| Hikaru No Go [message #334392] |
Fri, 16 December 2016 12:14  |
Kenneth M. Lin
Messages: 229
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Art by Obama Takeshi of Death Note fame.
Okay, I am averaging two volumes a day and just finished Vol. 16.
This is about a sixth-grader (at the start of the series) that was
"possessed" by the ghost of a go master who lived one thousand years ago and
became interested in go, eventually turning pro by fourtheen.
You will not learn how to play the ancient game of go and after first few
volumes, they wouldn't even bother to explain the terminology, which is
something they should do even if a term appeared before. I am reading it
straight through and still cannot remember a term that might have been
explained one volume ago so I wonder how a reader reading this on weekly
installment could understand the game.
But pretty much nobody without a substantial prior knowledge of this board
game would be able to tell who's winning despite (I assume) Obama's
assistants meticulously reproducing the current state of a duel. In fact, I
feel sorry for whoever is asked to just draw the boards from different
angle. Go has 19 by 19 grids so there could be more than one hundred pieces
on the board as the game progresses. It doesn't help that the matches are
taking places in the shared room with several duels going on simultaneously.
I assume that the writer provide the layout but still...
I just got through with Vol. 16. In Vol. 15 Ishi, the ghost grandmaster's
time on Earth is over and he fades away suddenly and Hikaru travels to
Ishi's birthplace looking for him. The subsequent depression caused Hikaru
to not show up for his professional matches.
Vol. 16 is dedicated to another student go player who lost his nerve in last
year's professional exam and contemplating his future. He had an
opportunity to visit China and its go school and found his grooves back.
And in Japanese, five is pronounced as "go," just like the board game so you
will see the main character wearing number five a lot. I wonder this could
cause confusion to readers of the translated editions. Also, Hikaru's front
hair is inexplicably dyed blond. Just like nobody know what those lines on
Naruto's cheeks are, I don't know if Hikaru actually dyes his hair or it's
just the artist being dramatic. (Actually, Naruto has blond hair but he's
not European.) In anime and manga, many characters have pink, purple, or
other hair color even though the character is implied to be Japanese.
Obama is also a very fortunate artist. I don't think there have been many
artists in Shonen Jump that do not write their own materials but Obama is
almost exclusively artist only after his debut series. Hikaru No Go was a
massive hit he followed this up with Death Note and Bakuman.
Ken
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| Re: Hikaru No Go [message #334786 is a reply to message #334392] |
Wed, 28 December 2016 14:15  |
Kenneth M. Lin
Messages: 229
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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The story petered out as soon as Sai disappeared from Hikaru's life. The
only thing left was this huge international youth tournament against China
and Korea.
Even then, there was one volume devote to one-shots of side characters and
one issue devoted to another side character visiting China and finding new
motivation to turn pro.
"Kenneth M. Lin" wrote in message news:o317al$h3e$1@dont-email.me...
Art by Obama Takeshi of Death Note fame.
Okay, I am averaging two volumes a day and just finished Vol. 16.
This is about a sixth-grader (at the start of the series) that was
"possessed" by the ghost of a go master who lived one thousand years ago and
became interested in go, eventually turning pro by fourtheen.
You will not learn how to play the ancient game of go and after first few
volumes, they wouldn't even bother to explain the terminology, which is
something they should do even if a term appeared before. I am reading it
straight through and still cannot remember a term that might have been
explained one volume ago so I wonder how a reader reading this on weekly
installment could understand the game.
But pretty much nobody without a substantial prior knowledge of this board
game would be able to tell who's winning despite (I assume) Obama's
assistants meticulously reproducing the current state of a duel. In fact, I
feel sorry for whoever is asked to just draw the boards from different
angle. Go has 19 by 19 grids so there could be more than one hundred pieces
on the board as the game progresses. It doesn't help that the matches are
taking places in the shared room with several duels going on simultaneously.
I assume that the writer provide the layout but still...
I just got through with Vol. 16. In Vol. 15 Ishi, the ghost grandmaster's
time on Earth is over and he fades away suddenly and Hikaru travels to
Ishi's birthplace looking for him. The subsequent depression caused Hikaru
to not show up for his professional matches.
Vol. 16 is dedicated to another student go player who lost his nerve in last
year's professional exam and contemplating his future. He had an
opportunity to visit China and its go school and found his grooves back.
And in Japanese, five is pronounced as "go," just like the board game so you
will see the main character wearing number five a lot. I wonder this could
cause confusion to readers of the translated editions. Also, Hikaru's front
hair is inexplicably dyed blond. Just like nobody know what those lines on
Naruto's cheeks are, I don't know if Hikaru actually dyes his hair or it's
just the artist being dramatic. (Actually, Naruto has blond hair but he's
not European.) In anime and manga, many characters have pink, purple, or
other hair color even though the character is implied to be Japanese.
Obama is also a very fortunate artist. I don't think there have been many
artists in Shonen Jump that do not write their own materials but Obama is
almost exclusively artist only after his debut series. Hikaru No Go was a
massive hit he followed this up with Death Note and Bakuman.
Ken
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