At the risk of overstating the point, the authenticity level of Hi Score Girl is really off the charts.  There are many admirable qualities about this series but that’s the one, I think, that most stands out as remarkable.  It begs the question – why is this so hard?  One thing everyone has in common – we were all kids once.  We should, at least on some level, remember what that experience was like.  Yet it seems a near-impossibility to recreate that experience in anime (a medium created in the main by relatively young people, usually in adaptation of the works of relatively young writers).

That the overall track record is so subpar in this respect is all the more reason to appreciate this series for what it’s able to accomplish.  Hidaka who expresses every thought in her head, Oono, from whom we hear nothing directly and must connect the dots ourselves.  And Haruo, the fulcrum on which the story is balanced.  They’re a wonderful study in contrasts, each fully realized characters on their own but endlessly fascinating as a trio.  It’s a dynamic I find to be quite unlike any I’ve seen in manga or anime.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing Hidaka as a mere object for audience sympathy, but that trivializes her character and misses very important elements of her arc.  Don’t get me wrong, I do feel sorry her sometimes – like when she gets a copy of the Famicom version of Final Fight with the dream of Haruo begging to come over to play, only to have him ask to borrow it instead.  Being in love with someone whose heard nor heart is totally present when he’s with you can’t be easy, but recognize Hidaka for who she is – someone who’s proactive and actually does something about her desires.  And after all – who’s gotten to spend more time with Haruo than Hidaka has?

Hidaka is fighting two very strong opponents here when it comes to Haruo, tougher even than Gouki himself – the idealized version of Oono-san and the allure of gaming.  Hidaka’s own commitment to gaming is an interesting element to consider – she purports to pursue it only as it brings her closer to Haruo, but is there more there?  I would argue yes, and that she has the soul of a gamer herself, even if perhaps not the pure-pure extreme version that is Haruo.  She’s right that Haruo is in his own world where both games and Oono are concerned, but she’s gotten a lot closer to that world than she herself realizes.

Haruo himself is an intriguing mass of contrasts.  After constantly being told he’s a loser by the adults and classmates in his life he seems to have absorbed it into his self-identity (his question to Hidaka about her being worried about being known to be with an “idiot” like him shows this very well).  But he thing about Haruo is, he’s totally at peace with who he is – which is rare for anybody, much less a kid still in middle school.  Cynics would say it’s a lack of ambition, but he doesn’t concern himself with how others see him, and I think this is a big part of the attraction for Hidaka (more so than for Oono, I’d argue).  As Hidaka herself says, “There’s something strangely fascinating about boys that are totally dedicated to something” (to me, the most important line of dialogue in the episode).

The class trip to Kyoto is yet another example of the amazing degree of authenticity this series brings to the table.  Every moment of this rings true, and it features Haruo and Hidaka being utterly themselves.  The circumstances themselves feel very realistic to me (I’ve always been terrified to get off the Shinkansen at one of those short stops), but so do their reactions to what’s happened.  Hidaka freaks out at first, but Haruo isn’t remotely bothered.  For him, this is another opportunity to do his own thing, not what everyone else is doing – and that’s before he realizes there are game centers and consoles to be found on their path.

A chance to see Lake Biwa when the rest of the class trip zooms directly to Kyoto?  Hey, that’s a bonus level.  And since Haruo doesn’t give a shit about his image or his status, he’s not fazed at the idea of being scolded – his comfort level with himself gives him a freedom few people will ever possess.  And Hidaka eventually comes to love this detour too, because it’s a chance to truly be alone with Haruo.  An adventure like that for a couple of ninth-graders, in the safest county on the planet?  There’s not that much downside, really – unless you’re Oono, of course…