Post — Aaron Ngo

Major spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

Synopsis: This fighting-style—action-packed—series follows high schoolers Jin Mori and his friends—Han Daewi and Yoo Mira—participating in The God of High School, an all-styles martial arts tournament for high schoolers from all over the country of Korea. The victor of the tournament will have their wish fulfilled—no questions asked. For my reviews on episodes 1 and 2, the links are here and here.

Picking up where episode 2 left off, The God of High School has to handle Jin Mori interfering with the match between Gang Manseok and Go Gambo. While the anime did handle Jin Mori’s situation somewhat differently from what happened in the Webtoon, I thought the result was still satisfying.

In the Webtoon, Jin Mori’s reason for being late to his match against Judge Q was different and not orchestrated as some test by Park Mujin. The match between Jin Mori and Judge Q also played out different. For one thing, Judge Q’s GP—God Power—ability came earlier than expected, but I loved the surprise. Park Mujin didn’t and deducted Judge Q’s salary for three months.

Jin Mori’s fight against Judge Q came toward the end of the episode, so in the meantime, we were given more context on Yoo Mira and Han Daewi’s backgrounds and their fighting abilities.

Yoo Mira’s fight against Pro Wrestler Mah Miseon proved she was a capable fighter without her sword while Han Daewi’s fight against Baek Seungchul put him through the ringer.

The fights in this episode—compared to how the Webtoon handled them—felt rushed. While the fight between Yoo Mira and Mah Miseon was Webtoon accurate, the fight between Han Daewi and Baek Seungchul neglected to show Seungchul’s character background, but hopefully they address it later. Baek Seungchul will become a more important character down the road. The animation could’ve been better for Baek Seungchul’s attacks too. The twelve lances honestly looked better in the Webtoon.

I did appreciate Mah Miseon’s intended wish if she won the tournament; she wanted a reverse harem, effectively gender-flopping the fan-service character trope. The design of her character would seem to indicate a fan service look—tube top and short shorts—but the clear attention to her well-built muscles and her personality made her character go beyond that anime stereotype.

We also learned in this episode Han Daewi’s true goal—it’s still money but with more context—for wanting to win the God of High School tournament. This context is the reason why Han Daewi is my favorite character in The God of High School. I understand the appeal behind Jin Mori, but Han Daewi is a tsundere-type character—a character who appears initial cold, but he or she warms up / becomes friendlier over time. I usually favor tsundere-type characters. Han Daewi’s Black Tortoise attack looked pretty nice in animated form. If the episodes down the road do a disservice to his signature attack later on though, I will riot with y’all.

Let me explain here. While I did say Jin Mori’s Renewal Taekwondo was epically animated in last week’s episode review, I really do hope the multi-color Webtoon drawing does show up as “let’s explain what happened” regarding Mori’s Triple Kick.

Overall, I thought this was another great episode that hiccupped a few times. The tournament feels like it’s moving faster than usual compared to the Webtoon’s pacing, but the world-building with the opening and Park Mujin’s mysterious intentions really make up for it. The anime is taking better care of the “behind the scenes plot”. Thanks for reading my review, everyone! I’ll see you all next week!

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