The God Of High School

In the previous season, we had a Korean webtoon called Tower Of God. Because it didn’t get any continuation, to satisfy our cravings for a Korean webtoon with God, I guess that’s why we got The God Of High School in the next season. Heh. Okay, I made at up. But yeah. If climbing towers are too fantasy-like for you, then let’s have something more modern and contemporary. After all, who doesn’t love teens and high school kids as young and vibrant, energetic heroes, right? So what’s the story for this God theme? Apparently high schoolers are set to compete in a tournament in which the winner will be granted anything they want. Yeah, sounds so cliché and unoriginal but what the heck. When you’re young and naïve, there’s so many unfulfilled dreams and the fastest way to grant them is… Yeah… Let loose all those raw power and energy!

Episode 1
A few guys are going to get back at the president, Park Mujin and show him who is actually running the show. Threats, corruptions and scandals, you name it, they got it. However a strange phenomenon soon occurs because a giant hand slams and flattens the entire island they’re on! Jin Mori made some promise to grandpa when he was young. But today, looks like he is running late for the biggest martial arts tournament for high schoolers. You bet he is going to fly there. I wonder if his bicycle is on steroids. Meanwhile Yoo Mira is asking a bunch of judo losers (because they’re stumped they didn’t get selected for the tournament) directions to the arena. Since she loves their muscles, they flex for her. Mori is already running late but witnesses a purse snatching thief before his eyes. He thinks granny needed the money for her grandkid’s surgery so you bet his sense of justice is kicking him. Damn, his bicycle can chase after the bike? Mori eventually slams into Mira and she wants payback. Till she hears that made up grandma story. Now she joins him to chase after the thief. The thief scatters some money to lose them. Mira almost got him but crashed into the signboard. But it is ultimately Han Daewi who took him down with a single punch. All 3 made it just in time for the tournament. The announcer briefly explains the no holds barred rules of the fights. Use any style or weapon till your opponent cannot fight or gives up. They didn’t mention about death. Is that outcome possible? The winner will be granted anything by the organizers. Each of the fighters got a bracelet that shows their vital stats. Some nanomachines technology in their bloodstreams thingy. Who cares about technicalities?! Start the fight now! But everyone is shock when this Seoul preliminaries starts off as a battle royale. Who cares?! Everybody starts beating up everybody. We see those with potential strutting their stuffs. This match has a latecomer and he is Kang Manseok. Despite having some handicap, many are no match for his strength and speed. Until Mira takes on him. Don’t count Mori out. He wants to have some fun with this guy too.

Episode 2
Well, the match ended prematurely. Because as soon as Mori was going to take on Manseok, Mira snapped his neck for taking her sword without permission! But thanks to those nanomachines, all injuries are repaired. The trio head back for the day and reveal their reason to win this tournament. Mori wants to fight all kinds of people and be the strongest. Mira needs to revive her family’s sword dojo. Daewi says he is in for the money but there is more he isn’t telling. Mori fools around with Mira’s sword and accidentally drops it in the river. As they go look for it, we hear Mira elaborate on her past. Father gave her the sword and told her to find a successor no matter what. Thus most of her life, Mira couldn’t join other girls doing normal girly things and instead practised her sword. The Seoul preliminaries begin and the winner will participate at the national level. In this elimination tournament, we see our main characters breeze through as well as others like Ma Miseon and Baek Seungchul. The big heavyweight match is between Manseok and Go Gamdo. As it begins Gamdo looks like he is overwhelming Manseok. Only when Manseok takes off his restrains and starts to get serious, Gamdo is now in trouble. He takes a beating and not even his greatest taichi move could turn the tables. Manseok is trying to force Gamdo to beg for forgiveness, something that Gamdo will not do. Hence Manseok continues to torture him with bone breaking moves. Not for the faint hearted. Until Mori jumps in and beats up this guy. Of course this move is illegal so the executives jump in to apprehend him. Manseok isn’t done yet. He jumps right back in to fight. Flashback shows he sought greater power but unfortunately he couldn’t attain it. More epic power moves by both of them but it is Mori who eventually knocks him out. The match is stopped by Mujin himself. As the tournament head admin, he apologizes to the crowd for Mori violating the rules. As he will be punished, he assures the tournament will proceed as usual. Mori is taken off the stage but there are many who are cheering for him.

Episode 3
As Gamdo is in ICU, clearly he is out. Manseok is having a mental breakdown so he too can’t participate. Judge P suggests he gets expelled for violating the rules but as Mujin realizes who his grandfather is, this is going to be interesting. We now focus on Mira’s match with Miseon. Sword girl no match for pro wrestler girl at first since her body is trained to be hard as iron. Miseon then lets us know her dreams of wanting a male harem. So much so she came all the way from USA to participate in this tournament. So there are no hot guys in America, huh? When Mira loses her sword, she then uses her bare hands as swords to defeat Miseon. Mujin sees Mori and tells him he will fight Judge Q tomorrow to see if he can be reinstated. However Mori throws a tantrum he wants to fight Judge R (the one who invited him to participate) as he thinks he is stronger. Judge Q punches him down to prove he is stronger so Mori now likes it? This guy a masochist? As Mori gets the greenlight to return home, Judge P wonders why Mujin let him eat some forbidden fruit. It is to see if he is the real deal or not. Back home, Mori vomits blood and collapses. We take a detour as we see Daewi visiting a sick friend at hospital. Then there are some bullies who try to badmouth them but Daewi is so zen he doesn’t fight back. Next day, Daewi is up against Seungchul. The latter can predict his karate’s moves because he studied all forms of martial arts. As long as has knowledge and violence, he will never lose. Hence participating in this tournament to test his theory. Despite his nerdy outlook, Seungchul packs a punch with just his baseball bat. Daewi could’ve lost but images of his sick friend fuel him to get up and fight back. I don’t know if those heavenly moves are part of karate, but it is what defeats Seungchul and destroys his theory. Now it is Mori’s redemption fight. He is not here. You mean he is still passed out back at his home?! But wait. Here he is! In this handicap match, if Mori manages to knock Judge Q down once, he wins. Before Judge Q could move, Mori takes off his glasses and pushes him down. THAT’S IT?! No wonder the crowd so angry. Are they joking? But Judge Q is so mad he unleashes his Gremlin joker familiar to fight?! WTF?! Mori is left to run and could’ve been defeated had the other executives not restrain him. Mujin declares Mori’s victory and punishes Judge Q by docking his pay. Mujin is now certain he is Taejin’s tiger cub and will not let him slip from his grasp.

Episode 4
The semi-finals will be Mira vs Daewi as well as Mori vs Byeon Jaehee. But first, more Mira drama. Because this cool handsome guy, Oh Seongjin comes up to her and proposes to get married right now! You see, the only reason Mira says yes is because he promises he can revive her Moon Light sword technique and make it famous throughout the world. Flashback shows her father died while she was young and although her uncle took her in and promised to help revive Moon Light, because he was so weak and got a beating by his students, eventually they left. Hence Mira views herself as the only one who is capable of being the successor. Although her uncle doesn’t like this, but I guess he has to give in. Uh huh. Seongjin claims he can make their dreams come true. But obviously Mori didn’t have the same idea. He marches right down to Mira’s place just to ask her if this is what she wants. I mean, marrying a guy whom she isn’t in love with just to protect her sword style? What sh*t is this?! Furthermore, she is dropping out of her semi-final?! Of course she kicks him out. Mira is all dolled up on her wedding day. Her uncle tries to have Seongjin change his mind and call off the wedding since Mira might think she made a good decision. But Mira assures this is what she wants and is happy about it. After all, Seongjin promises she can do anything for the sake of Moon Light.

As the wedding starts, uninvited Mori tries to barge in. Stopped by the guards until Daewi shows up. It is revealed that Seongjin belongs to a cult and they want him to find a sword who can rule God as well as a successor who can draw out that sword’s power. While Daewi handles Seongjin, Mori talks to Mira. For the umpteenth time, is this what you want?! She tries to attack him for running his mouth but accidentally hits her uncle. He realizes this is wrong and her father wouldn’t have want this either. So it’s just simple. Do what you want. With the deal sealed, Mira apologizes to Seongjin and wants to call off the wedding. That’s when he shows his true colours and just wants the sword and successor. He materializes some samurai ghost to fight them but Mira only uses her hand to take him down. Wow. She looks so happy. That’s the smile we’re talking about. Although Seongjin runs away with her sword, she is okay with it since her father’s spirit lives on with her. But now we move on to Daewi’s drama. As his friend’s condition has taken a turn for the worse, when bullies show up to taunt him again, this time he snapped. Badly bruised bullies + bloodied fists. Oh no. So during the semi-final match, Daewi beats the sh*t out of Mira! OMFG. Is he the devil now?! Daewi wins this brutal match of course. Damn, Mira bleeding like hell. I know it’s injuries she sustained from Seongjin’s fight but still, the drama…

Episode 5
A couple of years ago, Daewi and Woo Seungtae were always fighting. Because they’re friends? We breeze though Mori’s semi-final fight so that we know it’s going to be Mori-Daewi final. Of course the night before, Mori visits Mira in hospital. She admits she is weaker than Daewi and that’s why she lost. But it still doesn’t explain his violent demeanour then. It’s not like him. And now for the much anticipated finals. Both guys go on the offensive trading punches and kicks. Daewi makes a comeback as he trashes Mori. We see a short clip Daewi confronting Mujin. Because Daewi’s wish is to have Seungtae get those nanomachines treatment, he can’t wait till he wins this entire tournament so Mujin cut him a deal that if he can win this preliminaries finals, they’ll administer some. Meanwhile Mira is discharged and her getting lost to the ICU, I guess it’s for some convenience to see Seungtae breathe his last breath. More Daewi’s flashback. As a delinquent, he often got into fights. On a day he went to save a comrade alone, the rivals ganged up on him. Surprisingly Seungtae aided him. They won but not before taking some damage too. Because Daewi doesn’t believe in friends, Seungtae believes otherwise. The more you trust someone, the more they’ll trust you. And so that’s the start of their friendship. And right now Mujin comes by to whisper to Daewi that Seungtae is dead. The contract is null. Do what you want. Can he do that?! I mean he is the boss and can do anything but the match still isn’t over. Oh, it’s to bring out his true character when a man is at his lowest. Right now Daewi is just stunned, taking blows and blocking from Mori’s attacks. Until Mira shows up to show him a letter left by Seungtae. Can she just interrupt the match like that?! Anyway the letter states he is happy Daewi fought for him. He has no regrets and hopes Daewi the same. It’s time for him to fight for his own sake. With that, Daewi revives and now both guys beat the crap out of each other having fun with all smiles. That’s the spirit. In the end, Mori lands his original blue dragon kick to knock out Daewi (devastating half the arena too!) and wins it! Mori is no Seungtae but I guess Daewi has resigned to his fate he’ll always have idiots as his friends.

Episode 6
Taejin faces off with a whole bunch of cultists in the woods. Not that he likes it but he has too. Yeah, the scenery destroyed. More cultist dudes show up. What’s this about God? And they summon a giant sword from the sky?! Anyway, the tournament finals format is now changed to a team match. The top 3 of each regional preliminary will represent their region. Hence we see Mira defeating Jaehee to make it together for Team Seoul with Mori and Daewi. We see Mujin discussing with his judges about the change in rules because there might be other potentials in other regions possessing the qualities of the Key. Something about turning one’s strongest emotion into power that moves them forward. Also on the case of Seongjin, this guy is from a shady group called Nox and looks like they’re making their move with reports of their activities spotted all over the country. Hence Mujin has summoned the rest of The Six. One of them is Nah Bongchim who plans to take Mori as his disciple to see Taejin’s reaction. Mira bumps into Sim Bongsa (the announcer of the tournament). He is actually blind and talks to her that she hasn’t unleashed her full potential of Moon Light yet. He hopes she can do so when the time comes and not hesitate. Gee, why is he telling her this? Turns out he was blinded by this technique. After that, Sim is confronted by a Nox assassin. Elsewhere, Daewi talks to Mujin and plans to carry on despite the deal has been cut off. But he wants to know what kind of power is moving behind the scenes. Mujin explains about Charyeok. Apparently there will be people whom they will face who can draw the powers of the Gods. Drawing forth that power and making use of it as their own is called so and the real intention of this tournament. While Mori is helping others and training, he briefly meets Bongchim. The finals is here. Looks like Sim isn’t the announcer but somebody else. Well, he got killed! You don’t say when Nox has infiltrated the tournament because isn’t Team Jeju as shady as hell???!!! Oh yeah, looks like Judge Q also gets done in by that Nox assassin, Drake.

Episode 7
Team Seoul will fight Team North Chungcheong. First up is Mori against Nah Gidong. Mori decides to unleash his new move by pressing his pressure points as learnt from Bongchim. Too bad he pressed wrongly and paralyzes himself! Here’s the beat down. Easy win for Gidong! Baka. Next is Daewi against Jin Pumgwang. Of course we need to see the latter’s flashback since he is 38 years old! OMG! He still in high school?! Because of his past failures, he never gave up even if others mock him. When Jang Jangmi lost her kendo match and was about to throw in the towel, Pumgwang came to give her some hope and relate why he never gives up. It’s simple. He won’t give up on himself. Ever since, Jangmi helped him with his studies. Of course Daewi too won’t give up and as expected, he withstands Pumgwang’s might and knocks him out. Meanwhile Drake mocks how he also killed Sim’s family. So Judge Q gets pissed off and fights back with his joker monster. Fight interrupted when Nox buddies, Axley and Saturn are here to warn Drake about his mission. It was not him who was supposed to kill Judge Q but them. Whatever. Judge Q fights them and it might seem one-sided until Judge O comes by to his aid. Back to the final round with Mira facing off Jangmi. As you can expect, Mira holds the advantage in this sword maiden battle (did Sim’s lesson prove helpful?). Yeah, a kick to Jangmi’s face is all it takes to knock her out. Is that a Moon Light move? Whatever. It works. And of course Pumgwang’s advice that this isn’t over yet. Don’t give up. There’s always next time. At the same time, our judges finish their fight with the Nox side and force Axley to retreat with Saturn. Wounded Drake still thinks he can fight them but he explodes! As Judge P reports to Mujin, he knows that they have a traitor within their mist. Also, reports of Taejin’s dismembered arm is found and he could’ve been taken somewhere. Now we see the match between Team Gyeongsangnam and Team Jeollabuk. Jeon Jugok thinks he’s got it but he gets violently chomped by the shark Charyeok of Jegal Taek! The overkill has Jugok’s maid step in but she too gets abuse. Mira thinks Mori will intervene and stops him. But she didn’t Daewi would jump in to stop the fight! Of course the judges stop them. Jugok tries to fight back but gets further owned.

Episode 8
We breeze through the first 2 matches of Team South Jeolla vs Team South Chungcheong. The third match lasts a little longer since they need to highlight the antiquated martial arts technique of Park Ilpyo. Of course he wins it for his team. Mori notices the tiger emblem on his shirt which is the same as the military his grandpa is in. This has Mori remember Mujin summoning him and showing footage of a devastated site where Taejin battled with Nox. He has been missing since and due to the amount of blood at the site which is his, it is most likely he won’t live long. But Mori isn’t worried. Anybody picking a fight with grandpa, he is more worried for the opponent! Later Ilpyo meets and spar with Mori. It’s to tell him that Taejin is a person he respects, hence the tiger emblem. After his father died young and mother abandoned him at a dojo, much subsequently only Taejin came to see him. Ilpyo’s grandpa was Taejin’s friend and the former died while trying to save the world. Taejin wanted to give this book to Ilpyo’s dad about some ancient martial arts but I guess it’s too late. He hopes Ilpyo can grow up strong because his grandpa’s pride is inside him. The duo are then attacked by Taek. But Taek just gives up and goes away. Like he’s just teasing them. Judge Q confronts Mujin about the death of Sim’s wife and son but gets beaten up and his pay docked to compensate for the damage. Had he listen to Judge P earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. Sim’s wife and son are still alive and Drake killed marionettes she switched then. With no money, here comes Daewi asking him to teach him Charyeok in exchange he will cook for him every day. Mori further reminisces when grandpa left him because otherwise bad guys will come target him. Mori thinks he is strong enough but of course as a 6 year old, he wasn’t. To make it up to him, Taejin got him whatever he want for his birthday and that is the huge prized photo of them that Mori hangs up on his wall. He is surprised when Mira and Daewi come in to celebrate his birthday. Yeah, they got a message from their bracelet. They celebrate and renew their rivalry. But first, got to win this tournament. Next morning, Mori sees a letter left on his doorstep. It contains a map as well as a picture of Taejin brutally beaten and tied up.

Episode 9
Mori makes his way but promises to be back in time for the tournament. I’m sure he would. Because Team Seoul is now up against Team Jeju. You bet Mira and Daewi are worried about that idiot. Judge P reminds them that because Daewi is suspended for a match, as long as Mira wins hers and Mori returns in time for his, they still have a chance. Mira goes up against Lee Marin. Yeah, this muscular macho dude is so gay. However he is in possession of her real sword. Because the sword recognizes Marin as its owner, even if it is in Mira’s possession, the sword will return to Marin. Because of this, Marin mocks her as being powerless and a disappointment. Especially Nox initially having high expectations of her as the Moon Light’s successor to awaken this sword’s power to grasp the power of God. Meanwhile Daewi is looking for Mori but stumbles into defeated Pumgwang. The culprit is Ma Bora who is Taek’s teammate. She’s a Bruce Lee wannabe? She is impressed with Daewi and kisses him! This mess is stopped when Taek shows up. Nothing to see here. Move along. Elsewhere, Mori finds grandpa but it is too late because this is a trap as grandpa turns into some blob and explodes! The culprit is Peilong of Nox who thinks it is enough to kill Mori. Too bad, Mori still lives. Peilong uses his clones to keep Mori down. Peilong narrates about Taejin being their final weapon against the north and became a hero after he was the only survivor of the north’s death squad. After all, he is the only person who defeated everyone in The Six. Mori then sees the bodies of the real Team Jeju members. Mori now freaking mad. Mira looks like she is moments from defeat but it’s cue for her to deliberate with her inner self about her strength. Yeah. She’ll get stronger, right? And with that, she unleashes her Charyeok, Lu Bu (of Three Kingdoms fame) to send Marin to his defeat. And just like how they all believe in Mori, he is back in time. He will be up against Nah Hanseong who wonders what happened to Peilong. Well, he’ll soon find out. Because Mori uses the same crushing moves as he did to beat down Peilong. Oh yeah. The tiger’s mad.

Episode 10
4 years ago in a local martial arts tournament, Ilpyo’s friend, Seungyeon lost to Taek. Worse, Taek purposely broke her leg bones to pieces. Despite she can recover in years, she can no longer do martial arts. Raging Ilpyo went to beat up Taek and could’ve killed him had the police not intervened. Then he heard about this tournament that grants wish to winners. Hence he enters it to heal her leg. Mujin talks to Team Seoul about Nox and their purpose is to revive a certain God. They view all other Gods as heresy and their aim is to eliminate them, including Charyeok users who rely on their power. This is one reason why they target Taejin. However he warns Mori not to do anything stupid like go rescuing grandpa because they’re all weak. But if they win this tournament, he’ll tell them some useful info. Team Seoul will fight Team South Jeolla in the semi-finals. First up is Daewi against Park Seungah. She pushes her limits but Ilpyo fears she might end up the same like Seungyeon. Stop worrying, boy. She does what she decides to do. And yeah, eventually Daewi wins. Seungyeon talks to Ilpyo about fighting for her sake. She doesn’t like it but what’s important that he needs to fight for his own reasons. So I suppose that’s the motivation he needs as he goes into the ring to face Mori. The fight starts as Mori takes a beating because Ilpyo blurts out all his obvious weaknesses. However it’s like Ilpyo is teaching him and Mori overcomes them to fight back. Flashback shows Taejin left Ilpyo a favour. If he ever meets his grandson, he hopes he could teach him something. Meanwhile Mujin confronts Sang Mandeok, supposedly the big boss of Nox. He knows Mujin’s intention of holding this tournament to awaken the Key and thinks it is futile because that awakening needs a higher trigger. His Nox men initiate a ritual to unleash a sword and God to strike it down on the tournament?! Mujin uses his power to defend but he is also helped by Seo Hanryang who is from The Six. With his merry men of drummers, Hanryang starts dancing in a drunk manner to their beat as he unleashes weapons after weapons to stop the sword’s drop. Eventually they prevent the disaster and Mori sending Ilpyo to his defeat. However Ilpyo’s stats start to turn negative and he turns into some fox creature? Oh, so this is the Key awakening?

Episode 11
Legend has it that a 9 tailed fox was strong enough that heaven appointed it as its guardian. After successfully protecting heaven from its enemies, heaven started to get worried about its power. And like any stupid authority, they order its execution. Of course the fox got mad over this betrayal and destroyed half of heaven! It descended to Earth as it goes into slumber after exhausting its power, vowing revenge on the Gods… So with this fox creature inside Ilpyo, he could be the Key. We see Mori taking him on put soon he realizes that Charyeok isn’t just borrowing powers from others, you’re ultimately fighting with your own mind and body. And that means they’re on the same level. This also means Mori is able to dispel whatever power Ilpyo throws at him like a piece of cake. In the end, sending Ilpyo flying straight up to heaven?! Woah! Maybe just an illusion but yeah, Mori wins it. Seeing how the fox lost, Mandeok needs to take more precaution and escapes. Ilpyo recuperates at the hospital but we can see he is fine. Mori visits him and both are unsure if they both used their Charyeok. Mori then tells him about his goal to find Taejin, the reason he needs to win this tournament and get that info to save him. Ilpyo puts his faith in him that he can do it. Mori hopes that once all this is over, they can fight each other. Meanwhile Jugok is turning into a monster. He is seeking revenge on Taek and close to losing his mind. His maid tries to stop him but Taek uses this distraction to impale them together. It gets worse since Jugok then absorbs her to turn into a monster. Yeah, he also absorbs other MIBs to become stronger. The hospital is in chaos so Ilpyo is forced to fight to prevent his teammates from getting devoured. In the end, Taek devours Jugok entirely. But this costs Ilpyo’s teammates to lose their limbs (since they were almost absorbed by Jugok). Ilpyo becomes traumatized and mad. Déjà vu all over again as he beats down Taek. Mandeok then realizes angels of death or something as they swarm over the city. With this, Mujin declares the tournament over.

Episode 12
Jugok is dead. His grandpa, Jaesan who is part of The Six vows revenge. Short flashback shows mom sold a young Taek to somebody. This old bugger wants Taek because of his abilities and considers him his successor of his power, wealth and everything. He brainwashed Taek to become a winner and not become like losers like everybody else. Yeah, eventually he devoured him. Thus Taek became twisted as he is today. He fights back Ilpyo and wants the Key because it will give him everything he wants. With his scary Charyeok, he beats down Ilpyo enough to make him cough out the Key. But it changes several hands until it falls to Mandeok. Not! Mori punches him to get whatever this sh*t is. Mujin is busy trying to use his barrier and stop God from destroying the city. So what the f*ck has America got to do with this?! Yeah, I think the American president wants to tell the whole world that they’re the guardians of this world and hence human technology is more powerful than those of the ancient gods. So they’re firing missiles into Seoul???!!! WTF, AMERICA???!!! Taek fights Mori but some weird power sh*t teleports them to another different dimension. Because I guess we need to see Daewi and Mira fight Taek for a while as Ilpyo gives his permission to let Mori to keep the Key. Not sure how he got it but he knows it must not fall into Taek’s hands. With Daewi and Mira down, Mori is mad and another epic fight begins. Mujin’s barrier has finally been broken. Feel God’s wrath! Thankfully in the nick of time, Jaesan teleports every single person in Seoul away. Turning the rockets into scrap and summoning a comet much bigger than God and rams into him!!! He’s going to take him down with him as vengeance. OMFG!!! Mandeok, you don’t mean to look so scared? Have you no faith in your own God?! I guess this somewhat interrupted Mori and Taek’s fight as they are also brought back to reality. Unfortunately Taek has got the Key now and devours it. He turns into an angel? A demon? A demonic angel?! Uh oh. All losers will die, says he…

Episode 13
Seriously, how do you fight against God? Oh heck, just go all out and fight him! Mori uses Bongchim’s pressure points lesson to power up himself to fight Taek. He is mad and wants him to apologize for hurting all his friends. When Daewi takes a blow meant for him, we see some snippets that are possibly Mori’s memories. Hmmm… Some leader of some supernatural clan. Oh wait. You mean Mori is actually the Monkey King???!!! Seiten Taisei what?! And you thought his sleeping eye mask was ridiculous. Turns out to be his Monkey King headgear! Using his flexible staff, he beats down Taek. For Ilpyo! For Seungah! For Daewi! For Mira! Eventually raining down lightning to roast him! And that power is no joke because unlike others who borrow from gods, Mori’s power is the real deal itself! But it’s not over. Taek’s hatred has consumed and turned him into a huge blob monster. Can Mori handle this himself? Nonsense. That’s what friends are for. Ilpyo, Daewi and Mira join in as they help Mori pull off some combo move to eventually defeat Taek. Taek is being devoured by his own monster and refuses Ilpyo’s help. No help accepted from trash. And that’s the end of him. All that’s left is the Key. Suddenly Mori is beaten up by Kim Ungnyeo. She is unhappy that Bora got lost in some cave and accidentally awakened her slumber. Who is she? As the strongest among The Six, she is the one who grants the winner wishes. Anything except bringing back the dead.

And so Mori is the winner, what will be his wish? At first he wants grandpa back but seeing the rest, he holds back. With others telling him to wish whatever he wants, Mori wishes for everyone to be healed as they were before and just like that, everyone’s healthy again! Yeah, how selfless. But this has Ungnyeo shrink into a chibi version! Kawaii? Ungnyeo also assures that Taejin is alive as she can feel his faint presence. Mori so relieved that he can now sleep. Yeah, he slept for 3 months! In that time, Mujin has shifted his attention to becoming Korea’s premier and Mandeok has already made his move by making a deal with some bigwig. Oh, Judge R the traitor?! Daewi and Mira update Mori about Ilpyo’s gang going around the world to look for the scattered fragments of the Key as said by Ungnyeo. She also explains the Key is a power bestowed by humans to break that taboo that allows them to kill gods. Damn, if gods feared the power of humans and imposed such restriction, then aren’t the gods not as powerful as humans?! Anyway, Mori’s memories are sealed in his homeland and if he wants them back he has to return there. Mori is glad because it means more training to get stronger. And he’ll rescue grandpa too. Speaking of him, he is being held in some secret Nox prison and he is the sacrifice to revive a new god? Taejin is confident that Mori will win. He will defeat everybody including him.

Fight Of Gods
Okay, from the way the direction of the plot is heading, it looks like having a sequel in this same name would feel a lot redundant. Uh huh. No The God Of High School II. The tournament’s done with. Time to move on to killing the gods. Yeah, The God Of Gods it shall be known now if a sequel is ever intended. It’s going to get way more chaotic from now on. With no more such tournaments, there isn’t going to be the grand prize of wishing for what you want anymore. What a bummer for those hoping to get another chance next year. Unfortunately reading the response and comments from the internet, viewers aren’t impressed with this series and I can see why nobody is asking for a second season. Damn it Mori, you should’ve trolled us all by wishing for another season! Phew. Thank goodness! We are saved! For now. Hopefully.

Essentially, you want to have an action series but to have no story whatsoever will be pointless and ultimately boring. Because, might as well watch real MMA sports or something. Also, it needs to be more exciting than mere young high school kids beating the crap out of each other in the ring. That is why as you discover they bring in elements of God and deities and supernatural powers, it might sound a lot ridiculous and over the top but like I said, it’s better than having no story at all and just see a bunch of kids trading blows in a tournament. Still, bringing in supernatural elements feels a bit weird since this isn’t your usual fantasy setting on the get-go. I know, many other series and shows also have modern day setting and lots of supernatural crap in it. Seeing this turn from tournament based into some weird cult who wants to destroy the world or at least the non-believers, damn this tournament feels like a long drawn out process and distraction just to find the Key.

It feels even weird to think that Korea organized a tournament for kids to fight even if it was just a disguise to find the Key. And to think that loads of people come to watch the fight, I don’t know if Koreans are blood thirsty people? And to think only delinquents who often get into fights would stand a chance but I guess fighting is more than just raw brute power and force. And also here I thought if someone who never graduated high school could be the loophole to enter this tournament, damn they had a character who beat me to this idea! Thank goodness it is just confined to high school kids. Because I don’t think I can stomach if there’s another tournament for other categories. Say, God of Corporate Organizations! F*ck yeah, I don’t know if I want to see employees of Samsung take on the bosses of Hyundai! And here comes the management of LG to join in the fight! Man… Thank goodness for trade and labour unions…

Unlike previous Korean based manhwa or webtoons, this one feels a bit different. Okay, maybe that is not the accurate thing I want to say. Because what I wanted to say at first is how the setting is totally in Seoul and not in Japan. Therefore there are Korean words everywhere for realism with Korean culture at the fore and all the characters have Korean names. Uh, Jin Mori might sound so typically Japanese but it’s a valid Korean name too. Yeah, because this is Japanese production, naturally everyone speaks Japanese and they look like Japanese anime characters. Just put Korean writing in it. This shouldn’t be an issue because what about other past anime titles that takes place outside of Japan? Especially those set in America or Europe or in an alternate world. I do see words written in English or some other European languages so this shouldn’t be an issue but somehow for some odd reason, I had this sort of issue for this series. Perhaps this is my first time seeing a setting that is so fully focused in Korea. So yeah. A few more Korean adaptations into anime and soon this will be a non-issue to me.

The characters are so-so. They’re pretty okay and nothing to shout about. Like the main trio. They’re just rather okay. Somehow I just don’t feel the oomph to really want to throw my support behind them. They have their past and issues but nothing like an episode to give them a bit of focus to solve their woes. At least for Daewi and Mira. There is some dynamism between the trio but as usual, so as not to bore us with them being plain, hence their strange and peculiar behaviours albeit it won’t ring any alarm bells because that is what is expected. Like Daewi who is often calm and composed but sometimes he can be on the same idiot as idiocy as Mori. Mira on the other hand sound like the rational voice of reasoning between the duo but often gets disappointed how idiotic the guys in her group can be. Too bad she doesn’t realize how this makes her look like one too. And so it’s true what they say about birds of the same feather… At least the duo are more sensible compared to Mori who is your typical protagonist who leaps before he thinks. The kind whose punches (more of kicks) do the talking. It can’t get any cliché because this guy loves fighting the strongest, wants to get stronger and it makes him sound like a retard. Hmm… Where have I heard characters like him before? And yeah, don’t get me started about his strong sense of justice… Now you see why I’m not really impressed with the characters on this level? And the final revelation he is a god himself? Oh… No wonder. Should have sensed something when he always acts close to a monkey…

If that is what I said about the main trio, how does the rest fare? Unfortunately, not too well either. There are quite a number of characters in this series and it is unfortunate that they don’t get much screen time unless they are essential to the plot. Like in the Seoul preliminaries there seem to be a few potential characters but they soon fizzle out once the preliminaries are over. Gamdo, Miseon, Seungchul and Manseok have fallen into obscurity when the tournament moves on to the finals. Yeah, blame the opener focusing a bit on them for making me think that they would be at least supporting characters. New characters come into the fray of the finals and again it is unfortunate that teams from other preliminaries aren’t featured unless they’re fighting Team Seoul or Team South Jeolla. Even so, with only a single cour and the direction of the story at this point, they don’t even matter since they’re no longer integral to the plot. So I guess in a way it is good that they saved us from knowing more characters that don’t matter.

Initially it is hard to tell if Mujin was a friend or foe (that kind of face makes it hard to tell) but I guess it is safe to say that he is at least fighting on the side of humanity. If Mandeok is the big boss of Nox, man, I don’t know if I should feel disappointed because he feels like a brat in a robe trying to act big. Maybe I haven’t seen the full potential of his power yet. Okay, calling forth God may be his greatest power but considering I have seen his Nox assassins and how powerful they are, I thought Mandeok would be even more formidable but his ‘showdown’ with Mujin feels like a farce. I mean, Mujin already has his hands (palm, rather) full trying to use his barrier and prevent God from destroying Seoul, and if Mandeok was serious in eliminating him, he would’ve done so. Oddly, he just stands there and mocks Mujin, hoping to see him lose energy and fail. Like, WTF?! His assassins feel more badass than that! So the more badass antagonist would be Taek because they really make him a character whom we love to hate for his cruel and unforgiving ways. Sure, he has got a past to make us understand that he isn’t just a one-dimensional villain but it gains little sympathy from us. Eventually, making us throw our (reluctant) support behind Mori because he is the kid with the greatest sense of justice to turn this antagonistic loser into a real loser. And also Mori is the real deal god unlike Taek who became a fake one. And a fake god shall perish!

Basically many other characters are just misses and some like Axley and Saturn, you wonder what happened to them. Some played out more for jokes like Judge Q’s running joke is that when he goes out of control and starts smashing things, Mujin will dock his pay. I don’t know how many months pay he is now behind… Some are just forgettable like other judges such as Judge O and Judge R. You see them around but they don’t seem to have any integral role yet at this point in the anime. On a trivial note, you wonder if there could be only 26 judges at one given time since they are only identified by their alphabet moniker. Wait till you see the numbers version and the Latin version! Oh yeah, more judges. Thank goodness they didn’t appear here. Only will confuse the hell out of us and they won’t even really matter at this stage.

The strongest point about this series is its fight scenes. Yes, if you are looking for some martial arts action and with some supernatural powers imbued, you won’t be disappointed. Although I won’t go so far as to say the fights are a masterpiece, they are still nicely choreographed and it’s quite thrilling to see some of the fights. Of course some fights last only a few seconds while the more important ones may take longer. They don’t usually lasts more than an episode so that’s reassuring that we get to move on. I know that sometimes the supernatural elements may make the fight exaggerated and ridiculous, but hey, if you really want 100% realism, go watch a real MMA match on your TV right now. So yeah, I can live with all those flashy power moves because it increases the entertainment value. Like as though I’m watching a fighting video game clip. Like Mori pulling off his triple consecutive kicks or whatever blue dragon moves in mid-air. Awesome!

And with some calling forth their Charyeok, I’m wondering whose Charyeok is Jesus Christ! Damn, it would’ve been f*cking epic and insulting to see Jesus taking on Buddha and Vishnu and Zeus and Jupiter and Odin and Amon. But that’ll be too hot and controversial at this age to fly so yeah. Whoever borrows Jesus’ power must be so f*cking epic, I swear… Uh huh, turning water into wine in the middle of the match should be just freaking epic! Hahaha! By this point, you should know that fighting is violence so if you are weak in seeing the sight of blood, be warned this anime has lots of blood and broken limbs. Yeah, thank the fictitious nanomachine technology so that the young hot blooded kids can go all out without worrying about losing their life. Yes, have faith in them because I don’t see any worried parents about their kids being all beaten up and badly bruised…

The art and animation are good. Not perfect but there is some quality in it. Because the fight scenes are quite fluid although there are some that feel a bit jagged but overall it is still good quality. After all, Crunchyroll sponsored this and it is no wonder you can see their blatant name being advertised all over the rings in the tournament. Character designs, some look boringly plain (Daewi and Mira) while others look pretty weird for example Mori himself has stars in his eyes and just to distinguish him from other characters, he needs some sort of headgear. Which headgear accessory? A sleeping eye mask for God’s sake! Like, WTF?! I guess goggles are too common, huh? Why does Bora have that perpetual puckering lips that make her look like she is always ready for a kiss? That kiss with Daewi was just a troll, huh? Some characters look the same like when Peilong first debuted, I thought he was Judge Q! The designs of the supernatural Charyeok monsters range from weird to grotesque. It’s like your Halloween nightmare fuel come true. I hope I won’t have nightmares after seeing Taek’s one. CGI is used for these monsters but at least they’re good enough not to be so jarring.

But the one art trademark that I am sure that many of us would start to notice is that every damn characters’ nose has this red blush! At first I was like, WTF?! Are they drunk or something? Did somebody punch their nose or something? Not one or two or ten of them but all of them! Every character has it. It makes it look weird because if you don’t get used to it, you’ll always be staring at it all the time. And for those who are slightly more observant (like yours truly, oh yeah I’m so proud), all the characters have their top ear lobes also have this red blemish. Really, noting this art style is really weird but this is how it looks like in the original webtoon. This anime is done by Mappa who did Kakegurui, Shingeki No Bahamut, Zankyou No Terror, Banana Fish and Teekyuu.

Voice acting is rather okay. I recognized a few seiyuus here like Kenjiro Tsuda as Taek, Tomokazu Sugita as Manseok, Romi Paku as Ungnyeo, Yuko Kaida as Miseon, Nobuyuki Hiyama as Drake and Yuu Kobayashi as one of those sexy nurses for the tournament. And to think they cast Rie Kugimiya as Mira’s cousin and Bora, only amateurs will not recognize and catch that distinctive tsundere specialist! Oh wait. Did they do the same for Shinichiro Miki because Peilong and Seongjin sound suspiciously the same… The rest of the casts are Tatsumaru Tachibana as Mori, Kentarou Kumagai as Daewi (Theo in Grancrest Senki), Ayaka Ohashi as Mira (Saaya in BanG Dream), Daisuke Namikawa as Mujin (Waver in Fate series), Kouki Uchiyama as Ilpyo (Shigaraki in Boku No Hero Academia), Yuuma Uchida as Mandeok (Ash in Banana Fish), Kazuhiro Yamaji as Taejin (Bang in One Punch Man), Kenji Hamada as Judge Q (Jouji in Paradise Kiss), Asami Tano as Judge P (Saki in Zombie Land Saga) and Tomokazu Seki as Sim (Gilgamesh in Fate series).

If you love loud dubstep techno music, then the opener, Contradiction featuring Tyler Carter by KSUKE is going to be right up your alley. It feels so at home with the action pacing of the series. Especially the various BGM music that fits the fight scenes like a glove. Yeah, sometimes it feels they’re written for a video game. So don’t turn on your volume too loud if you don’t want your audio to explode! Heh. Just kidding. But you get what I mean. There are some slower pieces too but the dramatic techno wants stand out more. The ending theme is Win by CIX. Sounds like a K-pop group singing a slow R&B. Not bad but not my cup of tea.

Overall, this show isn’t that bad but because it was overhyped and didn’t quite live up to expectations as Tower Of God, many I read were really disappointed and calling this mediocre crap a total garbage. I agree if they’re talking about the story and characters that are so clichéd but at least I am entertained with the fight scenes. So if you really want to watch this, just stay for the mind blowing and over the top flashy exaggerated action sequences and nothing more. Everything else like the story and characters feel like overdone icing and decorations of distractions simply added just to justify the fight scenes. Nothing more. Come to think of it, having high school kids fight each other and the winner gets their wish exacted is a wrong way to teach this kids about hard work and perseverance. Yeah, not everything can be solved by your fists or kicks. What happened to the good ol’ days when finding and rubbing a genie lamp was the simplest wish granting device?