Hikaru no Go

Title:Hikaru no Go
ヒカルの碁
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: ASAKAWA Yuu
ENOMOTO Atsuko
KAKAZU Yumi
Original Concept - OBATA Takeshi
R1 License - Viz Media (Shopro)
SUZUMURA Kenichi
TAKAGI Reiko
WATANABE Akino
YOSHINO Hiroyuki
YUKINO Satsuki
One of the greatest Go players in history, Fujiwarano Sai, has been trapped inside a goban (a traditional Go board) for hundreds of years. A young boy, Shindo Hikaru, has the power to free Sai, and by doing so, opens a spot in his mind for Sai to stay. As Sai is a spirit (or ghost) visible only to Hikaru, they find themselves strangely bound together. With very little in common, Sai urges him to attend various Go clubs to permit them to play against strong opponents and begins to teach Hikaru how to play Go. And slowly Hikaru becomes drawn into the strange world of competitive Go. Hikaru accepts Touya Akira as a rival and sets his goals on becoming good enough to defeat him, while Sai wishes only to attain skills for the ultimate Go-play, a move called "The Hand of God."

75 TV Episodes
Animation by Dentsu & Studio Pierrot


R1 License by VIZ Media
Internet streaming by Toonami Jetstream

Winner of AnimeCommunity Award
2003 - Best Sports Anime Series

Also see TV special: Hikaru no Go: Hokuto Hai Eno Michi.
Episode Details 
00
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 7 8 8 9 9 Ggultra2764 [series:400#1552]
Hikaru no Go does enough to stand out of the norm for a shounen title focused around a board game. The show's prominent characters are given a great deal of depth over how the board game of Go plays a major influence for them in their growth and style of play thus they are free of the standard archetypes you would find in conventional titles. Unlike a number of other shounen titles focused around a game of sorts, outcomes aren't as predictable with Go matches as all the key characters within the series win and lose at various points, as well as having their occasional setbacks which serve as an opportunity for growth with the show's characters.

Perhaps the biggest element that sticks out with the series is that rather than create a new fictional game, Hikaru no Go adopts an actual board game in the form of Go. Having been established in China over 2,000 years ago, the game in real life had a rather niche following in Japan before Hikaru no Go's airing helped to revitalize the popularity of the game with younger audiences. The series effectively makes itself into a series that allows one to better understand Go as a newcomer through main character Hikaru. From starting off as a casual player new to the game to being a skilled professional player through a two year period for the show's run, Hikaru no Go believably follows the growth of Hikaru's character as he comes to better understand areas to the gaming world of Go from strategies to the game's history to elements of the game's professional world which allows viewers to understand these areas through Hikaru's eyes as well. Adding to the show's animated developments with Hikaru, Hikaru no Go also has a live-action segment at the end of each of the show's episodes which teach you about basic elements and strategies to the game, game scenarios, a look into the real-life professional world of Go in Japan and its history. The series can be quite addicting to watch if you have interest in playing and learning about Go.

Presentation-wise, Hikaru no Go is pretty standard in the visual department: scenery and character designs do their job with decent details on both ends while the show frequently relies on shortcuts with animation kudos to the show's long length. In terms of the soundtrack, it is a joy to listen to featuring insert tracks that do well to convey the mood of tense gaming scenarios and characters developments seen throughout the series mixed with upbeat OP and ED songs that get you in the mood with seeing the show, especially dream's "Get Over".

Overall, Hikaru no Go made for quite the addicting watch for me as I became more familiar with elements to Go and got attached to the developments of characters like Hikaru as they struggled to become professional players. This is definitely one of the better shounen anime titles I've had a chance of seeing as of late.

Last updated Tuesday, October 04 2011. Created Tuesday, October 04 2011.
Buy 7 7 8 5 7 8 Iceman_Aragorn [series:400#1517]
An EXCELLENT anime for anyone who even knows the most basic of basics about Go. You'll learn a lot jsut from watching. It's certainly pretty addicting in and of itself. A great anime in general, except maybe the music...sometimes it just kinda sounded like music that should be in a low budget porn film...

But don't let that stop you from watching. Rent for non-go fans, but anyone who likes Go, this is a great anime.

Last updated Sunday, November 27 2005. Created Sunday, November 27 2005.
Rent 9 8 10 10 9 8 Zsakul [series:400#1464]
I am almost done with it, to be honest after ep 60 it just not the same anymore, because (ok, I am not going to spoil it), but it is not as much fun as it used to be.
This anime is very addictive, I mean it is something like a drug, once you get into it, you have to see more. The weird thing is, that although there is no action (I mean 2 guys sitting in front of the board putting stones does sound lame), but the drama, the faces, the music makes up for it and more, the characters are very well developed and very belivable, even Sai (who for some reason looks like a woman, btw) is really belivable.
Ok, this is my first review and I can only say that you got to watch it, it is really engaging fun(up to ep. 60) and much better than most anime out there.

Last updated Wednesday, June 30 2004. Created Wednesday, June 30 2004.
Buy 9 9 9 9 9 9 Carrot [series:400#548]
This series triggered off my interest in playing Go. It's a rather special series and the story was quite good although quite predictable. It's worth watching

Last updated Friday, February 21 2003. Created Friday, February 21 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 10 Sasuke-chan [series:400#485]
I first started out reading the manga of Hikaru no Go and found it to be quite extraordinary(It's quite different from other stories), interesting, and the characters are quite cute. I thought that some of the characters are quite poorly drawn(maybe is meant to be that way) as I almost thought that Touya Akira(Hikaru's rival) and Sai(his 'mentor') were actually females.. But nevertheless, it did not change my opinion of this anime.
After watching the series and reading the manga, I actually took an interest in Go... It is really a series worth watching. It don't matter if you do not know Go, you don't need to know. You can still enjoy it nevertheless..
But I felt that there are too many episodes.. quite draggy sometimes... At the 30th episode.. the storyline had only progressed until book 7...
But still.. I conclude that it is a series worth buying and watching

Last updated Saturday, January 11 2003. Created Saturday, January 11 2003.
Rent 10 10 10 10 10 10 Kaneda [series:400#87]
I've watched about ..51 eps into the series so far. It is a good series, the characters are good, and I didn't really find it too childish compared to most of the other stuff out there. Though its definetly not as adult oriented as maybe serial experiments lain, or Boogiepop phantom.
The overall theme is about the 'hand of god' , but it is also about someone trying to prove himself in a competition like manner, kinda like a japanese bobby fischer, I think the episodes had nice art, the soundtrack is good, the characters are good.
So there is probably a reason why its the #3 tv show in tokyo

Last updated Monday, October 21 2002. Created Monday, October 21 2002.
Watch Wil [series:400#403]
For some reason, I just couldn't quite get into the story. Probably due to the fact that A) I don't play go and B) I don't care for sport related anime. Not to say this is a terrible series, it just held no appeal to me. The one thing that was interesting tho was the random go lessons injected into the episodes, I thought that was kinda cool. Watch the first 2 episodes. If you are amused watch the rest, if you find yourself dozing just let this one be.

Last updated Saturday, October 12 2002. Created Saturday, October 12 2002.
Watch 8 8 8 10 6 6 Helen [series:400#340]
Well, its an all right series, except the plot is pretty childish, and episodic.
Personally, I thought the best thing about the series was the music, done by well-known Avex artists like Dream. "Get Over" - the first opening song is great.
It's a pretty cute and childish series, as you can see by the character designs and simplicity of the show. And yah, it is fluff, not all that great, but watchable.
While this series may be kind of low on actual plot, the characters are intriguing enough to keep you watching. And if you're anything like me, you'll probably start trying to play Go, maybe just once.

Last updated Monday, July 01 2002. Created Monday, July 01 2002.
Buy RobbieNewbie [series:400#211]
Simple story: A boy knows nothing about "Go", get taught by a great teacher, became better and actually wants to be the best. Sounds too plain? Well, I don't know about "Go" myself, and after watching a few episodes I actually downloaded, learned and played Go games!
Many reviews out there pointed out that this series were able to portray a life of a pro Go player with enough excitement for common people to watch and enjoy. For me, a story about a common boy with a 'secret weapon' to beat all pros is a good way to introduce the series, which then it became 'serious' when building its character.
Recommended (=BUY)!

Last updated Tuesday, April 16 2002. Created Tuesday, April 16 2002.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official TV Tokyo Series Web Site http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/hikaru
Wikipedia entry for the game of GO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org