Society

The Manga “High Score Girl Dash” and the Horrific Fate of the Aging Single Woman

As Clown World is ramping up, I’m more interested in escapism than following news on a new “caravan” of hundreds of thousands of soon-to-be legal immigrants from Central America moving towards the U.S. border, Biden’s plan to print another 1.9 trillion dollars, or the never ending “lockdown” in the West to combat a virus that is about as deadly as the flu because it is the flu. Wherever you lock it’s just wall-to-wall bullshit. Thankfully there are two things to keep your spirits up: Japanese video games and (Japanese) mangas.

One manga I quite enjoyed last year was High Score Girl. It’s about two teenagers, boy and girl, who can’t talk about their feelings for each other but instead express them as they play various arcade games. It is set in the 1990s, which was arguably the last hurrah of that industry, starting with Street Fighter II bursting onto the scene in 1991. To spice up the love story, there is also another, and a more attractive, female character who has a crush on the male protagonist but who gets rejected. That female character is the main protagonist in the spin-off “High Score Girl Dash”. The “Dash” in the title is an allusion to Street Fighter II, the first update of which was SF II’, spelled “dash” instead of the correct “prime”, but video game journalists were uneducated morons thirty years ago already and the name stuck (a ‘dash’ is a horizontal stroke you use for indicating on omission or a — pause).

Anyway, High Score Girl Dash took me completely by surprise, both in terms of the protagonist and the story. Arcade games are only a minor focus. Instead, we get reintroduced to Hidaka-san, the cute blonde teenage girl who did not get laid with the male protagonist in the original High Score Girl. About ten years later she is in her late twenties and working as a teacher. In the opening chapter, she attends the wedding of a friend who openly mocks her:

There are no good men left in Manga-Japan either 🙁

Then the manga goes on to mock men who marry “ugly and slightly noisy” women. It is implied that the bride is of a similar age as Hidaka, and in Japanese culture, unmarried women in their late 20s enjoy low social status, similar to China.

Hidaka is single and lives in a small apartment. Her life sucks and she’s aware of it. Look at how beautifully this is expressed in these panels:

Surely this was worth foregoing marriage and chasing a “career”, right?

At school, an ugly single male teacher hits on her, which disgusts Hidaka-san. The old, short, and unattractive female principal hates her, telling her to turn into a “plain woman”. Here are some key panels:

The manga touches some rather heavy topics later on, such as bullying, parental neglect, and domestic abuse. This is done in a pretty intelligent way, too, i.e. a lot is communicated between the lines, similar to how some mangas with big-boobed chicks slip in serious topics that you may completely miss if you only want to look at waifus, not that anybody would ever do such a thing.

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I think High Score Girl Dash would not be possible in the West. While there is plenty of depressing media to be found (just turn on the news!), it is rare that a creator would put the finger in the wound that has been created by women’s liberation. In the West, we feed our teenage girls empowerment porn, even though we have been able to observe the negative consequences both for society as well as women themselves for decades. More women than ever before are on anti-depressants, for instance. Women have never been less happy.

High-Score Girl Dash had a particular effect on me when it showed Hidaka-san entering her small apartment. She then lies down on her bed, listlessly. This reminded me of some women I pulled who were already figuratively with their back against the wall or, hopefully, on the brink of realizing that their life is in shambles, which might help them to fix the mess they were in. It’s one thing to go home with some chick who shares an apartment with some other chicks who are all in their early 20s. Yet, plenty of women are seemingly not able to move beyond that, particularly in expensive cities. Surely, it can’t be desireable for them to live the same kind of life in their 30s.

Once I had a one-night stand with a woman who lived in a very small studio apartment in a big European city. When I entered it, a pinch of sadness hit me. It was not my job to set her straight, but I think she was missing a strong father figure who should have told her, years ago, that her life plan is nonsense. What is worse, she put on a fake, exuberant persona. I would have liked to grab her by the shoulders and shake her, asking if she’s fine living like that, and where she thinks she’ll be in ten or fifteen years.

I was reminded of the previous episode just the other day when a work colleague had sent out an email. He was trying to help a female friend of his find a place to stay. When I read that email, I asked myself why, as a society, we are doing this to our women. In short, his friend was 42 years old, single female without steady income. She was looking for a room in a shared apartment, preferably at least 15 square meters big. I do not intend to sound too cynical, but what economic purpose does this person have? She does not have any biological purpose either as her fertility window has closed. The rest of her life will consist of boredom and suffering. My colleague also attached a picture of her. She had short hair, dyed in feminist pink. You can bet that woman berated her peers in her younger years when they wanted to settle down. You can now say that this is poetic justice — and you would be right! Yet, this is an expression of a life clearly wasted.

Unfortunately, Western media does not push sad but true stories of women who are running their life into the ground. I wonder if it would help if we did so. On the other hand, it seems that there is now a generational change afoot, with Zoomers being much more conservative than Millennials. We have not seen many millennial housewives, but I’d say that Zoomer women will be much more willing to jump on the opportunity, should it present itself. Partly, this would be due to a more difficult labor market, but surely them being aware of women in their community or wider social circle who ended up as sad, constantly drunk cat ladies would be a factor in that decision as well.


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10 thoughts on “The Manga “High Score Girl Dash” and the Horrific Fate of the Aging Single Woman

  1. Aaron,
    “I think she was missing a strong father figure who should have told her, years ago, that her life plan is nonsense.”

    1. In a previous discussion, you noted that “…The women you mention no longer have the ability to pair-bond. Thus, they go from one guy to the next, wondering why no relationship ever lasts.” (Contraception Leads to Lackluster Sex and Failing Relationships; Dec 10, 2020).

    Furthermore, I’ve noticed that these women tend to party constantly. The party never ends. I’ve seen women in their mid-30s into their early 40s continuing to party like if they are 23 years old. What is the deeper issue here with these women? I figured that they are missing a father figure as you stated or is it something else?

    2. Would this be the same case for women who come from stable families with both parents present? I’ve seen these women party hard into their late 30s.

    Both groups of women have fulfilled their biological purpose but they keep on partying, but they remain unstable despite having kids.

    1. 1) It’s probably safe to say that their life is devoid of meaning. Thus, they chase after shallow entertainment.

      2) Coming from a stable family means more than just the parents being present. I’d say that if the parents set a good example and instill proper behavior, their daughters would not turn into sluts. Peer groups are also an issue, but parents who are concerned about their kids would make sure that their teenage daughters don’t hang out with teenage sluts. In contrast, with hands-off parenting, mothers sometimes actively encourage their daughters to sleep around.

    2. Aaron,
      “Parents who are concerned about their kids would make sure that their teenage daughters don’t hang out with teenage sluts.”

      1. Even if parents manage to instill proper behaviour in their daughters, isn’t there a possibility that they can always astray once their in college? They join a sorority and start taking Chads cock. Universities are more liberal than ever before.

      2. Have you ever thought about writing a book on how to raise kids in this degenerate world? I’m not sure whether raising a daughter would be more difficult than a son or vice-versa. I’m not a parent, but given the political and cultural climate in which we live in seems like an losing battle. It seems like kids rather listen to the media than their own parents.

    3. 1) Sending your daughter to college away from home may not be the best choice. Still, there is a world of difference between sending your daughter to a known party school like Ohio State or to a Christian university like Baylor.

      2) This is a good suggestion. I wrote some articles on this topic some time ago on this blog. I’m not sure I’m yet in a position where I could authoritatively write such a book, though. I certainly have thought about this problem. Media consumption is a problem, but it’s not as if you can’t control this. It’s on you as a parent if your kids grow up with pozzed media.

  2. Yes, I’ve seen some evidence of women in their early twenties having babies today. I hope it has started to turn around. Feminists can call it crazy, but it has been the norm for the vast majority of civilization. The ship may be starting to right itself. What’s crazy is a generation of women having babies in their 30s.

  3. Thx for recommending this anime / manga. I am looking for anime as there are a few titles that don’t get into SJW. Though there are stories where the male lead is a simp / chump / beta. But… at least anime / manga creators draw their women well (big eyes, thin…feminine, lol).

    Aaron’s line “…video game journalists were uneducated morons thirty years ago already” is pretty funny as it is connected to this story I saw about “Gamer Gate”. I didn’t get into that but this article gives a decent background. (The article was spurred on about how BuzzFeed is making some film based on gamer gate, er, how esports are just so toxic to womyn).

    Link: https://arkhavencomics.com/2021/02/03/vivian-james-lives/

  4. I hope manga can maintain their non politically correct content.

    Recently some really old (evil) Japanese man who was preseident of the Tokyo Olympics had to step down because of his sexist remarks. Led to online shaming and his ousting. Now a woman took his job.
    Story: https://archive.is/wip/rkNCm

    The Great Reset can’t happen soon enough…

  5. “ combat a virus that is about as deadly as the flu because it is the flu. ”

    If a person wanted to know how deadly a virus was, ideally they would want a good understanding of probability and statistics.

    How many of us here have that level of expertise?

    1. Nice FUD. I have a pretty thorough understanding of probability and statistics and use those mathematical tools at work on a daily basis. Even if you don’t have that level of understanding, I’d argue that even the layman can grasp that a virus that kills you with a probability of 0.01 % (probably it’s far less than 0.001% once we exclude all the b.s. “died with Covid” cases) is less dangerous than a vaccination that does not adequately protect you, can kill you, or give you facial paralysis.

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