The God of High School

Episode 3

Let it never be said that The God of High School isn't willing to shake up its formula. Instead of cleanly dividing the main fights of the episode from the scenes developing our trio of protagonists and the little crumbs of plot that get sprinkled here and there, “wisdom/kingdom” gives us something that's more like an action sandwich: We get one solid fight scene up top, and then a lot of bits and bobs for the story and characters, and then two more extensive fight scenes, just in case anyone was getting impatient. That's some pretty revolutionary stuff!

Alright, yes, I was being sarcastic there, but God of High School isn't giving me a whole lot to work with outside of breaking down the fight scenes and speculating about whatever mystical whosiwhatsits are going on behind the scenes of the tournament. Even then, we haven't gotten enough lore or foreshadowing to predict anything substantial. In the beginning, we see a bunch of ominously robed figures who are praying to their capital-G God (though the one major edifice in this spooky temple looks to be that of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, so who really knows what's being worshipped here). That goes basically unremarked upon until it's revealed that Mujin has gone against the wishes of someone called “Elder Bonchim” and snuck a magical peach into Mori's fruity care-package, which nearly kills him, but then I guess makes him even stronger than he already was? Then Mori fights an evil clown spirit thing.

In other words, whatever God of High School is building up to for its larger plot, it sure is hard to care very much with everything still feeling so ambiguous. The same can be said for how the three main characters are being developed, which is as shallow and predictable as ever. This week is Daewi's turn, and surprise to end all surprises, his wish for fat stacks of cash upon winning the GoH Tournament is apparently because he has a sick loved one in the hospital. At the very least, this Seungtae isn't a terminally ill kid-sibling or mom – he's Daewi's co-worker (and longtime friend, I presume). Daewi and Seungtae are bros, which is nice enough, and their friendship is contrasted by the comically douchey work bullies that openly laugh about Seungtae's terminal illness and then belittle Daewi for not picking a fight over it.

So that's what we learn about Daewi this week: He's nice, and something of a pacifist outside of the ring. Compare that to Mira — who is also nice, but sometimes not as nice as Daewi, and also she does stuff with swords — and Mori — who is also nice (kind of?), and he cares a hell of a lot about Fighting the Right Way, and he can also be an irritating brat when he doesn't get his way. As far as storytelling is concerned, this remains the most pared-down and shamelessly archetypal set-up of main characters you can get, which doesn't make for the most compelling television. If you stick through God of High School's end credits every week, you get to see this very adorable montage of the trio hanging out and being besties, and it's a shame that nothing we've seen of them in the actual show has been as effective or interesting.

The fights are still fun to watch, though. Mira's about with the American wrestling champion, Miseon, was likely my favorite of the three action scenes we get this week, though that mostly has to do with how much I like wrestling. It's the most disposable fight of the episode by far, since there are virtually no emotional stakes, and it's over pretty quickly: After getting tossed around the ropes for a while, Mira reveals her “Swordless” Moon Blade technique, which means she can slice and dice her opponents with the stroke of her hand, and she takes out Miseon with little fuss. Hopefully Mira gets a more significant match-up soon.

The centerpiece of the episode is Daewi's battle against Seungchul, the guy with the baseball bat and notebook, and it's…okay. It works slightly better within the narrative because it's all about reinforcing Daewi's compassion and tenacity and contrasting it with Seungchul's arrogance. Seungchul believes he has Daewi beat because he's memorized literally every possible combination of karate moves, somehow, but when he takes a spill, Daewi doesn't hesitate to offer his hand, though it earns him a bat to the face. It's a shame that Seungchul's weapon-based martial arts just don't hit with the same impact of other combatants we've seen, and he isn't a terribly memorable antagonist otherwise, so the whole sequence feels more functional than anything. Yes, God of High School, Daewi is a Good Dude™. Message received.

The final fight of the episode is Mori taking a shot at reversing his expulsion from the tournament, which he can do by knocking down the green-haired commissioner just one time. On account of his peachy power-up, Mori does just that in under a second, which of course means that the fight isn't really over. The Commissioner leaks a ghostly scythe-wielding jester-thing for Mori to fight; it's a weird development, to be sure, though this Totally Not a Stand at long last gave me the opportunity to ask, “Is that a JoJo reference!?”.

If you're wondering what the hell any of this has to do with anything else, well that's too bad. You'll just have to wait between one and nine more weeks for the show to get around to explaining it all. God of High School continues to hope that the basic desire to understand the premise of the series you're watching is enough to keep you coming back week after week. And if it isn't, well, at least we've got some pretty animation to admire.

Rating:

Odds and Ends

• Given my love of acrobatic grappling moves, my favorite cut of animation this week was probably Miseon's initial assault on Mira, including what the internet tells me is called flying scissor legs takedown. I figured this out by googling “what is the name of that move Black Widow does”, so feel free to mock my ignorance of martial-arts technique nomenclature in the comment.

• Boy, Mori sure does love bananas.

• Seungchul's use of a metal bat had me itching for a rewatch of Gareth Evan's two Raid movies, which were made in Indonesia and focus on brutal pencak silat styled fighting. The Raid 2 features some especially nasty bat work, and both movies are required viewing for anyone who loves martial arts cinema. Just be prepared for a positively absurd amount of blood and gore. Those movies do not mess around.

The God of High School is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.