High Score Girl – Extra Stage

This is it!!! The moment of truth is at hand. After putting hours after hours of effort, defeating waves after waves of henchmen, upgrading and levelling up as much as we can, unlocking all secrets and bonuses along the way, we’re finally here. Finally at the last ultimate final secret boss. One final match that stands in the way of ultimate victory. Victory is almost at hand. One final battle to justify all the hard work of finally reaching here. The final fight is at hand. Don’t lose heart now. Don’t chicken out now. Go forth! The way is forward! Show all that you have learnt! Show all that you have mastered! Only then you can grasp and taste the fruits of your triumph. Godspeed! Oh wait. What’s that? We’re supposed to be talking about the final extra episodes of High Score Girl – Extra Stage? Uhm… Erm… Doesn’t it feel like that? Yeah… Real life fight for love is much more complicated and harder than the fighting games in the arcade.

Episode 13
Haruo talks to Miyao hypothetically about a girl confessing to him. To his surprise, Miyao knows it is Hidaka. Even more surprising, he knows she has a crush on him since middle school. The best way is to tell her who he likes and turn her down. He has someone he likes, right? Unfortunately Haruo doesn’t know who! Oh boy. This is going to get messy. Meanwhile we are introduced to Makoto, Oono’s elder sister who is very crude and child-like. They are like day and night. Oono’s butler realizes that it is perhaps the brunt of Oono’s strict upbringing could have been a backlash due to Makoto’s lackadaisical ways. At the same time, Gouda visits Haruo’s home. Though she is not particularly here to thank him for that incident of Oono running away from home, she is also here to tell him to sever ties with her. She believes he is a bad influence on her and he is more than a nuisance. While Guile wants Haruo to tell her off that their relationship is more than that, Haruo just couldn’t open his mouth and fight back. Instead, it is his mom who will not accept her son being called that. She fires back that everyone has their own ways in raising their child and she has no regrets letting Haruo grow at his own pace. In that case, Gouda ‘thanks’ her for the advice and that she will do things in her own ways. After she leaves, Haruo has renewed respect for mom and is glad to be her son. He regrets not being able to talk back but mom is fine with that. After all, it still won’t be right if a kid talks back to an adult. Lovely mom and son moment ‘ruined’ when mom asks to see his report card. Oh my. Here comes mom’s unrelenting combos!

Back home, Makoto tells Oono what she saw. Gouda has reprimanded her butler as she knows he has been secretly letting Oono play his Game Gear in his car. He will be relieved of his driver duties and will be confined to house duties. One more mistake and she has the power to fire him. Oono felt bad and rushes to see him. But he decides to bring her somewhere as his last job. Of course, that is to Haruo’s house and Haruo could see the sadness in Oono’s eyes. Mom suggests Haruo take Oono to the local festival as the adults badmouth talk about Gouda. Since it’s too early for the festivals, they hit the arcade. They play lots of games and you can see both of them lighting up. If only they could live and play at arcades like this forever. Once done, they head down to the festivals as Haruo remembers what her butler told him. Today will be his last day on the job as Gouda has hired a new driver who will stick to the family rules. Her schooling will be even stricter and all chance to meet him will be cut off. That is why he is giving his last chance to them to be together and he hopes he could be her emotional support. Oono wins a FFVI game prize at the shooting gallery. She gives it to Haruo. He gladly accepts and invites her to come over and play any time. Then he realizes the problem: Will there be another time? Taking a closer look at Oono’s face, he realizes how cute she is. She kicks him in the gut! Is that a sign of approval? When they return, it’s time to part. So what’s her parting gift? Just planting her face on his shoulder. Well. Uhm. Okay. Bye. Take care.

Episode 14
Haruo continues to hone his skills at the arcade. Guile notes his progress an honour as a man. He relates why many video game characters brave the dangers and take risks is all because for their loved ones. That is why he must push forward and cannot afford to lose. Hidaka receives a challenge letter from Haruo. She has also gotten stronger thanks to the help of this goth gamer girl, Nikotama. She was impressed with her Darkstalkers’ gaming style and sensed she had the potential and invited her to her privately run arcade where night battles take place. For free, gamers can practice all they want. Hence you can see all those groupies (weirdoes with equally weird nicknames) with really insane consecutive winning streaks. D-day is here and the condition is that they will play 3 different fighting games. One battle each. Best 2 out of 3. The first is Samurai Showdown II. Hidaka easily defeats Haruo (WTF?! Weird group dance from the groupies to celebrate her win?!) but Nikotama can sense that something isn’t right. Next is King Of Fighters’95. Hidaka starts off aggressively in this 3 on 3 battle. When Haruo is down to his last fighter, that is when he turns the tables and easily defeats all of her characters. It is then Nikotama realizes what Haruo has that Hidaka lacks. Even though she has the desire to win, she does not enjoy playing the game like Haruo does. The final game is Darkstalkers. Haruo takes the first round and Hidaka coming back for the second. Man, it is really down the wire. So while at it, we hear Guile telling Haruo how he cannot lose because he has watched him work so hard in terms of life and gaming. In the end, Haruo wins! Then he starts bragging to Hidaka how cool everything was. However… She beats the crap out of him in her mini tantrum! I don’t think she’s being a sore loser. She takes out all her frustrations on him, accusing him that his way forward was meant for Oono. I guess when she’s done beating him, her groupies take over and continue the beat down combo. Hidaka is still angry at herself for losing despite working so hard. Nikotama says it is proof that she loves gaming. Hidaka goes home in tears :’(. But she refuses to give up on him or fighting games and will use this chance to grow stronger. That’s the spirit. On another day as Haruo hits the arcade alone, he thought he saw Oono at the mahjong game. Too bad it is Makoto and she knows all about him thanks to her sister.

Episode 15
Makoto gives Haruo a dating sim to play, Tokimeki Memorial. He’ll understand what women want. I’m not betting on it… So when Hidaka learns about this, she thinks he is doing this for Oono. Grr… She wants her Playstation back. Makoto is at Haruo’s place to see him play Tokimeki Memorial. Oddly, Haruo is being watched by Hidaka, Makoto and his mom! Oh damn! Women want to see how men struggle! As expected, he fails since he chose all the unpopular options. Yeah Haruo, you’re thinking only about yourself! Haruo is so bad at the game that he has got the bomb indicator for all the girls. Hidaka will lend her Playstation to him a little longer but reminds him that she too has a bomb ticking… Gulp. Even Makoto warns him her bomb will tick if he makes her sister cry. And mom’s bomb will definitely blow if he fails in his grades! Yikes! Later Makoto explains that because she rebelled against the family rules, Oono bore the brunt of it. That is why she wants to help out in any way she can. He thinks of bringing her to this AOU Show (some huge arcade convention) but it is going to sneak Oono out from Gouda’s view even for a day. Hence he gets this idea to create an RPG game for Oono based on RPG Maker: Super Dante. It will be based around Oono’s household and Gouda as the final last boss! After 30 days, he finally finishes it. Oono’s butler invites her to his room when Gouda is not around to let her play. Her face lights up as she is impressed with Haruo’s hard work. It is creative for Haruo to personify her mundane chores as demons she must battle to overcome. It is perfect except for one flaw: Makoto is one of the evil bosses! That sister is so pissed off… Every now and then, Oono sneaks into her butler’s room to play it but one day, Gouda sees this and realizes the truth. She thought Oono has been concentrating on her lessons and hence her methods were effective but realized the false assumptions she was under. The next time Oono comes in to play, the entire console is gone. Gouda catches her and says how she threw away all that. Oono is visibly angry and sad but all she could do is run away to her room.

Later Makoto tries to talk to Gouda about the awkward relationship she has with Oono. It is already tough that she has put up a barrier between them. Oono has been under her control since and yet she endures everything she tells her. Furthermore, she has to study under her. How can anyone stand that? Will this even make her grow up to be a decent person? Even the butler agrees. He doesn’t want Gouda to turn into an evil person just for Oono. Gouda goes to see Haruo at his job. She is here to apologize and compensate the console since she found out it belonged to him. Yeah, at least he got a better upgraded version now. When he asks about Oono, she replies she is hated now. She asks him back on his thoughts on Oono. A wall he can’t overcome and someone whom he wants to play games with. Although she’s weird, that is what’s interesting about her. Haruo even advises Gouda to lose those evil looking glasses. Oono would prefer her better without them. On the day Haruo invites his mom to AOU Show (mom so happy, I guess her son has no one else to go with), it’s a good thing the voice of Guile stops him. Because a second too soon, he would have missed Oono coming by to return the umbrella that Gouda borrowed the other day. I guess Gouda was decent enough to let her have a day off from studying. Mom takes this as a sign that God wants them to be together and is willing to trade her place with Oono. She tells him to be a man and use all that he has learnt from Tokimeki Memorial! On the crowded train, cliché moment for them to be huddled together and hold hands. Is this the start of a new relationship forward? At the convention, the duo are happy with all the new games on display. They enjoy the rest of the day together. Haruo thought it would be hard to start any conversation with her if she had no interest in video games. There is literally nothing else to talk about! Ironically, Oono being silent herself, can’t stand the silence either. So she wants him to keep talking? On the way back, Haruo notices her many prizes she got from the crane game. He asks which prize she likes best. She shows him that small ring. Ah… So nostalgic. Haruo hopes they can go to such shows together again next time. Just before they part, Haruo gets rammed by her butler’s car. It was getting late so he went out to search for her. Yeah, this feels nostalgic too…

No Game, No Life!
Eh… What… Why does the ending feel unsatisfying? I guess I have to blame myself for expecting that Haruo makes a decision with either Oono or Hidaka. While the ending might feel somewhat inconclusive, but it clears some of the more pervasive issues at hand. Firstly, to solve the case of Hidaka’s revenge match and although this puts an end to the route of him having to date her, not at least by a long shot because with Hidaka being a woman in love, looks like she’s shifting the goal post and still won’t give up. Even if Hidaka still has a chance in the future and will be backing down temporarily for now, this incident put at ease the gamer relationship between Haruo and Hidaka. It would have been interesting to see the other route in which Haruo lost and be Hidaka’s man because I’m sure this would also impact Oono greatly.

The other issue somewhat solve is of course Oono’s household issues. Gouda was fast becoming the main antagonist and final boss for our young ones to clear but thankfully to show that she is not totally a demon, she too shows her softer side as a human being and cuts Oono some slack. Even though Oono is not completely freed from her family’s strict upbringing cycle, the ending indicates that she has slightly more freedom than before. Even if we didn’t get to see Haruo and Oono officially become an item (or fans for Oono x Hidaka), but as Guile said, their relationship goes way beyond your typical male-female lovers. Their love for video games brought them together and I believe that is what the ending of this entire series wanted to demonstrate. Therefore from this perspective, it is a good and happy ending for our main characters because they bridged the gap and finally come together as gamers but not so good ending for purist romance genre fans.

While it is nice to see that Haruo and Oono’s friendship is slowly building towards what we would hope to see, the one thing that I still find it annoying and unsatisfying is that Oono still doesn’t speak!!! I was expecting and thought that perhaps in the final episode she would shock us all by saying one line in her decent voice even if it was a short sentence with only a few words that would put Twitter to shame. But nope. She continues to remain a ‘retard’. Hence, only solidifying my conspiracy theory that she is so traumatized by the family’s strict upbringing that she started losing her voice. Gee, I wonder who she would grow up into a decent adult if she can’t speak properly, huh? Maybe whoever she is betrothed to doesn’t need her to speak! Oh well. Don’t want to open a can of worms by foreseeing that future. Because the only future that we all want to see her is ending up with Haruo (or Hidaka for you Hidaka fans).

So with Haruo talking on her behalf while she only do soft grunts and groans, I guess I could say that Haruo is now definitely better in knowing what her heart is (albeit he has still got a long way more to learn – time to practice more Tokimeki Memorial) and what she wants to say after spending a lot of time with her. I think that’s the beauty of this relationship of theirs although thinking about it, it is a bit odd seeing the communication is only one way in this verbal sense. But whatever. It works for them. But in video game sense, Haruo can also be considered a success because he didn’t end up like video game protagonists saving their love, at least he saved her from the ‘imprisonment of her heart’. Oono might have the achievement of having high scores on almost every game but Haruo scores as the winner for these girls’ heart! As a gamer boy who is good at nothing else, having a couple of girls to like you or rely on you is as good as winning the game of life.

I believe that Oono is a very blessed and lucky girl. Despite her strict and less than fortunate circumstances, she has a few other individuals who would stand up for her. Other than Haruo, her butler and Makoto (even Haruo’s mom can be considered) are also her strong supporters. I’m not saying that Oono not rebelling against the family and Gouda means that she is weak. I think things will get a lot worse if she did that. It is sad that she had to endure and do all the things she dislikes but I suppose that is her way of fighting. Sometimes being obedient isn’t a sign of weakness. For her to obey everything that Gouda throws at her without question, that is a sign of strength because seriously, who can actually keep up with all that strictness without going crazy?

Gouda may look like the antagonist and is acting like one all for Oono’s sake but remember, she is hired to do her job. She was even willing to play the bad guy all for Oono’s future. Imagine if she slacks, she’ll get more than just being fired from her employers. Maybe she just needs to refine her educating methods and thankfully as said, to show us that she isn’t totally a cold hearted person, she eventually cuts Oono some slack and even takes up Haruo’s advice to lose those evil glasses! See, looking a little lovely there, no?

Makoto as the new character thrown in for this extra episodes, her totally opposite behaviour makes you wonder if they are really related. I keep wondering how she can still stay in the family and still be as loose as ever. Perhaps the parents have given up on her and couldn’t care less on what she does. I mean, it’s not like she does anything bad so she is free to do whatever she wants while continuing to live under their household. If Makoto was truly independent, she would have lived on her own but I guess she might still need some of her parents’ money. It’s not like we know what she really does, right? Oh yeah. She’s staying back to help Oono. I suppose every little help and support counts. Nikotama’s character feels a bit redundant. Could have been done without but I guess we need to see how Hidaka has grown and improved a lot thanks to the guidance of a mentor.

I thought with Makoto having decent lines here, I thought Sayumi Suzushiro who is the voice of Oono would be getting proper lines here playing as her elder sister. Nope. It is Chinatsu Akasaki who does Makoto (Yasuna in Kill Me Baby, Alice in Shokugeki No Souma). So I guess Oono’s seiyuu still has the easiest job of voice acting, huh? Hence Oono’s heart breaking scream during her parting with Haruo at the airport for her departure to LA in the TV series is still by far the ‘loudest’ we could hear from her. As for Nikotama, I recognized that voice from Witch Craft Works’ Tanpopo and Uchi No Maid Ga Uzasugiru’s Yui. Just couldn’t remember her name. Oops, sorry. Oh, it’s Shiori Izawa. Hope to remember her from now on.

As the retro games here are the main features for old viewers like yours truly, the extra episodes also didn’t disappoint. Especially the fighting games that are my favourite genres in video games. But with the episodes focusing on the battles of Haruo with Hidaka and Oono, these games are given slightly less prominence. Also, no mid-intermission and next episode distractions of featuring new and old games alike. WTF is that weird 3D render of, uhm, I don’t even know what the heck that item is in the next episode preview. I would like to credit these extra episodes for reminding me of a very old retro game that I think I have played in a relative’s house and would have forgotten totally about it had not it appeared here: China Gate. Not to say that I spent a lot of time playing this weird beat ‘em up, but I’m sure this was one of the many obscure games that I played or watched during my very seemingly hazy childhood years.

Overall, even though the ending was a bit unsatisfying, it is still a nice conclusion to the series. At least for this season’s arc. Our characters have grown a lot and more importantly, they still love video games. I still hope there is another season for this series but I doubt it will be as this interesting and nostalgic. Because I’m speculating about love woes when our main characters hit puberty. Hidaka might come back for another round for Haruo’s love assuming he isn’t officially dating Oono by then. With the arcades dying and the rise of consoles, that’s probably when my nostalgia of video games might also start to wane because by the mid-90s, I became more of a PC person. So they better show a few nostalgic PC games if you want me to love your sequel! Oh yeah. Those were the days where video games were simpler and complete. Uh huh. Damn those season passes, premium passes, pre-orders, DLCs, microtransactions, loot boxes, multiple complicated collectors and limited editions, game breaking bugs, incomplete games… I hope there won’t come a time they charge $15 just to put your name up on the leaderboards after achieving some really cool high score or stats. For the first 10 days. Because an extra $1 for every subsequent day thereafter to stay on the board. Argh! High Score Grrrrr!!!!