The God of High School Episode 4 “Marriage / Bonds” Anime Review
Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.
The God of High School’s pacing took an unexpected turn. As a reader of the Webtoon, I was quite taken back with the events of the latest episode. While I wasn’t a fan of the “Wedding Arc” in the Webtoon—because “the pacing / buildup was out of control”—I still thought the episode had a better handle on this arc up until the brutal ending of the episode (Ngo, GOH “Tournament Preliminaries Arc” Review).
The anime smashed Han Daewi’s character story into the ending, lowkey stealing the spotlight away from Yoo Mira’s centric episode. Honestly, Han Daewi should’ve gotten his own centric episode regarding his friendship with the friend in the hospital. Based on my knowledge of the Webtoon’s storylines, I believe the anime is trying to include parts of the “Nationals Arc” into this first season as well. It’s hard to gauge without knowing how many episodes are in this first season, but my best educated guess is 13 episodes.
Regarding Yoo Mira’s wedding episode though, I did enjoy how the villain—Mira’s groom Seongjin—still had an interest in her sword like in the Webtoon, but the episode connected his interest with the villainous group we saw in episode 3. The anime also gave us a hint of the sword’s hidden ability to kill a God. The introduction of Mira’s family was a nice touch in addition to Jin Mori and Han Daewi’s reasons for interfering with the wedding ceremony.
The character dynamics between Yoo Mira, Han Daewi, and Jin Mori were also established really well in this episode, only for Han Daewi to sever the bonds at the last-minute. This could be seen as a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. On the bright side, seeing them bond only to rip it away was a brutal approach as we get closer to the Han Daewi versus Jin Mori fight. On the negative side, this seemed abrupt due to the breakneck pace the anime is currently going at, as there weren’t enough episodes yet for us to become invested in their friendships.
Overall, I thought this episode could’ve been stretched into two; one for Yoo Mira and the other for Han Daewi. I hope the pacing fixes itself once the plot of the series moves its way to the forefront. Also, if the anime messes up on the Han Daewi versus Jin Mori fight, I will not be pleased. Thanks for reading my anime episode review! I’ll see you all next week to see what happens next on The God of High School!