News

Rensuke Oshikiri's Hi Score Girl Manga Resumes in July

The official website of Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan magazine announced on Monday that Rensuke Oshikiri's Hi Score Girl manga will resume in this year's eighth issue of the magazine on July 25.

Square Enix will also publish the sixth compiled volume of the manga on the same day, as well as a renewed version of the first five volumes titled Hi Score Girl CONTINUE. The special version will include revised and improved pages, a new front cover, and a 16-page bonus chapter.

The story of the "90s arcade romantic comedy" manga begins in 1991, during the heyday of the 2D fighting game boom. Sixth-grader Haruo spends practically his entire day at an arcade in the seedy part of town, oblivious to the world around him. However, one day at his usual arcade, he encounters Akira, his female classmate with good grades and money. She may look out of place at the arcade, but she is actually a top-class gamer. Akira completely outmatches Haruo in one Street Fighter II round after another, and their relationship develops from this unlikely encounter.

Oshikiri launched the manga in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan magazine in 2010, and Square Enix published the fifth compiled book volume of the manga in December 2013. Big Gangan announced in December 2013 that an anime had been green-lit.

Background

SNK Playmore filed a criminal complaint against Square Enix in August 2014, asserting that the Hi Score Girl manga features over 100 instances of characters from The King of Fighters, Samurai Spirits (Samurai Shodown), and other fighting games owned by SNK. As a result, police raided Square Enix's headquarters.

Later that month, the editor-in-chief of Big Gangan announced that the magazine will temporarily halt serialization of the manga, in light of the alleged copyright violations. Square Enix also issued a voluntary recall on all of the manga's print volumes and halted the sale of the manga's digital release, as well as sales of the manga's official fanbook in print.

CAPCOM, Bandai Namco Games, and Sega said that they gave formal consent for the manga to use their games' characters. However, a Sega representative added that the company gave permission only after one of its characters had already appeared in the manga.

Square Enix filed a counterclaim against SNK Playmore in October 2014, requesting the Osaka District Court to confirm that the manga does not violate SNK Playmore's copyrights. The Osaka Prefectural Police then formally filed charges against 16 people, including author Oshikiri and members of the editing and publishing department at Square Enix, for copyright infringement in November 2014.

Square Enix and SNK Playmore settled their claims over the manga in August 2015. SNK Playmore dropped its criminal charges against Square Enix, allowing the latter to continue publishing and selling Hi Score Girl.

[Via Comic Natalie]