Hikaru no Go 12
Posted: June 6, 2008 Filed under: Hikaru no Go 5 Comments »Do I start off all the posts for this series by complaining about the gaps between volumes? I really should. I know I could just read it in Shonen Jump if I don’t like it, but I think I would rather complain.
I really thought the plot point with Sai that I’ve been looking forward to was coming up, but I forgot about the tournament Hikaru plays in at his new position. Most of the volume is about Koyo Toya requesting a special match with Hikaru and… well, the match and its aftermath. While the Sai part that I was thinking of was not included, I had forgotten about this little bit of Sai character development. You see, Koyo is really more Sai’s rival, so Sai wants to play the match. Of course, Hikaru doesn’t want this because he doesn’t want everyone to see him beat Toya Meijin at his first pro game, plus it’s a rare opportunity for Hikaru himself. Sai is persistent and also annoying, so the two work out an interesting compromise. The game and its aftermath are fantastic, as you may have expected from this series. It tickles me to praise it so highly, because even though I’ve been a fan of this series for… well, nearly five years, the novelty of it being a fantastic series about Go still hasn’t worn off.
I laughed harder than I should have at the little author blurb on the front page where Takeshi Obata admits he still hasn’t learned to play Go.
This volume ends a story arc, and I can’t remember what happens immediately after this part. I won’t have to worry about it for several months, but I’ll look forward to it all the same.
I just started reading this last night, but haven’t finished yet. I found it pretty heartbreaking to see Hikaru ignoring or being dismissive of Sai. :(
Also, HnG doesn’t actually appear in Shonen Jump anymore. Hopefully this’ll mean less time between releases, but v13 is still due in September or something, and v14 has yet to be solicited, so no one really knows if/whether things will improve.
[...] ni Ribon. Ferdinand enjoys vol. 1 of Hotel Africa at Prospero’s Manga. Connie checks out vol. 12 of Hikaru no Go and ION at Slightly Biased Maga. Matthew J. Brady goes on a manga binge at Warren Peace Sings the [...]
I love that Sai is getting his own action lately.
They’re splitting up. Sai and Hikaru are outgrowing each other. There will be a point that Sai will have to look at Hikaru as a competitor, even though Hikaru is very much inspired by Sai.
And there’s the fact that’s Sai’s realizing he no longer belongs in Hikaru’s mind. He has no body, no soul. He wants to stay there, and he’s selfish enough to want to take a big part of Hikaru’s life and play HIS GAME against Koyo. It pains him to not have the advantage that Hikaru has, to be able to play Koyo.
To a point, it fits the sports, competitive story perfectly. You know, pupil outgrowing his master kind of thing. You can take it at face value. But it’s a coming-of-age story, and you can think of it more metaphorically if you want to as well. Either way, this manga is great. Great art, great characters, great plot (I don’t like Go, but I love that such a good manga can portray the world of Go so well. It took Hikaru 2/3 years to reach this level! Difference from the other genius shonen I’ve seen).
Reading Hikaru in Shonen Jump, I felt that what I read was good, but the story sat uncomfortable amidst the tournamental earth pulverising power deathstryke fighting of the other stories. By comparison, these stories made HNG seem boring even though it’s not; so, I think it’s better to get the GNs even if you have to wait awhile. After I stopped buying Shonen Jump, I have yet to start buying the HNG graphic novels, which I’m sure are great and I’m curious as to what has happened to Akira Toya and that little brat with the bowl haircut and the double-O glasses, but I’ve been swamped with Bleach, Naruto, D-Grey Man, and others. Pretty soon, though. Hopefully.
They’ve dropped it from the monthly Shonen Jump lineup. I don’t know what this’ll do to the release schedule- hopefully speed it up since they won’t have to wait for a whole volume’s worth to come out in the monthly first.