Hi Score Girl
Hi Score Girl or ‘Hai Sukoa Gāru’ is Rensuke Oshikiri’s Japanese TV manga series.
It follows a gaming obsessed schoolboy Haruo Yaguchi from 1991 through 1995 during which he spends every free moment and Yen in the arcades. He meets a rival Street Fighter II player who appears to have the skills to match his own and it turns out to be the unlikely Akira Oono, a rich, intelligent and quiet girl from school.
Through the series they discover new games of the era and a love triangle develops when another wannabe gaming girl Koraru Hidaka also arrives on the scene.
It was adapted from the original comic books and made into a TV series by the well known Japanese Animation Studio J.C Staff.
All 12 episodes (or Rounds as they are titled) of Season One plus 3 ‘Extra Stage’ episodes are now available on Netflix also Season Two – to be covered in my later blog.
The catchy Hi Score Girl theme tune and End Credits music was composed by legendary game composer and longtime Capcom employee Yoko Shimomura who has a host of iconic titles to her name including Street Fighter II.
ROUND ONE (1991)
While on a 9 game winning streak on Street Fighter II at his local arcade Haruo notices a girl on the machine opposite, it’s Akira a girl from his school and she’s playing as unpopular character Zangeif no less.
She’s a girl with rich parents and perfect grades, he can’t believe she would be frequenting the smoke filled arcade. She’s on an incredible 28 game winning streak and pulling off the 6 button pile driver move with ease.
The mechanics of Guile’s Sonic Boom and Somersault combo vs a Zangeif opponent are explained, also the art of using weak attack moves in order to get your opponent to block leaving them vulnerable for throws is outlined. These are both moves Haruo uses to beat Akira leaving her angry and giving him a punch to the jaw upon his victory.
After school he sees her again at the corner shop where there are a couple of run down cabs including Street Fighter II. She completes it using Dhalism & to his disbelief only the buttons for light kick and strong punch are working!
In another small arcade they cross paths again. He relishes playing SplatterHouse thinking the gore filled game will freak her out but she seems non-plussed.
They meet again later in a candy store. Faced with the choice of playing the difficult Ghosts & Goblins or Final Fight. Akira plays Final Fight but when some of her lives are lost Haruo jumps in as a 2nd player to show off his skills.
It turns out she has run down to her last life purposefully as she likes the challenge of completion with only one life left. She is Alchemising, a hidden method to turn barrel items into 10000 points when going for a high score.
CHARACTERS:
AKIRA OONO:
Grade A student from a wealthy family who’s days include extra curricular tuition at home from strict family tutor Moei. Her pressures of school and family expectations are offset by sneaking round the arcades to play beat em ups, especially Street Fighter II which is how she becomes close to Haruo.
END CREDIT CABS:
At the end of episodes 1-12 there’s an arcade cabinet shown after the main credits with a few games appearing on the screen. In episode one its ‘Space Invaders’ 1978, ‘Crazy Climber’ 1980 & ‘Pooyan’ 1982.
ROUND TWO:
In the school yard Haruo is having a debate on the PC Engine VS the Super Nintendo, Akira overhears.
Next day Haruo fakes a cold so he can stay home and play games Akira makes a surprise visit with some missed homework exercises. From his sick bed he explains the joys of the PC Engine and shows her his collection of HuCards whilst letting her play some titles including China Warrior. His mother is very graceful to Akira’s visit and makes her a stack of manga hotcakes. She encourages & teases her son having a girlfriend over.
Haruo tells Akira about the handheld PC Engine GT and the Core Grafx CDRom which has the possibility of talking characters in games due to the compact disc technology.
Haruo hears the legend of a 10 Yen arcade somewhere out of town so he borrows his grandmas bicycle and as he’s leaving Akira jumps on for a lift. They find it and it’s a run down sketchy arcade, full of old games like Pooyan, Crazy Climber, Elevator Action and also smells of mold. There’s an original Street Fighter machine with 2 big rubber Punch & Kick buttons, he explains how the strength of the attack depends how hard the pads are smacked. They also play Space Harrier.
END CREDIT CABS:
‘Elevator Action’ 1983, ‘1942’ 1984 & ‘Gladius’ 1985.
CHARACTERS:
Haruo Yaguchi:
The main character and our guide through the series. A regular Japanese schoolboy but a bit of an underachiever due to his fixation on gaming of which he is an expert, but when it comes to girls they are a total mystery to him.
ROUND THREE:
At the end of the summer holidays Haruo and Akira sneak off from friends during a botanical gardens visit and find a nearby amusement park. There’s a Golden Axe machine and Camel Tree, a marble madness type game which gives Akira motion sickness when spinning the screen around.
They find a Street Fighter II machine but it has a large queue so they play Darius 2, a large split screen cabinet and also a gun blaster game Space Gun, an Aliens movie inspired shooter.
END CREDIT CABS:
‘Legend of Kage‘ 1985, ‘Ghosts & Goblins‘ 1985 & ‘Yie ar Kung Fu‘ 1985
ROUND FOUR: 1992 / 93.
It starts with a montage of releases of the year, Street Fighter II Championship Edition and Hyper Fighting Turbo, Fatal Fury 2, Dark Edge and into 1993, Street Fighter II The New Challengers and then in December Virtua Fighter a polygon fighting game like no other before.
Haruo has finally bought a PC Engine GT and is delighted he sneak Street Fighter II games in at school.
Hidaka a girl from school nips in to shelter from a snow storm and finds Haruo who convinces her to stay a while and play Street Fighter II Championship Edition. She’s never played any game before but chooses Zangeif and is surprisingly good. This reminds Haruo of Akira who is no longer around and in California. When Haruo takes over and completes the game, Hidaka corrects him by pointing out it is not just Zangeif dancing for some random old guy on the final name entry screen but it is President Gorbechev.
Hidaka informs Haruo of 3 new arcade cabs outside her fathers nearby liquor store Renegade High, Dynasty Wars and The Genji and the Heiki Clans. Whilst playing them her father shows up brandishing a newly delivered PCB for Super Street Fighter II The New Challengers, he begs to stay and see the board installed.
END OF CREDIT CABINETS:
Metrocross 1985, Renegade 1986 & The Genji & the Heiki Clans 1986
ROUND FIVE:
Haruo takes a visit to the games store having a New Years sale with HuCards as cheap as 50 Yen. Hidaka spots Mortal Kombat for the Super Famicom on the shelf so Haruo takes her to the arcades to play the real thing. He plays first with favourite character Raiden then Hidaka has a go, winning by ‘button mashing’ and also pulls off Scorpion’s fatality ‘finish him’ move.
Later Haruo is sick with a cold at home after playing the outdoors Street Fighter II cab in the snow. Hidaka drops in and Yaguchi Namie (Haruo’s mum) as usual makes her a manga hotcakes stack and teases her son about ‘girlfriend’ Hidaka. He shows off his latest collection of PC Engine bargains he bought, Bonze Adventure , Dragon Spirit, R-type, Bravoman, Kiki Kai Kai and Samurai Ghosts which according to Haruo is a treasured cart among PC Engine owners.
END CREDIT CABS:
Fantasy Zone 1986, Bubble Bobble 1986 & R-type 1987
ROUND SIX:
The start of a new term and Haruo sneaks a Nintendo Game Boy into school. His thinking is that he will get away with playing that more than his PC engine GT. There are some new Street Fighter II Turbo machines around town, this gives him the chance to try out Guile’s new double somersault combo.
Akira is back in town and sneaking around unseen, she’s playing as the new hidden Street Fighter II Turbo character Akuma.
END OF CREDIT CABINETS: Avenger 1987, Rainbow Islands 1987 & Shadow Land 1987
CHARACTER: HIDAKA KOHARU
Another girl from school who has a crush on Haruo and becomes aware of his confusing friendship with Akira. Her father has some arcade cabs outside his liquor store underneath her home. They draw Haruo there and she begins an education of gaming thanks to spending more time around him.
ROUND SEVEN:
On a school trip to Osaka Haruo packs his PC Engine plus a multi-tap and 4 x controllers so him and the boys can play multiplayer Bomberman on the hotel room TV.
Halfway through the journey Haruo and Hidaka hop off the train to get sodas and get stuck when the train leaves the platform but they find some machines in the rest area : Gator Panic which is like whac a mole, a Kung Fu Master reaction tester and Parodius, a shoot em up.
On the way to the bus stop they also find a row of vintage machines outside a candy store and Haruo plays a SEGA Puzzle & Action game.
END OF CREDIT CABINETS: Ordyne 1988, Journey to the West 1988 & ‘SplatterHouse 1988
ROUND EIGHT:
Haruo goes to Osaka to play in a Street Fighter II Turbo Grand Master tournament and there’s a suprise competitor…Akira. They both move through the knockout stages to enter a final full of Guile’s Buster drops, mid air flips and Zangeif’s table top mid air drops.
CHARACTER: YAGUCHI NAMIE
Haruo’s entertaining mother, always graciously welcoming to Akira and Hidaka when they visit the home, making them stacks of Manga hotcakes and practically encouraging and matchmaking her sons relationships with the prospective girlfriends.
ROUND NINE: 1995
After playing Virtua Fighter in the arcades Haruo tells Akira he is hyped for it’s release on the upcoming Sega Saturn console which he prefers over the potential Sony PlayStation although Parodius is coming out for that.
They visit a bigger arcade to find a new beat em up Dark Stalker, amazingly Akira completes it on her first go. They also play Real Puncher and Out Run.
The Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation finally get released but Haruo decides to give gaming a break to concentrate on his studies in the hope he can follow Akira into the higher standard High School.
END OF CREDIT CABINETS: Cadash 1989, Final Fight 1989 & Parodius 1990
ROUND TEN: 1995 / 96
A statement shows that Sega Saturn and PlayStation sales have broken 1 million, one of those buyers is Haruo. He didn’t get into Akira’s school so has been spending a lot of time at home playing his Saturn instead of the arcades and his lack of practice shows when Hidaka takes him on at Street Fighter ZERO and wins as new secret character Akuma. He gets serious by listening to Street Fighter II and Darius soundtrack CD’s on his headphones at school to zone himself in.
END OF CREDIT CABINETS: Adventures of Daimyo 1990, Magic Sword 1990 & Hungry Wolf Legend 1990
CHARACTER: ZIIYA the BUTLER
Akira’s elderly personal driver who has a habit of knocking Haruo over in the family Rolls Royce. He always has Akira’s best interests at heart and doesn’t mind ferrying her to and from her secret trips to the Arcade. He has a definite Pachinko addiction.
ROUND ELEVEN:
Akira and Hidaka play Virtua Cop in the arcade but when Akira’s home tutor Moei finds out she has been spending time in the delinquent arcades she’s in big trouble. Driver Ziiya tries to stick up for her and suggest they maybe buy her the upcoming Nintendo Virtua Boy so she doesn’t have to leave home to partake her pastime.
Haruo has to go look for Akira, turns out she has run away from the pressures of home. He goes to Kawasaki looking in the cheap arcades and finally finds her late at night playing Vampire Hunter.
END OF CREDIT CABINETS: Street Fighter II 1991, King of the Monsters 1991 & Undercover Cops 1992
CHARACTER: Moei Gouda :
Akira’s super strict private tutor. Always waiting to push Akira to the limits with extra home-schooling. Known to go livid if she isn’t giving it 110% and beyond disappointed with her secret trips to the arcades.
ROUND TWELVE:
Hidaka brings her Playstation over to Haruo’s house so he can play Tekken, in return he lends her his Sega Saturn and Virtua Fighter. On the walk back to her home he gets excited about the imminent release of Street Fighter the movie with Van Damme as Guile.
ROUND THIRTEEN:
Haruo is feeling down and the only thing to be done is to play Karateka but anger takes over when he gets stuck as usual traversing an end level portcullis.
At the arcade they see Virtua Fighter 2.0 he comments on the special atmosphere when a new game has been released. The play another game Haruto in 2 player co-op mode. Fighting games are his favourite but loves weird ones like Haruto and hopes they keep getting made.
ROUND FOURTEEN:
While playing King of Fighters V the voice of Guile appears and gives Haruo a monologue… “We fight on through the perilous journeys for the ones we love.” A montage of heroes and their damsels are then shown from Ghosts & Goblins, SplatterHouse, Final Fight, Kung fu Master, Karateka and Wonder Boy.
Hidaka trains at an underground late night gaming shop in order to take on and impress Haruo. They then battle off on SNK games: Vampire Hunter, King of Fighters 95 & new Samurai Showdown.
The MANGA Comics:
The original comics were published in 10 volumes over 2010 – 2018. They are however currently only available in a Japanese edition.
FINAL ROUND:
Akira’s big sister Makoto loans Haruo a Playstation dating RPG Forever with you. His mother, Hidaka and Makoto watch him play it. Much to their amusement he loses the game by not getting admiration from any of the girls in the game.
He then makes Akira an RPG called ‘Ono’s Quest’ using a simulator called Super Dante for the Super Famicom.
Haruo and Akira go to an Amusement Expo where developers have stands and they play Soul Edge and Fighting Vipers. He notes that there’s a lot of home ports on display but they are no comparison to coin-ops and he feels like devoting his time fully to polygon games from here on in.
Enjoy all 15 Rounds of Hi Score Girl now on NETFLIX or DVD
