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A review by dorinlazar
Hikaru No Go, Vol. 1: Descent of the Go Master by Yumi Hotta
4.0
This starts as what feels as pretty cliché: a ghost of an ancient go player inherits the mind of a school kid who discovers the Go board of (I presume) Honinbo Shusaku. The first few chapters struggle with the fact that kids might find the game boring - and the main character (Hikaru) fights a lot with the ghost (Sai).
I love the tone of the whole story - it obviously tries to be educational, but it does educate in a subtle way, while sacrificing a bit on the story telling side. I'm not sure if the author knew where she wanted to take the story to, it feels like she wanted to keep the ghost gimmick for longer, but only after a while she switched to a more natural evolution of the Hikaru character. I'm not saying that this is not what she intended for her character, it just feels that she plays too much with the ghost gimmick (that, if I remember correctly, gets very thin by the end of the story).
I think the four stars is a very subjective rating - the debut of the series is kind of weak - and while the first book establishes the antagonists of the story (I can't call them villains, even antagonist seems harsh) and some objectives that the hero will tackle later. But I'm not sure if someone who picks up the first volume without knowing what it is will be drawn into the story, or they will just think that it's passable, but somewhat uninteresting.
I love the tone of the whole story - it obviously tries to be educational, but it does educate in a subtle way, while sacrificing a bit on the story telling side. I'm not sure if the author knew where she wanted to take the story to, it feels like she wanted to keep the ghost gimmick for longer, but only after a while she switched to a more natural evolution of the Hikaru character. I'm not saying that this is not what she intended for her character, it just feels that she plays too much with the ghost gimmick (that, if I remember correctly, gets very thin by the end of the story).
I think the four stars is a very subjective rating - the debut of the series is kind of weak - and while the first book establishes the antagonists of the story (I can't call them villains, even antagonist seems harsh) and some objectives that the hero will tackle later. But I'm not sure if someone who picks up the first volume without knowing what it is will be drawn into the story, or they will just think that it's passable, but somewhat uninteresting.