Hikaru No Go: The Go Master’s Descent (volume 1)

Reviewed By: Carla Land

Viz Media/ Shonen Jump Home Video DVD

Review based on volume 1 (episodes 1-4)

Rating

What it’s (basically) all about: Hikaru is a typical 6^th grader until he discovers his grandfather’s old Go board in the attic. Now he’s been possessed by a 1000 year old Go-playing ghost named Sai, who used to be the emperor’s personal Go instructor until being falsely accused of cheating. Sai’s spirit will not rest until he can complete the Divine Move, which means things for Hikaru are going to be pretty strange from now on- especially if he can’t learn to like the game!

Nitty Gritty: The disc opens with a preview for Naruto, which is for all ages. Most of the extras are pretty unspectacular- DVD credits, a “Know Your Go” glossary that’s four pages of text, storyboard/sketches (only ten of them), clean opening/closing animation, and the manga (here they say “graphic novel”) preview, which is basically the first ten or so pages of the manga. There are also some ads for Shonen Jump magazine and several other manga sereies.

As far as the show goes, there’s little here to be concerned about. There is the scene at the beginning where Hikaru sees blood stains on the Go board, and then there’s Sai’s explanation of how the stains got there (another person he possessed died of an epidemic that wasn’t pretty.) Sai also talks about his death, or rather, his suicide, because he threw himself into a river after being disgraced. (Sai, incidentally, is a very effeminate character, dressed in robes with long hair and a decidedly high pitched squeal at the mere mention of Go.)

As the show progresses, Hikaru learns to like the game of Go, which is a good thing because Sai is seriously in love with the game. In fact, with the exception of Hikaru, pretty much everyone in the series has an almost unhealthy attachment to it. Go is apparently a very serious thing in Japan. (For the record, Go is something like checkers and chess together, though that hardly explains it.)

At the end of every episode there is a brief live action segment that teaches you how to play Go. It’s completely in Japanese though, so without the subtitles it’s not very helpful. The subtitles go by pretty quickly, but it’s well done enough that beginners will get something out of it.

Survey says:  No violence, no nudity, no bad language- this is fine for children’s collections. Kids are going to be familiar with the show, and you may even be able to get a Go club going. This will be a popular addition, given its fan base is growing, especially among middle schoolers.

Personal Ad: Are these people for real? My first impression of this show was that it was kind of cute, but the more I watched the more I started shaking my head. The music played during the Go games would be better heard in a great Civil War epic, and I half expected several characters to commit suicide after losing.  Seriously, I don’t know why the kids in my anime club are asking for it, but they are.