REVIEW: ‘The God of High School,’ Episode 6 – “Fear/Six”

The God of High School‘s fifth episode was one of the strongest single episodes of anime this year. A Crunchyroll Original, the season has been hit or miss when it comes to fulfilling fan assumptions, more specifically when it comes to showcasing Mira’s strength and agency. That said, Seoul’s “God of High School” tournament has progressed in The God of High School episode 6 and shifted away from single fights to team fights. In this episode, the national “God of High School” tournament transition from single matched to a team battle between teams formed from the top three participants in each regional preliminary.

In a turn of events that helps to rectify the events of episode 4, Mira wins the battle for third place, meaning she will compete in the nationals with Mori and Daewi. This showcases her power in the series. That said, Mujin explains to the other administrators that this is all part of the search for the one with the potential to be the “Key,” and finally begins to build out more of the series’ focus on the secret society that it’s been hinting at.  At the same time, Mujin puts out a call to The Six, a group of extraordinarily powerful fighters, in order to deal with Nox, another organization searching for the Key. While we don’t know much about them fro this episode, this helps set up the next arc of the series.

Coming from a bombastic episode like “Ronde/Hound” it’s normal that this episode allows the audience to settle down a bit. There isn’t much action outside of a small tournament fight between Mira and the person in fourth of the preliminaries. That said, this episode isn’t a letdown. Instead, it serves the pivotal purpose of constructing the next arc in the series. The God of High School episode 6 is more ephemeral than it is concrete. It plants ideas for future episodes by introducing us to new characters and expanding the role of the secret cult that has lurked like a shadow over the series so far.

With all of that said, The God of High School episode 6 does a lot of work to expand on smaller story elements as well. Because of this, it’s hard to talk about “Fear/Six” without spoiling the episode, and the future it begins to carve out. But, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited or the next stage of the tournament that is going to present audiences with our trio, Mori, Mira, and Daewi competing together instead of against of each other. The last episode showed audiences how much they cared for each other, but beyond that, how much they understood each other’s motivations and styles of fighting in the arena.

Overall, there is a whole new story on the horizon that is going to move beyond just a tournament meant for high schoolers. That alone is exciting, even if The God of High School Episode 6 wasn’t in and of itself. The future for this series is what I’m looking forward to and with the glimpses of the secret society’s reach and influence mixed in with a competition that is heating, the next few episodes are sure to deliver on it. This episode is good because of its potential for the overall story which means it may fall flat with some viewers.

The God of High School airs ever Monday on exclusively Crunchyroll.