im not winning dad

blorbo - a favourite character

glup shitto - star wars names are fucking nonesense

eeby deeby - youre going to hell

plinko horse - a horse that was stuck in a plinko board

Unfortunately due to the admittedly poor marketing, most of the reviews for HGS are gonna be in bad faith, just the typical “woke bad” nonsense arguments, but this one will be my attempt at a mostly balanced review. Might be a bit all over the place but I’ll try and cover everything.

Characters

One thing about HGS is that it’s very by the numbers. If you’ve watched little witch academia you’ve already watched this. HGS didn’t do anything new frl, at least with the main characters, which is fine as long as the writing is strong but the writing was pretty so-so. The mc is Rosemary, or Rose and she’s the typical happy go lucky protagonist, the most interesting thing about her was that her mom was a famous magical girl warrior named lavender who disappeared years before the story begins. Her mom also has supreme character design, she looks like a cross between spop she ra and utena

Anyways there’s not much to say about Rose or any of her friends. They all fulfill a pretty standard role, Sage is the insecure childhood bsf, Parsley is the brash, forward one, and Thyme is the stoic, quiet one, she’s also best girl. Your enjoyment of these characters will largely depend on if you enjoy the character writing and their interactions bc you’ve probably seen these archetypes before and they go through the same character arc.

So yeah the mcs were run of the mill, but the side characters were honestly really fun. Some of them were archetypical, you got the snobbish bully girl but she ends up calling her mom a thot and that was hilarious, but you also got underused archetypes. There’s a character who’s trans and one who’s in the closet and you don’t ever see those types of characters in these types of shows so it was nice seeing a positive storyline develop about gender identity that kept me far more intrigued than whatever parsley was going through.

Story

HGS is a magical school story not a magical girl story despite what the name suggests. The girls learn more about themselves through a setting of a school rather than have a monster of the week to fight. There’s an overarching plot about the mysterious disappearance of lavender, the rot, and some evil Organization that’s in the background but it’s mostly about the interpersonal relationship and drama between the characters. Which is fair game, it’s the first season so they’re establishing all the characters and their arcs. The plot doesn’t really start until a little more than halfway through the season and it’s not bad. The tonal shift, which I will get into later, is kind of jarring bc it goes from 0 to 100 very suddenly and a more even tone would’ve helped the shift from lighthearted to serious but a lot of western cartoons do the exact same thing these days. It’s hard not to compare this to little witch academia but it takes so many cues and plot points from that show it’s kind of crazy. It’s not a bad thing ig I just wish I didn’t have to see almost the exact same story play out when there’s so much more you can do with the magical school story.

Tone

Aside what I mentioned prior , I think one of the biggest things holding the show back is its tonal inconsistency and I honestly think if it was upfront about the type of show it was from the jump it would’ve been much better for it. I wouldn’t say the show is dark but it’s also not for kids bc of the occasional swearing and light gore moments. The show tries very hard to appeal to children and then a character will randomly say shit or asshole and it’s like huh? If this show is supposed to be for teenagers then a more evenly dark/edgy tone would’ve suited it far better. Be up front that this is the type of show where the characters will swear and bleed from episode one bc it felt super jarring and out of place to hear them swear, even if it was occasionally.

Aesthetics

Not really equipped to talk about the animation so correct me if I’m wrong but from a viewers stand point it was alright. You can obviously tell where they took short cuts, especially in certain action scenes but other action scenes looked pretty good. Ig that’s typical anime budget. The ost was actually really good, I loved the background theme they used, I thought it was super charming and fit with the theme of the show. The opening and ending themes were awful tho and I skipped them everytime 😅 The art style was also decent, some of the characters looked good like lavender, Thyme, the demon teacher, and that trans masc teacher I forgot the name of. Some of them looked like extras from spop, and others looked like they were from how to draw anime books. It was kind of generic looking save for a few stand out characters. Forgot to mention the voice acting and dialogue so I’ll just put it here, it’s the definition of hit or miss. Sometimes the dialogue is good but the VA sucks, sometimes the dialogue is awful but the VAs carry it, usually it’s just okay so I’d say it’s like early RWBY quality. It doesn’t touch the funi dubs in any capacity.

Diversity

HGS has a so-so diverse cast of characters but the actual quality of representation was lacking. Way too many white characters and way too little lgbt+ characters for what is supposed to be “diverse”. Give me more than ONE black mc and lgbt+ characters that aren’t in the supporting cast, kipo and the owl house have set the bar high, anything below that isn’t good enough if you want to claim diversity brownie points. Trans rep was amazing tho I’ll give them that.

Overall

Most of the hate surrounding HGS is an overreaction from maladjusted weebs. It was not a dumpster fire nor was it the next madoka magica it was just average. Worst sin it committed was being boring and dialogue heavy. Otherwise an even tone and less generic characters would’ve worked wonders and probably could’ve reached a decent fanbase if it were marketed probably. If you plan to watch it, go in expecting something average and you might be surprised here or there.

Canon:

When Jayce and Viktor meet Mel, the camera focusses on Jayce watching her leave with a fawning expression, meanwhile Viktor watches Jayce with a twinge of sadness.

The way Jayce puts him arm around Viktor and says "You should come up with me, we're partners" and Viktor begins to refuse, but he hesitates slightly after looks into Jayce's eyes like this

The way Jayce and Mel's sex scene was intercut with not just Viktor dying, but Viktor rejecting affection from a woman who clearly had interest in him. Both because his project had taken over his life, but also perhaps a sign that his romantic interests lay elsewhere. He could have what Jayce has (romantic/sexual intimacy with a woman) but he doesn't want it.

How in that very same scene as Jayce and Mel climaxed, Viktor collapsed as though wounded or hurt by their act, betrayed even. The way the camera cuts from the scenes of intimacy, to Viktor's eyes made me question whether Viktor was witnessing Jayce and Mel. It was a scene that felt like betrayal despite both events being completely unconnected.

The way we cut from Mel lying alone in her bed after Jayce left abruptly, to the perfect parallel of Viktor in his hospital bed with Jayce waiting by his side.

That it is constantly shown as a choice for Jayce. To choose between Mel or Viktor, but he can't have both. That the two are seen as equally as important to him and it is an intense struggle for him to make that choice.

When Viktor looks at Jayce like this.

When Jayce confronts Ambessa, and is forced to watch her be intimate with her boytoy that bears a resemblance to Viktor (especially with the exact same placement of a mole), and Jayce becomes agitated quickly.

The betrayed/affronted expression Viktor gives when Mel suggests military action in Zaun, and Mel outright ignores his protest and tries to convince Jayce, to which Jayce stands to speak with Mel, effectively cutting Viktor (who is sat down) out of the exchange. The sense of rivalry between Mel and Viktor, as though competing for the same man.

"There is Always a choice" Viktor says, after Mel leaves. Indirectly asking Jayce to choose his way forward, and by extension, to choose him rather than Mel.

They are each other's saviours.

Me: Oh.

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