is because he’s a kid, of course – he can obsess over games as if they were the most important thing in the world, seemingly oblivious to the future.  But he’s more self-aware than he lets on – to a point.  Naturally, Oono has done the same thing Haruo has and snuck off to enter the tournament, and when Haruo sees her it sets off a complicated maelstrom of conflicting feelings he doesn’t quite know how to process.  Hidaka knows exactly how she feels, even if not fully why.  We don’t know how Oono feels, really – though inference can be made from her actions.  But Haruo is just confused – especially where Oono is concerned.

The tournament is another amusing and interesting development, its portrayal benefitting immensely from Oshikiri-sensei’s preternatural eye for physical and emotional detail.  Haruo and Oono mow down their mostly-older competition, Haruo determined not to use any cheap tricks (like “turtling”) “at least until the final”.  The only real scare comes when Haruo is matched against an opponent (a grade schooler?) who uses the secret character Gouki (which Haruo considers kind of a cheat in a tournament).  But the boy screws up his character selection – and in his rage at doing so, the cabinet itself in the aftermath…

I think we can assume Haruo truly does want Oono to go all-out against him in the final – that’s not posturing, he cares way more about her respect than winning.  Though he doesn’t know the reason for her puzzling change in style (neither do we) he senses something is amiss even as he scores a 2-1 win and the trophy (and bath set).  As a rule not much is made of Oono-san’s refusal to speak in terms of direct acknowledgment, but it’s definitely a factor in Haruo’s rage and frustration when he finds out the truth.  He just wants to know where he stands, and constantly trying to have to figure that out with Oono is like having to read a book that’s written in code – it’s exhausting.

As is often the case it’s Miyao who grasps the situation (sadly for him) better than the principals involved.  He’s not the sort of guy who’s going to ignore what he sees and act for selfish reasons – he’s a bro, and guys Haruo’s age desperately need a bro in their lives.  But that still leaves Haruo and Oono (and Hidaka, certainly) in a complicated and frustrating mess of a situation.  Tournaments end, class trips end, with only t-shirts and omikuji to remember them by – but life, stubbornly and vexingly, keeps rolling onwards.