What Is A Charyeok In God Of High School?
If you ever thought that "Cobra Kai" would be better if all the high schoolers pledged their superpowers to enhance their martial arts skills, then maybe you should check out "The God of High School," a Crunchyroll original series with a very unique premise. The anime follows a 17-year-old high schooler named Jin Mori from Seoul, South Korea. Mori is an incredibly skilled martial artist, and he's invited to join a martial arts tournament known as the God of High School Tournament — an event which brings together high schoolers from all over South Korea in an attempt to build a three-man team for the G.O.H. World Championship.
The winner of the God of High School title gets to have one wish granted by the shady corporation running the whole operation, and as Mori progresses through the ranks (fighting greater and greater opponents at each stage), he begins to realize that not everything is as it seems, both when it comes to the tournament and his own abilities as a whole. Part of this has to do with the fact that many of the tournament's fighters have access to something known as a "Charyeok" to enhance their already incredible martial arts mastery — an ability that seems to have nearly limitless possibilities.
A Charyeok is an ability granted by one's connection with the gods
Charyeok literally means "borrowing power," and it's an ability that allows a fighter to borrow strength from one of the many "gods" in the show's pantheon (via The God of High School wiki). These deities include everyone from Beelzebub to Thor, as well as other supernatural entities such as demons and human ghosts (indeed, there's one fighter whose Charyeok allows him to take on the abilities and fighting style of Bruce Lee).
When a fighter accesses their Charyeok, they are able to mold it into whatever unique fighting form they can imagine. Some fighters will use their power to summon a weapon from their deity, some will allow the part of the deity to live inside of them, and others will even make direct contact with their deity and infuse their body with their power.
With that said, it's clear that the ability takes an immense toll on the fighters, drawing power directly from their life energy and often leaving the user heavily fatigued after each fight. Essentially, the only limitation to someone's Charyeok is their imagination, allowing for an incredibly wide variety of fighting styles and abilities to appear in each episode of "The God of High School" — and making for some of the most memorable action sequences in all of anime.