This recap contains spoilers for the The God of High School episode “fear/SIX.”
Another week, another The God of High School episode. The show’s religious commitment to the battle shonen archetype has sometimes made it a hard sell. In “fear/SIX,” the larger plot begins moving forward in a way that it previously hasn’t, adding a new dimension to the series and, thankfully, paving over some of its weaknesses.
The first revelation dropped here is about Jin’s grandfather, Taejin. Earlier episodes vaguely implied he was somehow no longer in Jin’s life. In “fear/SIX,” we see him as a hermit, confronted by the same strange doomsday cult we first met a few episodes back. They make themselves known here, down to summoning a giant sword from the sky(!) a bit later in the episode. We also get a name, “Nox,” and the implication that they’re enemies of the tournament organizers.
More to the point, “fear/SIX” is a transitional episode, a pointed raising of stakes and probably the most purely interesting of the series so far.
RELATED: Check out our Deca-Dence recaps here!
Talk To Me
All three of our protagonists get a sort of “mentor” here. Han converses with the president of the Seoul branch of the tournament, Park, who finally puts a name to the strange sort-of magic that’s been running rampant. (It’s “Charyeok,” and will almost certainly be relevant in coming arcs.) Mira surprisingly meets Sim Bongsa, the tournament announcer, who convinces her that strength alone isn’t enough to win. That she should “put her feelings into her sword.” Stuff like this is fairly basic as far as shonen character development goes, but The God of High School has been somewhat lacking in this regard, so it’s nice to see it here.
RELATED: Crunchyroll & Adult Swim Announce Fena: Pirate Princess
Jin, for his part, doesn’t really get this. (He does briefly meet one of “The Summoned Six” from which “fear/SIX” derives its name. We’ll get to that in a moment.) His portion of the character scenes are mostly devoted to slapstick. In the first episode this was charming. Here it can’t help but feel a little out of place, especially with how serious the rest of the series is getting.
Ghost Fist
That the Nox exist and are actively trying to pursue Jin and friends is the other main half of “fear/SIX.” A good deal of the episode, especially its latter half, is devoted to introducing new characters. The “Summoned Six” especially, a group of six powerful fighters that, we can safely assume, our leads will have to throw down with at some point. Jin even briefly meets Nah Bongchin, titled “The Divine Doctor,” and one of these six. Bongchin expresses a desire to make Jin his pupil, but where that’s heading, if anywhere, is ambiguous at the moment. We meet several other characters here, including a Nox assassin. While seemingly unprovoked, said assassin attacks and kills both Bongsa and, later in the episode, tournament admin Q. Why? Well, right now, The God of High School has more questions than answers.
What we do know is this– all of this presents a fairly notable shift for the series into a world of higher stakes and a more supernatural bent. This might be the exact shakeup the series needs to carry it through to the finish line, but only time will tell.
Until next time, anime fans.
You can watch The God of High School on Crunchyroll here, and catch up on our The God of High School recaps here!
- MAGIA RECORD Season Finale Recap: (S02E08) You’re Not Strong - September 25, 2021
- MAGIA RECORD Recap: (S02E07) You Don’t Know Anything - September 11, 2021
- MAGIA RECORD Recap: (S02E06) This Is Something Only I Can Do - September 4, 2021
