Hikaru no Go Episode Guide

Episode 1 (Title: Eternal Rival)

Comment: This animated series began on TV Tokyo on October 10, 2001 and is still on as this is being written. Episode 1 begins with Shindou Hikaru, a 6th grader, finding a traditional goban in his grandfather's attic. (All names are Japanese style - family name first.) He cleans off the dust and awakens the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai, a go instructor who taught the Emperor during the Heian Period. Sai was framed for cheating in an important match and committed suicide but his spirit is unable to rest until he masters "The Hand of God". Sai is able to communicate only with people of high go-playing potential. The last time was 140 years ago with a boy named Torajirou, better known to posterity as Honinbo Shusaku! Sai beseeches Hikaru to take him to a go club so that he can once more play the game he loves (through Hikaru as an intermediary). At first Hikaru objects but relents when he sees how sad Sai becomes. At the go club Hikaru meets Touya Akira, another 6th grader, who, unbeknownst to Hikaru, is near professional level. Hikaru takes Black in an even game and sure enough Sai has him play a classic Shusaku style opening! Many positions are shown with comments about the moves which are high level. The episode ends with Hikaru running home tired from his effort while the adults in the go club stand around muttering in amazement that Akira has lost. Before leaving the go club the proprietor handed Hikaru a flyer for a children's go tournament and suggests that he look in on it (which becomes important in the next episode).

Note: The animators made a mistake in this episode. Black has a group with a hanging connection on the left side of the board. Later on while a ko fight is in progress this group (modified by subsequent moves) is shown again but the hanging connection stone closest to the edge is mistakenly drawn as White instead of Black. The position and comments do not make sense until this is taken into account.

Episode 2 (Title: Discovered Weakness!!)

Comment:Hikaru attends a go school workshop where the instructor, Shirakawa-sensei, explains a life-and-death problem on a magnetic instruction board. Hikaru yawns and says he doesn't understand it at all. Sai tells him that it is because he is a beginner. After class the group breaks up to play some games. The instructor approaches Hikaru who tells him that he is a beginner and has only played one game. Shirakawa-sensei shows him how to capture a stone and when to say "atari". He sets up a simple ladder and Hikaru is surprised when his stones get to the edge and are captured. Sai chuckles at this behind his fan much to Hikaru's chagrin. While Hikaru takes a break, Sai marvels at modern conveniences like vending machines then sees a man in a "box" (a TV set) playing go. A standard opening with 16 moves played is shown and the commentator mentions that Black has stopped to think. He says, "Touya Meijin is always looking for a move that is better than what is considered good...something that we cannot see." A bystander near Sai says that Touya Meijin is considered to be the closest to playing Perfect Go and Sai realizes that he is looking at someone who is just like himself. Another commentator says that Touya Meijin has a son who wants to become a pro and he seems pretty strong. Meanwhile back at the go club where Hikaru beat Touya's son, a man arrives who wants to play with him. The proprietor tells him that Akira hasn't played since he lost to Hikaru a week ago - he just sits there playing the game over and over again (a position from the last episode is shown). The next day Hikaru invites Fujisaki Akari (a girl he seems to hang out with a lot) to go to the go school with him. The instructor shows Black's first move on the magnetic board as komoku and says that closing off the corner with a knight's move is very good for Black so White frequently plays there first to prevent it. What does Black do then, he asks the class. Remembering his game with Akira, Hikaru raises his hand and suggests the Shusaku kosumi. Shirakawa-sensei seems shocked by this and asks if it is true that he has played only one game. Akari thinks he said something embarrassing and tries not to laugh at him but the instructor says it's a very good move. He says it was popular back in the days before komi when Black had the advantage of making the first move but today it is thought not to give Black enough to compensate for the komi. He then explains about komi and it is the first time that Sai has heard of it. After class the instructor teaches Hikaru how to use stones to determine who plays Black in an even game. He gives him a book of professional games and tells him to lay out the moves on a board. Hikaru notices a "go bully" humiliating a weaker player. Sai is outraged by such behavior and tells Hikaru to play with him so that he can give the bully a dose of his own medicine. Hikaru notices that the bully is wearing a wig so instead of sitting down to play he dumps a bowl of stones on the bully's head and removes the wig when he takes the bowl away. The bully runs out from embarrassment. The instructor is horrified. Akari says,"I don't know you," and walks away. Sai says, "I can't play go now because of your bad behavior." The instructor asks Hikaru to leave. Outside Hikaru finds the flyer for the children's tournament that he was given last week. To atone for his faux pas, Hikaru takes Sai to the tournament and both are amazed at the number of children playing go, some younger than Hikaru, and the serious atmosphere. Sai says it proves to him that his 1000 year old passion for the game will still be around 1000 years in the future. While watching a match, Sai tells Hikaru that Black must play the right move in the upper left corner or he will lose. He must play the 1,2-point. Black plays the 1,3-point and Hikaru blurts out that he should have played one line higher. The tournament is in an uproar over this breach of etiquette. Obata-sensei inquires about what happened, is shown the position, and is shocked that Hikaru could read it out. "Even a pro would think a bit," he says later in the episode. Hikaru is taken to the office and reprimanded then asked to leave. On the way out he bumps into Touya Meijin and Sai recognizes him as the man closest to mastering Perfect Go. In the office Touya Meijin realizes that there is a child other than his son who is capable of doing this sort of reading. He asks for his name but no one knows. "No matter," he says,"someone this good will come before us pros sooner or later." Back at the go club a man arrives to take a lesson from Akira but is told that he hasn't been in the mood to do anything since losing to that boy a week ago. The man wonders what happened to that boy and the proprietor suddenly remembers that she gave him a flyer for a children's tournament. "He's probably there now," she says and Akira immediately perks up then runs to the elevator. Too impatient to wait for it to arrive, he runs down the stairs and all the way to the station, leaves his change behind after buying his ticket, and runs to the car which he just manages to board as it is pulling out of the station. At his destination (which is not named but Ichigaya - the location of the Nihon Kiin Building in Tokyo - is shown on the destination map inside the car) Akira runs up the steps of the station to find Hikaru walking toward him while arguing with an invisible Sai. "Shindou!" Akira shouts, still breathless from running. "I've found you!" (Huff, puff) "I've finally found you...(intense look on face) Shindou Hikaru!" With this dramatic confrontation the episode ends.

Episode 3 (Title: Akira Bares His Fangs)

Comment:In the previous episode had a fair amount of didactic material about go but this one concentrates on the drama of the game and the emotions of the players. It makes very effective use of background music to establish mood: anger, excitement, or melancholy as the story requires. Hikaru tells Akira that he was impressed by the seriousness of the children at the tournament but he only stayed a few minutes and didn't play. Akira asks him if he wants to be a pro. Hikaru laughs and says he never thought about it. Akira says he will be a pro someday and Hikaru asks him how much money a pro can make. Akira tells him the prize for the Meijin tournament is $360,000 and is $420,000 for the Kisei. All eight titles total around $1.8 million. Hikaru tells Sai that he could easily win a couple of titles and make a lot of money. Sai gets angry and yells back, "How can you even THINK about playing go for money!" Hikaru tells Akira that he might become a pro for awhile and take a few titles. Akira gets very upset over this and yells, "You're no go player! That's an insult to all pros. No true go player would say such a thing. Do you have any idea what an effort it takes to be a pro?" Akira thinks to himself, Endurance, exertion, privation, mortification! There are those who transcend despair and still fail to reach their goal! I've exerted myself preparing to face all of that. Since I was little, every day, every passing day for hours and hours I played go. No matter how bitter it got at times I kept playing. How could I lose to someone like this... Akira challenges Hikaru to another game. As they walk to the club in the rain, Akira thinks, Someday I will be a pro. If I am going to attain the Hand of God, I cannot afford to lose to someone like this. Hikaru on the other hand thinks, Man, this guy can't take a joke! Hikaru asks Sai why he beat a grade schooler by only two points if he is so good. Sai explains that he wasn't trying. He was playing Tutoring Go the object of which is to lead the pupil in the right direction. The teacher should not play outrageous moves just to win. But, Sai says, Akira is not just a grade schooler. He is still "soft" but his moves are brilliant. His moves are a revelation to me. Once he grows up he will be a lion of go...or a dragon. And now he is baring his fangs at me. At the club the entire room full of players gather around the boys to watch the game. Hikaru takes Black and Akira has 5.5 komi. Hikaru plays komoku in the upper right corner and Sai wonders what to do about this boy with his bright eyes and his bright future. Should I give him a pat on the head or... Akira takes three minutes for his first move. Sai sees his nirensei opening and says to himself, Unthinkable in the days of Shusaku! There must have been a lot of development in the last 140 years. But 5.5 komi...it's not a problem against him but against someone of equal strength it could be rather burdensome. I must make each move count for more. The search for the best move...how gratifying! Akira kakaris Hikaru's komoku and Sai thinks that a pincer might be better than kosumi because of the komi. He sees the intense look in Akira's eyes, realizes that Akira is expecting the kosumi, and decides to accommodate him. The game proceeds to the accompaniment of very dramatic background music. Time passes then Akira hangs his head and begins to sob. "I resign," he cries and pushes the stones. Hikaru is taken aback by this and tries to make Akira feel better. "Touya, you were awesome!" he says. "You were so serious." Akira does not hear him as his thoughts are lost in the past, back to the day he asked his father if he thought that he has go talent. "I don't know," Touya Meijin said, "but you have two other qualities that are much more important: your willingness to work harder than anyone else...and an undying love of go." On his way home Hikaru feels bad for Akira and asks Sai why he didn't win by two points like the first game. Sai says that he had no choice...he wanted to pat his head but had to cut it off instead. The next day Hikaru walks by the go club and wonders where Akira gets his seriousness. Sai wants to play but Hikaru refuses. As he is walking away, he is spotted by Obata-sensei who recognizes him from the incident at the tournament. He takes Hikaru to see Touya Meijin who is told that this is the boy who beat his son. He plays a three stone handicap game with Hikaru (the same handicap that he gives Akira). Hikaru sees that he has the same intense look as Akira and Sai. I'm the only one left out, he thinks. As he lays out the handicap stones, Hikaru has an epiphany. He realizes that for the first time he actually WANTS to play go. Touya Meijin tells Hikaru that he has been playing go with Akira every day since he was two years old. Akira is as strong as a pro now. He won't let him play in amateur tournaments. If he plays another boy his age, the Meijin says, it would be like cutting off a bud before it blooms. Privately he thinks that Akira is above all other children. That is why he finds it hard to believe that Hikaru beat him. Hikaru notices the authority with which Touya Meijin places his stones on the board and is impressed. It's as though his fingertips are glowing. He thinks, I wish I could play like that. His eyes enlarge and then, as if in a trance, he reaches into the go bowl, picks, up a stone between his index and middle fingers for the first time in the series, raises it slowly above his head and brings it down on the goban with a resounding click. The impact of the stone on the board is shown three times in rapid succession, a technique sometimes used to highlight a particularly dramatic moment. End of episode.

Episode 4 (Title: Kaga of the Shogi Club)

Comment:After making the move seen at the end of the last episode, Hikaru looks at his trembling hand, thinks that Sai has taken over his body, lets out a horrified scream, and runs out of the room. Once Obata-sensei recovers from his surprise, he asks Touya Meijin if he could assess Hikaru's true go strength. He says, "No, the moves were all perfect but standard." To himself he thinks, "Only the last move really stood out. At first it looked bad; however..." Outside Hikaru yells at Sai and curses at him for taking over his body while the crowd around him backs away from this crazy kid screaming at thin air! Sai assures him that he is not able to take over Hikaru's body. Hikaru played the stone himself. In fact, Sai tells him, he didn't even put the stone where Sai wanted it. That last moves was Hikaru's, not Sai's! Later Hikaru meets Akari walking her dog. She invites him to go to a festival at her school on Sunday at 2 PM. Hikaru is still upset and turns her down. She walks away in a huff and Sai tells Hikaru that she must like him. Hikaru has a shocked look on his face. Despite his refusal 2PM on Sunday finds Hikaru at the school waiting for Akari. When she fails to show up, Hikaru and Sai investigate the booths on their own. Sai sees the kanji for go at a booth and they go over to check it out. Tsutsui, a studious boy in a school uniform and glasses, is instructing a festival attendee about a mid-level (chuukyu) life-and-death problem. Sai asks Hikaru about a book he sees in front of Tsutsui. It's "Touya Meijin no Tsumego Shu" (Meijin Touya's Collection of Life-and-Death Problems) and is the prize for anyone who can solve the hardest problem in the book. Sai wants it! Hikaru solves a beginner's problem without Sai's help but needs Sai for the next one which is yudan (dan-holder's) level. Tsutsui sets up the hardest problem and as Hikaru looks at it, a shadow asses over the board. It is Kaga Tetsuo, a redhead wearing a hakama (traditional trousers with loose billowing pant legs). The matching shirt has loose draping sleeves and the print of a shogi piece on the front. (Shogi is the Japanese variant of chess and the piece is the hisha or "flying chariot" which is equivalent to the bishop in Western chess.) Tsutsui tells Hikaru that in order to solve it, he would have to be as strong as Akira. "The first move should go right here," Kaga says and he takes a piece of bubble gum out of his mouth and slams it down on the board...in the correct place! "What's this about Akira? That bastard is the worst kid ever to lose to me!" he says with a nasty grin on his face. Then he teases Tsutsui about his inability to find enough go players to form a school club. "I'm a thousand times stronger than you, you know. If you're nice to me, I might join your club." Tsutsui says, "I don't want help from someone who would put gum on a go board. Here's your prize. Now get out of here." Kaga takes the book. "I hate igo!" he says. "And Touya Akira! I hate them both!" he screams as he goes berserk and rips the book to shreds. "Tell me why you hate Akira," Hikaru yells. "Are you telling me what to do? You've got guts, kid. Here, watch this." He takes a go stone and throws it back and forth between his hands too fast for the eye to follow then extends his fists toward Hikaru. "Guess which hand it's in. If you guess right, I'll tell you anything you want to know. If you guess wrong, I'll beat you up until you apologize." Hikaru guesses the left hand but it's empty. Kaga laughs at him and shows him that the right hand is empty, too. The stone is in one of Kaga's sleeves. "you're so much fun to tease. Give up go and I'll teach you shogi. It's a hundred times more fun." "If I have to learn shogi from you," Hikaru screams,"then I'll ever learn it! If you beat Akira, you must have tricked him like you tricked me. Or else he wasn't playing hard. I'll bet you ran away from go to shogi!" [Hikaru has no idea how close to the truth he is!] "I'll show you my go strength," Kaga retorts. Let's play! If you win, I'll do anything you say. If you lose...you have to jump into a pool in winter!" During the game Kaga thinks back to the past when his father used to badger him because he was never able to beat Akira. "Because of him, you are always Number 2 and you're two years older than him. You should be ashamed to lose to him." "I want to win," a younger looking Kaga says,"but..." "You must win today" his father says. "Don't come home if you don't." At the tournament Kaga sits down next to a younger looking Akira and says, "Someday I will defeat you." Akira innocently looks up and says,"Should I lose?" Kaga thinks, " 'Should I lose', he says. All this time I thought that we were rivals but he doesn't even care if he beats me or not." Kaga wins by 1/2 point because he played White with a 5 1/2 point komi. Back in the present Kaga thinks, "When Father learned that I could never be Number 1, he gave up on me." His game with Hikaru develops into a furious fight and Kaga realizes that he is being pushed around by this little kid. Sai thinks, "This guy isn't as good as Akira but his moves are interesting. He's easy to beat but his moves are fun to play against." At a crucial point in the fight Akari walks by talking to a girlfriend. Hikaru hears her voice and turns around to look for her. "Hurry up and move!" Kaga says. Hikaru gets flustered and puts the stone in the wrong place. Kaga wins the semeai and says with an evil smile,"Are you ready to admit defeat? That pool is waiting for you!" End of episode.

(Reports of episodes by Joel Sanet (AGA))