Hikaru no Go

Director
Shin Nishizawa
Production
Shueisha, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
75 episodes
Year
2001

Hikaru no Go

By Jun S. So
9th May 04

Hikaru no Go - an anime (and, needless to say, manga in origin) series that focuses almost entirely on the game of Go and its world in modern Japan, and to a lesser extent, in Asia. And of course, the place of a boy named Hikaru in it. Strangely enough, I envisaged Hikaru no Go to be quite an interesting series prior to even watching or reading a thing about it. It isn't difficult to predict the general notion of the story after all - a boy with humble beginnings rises in the world of Go, earning recognition, respect and rivalry along the way. This simple prospect piqued my interest in a way that many of the Western watchers may not understand. I for one would be anything but interested in a series, anime or not, about chess or cards for example.

However, various reasons exist as to why an anime series, no less lengthier than seventy-five episodes, focusing on the game of Go can be prospectively and actually so interesting. For one, there is something ethereally deep and appealing about the game that, to an Asian such as me, just isn't the case with any other lazy game, chess inclusive. Additionally, when almost every other anime that focuses on competition, rivalry, strategy and well, skills at whatever, attempts to arbitrarily convince you just exactly who and what is stronger, it is refreshing and satisfying to see an anime that actually shows how and why someone or something is stronger. You see, Hikaru no Go, many of the games are shown in almost full detail. You will see why and how someone is better. This is only possible with an activity such as Go, which is amazingly deep in strategy and clearly defined as to just what good play is. Because of this, the strategies and skills represented in the anime are real. Thus, everything is believable, and often, it leaves the watcher to decide and feel just who is stronger, and just how well a situation was handled by the player -- after all, most of the match situations shown in the anime are from actual past pro games. Don't worry, however, if you know nigh zero as I did about the game of Go; honestly, you will probably be fascinated and enjoy the anime two-fold if you don't know much.

But the truth is, HikaGo just wouldn't be so fun if it were all about realistic and serious matches, although the anime does focus heavily on that aspect, perhaps the strongest quality of the series. I'd best give a brief synopsis of the early story to give you a much better idea as to what the other half of the anime is about: Hikaru, a boy a year from high school, is rummaging through his grandfather's shed when he comes across an old Go board. He notices a blood stain that his friend Akari cannot seem to see, and he begins to hear a voice, also which only he can hear. A man -- or more precisely, a ghost -- reveals himself, claiming to be a masterful Go player (the tutor of the emperor, in fact) from a thousand years ago. His name is Sai, and due to a certain Go-related occurrence, he had committed suicide in that time. However, his desire to play Go had prevailed - and Hikaru would be the second fated soul to give him another chance to continue to playthe game he loves. The first fated soul had been Honinbou Shuusaku, a hundred and forty years ago from Hikaru's time, considered to be the greatest Go player in history (in real life) - implying it had actually been Sai who had played behind Shuusaku's body. Hikaru, although he knows little about and holds no interest in the game, somewhat reluctantly - and with little choice - accepts Sai to occupy a part of his mind and invisibly accompany him hence.

This renders the story a lot more interesting than it would have been if Hikaru simply became a recognized player, supposedly, from humble beginnings. Because you see, Hikaru's skills at the game may be humble, but Sai's aren't quite so. The result of such a mix can be seen and felt in the very first episode (this is the only spoiler I'll be giving in the whole review, and I think it's necessary, so don't worry). In order to grant Sai to play Go, Hikaru visits a Go salon and happens upon Touya Akira, a prodigy and son of the most revered current player in Japan. Knowing nothing about the game and its world, Hikaru challenges the boy his age; Sai would be the one playing, after all. Sai defeats the famed prodigy as if he were tutoring; however, to Akira and the others, it isn't Sai who defeated him; it is Hikaru, a boy still in primary school, who holds the stone like a complete beginner yet has the skills of a master. And thus continues Sai's journey to obtain the so-called "Hand of God" or "Divine Move," which all revered Go players from past and present have aspired to. And the interesting plot is escalated in its quality and quantity of possibilities as Hikaru begins to develop an interest in the game, just as Sai wishes him to; for the co-existence of Hikaru's and Sai's desire to play Go leads to interesting scenarios and maybe - don't underestimate the following - eventual and emotional dilemmas or conflicts.

With this concept, the series hooked me from the very first episode. Not only did the prospective plot interest me greatly, but the quality and entertainment in the presentation of the first Go match kept me glued to the screen. This quality is prevalent throughout the series; whether the matches and match situations be fast, deep, unique, close, one-sided, turned around, desperate or surprising, the series does a great job of accentuating the qualities and effects of a move or a strategy, as well as conveying the corresponding players' and observers' emotions and responses. Even the simple notion that a certain player places his stones with awe-inspiring confidence and imposition is portrayed quite convincingly. Granted, some of the end-of-the-world reactions in matches are extravagant to say the least, but such added to the intensity and fun of it all. If you are like me, you will be pausing at and rewinding to board-shots and individual moves countless times.

More than anything else, mayhap astonishingly, this quality can be attributed to the music used, in its substance and in its timing. Seriously, some of these tracks belong right in action and drama series (a few may bring the words "Metal Gear Solid" and "Rurouni Kenshin OVA" into your head), but serve remarkably well here. There are two slightly jarring pieces of music that frequently play in match-related circumstances, as well as some too-conventional and plain just-another-peaceful-day type music, but whenever things become heated or take a turn, or when a decisive move is made, the music is used with remarkable impact and effect; and equally so for emotional moments in and outside matches. There is also a handful of opening and closing theme songs, new-age without feeling out of place (at least, the earlier ones are), that vary between decent and great, and I certainly didn't mind watching and listening through them a few times.

Another quality, in terms of Go matches and its encompassing world represented in the anime, is something frustratingly difficult to find in many other anime - the message that you can't and don't always win. Hikaru does not win through all of his matches via BULLSHIT. Even the most revered and dominant players experience losses in the anime, just as is in the real world. They do not make the results obvious either; oftentimes in many other anime, when people predict and rave about an expected outcome so strongly against a favorable character, often offensively, you sadly know the opposite, the supposedly unexpected, will happen almost surely. Or, when a favorable character becomes suddenly motivated to achieve something, and people "believe" in him or her, you know it will happen in an automated manner. "There's no way you will win." You know the opposite will happen. "We all believe in you. Your friends are here." You know it will happen. "The Heart of the Cards." Ahem. In HikaGo, there are times at which a favourable character would need to acquire a victory in order for the story to accentuate his development or skills, and there are occasions where characters, even Hikaru, become motivated or must win in order to achieve something or not be undignified. Yet, the story does not neglect to show you that they can all lose fair and square. Even Sai is not invincible and perfect; because of changes to rules and playing styles in modern times, Sai must adapt to them and develop himself - though to a much lesser degree than Hikaru - in order to reach divinity in the game.

The characters in HikaGo are equally believable, partly thanks to what I outlined above. At one point early in the anime, Hikaru is suddenly driven to play, to win and be strong despite his lack of skill. It is the beginning of his, not Sai's, Go -- thus justifying the title. Hikaru's will to strive for something despite the lack of strength, I could completely relate to. And then he loses miserably. What did I say in the last paragraph? I have read a review stating that both Hikaru and Sai are two of the most selfish main characters in anime, and that reviewer may have been correct. However, I can absolutely understand and relate to their so-called selfishness, and it contributed in developing the story and in the building of very important and interesting issues for Sai and Hikaru later on. But I must say, the way Hikaru treats his mother and especially Akari (and sometimes Sai) is, as the same aforementioned reviewer also put it, appalling. Speaking ofwhich, there is a great diversity of secondary characters, but HikaGo is not a heavily character-driven anime. Characters do tend to get left behind - and, at one time, a friendship virtually sacrificed - as the story progresses, but for the length you know them, and considering the focus Hikaru and the anime alike must have on the world of Go, it's not such a bad thing. Characters are not read into too deeply, but the secondary characters that are considered important in the series are well characterized -- my favourites being Kaga and Ogata -- and accentuate well Hikaru's place in the Go world. I almost never felt that I had to forgive HikaGo for the comparable lack of strong focus on characters and relationships; however, I do wish Hikaru's relationship with Akari and with Sai (in a completely non-homosexual way) were more substantial, not to mention more focus on cool guys like Kaga. I can't help but wonder how much more the story could have been impacting and memorable with a stronger character base and more focus on life outside of Go.

In terms of the visual counterpart of the characters, I believe almost all of the characters of importance are drawn quite appealingly. There are occasions where the character artwork, as do so many other anime despite great overall artwork, drifts just and only a foot or two towards the horror that is Initial-D artwork (for example Honda, and very rarely, the way Ogata and Meijin are drawn), but nowhere nearly as bad - it was just a feeling that passed the back of my mind for fleeting moments. I think Hikaru, visually, is plenty symbolic and quite original as a main anime character, and the series rarely feels like its character artwork is recycled or cloned from countless other anime. Occasionally the secondary and beyond characters - including most of the trivial whose sole purpose is to observe one match - were either unappealingly drawn or, as in the case of characters such as Kaga and Sai, at times appear somewhat inconsistent and just a trifle "off." Despite such which applies to 99% of anime series, Hikaru no Go appears, in the purely visual sense, original enough to symbolize itself with its characters, and in terms of quality, is perhaps one of the most solid and appealing anime in recent times. And Sai often looking a little too much like a woman? I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing.

I wouldn't insist that the artwork necessarily presents a good idea of the series' lack of age however, and that is semi-attributed to the animation quality. Granted, the animation has no fault per se, and one can't expect an animation spectacle from Go, but it never moves and flashes like an anime attempting to prove its 21st-century heritage. It is, at the least, adequate and at times sufficiently impressive to complement the quality of the series as a whole, but don't, by any means, expect next-generation visuals here.

Nothing subject to purely visual is pertinent to my other gripe with the story, however. You see, there is a period of a few dozen episodes, after the first ten or twenty, in which a certain theme element of the story becomes almost completely subdued; instead, the focus is almost solely on the matches Hikaru plays to rise in the world of Go. Then, all of a sudden, the important theme returns full force, and it feels suddenly out of place due to its lengthy absence. However, because it returns full-force, the story quickly makes up for it, and near the end, you will be happy that it does focus heavily on that theme (I know how ambiguous and poorly written this seems, but I had to struggle not to give away spoilers).

Naturally, then there's the all-important conclusion to the story. Despite some external comments claiming it was an abrupt ending, I think only those that have read through the manga may think so, and quite unfairly at that. I honestly believe if the followed the manga's suit with half a dozen extra episodes, the result is what would have been an abrupt ending. Admittedly, the latter episodes, all fulfilment aside, are not too climactic (the two most important matches in the series are indeed anticlimactic), and in this important period, there are some relatively unwanted and superfluous episodes that don't focus on the characters that really matter. Then there's the following 2004 new-year special, which is a bit of an enigma. You see, it's too substantial to be just a "special episode." The manga is a few volumes lengthier than the anime, and this seventy-five minute long special episode smoothly progresses into where the manga continues, just as if episode 75 is not the end, that this special is episodes 76 to 78. To boot, the special episode does not really conclude what it startsIt really makes one feel as though the anime series is continuing, "next season" style, but if it isn't, then I'm not sure what to think.

Whether or not you regard the special episode however, the original conclusion wraps things up nicely, and at a suitable point too; supposedly, the manga creator wished for the anime to finish at that point - but don't quote me on that - and I agree with her decision. Indeed, the story at end is suitably and even emotionally wrapped up, with the two most important aspects of the story resolved, one quite satisfyingly and the other rather bitter-sweetly -- but definitely leaving an after-glowing sense of a beginning rather than an end. All that the anime misses out on is the last tournament in the manga, half of which is what the special episode is about, but really, the one extra tournament feels - and is - trivial. In fact, if you read the last few volumes after watching the conclusion of the anime, you will most likely be disappointed, for very little is added to all the core matters the anime resolves and fulfills; perhaps the extra manga volumes do actually deserve to be summed up in just "a special episode," or preferably two. As is the case with 99% of anime series however, a handful or two extra episodes to draw out and convincingly seal everything up would have been desirable.

Win by Resignation
I believe the Hikaru no Go anime is better than the manga. That is not something I can say often, but I think I can say it with utmost certainty on this occasion. The manga does seem to have a few more humorous moments and feels just a trifle more character-based, but the anime is simply significantly more exciting and fun to experience. Especially, the small and big actions, the corresponding effects and responses in Go - for example the manner in which a player places his stones, the significance of a single move - are represented almost-incomparably more successfully in the anime. And I'll confirm it again; the last few volumes of the manga are trivial and shallow in comparison to how the anime ends things. I will be able to understand if people cannot get int erested in the series due to its life-and-death - both proverbially and literally - focus on Go, but most anime watchers, I believe, readily adapt to unfamiliar genres. I genuinely recommend any anime fan to experience Hikaru no Go; by the time you do, I may very well have watched through it once more.

9/10

-- Jun S. So 9th May 04

Hikaru no Go Images