Seriously – if Hi Score Girl doesn’t hit you where it hurts I pity you your cold, shrivelled heart.

I’ll get to this wonderful episode in a moment, but this is certainly the right time to make note of something some of you may not have heard.  Hi Score Girl has indeed been greenlit for a second season (which makes these special episodes much less bittersweet to cover).  I had hopes this might happen – the disc sales were decent, but (in what’s an increasingly important indicator these days) there were quite a few merchandising and cross-promotional tie-ins.  I’m not shocked, then, but I am immensely relieved – and looking forward to seeing this series finish its run in Fall 2019.

It’s also worth noting that if Karma does exist, it’s at work here.  Fans of HSG have suffered a lot to be sure, but more importantly so has Oshikiri Rensuke.  Through no fault of his own he saw the anime adaptation cancelled (for four years, as it ended up) and if that weren’t enough, serialization halted and manga volumes recalled.  This fantastic series languished, teetered on the brink of cancellation, but finally saw its fortunes turned.  If any manga ever deserved to see a full and proper adaptation it’s Hi Score Girl – not only is it superb, but it, its creators, and fans have been royally screwed over.

As someone who’s been championing this series through good times and awful for many years, it’s so very sweet to see all this coming down – everything adapted and brilliantly, too.  Yes it’s CGI, but the CGI here is almost – almost – artistically defensible given the themes, and well-executed.  The writing and direction and casting are faultless.  And all that applies to “Extra Stage”, which is well-suited to its role as a bridge between the first season and second.  It could have been made to work as part of either, but the pacing would have gotten a bit awkward – 27 episodes is just about an ideal number.  And I suspect that’s an indicator that this second cour was more or less in the works right from the beginning.

I’m a strong Hidaka partisan, as you may remember.  But more than anything I protectively love all three of the main cast here (and Miyao and Haruo-mom too).  Rarely have I encountered a romance triangle in manga or anime where I find it so impossible to root against anybody.  As much as I love Koharu and Koharu and Haruo together, every time Oshikiri-sensei really delves into the ties that bind Akira and Haruo, I can’t help but see the force behind it.  Sure we’ve seen Ojou-samas done to death in anime, but not like this.  And the truth is, it’s impossible to look at Haruo and not see where his heart ultimately lies, as painful as that is.

That doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t break for Koharu, especially with Haruo being as tone-deaf to her feelings as he is.  And her confession has rattled him, no doubt.  Miyao-nyan is one of the best wingmen around, no question. And although he considers Hidaka a close friend he gives Haruo the advice he needs to hear, for everyone’s sake: listen to your heart and don’t string her along.  And it doesn’t help Hidaka’s cause that all this is happening even as Oono’s situation is degrading fast.  Her wild-child big sister Makoto has really screwed Akira over, big-time – the backlash against her rebellion drawing an ever-more restrictive net around Akira.

We can see what’s happening to Akira here, and understand it – the more her parents and her tiger-sensei Gouda-san try and squeeze her, the more she’ll slip out of their grasp the first chance she gets.  But us seeing it and them seeing it are two different things.  When Gouda-sensei comes over to “thank” Haruo-kun for finding and rescuing Akira, it doesn’t take long for her to show her true stripes – she’s really there to belittle him and warn him away from her charge.  Fortunately Namie-san is – as I’ve repeatedly said – one of anime’s best moms.  She defends her son’s honor using the truth as a cudgel, and recognizes both the fact that he’s grown into a truly noble person and that her willingness to let him chart his own course was a big reason why.  And the umbrella thing was a beautiful parting shot across Gouda’s bow.

In watching Haruo try and process all this, it’s easy to see how nonsensical it all seems.  He’s smart, strong-willed and indefatigable – but in many ways, very much an innocent who sees the world as he thinks it should be.  He just wants to be with Akira, even if it’s just as her friend, and on some level truly can’t fathom why her family is doing this to her.  He tries to be her strength, as dear old Jiiya pleads with him to do, but he knows it’s not enough, that she can be locked away in places he can never reach her.  And he knows how much she needs him, make no mistake.  What chance does poor Koharu have against all that, really?

I’ll close by reiterating that the one-to-one sequences in Hi Score Girl, both with Haruo and Oono and Haruo and Hidaka, are off the charts in terms of charm.  The dynamic of these two couples is totally different, and with Oono it’s fascinating to watch Haruo have to carry the weight of conversation for both of them and to slip into the role of wise-cracking knight-errant.  Young romance is a tricky matter for manga and anime, very rarely escaping the extremes of cloying cuteness or “kicked dog” one-sidedness, but Oshikiri and anime director Yamakawa Yoshiki nail the innocence and glorious sense of idyll every time.  I love this series, and I love the fact that it’s gotten the chance to be heard from as it deserves.