God of High School #01 — Animation Demo Reels

July 6th, 2020

 

Why all the screaming?

Impressions:

It's certainly the best animated thing of the season so far by a massive mile. It does, unfortunately, share the rest of the season's trend so far in not having any kind of plot, and nearly every character being a screaming ninny. Or perhaps it'd be more accurate to say that it has three plots, and only the most tenuous connection between them. It starts off with corrupt, uh, publishers I guess, lounging on a remote island, plotting to overthrow the government, except that the government is a dude who can psychically squash islands apparently. That's then dropped so we can check in with a kid who has a thing for helping old people chasing a mugger on a bike, running into what I assume are going to be his buddies, which include one screaming girl, a screaming rapper, and the rarest gift of all, just some quiet, competent dude. At that point, they get half dropped from the show to switch to a montage of the titular tournament. By the time focus switches back to a named character rather than demo reels of randos, the episode unceremoniously ends.

It's probably worth watching just for the effort put into the animation, although Mappa does have a habit to overspend on first episodes and then scale things waaaay the hell back for future episodes. That said, it's not even trying to elevate itself above typical Jump drek on the writing front, and it comes out at the strangest times. For example, the mugger, some random dude whose only line to that point was something like "Ha ha. Robbing old ladies is so easy," all of a sudden busted out with "You cannot hope to match my drifting technique which I honed for seven years as a professional racer." And then they both made the same 90 degree turn that they had both been making the entire chase, but this time, it had three people screaming. I feel like there's an easy comparison to be made to Futakoi Alternative's first episode, particularly with the nonsense intro bit that's then dropped, but that was much more of madcap craziness that flowed from one event to the next, escalating as it came together into a tapestry, introducing both the characters and the setting. Maybe it'll come together later. Maybe somebody will find a way to express themself that isn't screaming, dispassionate mockery, or pantsing. Maybe the animation alone makes it worth it if they can keep it up. 

 

Posted in God of High School | 4 Comments »

4 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • kenuran says:

    No joke about this show not having much of a hook. Like I dont know anything about whats at stake for anyone, why this tournament exists, or what anyone’s goals are. I guess they will explain more in flashbacks but still the pacing of everything including the setting is just so haphazardly thrown across the screen. As if they are just rushing though the source material.

    I’ll give it another episode but its already looking like super generic Jump battle shonen.

  • Anonymous says:

    feels like tower of god but loud. giving everyone drinker’s nose is an “interesting” choice.

  • Anime Sweet says:

    Manhwas are dominating! :(

  • Ayatane001 says:

    I guess is going to be like Tenjou Tenge , when they put flashbacks between fights,training and even when the characters just spoke.