Webtoon is an online publishing site that allows aspiring creators to share their stories with the world. Needless to say it is truly inspiring when something that was published online gains so much attention that it eventually becomes an anime.
Here are a few interesting behind the scene facts about God of Highschool that show how much dedication went into this Webtoon turned anime.
The President of the United States was inspired by Robert Downey Jr.
God of Highschool was originally published on Webtoons in 2014. Needless to say the world was a different place at the time. The current President of the United States of America was Barack Obama. Yongje Park, the creator of God of Highschool, drew inspiration from the President and created the character Oba Masha.
Five years later, in 2019, MAPPA Studios began adapting the Webtoon into the anime we know and love. With President Obama no longer in office, Director Sungho Park decided on a different inspirational character: Robert Downey Jr. Fans of the Cinematic Marvel Universe may have noticed a striking resemblance between the President in GOH and Tony Stark, but it is made even sweeter when you realize that the voice of the President, Keiji Fujiwara, is also the Japanese Dub actor for Iron Man.
The Monkey King is a part of Asian Folklore
In the Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’ one of the predominant characters is Sun Wukong, or more commonly known in the West as The Monkey King. In the novel, Wukong began his life as a rock that was shaped into a monkey figure by the wind. The figure became supernaturally animated and soon became the leader of a tribe of monkeys.
Realizing his own mortality, he began training under a Buddhist patriarch and mastered many magic spells. When Death came for him he fought back, managing to erase his name and the name of all of the monkeys from the Book of Life and Death. This began a series of mischievous and daring events that could only be performed by someone with the title of Monkey King. Interestingly enough, many of Jin Mori’s actions are reminiscent of the Monkey King.
Jin Mori also holds a few possessions similar to that of Sun Wukong. Both Wukong and Jin Mori possess and can control the size of their iron rod and they have no trouble lifting the weapon when it was at full size. Similarly, both characters also possess a magical headband that can tighten, causing terrible pain.
The creator was inspired by Street Fighter
When Yongje Park originally began creating God of Highschool, he had many forms of entertainment to draw inspiration from. During an interview for Crunchyroll’s The God of Highschool Behind the Scenes documentary, Park confesses that he was inspired by anime, video games, manhwa and movies.
Games like Tekken, The King of Fighters and Street Fighter were specific games that Park recalled from his childhood as inspiration for his original Webtoon. He also cited popular superhero movies such as Man of Steel and different characters from Marvel movies for action scenes.
Motion capture software was used for fight scenes
In order to animate characters’ movements more realistically, motion capture software is commonly utilized. Most anime is traditionally animated in 2D while others like Beastars are fully 3D CGI or others, like Attack on Titan, combine both 2D and 3D animation for particular scenes.
God Of Highschool is animated in the traditional 2D format, but MAPPA decided to use motion capture software for some of the later fight scenes. Sungho Park, the Director, was able to contact the stunt team he had previously worked with on Garo, a Japanese television series, to come and shoot some fighting scenes as reference for the anime.
Youtube was used to learn about different fighting styles
When someone isnt an expert on a subject they usually turn to the internet for answers and more information. There are so many different fighting styles in God of Highschool that Director Sungho Park took to the internet to learn as much as he could.
Taekwondo, Eastern sword-fighting styles, Tai Chi, Wrestling, and Karate are just a few of the martial arts styles that had to be researched to make the out of this world power more tangible.
Director Sungho Park admitted during an interview that, although some members of the team have experience with martial arts, he did not. Park went on to explain that he educated himself as much as he could by reading books and watching Youtube.
Jin Mori’s voice actor studied theatre
Most voice actors are thought to only do voice acting for anime, dubs, commercials and other voice-only work. However many voice actors, both in the United States and in Japan, perform in other forms of acting including theatre and more traditional media roles.
For the loud and charismatic Jin Mori, an actor with different forms of experience was exactly what was needed. In the original anime, Jin Mori is voiced by Tatsumaru Tachibana. Tachibana has previously worked on other popular anime such as Kabukichou Sherlock and Uzumaki. In order to perform the exhausting screaming scenes that Jin is known for, Tachibana has credited his theatre experience with strengthening his voice.
The English Dub cast has been announced!
Crunchyroll has announced that the English dub will premier on its services beginning August 24th! With original, fan favorite characters like Jin Mori, Han Daewi and, Yoo Mira, fans were anxious about who would portray these roles.
Jin Mori will be voiced by Robbie Daymond. Notable roles such as Tuxedo Mask/ Mamoru Chiba in the Viz Media Sailor Moon dub, Ko Ide in FLCL Progressive, and Alan Sylvasta in BNA: Brand New Animal are just a few that Daymond has under his belt. Yoo Mira will be played by Veronica Taylor, voice of Griffith in Berserk and Amelia in Slayers. Han Daewi will be played by Sean Chiplock, known for the voice of Mista in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind and Shin in Dorohedoro.