English Dub Review: The God of High School “ronde/hound”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The preliminary round of the God of High School tournament heads into its conclusion, with the final battles being more charged than anything that’s come before them. Daewi and Mori are both emotionally exhausted for different reasons, but they find themselves at odds as their conflicting codes of honor culminate in a very tense battle. Mori and Daewi’s final fight in the tournament holds major implications for the future of not only the God of High School competition, but also this burgeoning friendship. Meanwhile, lives are lost, but outside of the battlefield, which has everyone thinking about what’s really important to them in life.

Our Take:

In action anime, friendly rivalries often lead to some of the most satisfying showdowns between characters. It’s entirely possible for many characters to be on the same team, but share fundamentally different views on certain topics. It’s the moment when these issues come forward and are able to dismantle everything else that the chinks in the armor begin to show and some really compelling character exploration can be done. Jin Mori and Han Daewi are no Goku and Vegeta or Midoriya and Bakugo, not to mention that The God of High School is still in its infancy where no characters have really had the opportunity to grow complex bonds, but there’s still significant weight felt in their impending battle. “ronde/hound” is a successful episode that may be a little on the nose at times, but it properly builds tension between Mori and Daewi so when they do come to blows it means a lot more than it already should.

Mori, Daewi, and Mira are all pushed to some difficult places in “ronde/hound” and there’s a real “friendship is magic” vibe that courses through the whole episode that reduces some of the power of this story. The God of High School has never been an especially subtle show, but this installment really lays on the power of friendship stuff especially thick in a way where it feels unsure in its ability to connect with the audience. The episode even begins with a flashback set two years in the past that’s designed to pull at those heartstrings and invoke intense sympathy before the credits have even started to roll. On some level it works and every episode of The God of High School has included an emotional flashback in some capacity, but it still doesn’t change that all of this can be conveyed through dialogue that’s a lot less obtrusive. It’s actually material that doesn’t even need to be covered and kind of goes without saying. The resolution is likely to induce eye rolls, but it leaves this trio stronger than where they started.

“ronde/hound” is a satisfying return to form for The God of High School that comfortably balances action, emotion, and plotting. This episode moves the anime’s story forward in a very big way and it finds new ways to test these characters beyond their physical abilities. The God of High School is still predictable in many areas and it’s beginning to lean more in the territory of guilty pleasure rather than deep action series, but it’s still very entertaining and a visual joy. Now that The God of High School is about to enter the next level of its tournament and really get into its story it may become a lot easier to figure out what this anime really wants to be.