Hikaru no Go

2 reviews - 8.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (4.3)

2. VLeo

This is not an anime for everyone and I think it a wise investment decision on the part of the US of not buying its license. For a 75 episode soap opera, the creators should be congratulated on not overly dragging the anime. Still it amazes me on how so many people have the patience to analyze the GO battles and every "live action" GO tutorial session that ends every episode, then rushing to jack up the bandwidth usage on the Yahoo internet games webby. Frankly after 3-4 episodes, the mega board reversi-style battles just became a "oh he won/lost" thing to me, with the intricacies of the board placement totally lost to my highly pedestrian brain. Hikaru No Go does have its merits, after all I did watch all 75 episodes and the specials! In particular, the culture of being a GO professional in Japan sharply reminded me of the similarities of the education system i went through as a kid. A deja vu you might call it and here are a few similarities - Getting straight A's/ Being a GO professional are highly valued in society - it's a do or die thing for the kids - Parents largely dictate a child's career path, a childhood is no longer fun or enjoyable - As a result the "geniuses" do well while the "failures" just try and try again not given the opportunity to explore their other latent talents. The geniuses like our Hikaru friend here is just lucky that he is born in such a society - Intense rivalry between the players Yep the players all in some way or other exemplify the above qualities. Their struggles are notable but the mediocre achievements at the end of such struggles leaves one pondering at the efficacy of such a system. Anyway, being a GO professional allows one to quit school, that must count for something! Other than that it was nice to see Hikaru (the main character) and his cross dressing sensei growing as a person and realizing their true purpose in achieving the ultimate GO move, the Hand of God.   

1. Qian Wan

While this series is going big in Japan, American companies dare not license this title. Why? Because Hikaru no Go is based on a board game called "go" played mainly in East Asia. But what the American companies failed to realize that this anime is really cocaine in disguise.

Young boy Hikaru finds an old go board in his attic, and suddenly, a ghost pops up before him and introduced himself as Fujiwara no Sai, a go player from the Heian dynasty. Sai, a former tutor for the emperor, was banished after he lost a go game where he got cheated. The restless spirit of Sai lived on and now, he is a part of Hikaru and accompanies him everywhere. And through Hikaru, Sai is going to play go and to obtain the "hand of God." Every episode is filled with excitement and intense go matches. Even if you don't know how to play go, the intense and soothing music that sets the mood during the match will truly draw you in. Young go prodigy Touya Akira quickly took notice of Hikaru and his mysterious skill in go. And the real Hikaru began to admire Akira for his 'real' skills. It is a story of competition and the strive to win.

Do not compare this to Yugioh, the feeling you get from this anime is completely different. The entire anime revolved around a realistic atmosphere (with the exception of Sai). It is a story of growth, a story of young Hikaru who step by step starts to develop his own skills. Can Hikaru become a true go pro and beat Akira without the help of Sai? Speaking of growth, Hikaru really 'grows' throughout this huge 75 episode series. But the transition is so slow that you won't be able to notice unless you watch episode 1 and skip to episode 40. To top it all off, after every episode, there is a go tutorial for the newbies who don't know how to play go! It starts from the very basics and you will learn to appreciate this game just like Hikaru. But like I said earlier, you don't need to know what go is to totally fall in love with this anime. This is a must-watch series that you will finish in three days if time allows. Please just take my word for it and watch this anime.

High: Anime cocaine, realistic animation, darling music, fun to watch, and everything else that an anime fan needs.
Low: Side results of watching this anime might be withdrawal, failure to eat and sleep. 71 episodes is not enough cocaine for me.
Bottom Line: See my other 5 star anime? Decrease them by 4 stars and add them to
this one.