I haven't watched it yet (hehe... where have I been?) but this is a very clear and consive review ^^
Hikaru no Go tv Review
Hikaru Shindo is a lazy, under-achieving 6th grader until the day he finds an old goban in his grandfather's storage shed. The goban is haunted by the ghost of the greatest Go player of the Heian era, Fujiwara no Sai, who has spent a thousand years seeking the Hand of God; the Divine Move. Sai's soul attaches to Shindou's, so only Shindou can see or hear him, and Sai wants only one thing: to play Go.
Shindou has no interest in Go, but he takes Sai to a go salon to allow him to play. There Shindou and Sai meet Akira Touya, the same age as Shindou and a gifted Go player. Shindou is fascinated by both Touya's intensity and Sai's love of the game. Soon he develops his own desire to walk the path of Go and become a great player... and Touya's rival.
Description: thefourthvine.
Story & Characters
Well the theme of this anime is simply straight forward....playing Go, a Japanese board game that looks similar to
"opposite" but is kind of more complicated so i won't waste time here explaining how the game is
played.
Okay, this anime is about a boy name Shindou Hikaru who doesn't know anything about Go until he found a Go board in
his grandfathers attic, which possessed a spirit or ghost name Sai Fujiwara, a Go player from the Heian period in Japan
which dates back in the B.C.E period. From there on, Shindou and Sai started an exciting journey, for Shindou to chase
his so called rival in Go by the name of Touya Akira, while Sai is searching for the ultimate move in Go which is called
“the hand of God� but things don’t seem to go all so well. Of course all journeys are tough. But the
only problem is…. Shindou doesn’t know how to play Go at all. So how are Shindou and Sai going to cooperate
together? Will Shindou ever chase his so called rival, or will Sai ever reach his goal of finding the ultimate move in
Go?
This anime is very intense and exciting in accordance to the story as you would want to watch more and more, it also has
a good concept in terms with the theme of Go. So overall, I’ll give it a very substantial rating for the
story.
Rating:
Art
The drawing for this anime is very good, although it’s a 4 year old anime. Hikaru no Go is just basically just
like other anime series. It has the basic colours, textures and sketches that make Hikaru no Go stand out. But this
particular anime does have a lot of facial expressions intergraded in their drawings which makes this anime very
amusing. Every single detail wasn’t missed at all.
The only thing I found that wasn’t to my liking is the night scenes. I don’t know for some of you, but for
me, it tends to get a bit dark, especially on CRT monitors, but I found this problem on my LCD monitor as well. But I
mostly watch anime on the computer rather than on TV via the dvd player.
But there was no glitches whatsoever that I found. The background especially was done very well in terms of expression
wise. For example there are some scenes that some characters get frustrated and show their expression which in turn
changes the background to fit the mood. Now this was well done.
So overall, the art and animation put into Hikaru no Go was well done.
Rating:
Sound
I've just got the OST of Hikaru no Go and it was very excellent. Although the album doesn't have a lot of
songs compare to other OST's the music collection is impressive taking music from the anime series as well as the
intro and outro music.
The most noticeable theme song has got to be DREAM – Get Over. This is a very catchy song which in fact I
replayed in a lot of times, it has rock in it which I like and just a tinny bit of ballad, but I really didn’t
notice it. Anyways this song is cool.
The music taken from the Hikaru no Go OST is very cheerful, with songs such as ‘Warm Day’ and
‘Intersecting Roads’. But there are just a few piano pieces such as ‘Before Facing’ which
although sound depressing, but plays an important part within the series.
These soundtracks are produced by Wakakusa Megu, while the songs for the intro and outro are from the respective
artists.
So overall, it was a fine brilliant audio presentation.
Rating:
Presentation
Well what I like about the presentation of Hikaru no Go is the last part of the episode where there is a host teaching
you how to play Go. This was very educational and so each episode teaches a move or a principle which was watched during
Hikaru no Go. So for example in one episode, Shindou does a cool move in Go. At the end of the episode, the host teaches
the move that Shindou done previously during the episode. This, I found very interesting.
Now the enjoyable parts of Hikaru no Go is the actually playing of Go. Each time two people verus in Go during the
episode, it just gets too intense and very exciting. It will make you not leave your seat. Each move is fully emphasised
by the music and the visual. It is just that good.
And finally, its originality is kept in place. The anime tries not to make it unrealistic as playing Go so be normal.
There is no need to add fancy magic or tricks. It is just playing Go.
So in terms of presentation i'll give it a 10!
I'd say that even though you don't know anything about playing Go or you want to know how to play, then this
is the anime to watch!
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.8333 (very good)
Reviewed by andRox, Jun 11, 2005
Comments
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kuroimisa Retired Moderator Jun 12, 2005
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Sakura-K Jun 12, 2005
>.<'' nope
I've never heard of it.
but thanks for the information ^^ -
tareren Jun 12, 2005
Nice review, very to the point and clear :) you might want to elaborate on the story part more, the part of the rivalry I think :D and I love this anime too :)
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almina Aug 08, 2005
Nice review. But there are two ost, I think. I've watched the anime, I think animation was correct but not great, there are even eps that appear worse. I really like better the manga, cause some of the funny little scenes between Sai and Hikaru weren't animated.
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DarkenedSky Nov 02, 2005
Heh, I like your review.. atleast it gives me the name of the main character (I watched it in cantonese and mandarin with subtitles x__X)
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Apocalyptic Mar 23, 2006
I like your review and i agree with you. Hikaru no go is nice, everyone should watch it!:)
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