FIF#235-The God of High School

At long last, the greatest fighting tournament in the world has come to Seoul, South Korea.  The God of High School sees fighters from various high schools come together for a battle like no other and the winner will be granted anything their heart desires.  Mori Jin is just another aspiring Martial Artist who enters the tournament to see if the prize is real. Alongside two other gifted fighters, Mori battles his way through some of the deadliest foes both in and out of the ring.  For GOH is run by some pretty shady characters and the more victories Mori earns, the deeper he finds himself at the heart of an epic conspiracy.

 
This was another title I discovered recently while at Katsucon and not because I sat in on a screening. My friends and I were playing a “Guess the Anime OP” on Youtube and the theme for this one came out and it slapped hard.  I had to know if the show that opening was attached to could match how cool and bad ass the song sounded.  Turns out, I think it can.  The God of High School, based on a Korean Webtoon and one of Crunchyroll’s first “original” titles, looks like Tekken with a younger, wilder generation and it’s got some extra help from an Anime Studio that is firing on all cylindars right now.  But does that equal success or is it wishful thinking on my part?
 
There’s a bit about the first episode of God of High School that should turn me off right away, mostly from the many Shonen tropes surrounding the “big three” main characters (how many times can we use Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura as our blueprints?).  Even the signature starry eyes of Mori gave me pause.  But when the show got going thanks to Mori’s chase down of a Motorcycle theif, which biking the mess out of his own bike, it was like a match was lit to kick off the opening of Mission: Impossible.  There’s a wild and infectious energy to this premiere and I think the bike chase has a lot to do with that.  Of course, I cant watch it and not think about how Studio MAPPA is somehow keeping the fires going with all of these high profile action Anime like this (they were also working on Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan around the time this first came out).
 
The Tournament section needs to be elaborated on a bit more but again, I’m getting Tekken vibes.  Prove youre the strongest amongst those with dazzling and dizzying fighting styles and earn your right to be granted a single wish.  Who is running this bout and when they say “any wish” do they mean ANY WISH, Dragon Ball style?  Those are just a few of the questions running in my head but the action, especially seeing Mori, Daewi and Mira in action, on their own and together, is a real treat.  Mori starting to go toe to toe with the psychotic wild card that got thrown into the battle royale definitely got me interested.  First off, is this prisoner a teenager?  (This is supposed to be centered on student fighters from High Schools I think).  And just what is Mori’s special skill in general?  At least with someone like Mira we know shes good with a sword (and has the same muscle fetish as Gou from Free) and we see Daewi has some super strength to his moves. 
 
Most titles with a long running tournament setup like Baki and Record of Ragnarok haven’t been my cup of tea (mostly cause of the character designs).  However, I think The God of High School might need a couple more episodes of my time.  I’m steadily becoming a fan of anything MAPPA touches, especially when it comes to action.  The mystery has me wanting answers and the music is just as bopping and good as the OP. So…who will become KING OF THE IRON FI…oh wait I mean THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL?!!!  I guess I’ll have to watch a bit more to find out.