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

Overview:

Mori, Daewi, and Mira must contend with Jegal Taek, who has recently ascended to Godhood after he’s absorbed the powerful Key. Taek now contains more power than anyone has ever encountered, but fortunately Mori is able to experience a similar transformation that puts him at Taek’s level. These two juggernauts finally get a chance to finish this long-brewing feud on a scale that neither of them could have anticipated. A season’s worth of lessons are put to use and Mori tries to save the day and do his grandfather proud.

Our Take:

It’s appropriate that the season finale comes down to a big fight and “GOD/GOD” tries its best to share the wealth and make sure that this finale doesn’t consist of just a one-on-one fight between Mori and Taek. It does turn into that at times, but more often than not this is an episode where every character gets to work together and contribute. These group scenes look amazing, contain stunning action, and they’re crucial for a satisfying finale, which this episode pulls off much better than the previous episode. The God of High School is an anime that’s played around with the audience’s expectations right from the start, but one of the most satisfying aspects of this finale is how its fights can go against action norms to create surprises.

There are a lot of big moments in this finale that get undercut, such as Daewi’s heroic sacrifice that doesn’t actually inconvenience the character much at all. Mori’s ascension to Monkey King God form is another grand moment that doesn’t feel that much crazier than any of the other conclusions to battles. One of the most striking things about this finale is the disturbing body horror material that plays out with Taek after he’s been defeated. The morbid self-consuming destruction that takes him over is a much darker end for him than I expected in this series. Taek’s death also triggers the anime’s next shard-collecting angle for what’s to come.

Despite everything that goes down in “GOD/GOD,” it features a surprisingly flippant ending. It’s very nonchalantly revealed that Mori and company are all the winners of the God of High School and that the tournament isn’t going to be important in the version of the show that moves forward. I assumed that eventually the proceedings would resume once order was restored, but it’s a huge shift to ditch the competition and instead move into new territory. It frees up The God of High School in a lot of ways, but it also makes it feel even more like dozens of other action-adventure anime series that are out there. That being said, Mori’s wish to heal everyone’s damage from the tournament is sweet, even if it does reset the slate and introduce a dangerous precedent to The God of High School’s canon.

The second half of The God of High School’s season created some doubt over where these episodes would leave everyone. “GOD/GOD” amounts to a finale that’s both predictable, but also an installment that completely reinvents the series and sets up Mori, Daewi, and Mira for a very different set of adventures next season. The new powers that Mori accesses and the sense of true teamwork that’s achieved are the episode’s saving graces. There are still big concessions that get made, but they’ll hopefully begin season two on a strong and confident note. It’s going to be necessary for the much larger journey that faces everyone now that they’ve progressed beyond tournaments.