Hikaru no Go: Episode Four!

Finally, guys! I read Episode Four, like, a million years ago, but then I also got a promotion at work. It's nice, but at the same time, good lord guys, you do not need to text me on my days off to ask me about the color of a certain make of Oakley frames, mmkay? I've never been one to turn off my phone if I can help it, because what if someone needs to call me? I am, however, getting close to needing to do so, for the simple reason that it's really annoying to hear about customer satisfaction issues when I'm dealing with dinner.

Anyway, I can complain about work and talk about latest obsessions in a Post To Follow. This post is dedicated to Hikaru 4: Return of Akira.

Though the first part of the manga was dedicated to the tournament, I found the internet Go playing decidedly more interesting, though the tournament really revealed specific character traits that had heretofore either been in the background, or hadn't quite caught my attention. For instance, Yuki is the more psychological player, and as such, is susceptible to manipulation by others. How he reacted when his opponent in the second round gave him advice showed him to be, if not necessarily aggressive, easily aggravated. I suppose giving advice mid-match could be a cultural/game taboo that I'm not aware of (would ask Chew but he's StarCrafting or whatevs), though I know it's pretty much the point of a teaching game. Regardless, Yuki seems to be stubborn as well as a cheater and a bit of a proponent of emotional manipulation during the game, which makes it all the more surprising when he takes on the roll of teacher later in the book.

Kimi over there is the delicate one of the bunch, and would, I think, be a stronger player if he would learn to keep his emotions under control, though the same could be said of Yuki ("BLAHBLAHBLAH I AM WORTHY OF FIRST POSITION BLAHBLAHBLAH ANGRYFACE" He was trying to get you worked up, yes, and he succeeded but good). At least he seems more type A and interested in organizing the club, which is really what the club needs. He likes Go probably for the same reason a part of me likes it: it's organized and, if not predicable, logical. Sometimes. Maybe. So it seems like it would be right up his alley, but sometimes Go isn't going to be logical, and sometimes, regardless of how well he can alphabetize, he's going to lose.

Hikaru is such a typical kid, I don't even. He recognizes that Akira really wants to play Sai, and that's a step forward, but he can't quite get to the point where he'll put himself aside and allow Sai to play. I suppose that's compounded by the fact that he can't really just be: "Oh man, Akira, sorry about that, you were really playing the GHOST INSIDE MY HEAD the whole time..." So to anyone watching the situation, Hikaru just looks like a really uneven player. I did like that Sai is recognizing that Hikaru is getting to be quite the player. He's forming ideas, but can't quite get the critical jump between ideas and follow through. Seems like he's growing up awfully fast, but I guess either Go or having a ghost in you does that.

Now, on to the Internet. Since Chew does most of his Go playing on the Internet anymore (with the exception of Go club, which is admittedly pretty awesome), I laughed through most of this part. I admit, I'd have fantasies of Chew going to the amateur Go cup or its real life equivalent, if for no other reason than to watch, because it would make him super excited and he might squeal a little (manfully, of course). Regardless, seeing his Wednesday night novelized was cute. Sai, it seems, has become InternetFamous (TM), a coveted status indeed. The stressed out reaction of the Go Cup players was typically melodramatic, but for the format, it was clever and served to highlight just how damn good Sai is. That being said, Sai's expertise makes me wonder if Go is One of Those Games that's deteriorated in terms of quality over time. It doesn't seem like it does, particularly for a game that's seen so many centuries, but at the same time, everyone that Sai comes up against emphasizes how he's so much better than xyz other awesome Go players. Perhaps it's just his antiquated style of play, and I can imagine that would throw people off. Regardless, the image of a large, floaty, old-style Japanese dressed gentleman directing Hikaru to press keys for the Go stones makes me smile, and it was a cute touch as well as a stroke of genius on Hikaru's part.

So that's about it for the fourth edition of the Hikaru reviews. I'm sorry about how slow these are being, what with National Novel Writing Month (which I succeeded at) and the aforementioned promotion, it's been crazy. I did, however, get a comment on the last post I made that made me think. Chew's told me about a poll on the Go forums revealing that a majority of the forumites were in some sort of computer-related field. I wonder what astrological sign the majority of Go players are? I know that's a silly-ish question, but it's one that I'm now SUPER curious about that.

The End!