Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School Part 1 Episodes 1-4

In the illustrious halls of Daimon High School, disputes are settled through the K-Fight System: where students can settle their differences in one on one battles.  The greatest champion of the system is Ryoko Mitsurugi, a beautiful Samurai obsessed girl whose skills are second to none.  But Ryoko’s life is about to get more hectic than constant K-Fight challenges when she discovers a pendant that transports her to an alternate reality where Monsters roam and she’s the only one who can stop them. 

So this is an interesting case: this isnt an out of the blue random title for me.  I read the Real Bout High School Manga back in high school and I really loved it…ok the first half more than the second half but maybe I’ll touch on that later.  I knew there was an Anime sequel but never got around to watching it cause it was really hard to find and I hadn’t heard great things about it.  Well I came into possession of the entire series recently and for the month of Romance and Love, we’re gonna spend it with cute high school girls who love to pick fights in school hallways.  Though there might be a little bit more going on alongside that, which could hamper the experience. 
 
Right away, I do like the feel of the show.  I read the original six volume Manga so many times I felt right at home in the halls of Daimon High School and Ryoko’s many adventures.  The Anime feels like a proper continuation, for most of the first episode anyway.  This is the kind of high school fantasy I’m sure many had back in their own high school days: battles breaking out at least once a day and some of them involving super cute girls who could kick all kinds of ass.  That aspect remains unchanged from the Manga and while the animation might not properly capture the full energy of said fights, some do stand out.  For me, that’s the first showdown between rivals and frenemies Ryoko and Azumi.  It’s got the most movement and fluidity and showcases two very different fighting styles going to head to head.  Honestly the couple of K-Fights we do get in the first four episodes are the highlights of this premiere and I’d love to see a fully animated match between Ryoko and Shizuma at some point.
 
Beyond the K-Fights is where the show gets iffy.  For one, as someone who’s read the Manga, I’m a bit confused as to whether or not this is a sequel, a reboot or a bit of both.  For example, the K-Fight Championship fight between Ryoko and Shizuma in the final volume is spoken of frequently.  But then you have things like Ryoko’s crush/Senpai Tatsuya who I swear had moved away by the midpoint of the Manga and was still gone at the very end.  Did he come back?  It’s never explained.  More than that is the out of nowhere addition of an Isekai element.  Ryoko’s magic pendant (or whatever it is), teleports her and whoever is close by like Shizuma to an alternate reality where they have to fight magical beasts like Dragons.  Why is this even a thing?  The constant break out of bouts between students in a high school should be more than enough to keep things interesting.  Why tack on this unnecessary plot thread with an element never mentioned in the Manga.
 
There’s also the other subplot of Keichiro Nagumo.  Apparently he has some knowledge of this world Ryoko has been to plus he’s the original creator of the K-Fight System.  Oh and he’s on the run from some organization with a pretty sexy spokeswoman and they have some interest in some mute Shrine girl named Miyuki and…WHAT IS ALL OF THIS!!!???  Seriously, there’s so many plot threads being strung around and dangling.  It’s not hard to keep up with but it’s all incredibly messy.  I’d be perfectly content with Nagumo being some kind of Final Boss for the K-Fight Tournament in play and have Ryoko train under an actual swordsmaster, Tessai, to get stronger to defeat him.  Instead we have Dragons, shadowy organizations, magic and weird spirit girls who of course aren’t going to explain squat until probably much later in the series.  It’s not enough to make me hate the show already but it is taking away from the stuff I wanna see more of.
 
Speaking of: Shizuma, we need more Shizuma.  This wild devil child was one of the best parts of the original Manga and here he’s even more entertaining than ever.  Granted a lot of this has to do with Steve Blum voicing him in the English dub and he’s having so much fun as this loud mouthed, unrestrained bad boy who loves to fight and really wants a rematch with Ryoko.  Shizuma easily steals the show everytime he shows up, so much so that we really just need more of him in general, especially to balance out the nonsensical add ons to the show.  The show also follows up on the supposed romantic hints teased between him and Ryoko at the conclusion of the Manga.  Obviously both will deny it but it’d be fun if the two rivals hooked up in some way by the end of the series.
 
The premiere of Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School is a fun but needlessly stuffed return to a world I loved reading about when I was younger.  The characters are still fun and the fights show some promise even though this was made in the middle of Gonzo’s Digipaint early 2000s era and has a habit of freeze framing a lot of action.  I have no idea whether or not the additions of magical worlds and shady corporate assassins will gel with everything else but I’m still willing to give it a try.  The semesters only gotten started and we’ll be back with more Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.