Haruo is not popular, handsome, or even friendly. His sole redeeming quality is his skill at video games. However, his world is thrown upside down by a popular rich girl in his class, Oono, who absolutely trounces him in every game. Now He follows her from arcade to arcade trying to win.
A good comedy about gaming is always welcome, but the relationship that it displays is just as good too. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like High Score Girl, then look no further.
Anime Like High Score Girl
For Fans of Gaming
Gamers
Keita Amano is an average high school student and gamer. After having an awkward encounter with Karen Tendou, the school’s idol, he discovers that she too is a gamer as she passionately begins to try to recruit him into the game club. After paying a visit to the club, he witnesses a completely new side to his hobby due to the eccentric array of members.
Like High Score Girl at times, Gamers is not always about gaming. Both shows are often moreabout people and the relationships they form. However, while gaming remains a big part of High Score Girl, they kind of forget it as Gamers go on in lieu of the slice of life of it all.
Chio’s School Road
This is the story of Chio, a young bookworm, and her daily walk to school. Of course, she won’t be getting to school anytime soon as her usual route usually takes her weirdly off course.
Simple things like walking to school or playing games are not that interesting, but they are in these shows. Also, don’t be fooled, Chio’s School Road is packed full of game references and gaming comedy as that is a primary hobby of the character.
D-Frag
Kazama thinks he has what it takes to take over his high school with his gang, even if it is just his two friends in it. However, when his gang has a run in with the four unique girls of the Game Development Club, he is shanghaied in as a member himself.
If it is the gaming-themed comedy that you enjoyed in High Score Girl, then D-Frag takes that and turns up the dial. While not always gaming oriented, it does have some excellent comedy to it. While the game references aren’t as specific as High Score Girl, they are effective in their own way.
For Fans of Immature Romance
Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions
Everyone has that stage in their life where they think themselves special, different from mere humans. This phenomenon is called Chunibyou Syndrome and most common in pre-pubescent children. In middle school, Yuuta Togashi thought himself the Dark Flame Master. He has since grown out of it upon entering high school and looks back at those cringe-worthy times with displeasure. Unfortunately, after a chance meeting with Rikka Takanashi, a girl believing to have a God in her eye, she attaches herself to him and brings that Chunibyou past back out.
There is a certain weird nerdiness to the comedy in High Score Girl, and in no other anime is that more true than Chunibyou. It very much focuses on your relationships, though Chunibyou does have more of a focus on love rather than the more friendship-oriented High Score Girl.
Skillful Teaser Takagi-san
For Nishikata, no one knows him better than Takagi-san. Unfortunately for him, she uses this knowledge to unrelentingly tease him on a daily basis. Nishikata vows to get revenge for all that blushing he has done, but is he good enough to overcome her skill?
At a glance, these two are similar because they focus on younger characters. However, they have actually quite a bit in common. First, there is a similar relationship dynamic where the girl is very good at what she does and the boy struggles to best her. Secondly, there is this distinct focus on immature relationships, like how the couples are mean to each other despite clearly liking each other.
Toradora
Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle student with a passion for housework, but his thuggish face causes his fellow students to think him a delinquent. Taiga Aisaka is small and cute, but with an attitude as fierce as a tiger. Both of these misunderstood students also harbor feelings for their crushes, and after a series of misunderstandings of their own, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance to get their crushes to notice them.
In High Score Girl, it is made apparent how different the two people are in how others perceive them, but they are bound by a common love of games. In Toradora, the main characters are perceived badly by others, and through that, they are bound. While they share different themes, the relationships in the shows are touching.
For Fans of Rivalry
Tonari no Seki-kun
Yokoi is a dedicated student, but she is sat next to Seki, who is…not. Instead of paying attention in class, he constantly creates extremely detailed games and other distractions on his desk. However, though Yokoi finds herself drawn in, somehow it is always her that gets in trouble with the teacher.
High Score Girl and Tonari start off the same way – two people that relatively dislike each other. However, as the series goes on, they begin to form a bond of friendship. While the pair bond over games in High Score Girl, in Tonari no Seki-kun, they bond over goofing off.
His and Her Circumstances
Yukino Miyazawa is the perfect student to her peers, but it is all just a front to get the praise and admiration she thrives on. So naturally when Soichiro Arima takes her spot as number one in the class rankings, she goes a little batty. Yet after Arima finds out her true personality, he begins to blackmail her with it.
Like with High Score Girl, you have two people in competition with each other. However, in His and Her Circumstance, they are competing at academics. However, that rivalry does quickly fall away as it turns into a full-on romance show, but it is one of the best in that regard.
Special A
Introduced as children, Hikari Hanazono has always been second to Kei Takishima in everything from academics to pro-wrestling. Ever since the first time he beat her, Hikari has been on a vendetta to finally be number one, even going so far as to attend his prestigious school where both are placed in the Special A class for the most elite. However, for all Hikari’s mental and physical prowess, she doesn’t realize one thing – that Kei is in love with her.
Although distinctively more shoujo, like High Score Girl, Special A features a relationship that is based on rivalry. However, the genders are reversed, the boy is good at everything he does, and the girl strives to beat him. Unlike High Score Girl, they are still very much friends at first, though.
If you have any more anime recommendations like High Score Girl, let fans know in the comments section below.
