History Manga / HighScoreGirl

* SoreLoser: A lot of characters in the manga tend to be this, perhaps owing to [[UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity the rather salty nature of the topic]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy. The Oono family butler is unhealthily obsessed with getting one and Haruo's mom is somehow aware of its release date even without Haruo telling her. When Akira finally gets her hands on one, [[TakeThat she immediately gets nauseated from the graphics]].

** While neither of them verbally invoke the trope by name, Koharu is clearly trying to bruise Haruo's ego through an assortment of fighting games in as coy and as girlishly a manner as she can get away with at the start of the second time skip, capitalizing on the fact that playing his UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn at home away from the arcade since graduating from middle school has made him soft.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Haruo's mom mistakes the sound of his struggling to wrestle the UsefulNotes/PCEngine controls away from Akira for [[DateRapeAverted an attempt to force himself upon Akira]], prompting her to burst into the room and suplex her son. While she says she raised Haruo to be more gentlemanly, in reality she's [[ShipperOnDeck giddily excited at the idea that her son is more girl crazy than he lets on.]]

** Akira's chauffeur and personal butler, who recognizes her need to cut loose after witnessing just how harsh Gouda-sensei can be [[spoiler:and even going so far as to buy her a UsefulNotes/GameGear after Gouda-sensei actively prohibits Akira from going to arcades. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It backfires though]].]]

** Rensuke Oshikiri is very passionate about video games, and it ''shows''. He includes many references to console and video game release dates, mechanics particular to certain titles like ''Space Gun'', and even [[MetaGame beginner, intermediate and advanced techniques]] used in fighting games like Guile's tick throw method[[note]]forcing an opponent to block against weak attacks before walking up to them and using a throw[[/note]]. At one point a win-ratio chart[[note]]used for determining CharacterTiers[[/note]] for ''Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge'' is shown, and the topics of zoning and ''fighting game frame data'' of all things are discussed in brief. Even the UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars are brought up by Haruo regarding the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn.

An anime adaptation had initially been announced in 2013, but was delayed by the aforementioned lawsuit (and in fact was the catalyst for the breach of intellectual property claims coming to light) until 2018, when it was finally announced that Creator/JCStaff would be at the helm. The first episode aired on July 17, 2018. Creator/{{Netflix}} picked up the anime and released it worldwide on December 24, 2018. The series was shown at 60fps in some scenes, mostly from the the gameplay clips, due to the 60hz display on the games themselves, instead of 24fps.

An anime adaptation had initially been announced in 2013, but was delayed by the aforementioned lawsuit (and in fact was the catalyst for the breach of intellectual property claims coming to light) until 2018, when it was finally announced that Creator/JCStaff would be at the helm. The first episode aired on July 17, 2018. Creator/{{Netflix}} picked up the anime and released it worldwide on December 24, 2018.

* ALadyInEachArm: What Haruo's mother and his friends pictured when they heard he, [[spoiler: Akira and Koharu]] left Shibuya by taking the same train home together. They immediately peg him as a playboy scumbag despite him [[LeaveMeAlone just wanting to deescalate everything and play some video games by his lonesome.]]

* ALadyInEachArm: What Haruo's mother and his friends pictured when they heard he, [[spoiler: Akira and Koharu]] left Shibuya by taking the same train home together. They immediately peg him as a playboy scumbag despite him just wanting to deescalate everything and play some video games by his lonesome.

In 2014, Creator/SNKPlaymore attempted to file a lawsuit against the publishers for alleged copyright violation alongside several other game developers, citing the illegal usage of their trademarked properties in the manga after learning of the planned animated adaptation. As a result Square-Enix was forced to temporarily pull out all printed volumes of the manga until a settlement was reached in 2016, allowing the manga to be republished under the new title of ''High Score Girl: Continue''.

* OrwellianRetcon: Out of necessity since [[{{Creator/SNK}} SNK Playmore]] threatened legal action over the use of their [=IPs=] through the manga. The ''Continue'' versions of volumes 1-5 reduce these references while rearranging the beats of some chapters. One example is in volume 2 when Koharu shows concern for Haruo over him playing with the arcade cabs in her parent's shop [[SkewedPriorities in the middle of a blizzard]].

** In ''Continue'' and the anime, Koharu takes the time to prepare a hot cocoa and pour it down Haruo's gullet while his hands are busy playing ''[[Videogame/StreetFighterII Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers]]''. He's not here to visit her but asks Koharu to call him whenever his high scores are dethroned so he can mosey over and remark the leaderboards. Koharu pulls the plug on the cabs upon hearing this request.
** However, due reaching a legal settlement in 2015 and SNK later coming onboard as an official sponsor, the anime still contains a number of SNK references, as well as footage of some of their games. Haruo was even featured in ads promoting SNK’s esports events for ''Videogame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' and the ''Videogame/SamuraiShodown'' reboot.

* MondegreenGag: While Haruo is playing VideoGame/MortalKombat1 as Raiden, he and Hidaka try to guess what Raiden's saying in his torpedo attack.

** However, due reaching a legal settlement in 2015 and SNK later coming onboard as an official sponsor, the anime still contains a number of SNK references, as well as footage of some of their games. Haruo was even featured in ads promoting SNK’s esports events for ''Videogame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' and ''Videogame/SamuraiShodown2019''.

** In the original version Haruo calls Koharu downstairs so that she can immortalize him fighting VideoGame/FatalFury Special's hidden boss Ryo Sakazaki with a disposable camera he hands her, to which Koharu spitefully empties the film roll by shooting at everything except Haruo and the cab.
** In ''Continue'' and the anime, Koharu takes the time to prepare a hot cocoa and pour it down Haruo's gullet while his hands are busy playing Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. He's not here to visit her but asks Koharu to call him whenever his high scores are dethroned so he can mosey over and remark the leaderboards. Koharu pulls the plug on the cabs upon hearing this request.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: [[spoiler: Akira imagines Haggar and Zangief silently weeping from being rejected by the average arcade goer for being ]] [[spoiler: [[TierInducedScrappy hard to use heavyweights]]]] [[spoiler: and choses to play as them with flying colors, impressing the spectator gallery she builds in her first arcade visit.]]

* OffModel: A meta example as most of the licensed game characters look like cartoony versions of themselves; [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to Rensuke Oshikiri's quirky art style, but it sometimes crops up when traced screenshots are involved, such as Billy Kane's ''sansetsukon'' turning into a short [[JustForPun billy club]] in chapter 30.

* RetroGaming: The Manga. With a hearty helping of romantic comedy!

** Haruo manages to win a toy ring from an old crane game machine inside the Cracked Skull arcade and give it as a gift to Akira [[spoiler: before she went to the States. After her return and subsequent defeat at his hands during a tournament, they get into a fistfight sparked by a misunderstanding--and it is only stopped when Haruo sees that she had been keeping the same toy ring on her necklace all along.]]

* LoveAtFirstPunch: Quite literally. Haruo's and Akira's first meeting ends with the latter blasting the former with a right hook off of a RageQuit. Since then [[WeHaveToStopMeetingLikeThis the two would constantly run into each other]], further realizing just how much the other person loves gaming.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: The Netflix subtitles, while serviceable enough for the main story, often misses the small details like video game history essentials, or bits of Rensuke Oshikiri's bizarre sense of humor [[FreezeFrameBonus sprinkled throughout the arcade message boards, signs and T Shirts]]. At one point, the subs even forget to fully explain exactly what ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' is despite Haruo's Japanese VA taking time to explain it.

* CovertPervert: Doi really, ''really'' wants to get to fourth base with Akira. Thankfully for her, his plans often get foiled. Haruo's ''mother'' is also shown to be one after she discovers how popular her boy has gotten with the ladies. [[spoiler: Much later, Akira's older sibling Makoto is shown to be this turned UpToEleven.]]

* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[UpToEleven Both ways]] during the best-out-of-three match between [[spoiler: Haruo and Hidaka.]]

* ReferenceOverdosed: Taken UpToEleven with the ''sheer'' amount of {{Shout Out}}s to both well-known and obscure video games. This is mostly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to how they are used as {{Framing Device}}s, although some of them can come off as ridiculously out of place.

* ShipperOnDeck: [[UpToEleven Nearly]] ''[[EveryoneCanSeeIt everybody]]'', for Haruo and Akira. [[spoiler: Including ''[[HeelFaceTurn Moemi-sensei]] herself.'']] Haruo's mom, on the other hand, doesn't care whether her son ends up with either Akira or Hidaka [[CovertPervert as long as he finally gets some action.]]

** After defeating him in Samurai Shodown and Darkstalkers post-timeskip, a rather smug [[spoiler: Hidaka]] taunts Haruo into going back to playing ''VideoGame/YieArKungFu'' if he hopes to beat [[spoiler: her]] in the future. [[LiterallyMinded Cue Haruo doing just that]] ''[[UpToEleven while playing upside down]]''. [[spoiler: It even works in the end when he [[GoneHorriblyRight defeats Hidaka]] by [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard using a more basic approach to fighting game tactics]].]]

* BrokenAesop: InUniverse. Anyone who's played the first VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial will tell you that in order to have any success with the game, you need to [[NoGoingSteady have frequent dates with just about every girl on under your radar just to keep them all happy/ keep them from sabotaging your reputation with everyone.]] Yet [[spoiler: Makoto]], who's idea it was to have Haruo play Tokimeki Memorial as a crash course on girls will treat Haruo with utter disdain for [[ChickMagnet acting like a playboy]] with Akira and Kohafu, whether he actually means to or not. And considering [[ObliviousToLove its Haruo, he certainly doesn't.]]