Hi Score Girl

"The year is 1991 and 6th grader Yaguchi Haruo only has video games to live for. He's not popular in school and he's neither handsome, funny, nice nor even friendly. The only thing he has going for him is that he is good at video games. One day at the local arcade, he plays Oono Akira, a fellow classmate but who's popular, smart, pretty and a rich girl that absolutely destroys him at Street Fighter II. Not only does he lose to her 30 times in a row, he can’t beat her at any game. Haruo can’t seem to shake Akira off as she follows him from arcade to arcade everyday after school and beats him every time. As weird as it sounds, the odd couple begins a strange bond and friendship."

Opinion: A romantic(?) story while tripping in videogames story.

The art may weird you out at first but it is a very endearing manga.

Also, must be enjoyed as fast as you can, because:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-08-06/hi-score-girl-manga-recalled-after-snk-copyright-charges/.77361

Fuck SNK.

Why are you complaining about SNK?

The publishers of the Manga used SNK's I Ps without permission. SNK didn't find out about it until the company went to them asking for permission to use their game assets for an anime adaptation.

I think it is just copyright laws going crazy. The characters talk about and play something that is part of the story of a culture. If anything, is free advertising.

Some anime and other stuff sometimes do something like WcDonald's. Everybody knows that is Mc Donalds but since it is parody or something it doesn't count. That is the law going stupid.

Besides, even if SNK is right, I believe it is desproportionate retribution. Jail? Cutting of the thing? Couldn't they talk about it rationally? Capcom was totally cool with it.

This is the most adorable thing ever.

Love all the arcade game references, SNK really shoulda just roll along, more publicity ain't a bad thing for them and it adds to the charm of this manga I'm sure. I mean yeah they have a right to sue but honestly they're just being too anal at this point. There's a shit ton more than just SNK games on the spotlight here. Hell, the most prominent game shown would be SFII and variations, even.

Will ojou-sama ever speak? I look forward to when she does, or if she even does. Wouldn't mind either way.

SNK is credited in the manga with copyright and all.I don't believe the author had mean intentions and shouldn't take the blame if S Nk is actually credited in the manga.I believe there was probably some miscommunication,the author must have asked the publisher(Square-Enix)if they could get SNK's permission to use their characters and stuff and SE must have thought they did and gave the okay to the author to do it without really making sure whether or not they could really use SNK's stuff in the manga.

I recall the Genshiken anime has scenes of the characters playing KOF(using the actual game's footage and all)thank god they made sure to ask SNK,otherwise I would have wished death to SNK for cancelling Genshiken if that happened because,let's face it,Hi Score Girl is probably doomed,no more anime and the manga will be cancelled...

I also love how SNK is acting as if they were big as they were in the 90's.Yeah,releasing cheap games for mobile devices and re-releasing the same old games for the billionth time will make you look good...

edited 10th Aug '14 11:59:30 AM by johnnysasaki

How big they are is irrelevant. Everyone but SNK got verified permission. SNK contacted Square Enix when the anime team tipped them off and got no response. They have every right to do this, and I'd agree with their actions even if copyright law didn't dictate it. You know full well that Square Enix would pull the same in reverse if it happened.

"Free advertising" isn't a free pass to do anything you want. Owning the rights SNK does means they also have full control over where and how their stuff is used. The same "free advertising" argument could be used in favour of piracy, y'know.

edited 10th Aug '14 5:25:01 PM by burnpsy

Well, I can just hope that there will be a civil agreement and no axing. I am really loving the story.

Anybody else digs it?

aaaand the manga has now been officially cancelled. Go fuck yourselves SNK,for causing this,and Square-Enix,for not doing your job right and making the author losing the manga...

Requesting source.

If it's true, damn that's a fucking shame. For something so short this was downright a beautiful read. Another decent thing gone... Still, the translation has quite a bit to catch up on so at least we're not stuck on chapter 14.

Also requesting source so I can curse in an apropriate way.

Seems like it'll be at least in hiatus.which is less bad.

this is the source: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/magazine/biggangan/pop20140811.shtml

according to people that translated,it basically says they can't continue the manga due to legal reasons,but others are now saying it is just on hiatus.

Why the translators are doing this to us?

New chapter is out.

maybe the manga can return now?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-08-26/square-enix-snk-playmore-settle-claims-over-hi-score-girl-manga/.92146

It has returned , and Haruo has been playing pleb consoles against the CPU, losing his mad skillz, and Hidaka is now addicted to salt.

edited 13th Sep '15 5:26:14 PM by grahav

Oh my god, that's great news. HSG really needs more loving.

Huh, so Haruo's gotten weak and that girl's really strong now. Heh.

Yep, there are two high score girls, now.

You know,this series really makes you feel old.The time skips help a lot too.Wonder how old I'll feel by the time PS 2's and XBOX's era arrives in story.

edited 14th Sep '15 8:06:04 AM by alekos23

New chapter out:

Declarations of war. A princess in the castle.

edited 19th Sep '15 11:19:35 AM by grahav

Special chapter 27.5.

Hidaka chapter.

A girl in a men's world (the arcade).

I was surprised they showed her playing Splatterhouse, because that means there was someone in Japan who actually remembers that game to include in the chapter, since the Japanese never seemed to care about the franchise that much (the last time they got a game in the series was the third one for the Genesis in 1993.After that,there was that reboot released five years ago,but it was developed by a North American team and it was never released in Japan. The game was pretty fun and a love letter to the franchise,but not enough people cared about it to warrant a sequel.To make it worse,the game ended on a sequel bait... )

by the way,any news on the anime's production?I remember that the anime was announced just before the whole trouble with SNK came up.The issues have been solved and the manga has resumed,but they never said anything about the anime since then...

edited 12th Dec '15 1:50:59 PM by johnnysasaki

Oh, God! Now you are hyping me up!

New chapter is up

I don't know which ship to choose.

Newer chapter, actually. Pretty ominous too, as we don't know whether the new Chauffer will be as lenient to Akira's after-school videogame activities.