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LadyPsychic

  • Texas
  • Joined Jan 20, 2011
  • 37 / F

Hikaru no Go

Dec 30, 2017

Story

This series is about a boy named Hikaru who releases a ghost named Sai, who played Go back when he was alive and wishes to play yet again.  Sai then talks the initially reluctant Hikaru into helping him play Go (since Sai is a ghost and can't move the stones by himself) and Hikaru quickly meets his rival, Akira.  As the story progresses and Hikau learns more about Go, Hikaru becomes more interested in playing Go himself instead of just moving the stones for Sai.  He then eventually follows Akira into the world of professional Go. 

The story does earn some points for having some unusual subject matter (the anchient board game of Go).  The pacing is also pretty good for the most part (except for a few episodes fairly late into the series that I felt kind of dragged a little).  My biggest critcism of this series are two filler episodes that were randomly jammed in the middle of the series (episodes 64 & 66).  To be fair, they are not bad episodes (in fact, I thought they were pretty good), but the part of the series that they were put in was a bit jarring (and made that part of the series seem to drag even more than it actually did).  That said, this was an overall enjoyable experience.

Animation

The animation is (for the most part) fairly good for an early 2000's series.  I also like the character designs.  There were a few moments fairly late in the series that I thought that some of the faces looked slightly wonky to me, but other than that, the animation was solid.

Sound

All the opening and ending songs were really good, in my opinion.  I also have to give credit to the background soundtrack (especially during the Go games).  The music really helps make the Go matches seem exciting and epic.

Characters

It was really interesting seeing Hikaru progress from not being very interested in Go (and just letting Sai play by moving the stones for him) to wanting to play the game for himself and gradually becoming stronger to eventually becoming a pretty good Go player in his own right.  I also liked the dynamic between Hikaru and his rival, Akira.  Sai was also a pretty likable characters.  There is also pretty good size supporting and minor cast, with some getting more development than others.  There were a few characters that I wish had more screentime, but overall I like the cast of this series.

Overall

This was an enjoyable series.  In fact, if there was anyone in the area that I live in that actually played Go, I would've considered learning and playing Go myself.  Alas, I don't think there are many Go players in Texas.  Oh well, this series was still fun to watch.

Secret Santa 2017 review #2

7.9/10 story
7/10 animation
9.5/10 sound
8/10 characters
8/10 overall

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