Considering that we’re nine episodes into a series which is more or less a giant tournament arc, it honestly surprises me that it took The God of High School this long to take on a tried and tested trope: missing in action. After last week’s cliffhanger, Jin is supposedly on the way to save his grandpa, while Mira and Daewi find themselves in danger of being disqualified as Daewi cannot participate. Cue a story where one character has to stall for time while another searches for the other – a story older than time itself, and one The God of High School episode 9 executes quite well.
For the most part, The God of High School episode 9 benefits from using this tried and tested storytelling method. For starters, it means that the series avoids any strange narrative turns like those seen in episode 2, and it fills the whole episode with a sense of excitement and tension. Will Mira be able to drag out the match long enough for Jin to return? Will Jin be able to defeat his sinister opponent? These are the sort of questions that make The God of High School episode 9 quite entertaining to watch, even if they are punctuated by some cheap gags.
As such, I was already enjoying myself greatly by the time that the second half of The God of High School episode 9 rolled around. And then, it started to happen. Ever since it was first mentioned in episode 6, I’ve been excited at the prospect of charyeok – not only might it make our main characters a little more interesting, it also seemed to be the most interesting thing about Yongje Park’s original series. In this sense, I’m glad to say that Mira’s charyeok awakening did not disappoint.
When Jin arrives a little later – having battered all of his doppelganger opponents – I was even more excited by the prospect of him finally using his charyeok powers. Alas, it was not to be. Jin uses some sort of pressure point magic (it’s never really explained) and absolutely destroys his opponent (who appears to be a member of Nox, the organization that attacked Examiner Q in episode 7) in a scene that is very entertaining, if a little contrary to my expectations.
To be honest, The God of High School episode 9 might actually be it. It might actually be the episode that has gotten me back on board with Studio MAPPA’s WEBTOON adaptation. True, this isn’t a perfect episode – I don’t really like the look of Mira’s opponent, and Daewi’s fight ultimately goes nowhere – but if charyeok was the thing I was most looking forward to, then consider me enthused.
You can watch The God of High School episode 9 via Crunchyroll.