English Dub Review: The God of High School “set up/stand up”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Jin Mori is a skilled and exuberant fighter, but he lives a simple life of isolation. Over time Jin Mori has removed himself from the positive influences in his life, like his grandfather, and focuses his efforts on the pursuit to become stronger. The God of High School begins with the announcement of an epic martial arts tournament that has assembled the strongest warriors possible and promises a reward worth dying over. Jin Mori is confident and excited about his chances in this tournament, but his rush towards the preliminary round ends in surprises. Jin Mori must prematurely head into battle as he meets his first fellow competitors, unsure if they’re friends or foes.

Our Take:

Yong-Je Park’s The God of High School is one of the more popular manhwa and WebToon series to be around for the past decade. The series centers around a huge martial arts tournament that’s assembled the best and strongest fighters from across Korea, with the winner being granted any wish that they desire. This setup is a fairly standard trope and premise for the genre, but it’s also incredibly similar to the other Crunchyroll Original anime that just wrapped up its first season, Tower of God. It’s interesting to see Crunchyroll develop two anime series that cover such similar territory, but very quickly God of High School establishes how its unique from Tower of God and other anime of a similar ilk.

The God of High School is a series that’s full of an eclectic cast of characters, but this first episode firmly establishes the brash Jin Mori as the show’s protagonist hero. Ranking system anime and really, the shonen genre as a whole, can often live or die based on the strength and the creativity of their protagonist. It’s difficult to make the hero either passive or overly exuberant, since both extremes have been done to death at this point, but God of High School goes with the latter approach and still manages to do something marginally different with it.

The action and excitement during Jin Mori’s bike ride is palpable, but the premiere’s second half actually digs into the first round of the tournament. Jin Mori’s bike ride features some sublime animation, but the visuals provided during the battle royale that breaks out are even more inspiring. There’s a real feeling of chaos that’s present as all of these battles begin to happen and hopefully God of High School will be able to harness that as it moves forward. Jin Mori, Han Daewi, and Yoo Mira all dominate during the first round and Mira’s powerful sword already looks like an amazing tool. However, the glimpses of the other strong competitors in this competition hold just as much promise. They play out like sizzle reels for these new characters, but they also get the job done.

God of High School is an anime that clearly prioritizes action, but this first episode also proves that it has a very strong sense of humor. There are some wonderful visual gags in this premiere and the animation style frequently shifts to more hyperbolized character models and designs in order to amplify some of the jokes. Each character get their moments, but in “set up/stand up,” Mira lands some of the biggest laughs. Both her obsession with muscles and the impression that her face makes in the street sign are great moments.

God of High School also does an excellent job with creating an engaging mystery over the shadow organization that appears to run the God of High School tournament. The brief prologue that deals with money problems, pampered executives, and then a giant hand that’s squashed an idea is the perfect way to tease at the series’ larger universe and rules, while not giving everything away to the audience. It’s already obvious that there’s an intense supernatural presence in this world, not only in regards to the powers and strength that lies within the fighters in the tournament, but also these mythological God-like entities that are also involved in some capacity.

The show is filled with lush and fluid visuals, but the anime’s music beautifully works together with the animation. The score featured throughout the episode makes sure that the entry’s energy never drops, but the anime’s opening and closing theme songs—“Contradiction” and “WIN”—are great celebratory anthems that help bookend each installment. While on the topic of the show’s audio and sound design, the dub cast assembled for God of High School are a superlative team who all feel appropriate in these roles. Robbie Daymond’s work as Jin Mori was already singled out, but Sean Chiplock as Han Daewi and Veronica “Ash freaking Ketchum” Taylor as Yoo Mira also come out of the gate strong in this first episode. Granted, only a small portion of what appears to be a massive cast are revealed in this episode, but as it stands this already feels like a strong dub with a lot of love being channeled into the project. There’s obviously a very big cast of characters to play around with here, which is exciting in terms of the potential of who else will be brought into the project.

“set up/stand up” is a fantastic introductory episode that makes sure that The God of High School begins on the right note and catches the audience’s attention, lest it blend in with the rest of the new action anime of the season. This first episode just flies by and leaves audiences hungry for more, but it still accomplishes a fair bit. “set up/stand up” finds a strong balance between slice of life character development and the high stakes action of its major tournament. At the same time, it manages to effectively introduce three cast members that already feel like a cohesive team. “set up/stand up” just scratches the surface of what God of High School has to offer, but this first taste already hints at what could be one of the best anime series of the season.