Hikaru no Go

Mangaka: Scenario à Hotta Yumi & Drawing à Obata Takeshi

Other works: Hotta-sensei has a new manga about speed skating and Obata-sensei just completed Death Note

Status: Finished. 23 volumes + 1 Artbook

Genre: Shounen, Sport (kinda), Supernatural

Synopsis: Shindo Hikaru is a normal sixth grader (12 y.o.) who’s going through his grandfather’s attic in search for something he could sell to get some money. He comes across a goban (i.e. a Go board, Go being a kind of chess game) which is stained with blood; however, his childhood friend Akari doesn’t see anything. Hikaru suddenly hears a voice asking him if he can see the blood stains and Hikaru answers yes. Then, a man wearing Hein period clothes, with long, purple hair wearing a black hat appears in front of him: Fujiwara Sai. Sai was the emperor go player and was wrongly accused of cheating and so, kicked out from the royal court. Heart-broken, he committed suicide. Later on, he was able to haunt a young man and through him, Sai kept his passion alive, playing thousands of Go games. That young man was known as Shusaku Honinbo, which is still considered by many as the best go player. Unfortunately, Shusaku died at a young age and Sai returned to his goban, waiting for the next person he could haunt. Sai’s goal for surviving 1000 years is to learn the “Hand of God,” the ultimate go move. At first, Hikaru is not interested in Go, but accepts to let Sai play through his body in exchange of some help for his history homework. That’s when he meets Touya Akira, a boy of HIkaru’s age, son of Meijin Touya, the best Japanese Go player at the moment. Although young, Akira’s go level is already of one of a professional player, but he lacks some motivation to pass the pro exam. After being crushed by Sai, Akira develops a rivalry with Hikaru while Hikaru’s interest for Go blooms. Hikaru has a real potential for Go and having Sai as a master, he grows very rapidly. Soon, Hikaru chases after Akira and Akira, after Sai and rapidly, both enter the hard world of professional Go.

Manga art: One word. Awesome! I just love it and Obata-sensei’s art is just amazingly beautiful. Of course, it took a little for the art to be consistent, but once it was? The art is really easy on the eye, you have a lot of handsome characters (Sai!) and lots of details to each. Everyone has their particularities and everyone is different. As I said, there’s lots of details, nice and clean background. The art improved a lot as the manga went… but the most amazing? Is that without the readers realizing, the characters grow, not just mentally, but also physically. You know, it’s like when you’re around of some very young teenagers… because you’re always around them, you don’t realize that they grow till you pay attention to them… well the same thing happened in this manga. It’s not only that the characters are bigger or taller, it’s really their face, the way they dress, the aura around them. So yeah, the art complements the storyline very well and this was a good collaboration.

Reviewer’s verdict: Again, one of my top 10 manga. I said that the art was amazing; well the storyline is just as compelling. You really get to see, predominantly, Hikaru’s growth, but also Akira and all of their friends. Although there is a ghost, the story is still very realistic. All the games that were played are real games that have been played in the past by pro players. The go system and procedures to become a go pro go player are all real, even the tournaments… An another positive point with go, is that unlike sports such as basket ball, football, etc.., a single game cannot last an entire volume, so the story never drags. There’s always something happening, a step leading to another phase of Hikaru’s growth. Hikaru’s character is good; he’s a real kid you know. Can be immature, but he’s also quite sensitive… Spoiler – Highlight to read - when Sai disappeared, Hikaru’s depression and guilt were so touching, he really is a good boy. End of Spoilers. Sai provides good comedy relief, but also, he’s an important character, very lovable and he can be ruthless. The manga wouldn’t have had the same success without Sai. All the other characters are very interesting and Hotta-sensei and Obata-sensei did their best to develop them. Overall, you have to give a try to this manga… you think that Go is boring, a million ppl thought the same… and they all changed their mind. My only complain with this manga is the ending. I understand that Hotta-sensei was asked to continue the manga after where she planned to end and she did very well; however, she could have continued as she really left us hanging… please, write a sequel T_T

Grading: This series deserves 4.75/5 because of the abrupt ending.

Licensed? Yes, in French by Tonkam (complete) and in English, by Viz (vol. 8 in Nov.)

Scanslation? Complete by primarily two teams (Toriyama’s World and Hikaru no Go Translations) Good luck to find them tho ^^;

Anime? Yes. 72 eps. + 2 OAVs. Unfortunately, it doesn’t cover the end of the story, the last tournament is missing. The anime is quite good, it follows the manga very closely and if I remember correctly, there’s no fillers which is always a plus and perhaps only one or two made up stories. The pace of the manga is very good, the music complements the series well. I like how they add a “Go with Yukari-sensei” bonus at the end of each eps. where Yukari-sensei, a 4-dan pro go player, teaches the audience how to play. Also, the voice cast did an amazing job, the voices really fit the characters and the art is quite consistent. Really, you should get the manga and the anime :D

ps - there's a pun going on during the whole length of the story... You'll often see the number "5" everywhere, on Hikaru's shirt in particular. Well the sound for "5" in Japanese is "go" :)