The God of High School (Korean: 갓 오브 하이 스쿨; RR: Gat Obeu Hai Seukul) is a South Korean webmanhwa written and illustrated by Yongje Park. It has been serialized in Naver's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon since April 8, 2011, with the individual chapters collected and published by Imageframe under their Root label into one volume as of April 2020. The God of High School received official English translations by LINE Webtoon in 2014.
In GOH, the action takes place and involves the inhabitants of three different realms: The Human Realm is mainly populated by humans and identical to our known world. It is the least powerful realm followed by the Sage Realm and then the Heavenly Realm at the highest. The Sage Realm (Korean: 동승신주; 신선계; Hanja: 仙界, lit. "World of the immortal/sage"), also known as the Demon Realm, Taoist World, or Other World. It is populated by various mythical creatures, spirits, and monsters (collectively known as demons) such as Dragons, Minotaurs, Phoenixes...The Heavenly Realm (Korean: 신계; Hanja: 神界, lit. "Divine World") is the last realm and the most powerful. The Heavenly Realm is home to many powerful gods of various mythologies and legends like the Jade Emperor, Michael the Archangel, Hercules...[2] At the dawn of time, humans, demons and gods lived together on Earth. The gods allowed the weak humans to borrow their powers, creating the "Borrowed Power" system (or "Charyeok" in Korean) so they could defend themselves against the demons who wanted to rule over them. Shortly after the demon defeat, the gods split up the humans, demons and gods among the three Realms[3]. Humans are since able to use Borrowed Power freely but are not allowed to attack gods with it.
Plot
The main protagonist is Jin Mo-Ri, a 17-year-old martial artist from Seoul, South Korea.[4] At the beginning of the story, he is invited to join a Martial Arts tournament called "The God of High School" (or GOH). The event, sponsored by a shady corporation, brings together people from high schools all over South Korea on a regional and then, national level in order to select three representatives for the World Tournament. As a prize, the winner gets his wish fulfilled by the hosting corporation, no question asked.
This intrigues Mo-Ri, and as he continues through the tournament, he meets many competitors each with a different way of fighting. Martial arts aside, participants fight by using "Borrowed Power", a mystical energy granted by supernatural entities (gods, demons, mythical creatures....), hence the name Borrowed Power. During the opening rounds, he comes across two other martial arts prodigies: Full-Contact Karate expert Han Dae-Wi and epeeist master Yu Mi-Ra. These two would befriend Jin Mo-Ri after their fights with him, and will become teamed together as the Korean Team after the preliminary rounds. As the tournaments preliminary rounds finish, and teams assemble, plans for many different people within the organization, and those pitted against them begin to make their moves to achieve their goals.
A happy-go-lucky 17-year-old martial artist from Seoul, South Korea who practices a fictional version of the Korean martial art Taekwondo called Renewal Taekwondo (Korean: 리뉴얼 태권도) later shorted to Re-Taekwondo.[5] Carefree, friendly and (rightfully so) self-proclaimed "Tough guy" (Korean: 쎈놈), Mo-Ri participates to the GOH tournament so that he can fight strong opponents and wish to be reunited with his grand-father Jin Tae-Jin. Later in the series, after the mystical "Borrowed Power" is introduced Mo-Ri is labeled as a Genuine Fighter meaning he uses martial arts to fight rather than borrowing power from other beings. However, the reason Mo-Ri is so powerful is due to his true identity of the mythical Jaechondaesong, inspired by the Chinese Novel Journey to the West much like Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise.
A 17-year-old martial artist from Seoul, South Korea who practices KyokushinKarate.[6] Dae-Wi starts off the series as a hard-working young man who works to pay off his best friend's hospital bill due to terminal cancer. After being invited to the GOH tournament, Dae-Wi participates to cure his friend of the disease. His Borrowed Power is that of a Haetae, a korean mythical creature with the ability to control water as a defensive tool or a weapon as well as augmenting attacks.
A 17-year-old swordswoman from Seoul, South Korea and the 25th master of a fictitious sword style called the Moonlight Sword, (Korean: 월강도)[6] which emphasizes strong yet fluid attacks. She initially joins the GOH Tournament in order to fulfill her wish of finding a suitable husband to carry on the school bloodline. Mira's borrowed power is of an Ancient Chinese general named Lü Bu, which is loosely based on the historical figure of the same name. This power gives her several abilities such as enhanced strength and the ability to summon a red horse (based on Red Hare, the legendary steed of Lü Bu).
One of the main supporting characters in the series. A 18-year-old boy competing in the God of High School tournament. He is introduced as a logical and calculating fighter who uses a fictional version of the traditional Korean martial art of Taekkyon (태껸) called Ssamsu-Taekkyon (Korean: 쌈수택견).[8] Il-Pyo later acts as an ally to Jin Mo-Ri and helps him through many hardships in the series. His Charyeok is Kumiho, the nine-tail fox of Eastern Asian folklore.
A 18-year-old participant in the God of High School tournament who uses a metal baseball bat as a weapon. Seung-Cheol is of genius-level intellect and peak physical conditioning. This makes his fighting style unorthodox and unpredictable for those he is fighting.[10]
Main antagonist of the first and second arcs. Sold off as a baby by his mother to become the heir of the chairman of a large company, he grew up with a ''Might is right'' philosophy. Dubbed a monster by his opponents and team mates alike, Kal-Taek has an arrogant personality and extremely violent style of fighting, viewing everyone around him as insignificant trash. The only exception being the guardian of Ssamsu-Taekkyon, Park Il-Pyo, his mortal enemy and the only person to defeat him years prior to the GOH tournament.[12] Kal-Taek's Charyeok is characterized by "Greed", allowing him to absorb other fighter's powers.
The adoptive grandfather of protagonist Jin Mo-Ri. Probably the strongest Genuine Fighter of the series, Tae-Jin is powerful enough to easily defeat gods by using his sole martial skills. His disdain for Borrowed Power and unlimited potential threaten the statu-quo between gods and humans and have made him the target of many secret organizations. He is the creator and only master of the fictional Renewal Taekwondo, whom he taught Mo-Ri. His disappearance serves as the main motivation for Mo-ri to join the GOH tournament.
Main antagonist of the manhwa. Member of the National Assembly of Korea, he is the figure in charge of the God of High School tournament. In the series, he acts as a mastermind by laying out plans to achieve his goal of obtaining power in order to create a new world. His Borrowed Power is called "Longinus' Hand" which manifests as two yellow crosses appearing on each of Mu-Jin's hands. The name Longinus' Hand is loosely based on the Roman soldier said to have pierced the side of Jesus during the Crucifixion. Longinus' Hand allows Mu-Jin control over gravity and as a defensive shield.
Development
Author Park Yong-Je majored in cartoon animation at Sunchon National University. Inspired by action genre and Dragon Ball,[13] Park made his debut with "Tough Guy" (쎈놈), published on Naver Webtoon from 2008 to 2009. This manhwa, set around high-school brawlers from Park's hometown of Sunchon, was well received and inspired him to pursue a "100% totally unrealistic work of action" where high schoolers from all over the world would compete to become the God of High School[14].
Media
Manhwa
Yongje Park launched The God of High School in Naver's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon on April 8, 2011. Its first collected volume was published by Imageframe under their Root lable on January 31, 2017.[15]The God of High School was one of the first webtoons to receive official English translations by LINE Webtoon in July 2014.[16]
On August 14, 2014, YD Online announced that they had acquired IP rights for The God of High School to develop a game based on the webtoon. A mobilerole-playing game titled God Of High School (갓 오브 하이스쿨) was released in 2015.[18] On June 2015, it has exceeded 1 million downloads on Google Play.[19] A 3D mobile RPG game titled 2016 The God Of High School (2016 갓오브하이스쿨) developed by SN Games, was released on July 19, 2016. Jin Mo-ri was voiced by Kang Soo-jin, who is well-known as the Korean voice actor of Luffy from One Piece.[20] A cross-webtoon RPG game titled Hero Cantare was released in 2019, featuring The God of High School and other popular titles such as Tower of God and Hardcore Leveling Warrior.[21] In addition, the characters of Jin Mo-ri, Yu Mi-ra and Park Il-pyo appear as playable characters on I.O. Entertainment's 3D combat P.C. Lost Saga.[22]
Merchandise
Due to its popularity, the franchise has been adapted into a variety of merchandise including figurines, notebooks, clothes and straps.[23]
Anime
A music video from the original soundtrack of the game was released on August 11, 2016 on YouTube with singer Younha as lead vocalist.[24] As of April 2020, the video has attracted over 6 million views.
An anime television series adaptation was announced in February 2020. MAPPA is animating the series, with Sola Entertainment providing production management.[25] The anime is directed by Sunghoo Park, with scripts by Kiyoko Yoshimura, Manabu Akita designing the characters, and Arisa Okehazama composing the music. Crunchyroll is on the production committee of the series. The opening theme is "Contradiction feat. Tyler Carter" by KSUKE, and the ending theme is "WIN." by CIX.[1] It premiered on July 6, 2020.[26]
