Hikaru no Go

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Hikaru's Go

Japanese: ヒカルの碁

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 75

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 10, 2001 to Mar 26, 2003

Premiered: Fall 2001

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Dream Force

Licensors: VIZ Media

Studios: Studio Pierrot

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Supernatural

Theme: Strategy Game

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.08¹ (scored by 58,905 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #471²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1447

Members: 125,548

Favorites: 2,210

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

Streaming Platforms

Crunchyroll

8.08

Ranked #471Popularity #1447Members 125,548

Fall 2001TVStudio Pierrot

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Episodes: /75

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Synopsis

While searching through his grandfather's attic, Hikaru Shindou stumbles upon an old go board. Touching it, he is greeted by a mysterious voice, and soon after falls unconscious. When he regains his senses, he discovers that the voice is still present and belongs to Sai Fujiwara no, the spirit of an ancient go expert. A go instructor for the Japanese Emperor in the Heian Era, Sai's passion for the game transcends time and space, allowing him to continue playing his beloved game as a ghostly entity. Sai's ultimate goal is to master a divine go technique that no player has achieved so far, and he seeks to accomplish this by playing the board game through Hikaru.

Despite having no interest in board games, Hikaru reluctantly agrees to play, executing moves as instructed by Sai. However, when he encounters the young go prodigy Akira Touya, a passion for the game is slowly ignited within him. Inspired by his newfound rival, Hikaru's journey into the world of go is just beginning.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

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Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Hikaru no Go
Sequel:	Hikaru no Go: Hokuto Hai e no Michi
Summary:	Hikaru no Go: New Year Special, Hikaru no Go: Memories
Alternative version:	Hikaru no Go: Sabaki no Ikkyoku! Inishie no Hana yo Sake!!

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Fujiwara no, Sai

Main

Chiba, Susumu
Japanese

Shindou, Hikaru

Main

Kawakami, Tomoko
Japanese

Touya, Akira

Main

Kobayashi, Sanae
Japanese

Waya, Yoshitaka

Supporting

Takagi, Reiko
Japanese

Isumi, Shinichiro

Supporting

Suzumura, Kenichi
Japanese

Ogata, Seiji

Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji
Japanese

Mitani, Yuki

Supporting

Asakawa, Yuu
Japanese

Kaga, Tetsuo

Supporting

Itou, Kentarou
Japanese

Fujisaki, Akari

Supporting

Kakazu, Yumi
Japanese

Touya, Kouyou

Supporting

Tsuda, Eizou
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nishizawa, Susumu

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Kamiya, Jun

Director

Takahashi, Hideo

Sound Director

Kosaka, Harume

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

	1: "Get Over" by dream (eps 1-30)
	2: "I'll Be the One" by HAL (eps 31-60)
	3: "Fantasy" by Nana Katase (eps 61-75)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Bokura no Bouken" by Kids Alive (eps 1-12)
	2: "Hitomi no Chikara" by Mizuki Arisa (eps 13-30)
	3: "Sincerely ~ever dream~" by dream (eps 31-46)
	4: "Days" by shela (eps 47-63)
	5: "Music is My Thing" by Dream (eps 64-74)
	6: "Get Over ~Special Mix~" by dream (eps 75)

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Reviews

Jun 19, 2007

75 of 75 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

Stormy_77 (All reviews)

366 people found this review helpful

How on earth could anyone make a 75 episode anime about a school kid playing a 3000 year old board game? Surely there must be a lot of filler episodes. Those were my initial thoughts but Hikaru No Go had a great rating on Animenfo and I decided to start watching it.

The first thing to do is to collect the entire series of 75 episodes, the special and the Journey to Hokuta Cup before you start. One of the most amazing things about Hikaru No Go is it's ability to capture the viewer from the get go, once you start watching, it's like you don't want to stop. Every episode except for Story Arc endings is a mini-cliffhanger motivating you to start the next episode. This perfection of editing and pacing has not been achieved by many other anime.

The story centers around Shindou Hikaru, a 12 year old school boy. He's just had his allowance cut and was in the midst of rummaging through his grandfather's garage looking for something to sell for money when he picks up a "Go" board inhabited by the ghost of Fujiwara No Sai, a genius Go player from the Heian dynasty. Sai has unfinished business in this world, he wants to achive "The Divine Hand or Hand of God" in go. He possesses then haunts Hikaru ~ all he wants to do is play Go.

Initially Hikaru lets Sai play by moving the stones for him but he starts to fall in love with the game and starts playing himself. The series is a coming-of-age, maturing of new talent, exposure to the competitive world of Go and the beauty of the game. There's a nice large cast of supporting characters, all of which are fascinating in their own right.

The soundtrack is wonderful and fits the scenes well. The animation does have some frame reuse but it's done by the same artist who did Death Note and is good. As the series continues you can physically "see" the characters growing up, they get taller and their faces change.

One of the reasons Hikaru No Go is such a good anime is because Sai is the best anime character ever created (in my opinion). He's very loveable, smart, funny, honorable AND he's a Go genius.He shows amazing patience with Hikaru's moods and childishness, not just being his friend but also teaching and mentoring him from nothing to greatness at Go. Sai is just one of those characters you'll never forget. He has a big heart.

Having dated a nationally ranked chess player in my wild and mis-spent youth, I was amazed at how faithfully the series captures the world of competitive board game sports ~ rivalry, one-up manship, jealousy, excessive obsession with the game, psychological warfare, pushy teachers, they're all there and exist in real life. Even a person who doesn't play Go can understand it as it is presented in the anime.

The series has many layers of philosophy behind it that escape most people the first time around.
* How great is a person's desire for something?
* Can one live, obsessed with a game and winning?
* To achieve greatness there is always a price one must pay, in time, or friendships sacrificed by oneself or others. How far should one go?
* How should one deal with or live with regrets from one's past actions?
* Do people care about legacy and what should one try to leave behind?
* If a goal seems "unreachable / unattainable" is it still worth pursuing?

On surface the plot seems simple but in reality it's very profound, that's one of the reasons I consider this series a masterpiece. It could easily go on for another 75 episodes and I would want them all. Even after it ended, I was still thinking about it and craving more. I even started playing Go online. The manga sparked a resurgence of interest in Go in Japan, wih some message boards featuring posts by Go professionals stating that they wish they could play against Sai. For an anime to arouse this level of interest is amazing. Hikaru No Go deserves to rank much higher than it does, it is truly a masterpiece.

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Aug 22, 2009

75 of 75 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

TheLlama (All reviews)

109 people found this review helpful

Hikaru no Go is, in essence, an anime about the world of Go; about the game, the friendships and rivalries that arise in this world, the challenges, obstacles and feelings. This is a lot to actually live up to, and Hikaru no Go most certainly fills its role well.

It starts out very simle, in a way you've probably seen before. The main character, Shindou Hikaru, encounters a paranormal apparition by coincidence while stumbling around in his shed, and only he can see it. Said apparition is, in fact, the ghost of a skilled Go player from the past, Fujiwara no Sai. He really wants to play a game of Go, and as such Hikaru brings him along to a Go salon, where he finds a kid his age which he can play. Since only Hikaru sees Sai, Hikaru must play the pieces for him. Of course, fate throws a twist by letting the opponent be a prodigy almost strong enough to become a professional Go player. Sai, skilled as he is, beats this kid, Touya Akira, to a pulp. From here, a wild goose chase after the illusion of Hikaru starts. Sai of coruse manages to get Hikaru into the game, and he eventually chases after Akira. As such we have Hikaru chasing after Akira, who again is chasing what he thinks is Hikaru. Voilá, the stage is set for an intense anime full of emotions, drama and, of course, Go.

The plot from there is, for the most part, what I said above. Through tournaments, encounters at Go salons, school Go clubs, Inseis (aspiring professionals), and eventually the professional world of Go, we see these two chase after each other, and what remains in their wake. Quite honestly, the plot is very barebones, but that is completely irrelevant, because Hikaru no Go is in each and every way a character-driven series, which makes it in many ways more riveting and inspring than a plot-driven series.

And characters, we lack not. Aside the intense, heart-throbbing rivalry that develops between Akira and Hikaru, there are bucketloads of interesting side characters, who range from Go club members to hardened professionals who gaze as these two young players lead on a new wave of young and skilled Go players. Mostly everyone gets an acceptable amount of development, for example the challengers; why they play and what's at stake for them are usually revealed in a gripping way - I surely don't think I've ever rooted for ten characters when all of them posed as adversaries to the main character. The professionals and newspaper people's reaction to these up-and-coming kids, it all seems so real you kind of experience their surprise and excitement at this.

But of course, I can't get lost in the characters only; even though the characters are so good it's easy to forget the artistic qualities of the show, one must not at all forget the music and animation, which both play an impressive behind-the-scenes role in making this series what it is.

Let me ask you one question: When you were a teen, or if you're one now, have you ever looked at a picture from when you were two-three years younger? If so, the reaction "Holy mother of love, did I look *that* young?" is probably a familiar one. And when you watch this series, you'll probably end up thinking the same. For this is indeed a coming-of-age anime, following Akira and Hikaru from sixth grade through ninth grade, or three years. Their growth, while seen mostly in their Go playing and their personalities, is also very much reflected in the animation. Towards the end of the series, I asked myself: "Did they always look like that?". When they showed us flashbacks to the beginning, I realized, they did not. While you can recognize them, it is actually impressively easy to spot that they were different. Their faces, so much more child-like, and their stature lower. Much lower. I commend Pierrot for doing such a great job of reflecting their growth physically, too. It was so smooth that I couldn't say from one episode to another that, "hey, he looks older!", but on an overall basis, by skipping, say, twenty or so episodes at a time, I see that they gradually change.

Apart from that, the animators did an outstanding job. The next thing on the list is probably how they made the Go matches very interesting to watch. Just pain watching the stones being placed could've been very deterring, at least in the beginning. So instead they throw in a heap of special effects; lights, shadows, camera angles, intense effects when placing stones, even changing the background to make the game more in the center of attention, or even make a symbolic scape, for example the universe itself, symbolizing the "world" that is the Go board, and even the so-called Divine Move.

In general, Pierrot did an awesome job of making the show pretty to look at. Now, even in 2002 you had better-looking series, but it does not change the fact that it looks really nice. And they improve as they go on. It looks only mediocre in the first episode compared to the final episode. Among the stronger points I can mention clothes, backgrounds and effects when playing Go. The weaker parts are a bit annoying, but are mostly fixed upon as they go along, creating a most aesthetically enjoyable series. One problem is faces, which look a bit weird - at times some details are a bit misplaced -, but they do a nice job of expressiions, while not going overboard with them either, keeping a fairly serious tone. And later on, when I saw the sheer intensity in their eyes, I just thought "whoa!" and had to let a drop of sweat run down my cheek. The other problem is that sometimes when they placed stones on the board, the perspective was done entirely wrong, when the rest of the stones already there looked real nice. This, too, improved very much as the series went on, and in the latter stages I noticed very litte to none of this problem.

And now, the soundtrack, which was done quite nicely. No, that's an understatement. It was inspiring and evocative, all the while not taking over the series, doing a nice job behind the scenes to build up and strengthen the emotional impacts of the show. The intense feelings of the games, the sad feelings that happened occasionally between characters, it was all done with music that reinforced those feelings and made it enjoyable to the point where I felt this tingling feeling in my stomach. The opening and ending themes are quite nice, too. The first opening, "Get Over" by Dream, especially; its synth-pop rythms and lyrics are very inspiring, but it doesn't completely outmatch the others; they were all very strong candidates for favoritism and defnitely a worthwhile watch. Not to mention the final ending theme, which is a ten-minute half-instrumental, half-original mix of Get Over. That was a masterful piece of music.

All in all, Hikaru no Go provides sufficient character-driven, intense and emotional entertainment, which most people would find interesting. And don't let the pretense of a baord game like Go deter you from watching; it is hhgly enjoyable, and though I didn't really care for the Go, it remained interesting throughout the whole series. And the more enjoyable aspects of the show will definitely overshadow it if it comes to that. And for new and seasoned Go players alike, this is a very interesting ashow to watch!

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Dec 24, 2006

75 of 75 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Hiromi (All reviews)

54 people found this review helpful

An anime about a grade school boy playing a board game. Sounds intense, huh? *cough*

That's what I thought when I first heard about Hikaru no Go. But how about something like this: A young boy is introduced to a board game unchanged through nearly three millenia by the spirit of a top player still yearning to complete what is called the "Hand of God." But then again, everything sounds good when you throw in big words.

Hikaru no Go is essencially the story of Shindou Hikaru as he is inhabited by Fujiwara no Sai - a genius go player from the Heian Period. As Hikaru is read more

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Jan 6, 2009

75 of 75 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

VoDKa (All reviews)

32 people found this review helpful

I will begin by saying that do not let the length of this anime turn you off. Although watching 75 episodes is not an easy job for any given anime, I cannot once remember the act of watching Hikaru no Go being a pain. In fact, every single episode was a pleasure to watch and the entire experience was nothing less than spectacular. I will not go into the plot since there are countless places on the web where you can find the plot outline (including myanimelist lol). This review is therefore strictly to do with the elements that make Hikaru No Go such an awesome anime to watch. For starters, although this anime is about Go, you do not need to have an understanding (or even liking) of this game in order to enjoy it. The driving force of HnG is a combination of excellent character development, brilliant plot, fantastic music, and an overall gripping presence to the show. All you have to do is to watch the first episode of this anime and I will guarantee you that you will crave for the next episode. Yes, it is THIS good. Another noteworthy aspect of this anime is the emotional impact it has towards it's viewers. I found myself laughing, smiling, upset, angry, and almost in tears at specific time points throughout my experience of watching this anime. You will really be putting your emotions through a roller coaster ride, which is quite rare for a lot of other animations. I strongly suggest you all to watch this one. It will not disappoint you.

Story: I know that I mentioned that I will not talk about the storyline but since this is part of the review, I will provide a brief outline. HnG is based on the ancient strategy game called Go (similar to chess or checkers) and it journeys into a student's (Hikaru) self discovery when he begins to play Go under the influence of an ancient ghost called Sai upon being possessed by it. At first, Hikaru is compelled to play Go on behalf of Sai but as he begins to play more and more, he begins to develop a personal liking to the game, especially when faced with a genius rival of the same age (Akira). This leads to his aspiration of becoming the best Go player that he possibly can. 9/10

Art: The art was fantastic and colorful. It complemented the theme of the anime very well and the overall art was generally perfect. I cannot imagine the art being any different to what it was. 10/10

Sound: Another amazing addition to the anime. The sound was simply outstanding, which really leaves an impact on the viewers. Bokura No Bouken (ending theme of the first dozen or so episodes) was breath-taking and gave a lot of character to the anime. The other themes were equally fantastic. 10/10

Character: Each character was portrayed in a realistic way and fortunately there was not a single character who was "over-the-top" or irritating. Unlike naruto for instance, where certain characters are too silly or juvenile, the characters in HnG were unique in their own ways without acting overly stupid. This gave an interesting flow to the anime overall. Even the comical aspects of some characters were extremely well developed. 9/10

Enjoyment: For me personally, Hikaru No Go was extremely fun to watch and I was seriously addicted to this show. After watching the first episode, I just knew that I had to complete this anime asap because it substantially increased my confidence that I would not be wasting my time. The only thing is, I was sad when I finished it and felt this strange void instantly after I watched the final episode. I think it is remarkable that some anime can have that effect on you. It is as if they become a part of you. 9/10

I am quite strict when it comes to scoring anime, so I give this a 9/10 overall. If you have not seen this anime yet, I suggest you add it to your "plan to watch" list. It really is a fantastic show.

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Fujiwara no, Sai

Shindou, Hikaru

Touya, Akira

Waya, Yoshitaka

Isumi, Shinichiro

Ogata, Seiji

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Kaga, Tetsuo

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