People probably should know I don't particularly like Hikaru no Go, but this is not what this post is about. I went back and read some of the stuff and I noticed two pretty interesting things about HNG.
1. The story might as well be about people talking in Klingon.
Unless you're Sai reincarnated, it's not like anybody could possibly have any idea what's actually happening in the game. Most of the shots on the board are hard to see anyway (at least in the manga) so even if you knew Go like the back of your hand, it's probably impossible to infer what's going on. I doubt most people (including me) had any idea what the Go terms they use are about, but it's not like that matters since you can't see the board anyway. It'd be like if I say "I can move my rook to take his bishop" without showing you the corresponding Chess board, and you'd have no idea if that's a good or bad move.
One of the interesting side effect is that since clearly the author is also not at the level of Sai-reincarnated, all the games clearly have to be based on existing games. That means the outcome of every game in HNG is already known in advance. When Hikaru played the Korean guy in the final game, the spoiler sites already know he's going to lose by half a point because they already found the game that game was based on. So, given the Internet age, there is no surprises in HNG. Had the series continued going, you'd have known the outcome of every game long before they're decided in the manga.
This brings me to mention Hunter X Hunter's fictional board game between Komugi and Meryem. It's interesting since the Chinese boards always joked that only Sai can defeat Meryem in Go since he was supposed to be the most perfect living being int he world who happens to like to play board games. Well, it's pretty clear that Komugi is HXH's Sai. Like HNG's Sai or Toya Koyo she also has that aura of inviniciblty whenever she puts down a piece, and after she beat Meryem it what appears to be a 'Hand of God' move she revealed Meryem is as strong as she was 10 years ago.
Now you can say it's obvious easy to write about a "Hand of God" move when you invented your game, since whenever Komugi needs to make such a move she just says whatever she wants and the match will end instantly. But then this is exactly what happened in the second game between Sai and Akira. You sort of see them start playing and suddenly Sai decides to get serious, and boom, game over! Again, given that nobody reading this is likely to be at a level to even comprehend what they're doing, this means you can pretty much make whatever claim you want.
So in the end HNG becomes a matter of the artist's ability, not the writer. It's easy to write: "Hikaru does a 'Hand of God' and win!' But the artist still has to draw it in a convincing way. This is where HNG's brat-squad fails. In Sai versus Koya Koyo, both characters are portrayed in a way that it appears they're super powerful even though you actually have no idea what the heck they're doing. When it is Akira or Hikaru you just see some giant head aura that's supposed to indicate the same thing, but it simply doesn't have the same effect. The current Honinbo is another good example. You've never actually seem him make any single move that can be interpreted in the entire series, but he feels like he should be one of the most powerful characters in the game.
2. Why did HNG end?
Usually stuff end early because nobody is reading it, but I think HNG has pretty good popularity even after the author prematurely killed off Sai. I've heard everything from Koreans protesting to the author had a disagreement with the artist, but nothing seems to make very much sense. As far as I can tell it's mega popular, and after about 18 volumes you finally started having the brats in a position that can actually threaten the masters. Toya Koyo has only played 1 real game so far, and the Honinbo has played 0 (all his games more or less occur off the screen). I know sometimes the author just gets tired of continuing, but the story has just started. I don't know if HNG could've been something greater, but it was at a point where things are going to get more interesting than Hikaru beating a bunch of other brats who quickly faded into obscurity because their Go power level is too low.
I mean, if losing Sai is such a big problem, he can always come back as an AI or something.
1. The story might as well be about people talking in Klingon.
Unless you're Sai reincarnated, it's not like anybody could possibly have any idea what's actually happening in the game. Most of the shots on the board are hard to see anyway (at least in the manga) so even if you knew Go like the back of your hand, it's probably impossible to infer what's going on. I doubt most people (including me) had any idea what the Go terms they use are about, but it's not like that matters since you can't see the board anyway. It'd be like if I say "I can move my rook to take his bishop" without showing you the corresponding Chess board, and you'd have no idea if that's a good or bad move.
One of the interesting side effect is that since clearly the author is also not at the level of Sai-reincarnated, all the games clearly have to be based on existing games. That means the outcome of every game in HNG is already known in advance. When Hikaru played the Korean guy in the final game, the spoiler sites already know he's going to lose by half a point because they already found the game that game was based on. So, given the Internet age, there is no surprises in HNG. Had the series continued going, you'd have known the outcome of every game long before they're decided in the manga.
This brings me to mention Hunter X Hunter's fictional board game between Komugi and Meryem. It's interesting since the Chinese boards always joked that only Sai can defeat Meryem in Go since he was supposed to be the most perfect living being int he world who happens to like to play board games. Well, it's pretty clear that Komugi is HXH's Sai. Like HNG's Sai or Toya Koyo she also has that aura of inviniciblty whenever she puts down a piece, and after she beat Meryem it what appears to be a 'Hand of God' move she revealed Meryem is as strong as she was 10 years ago.
Now you can say it's obvious easy to write about a "Hand of God" move when you invented your game, since whenever Komugi needs to make such a move she just says whatever she wants and the match will end instantly. But then this is exactly what happened in the second game between Sai and Akira. You sort of see them start playing and suddenly Sai decides to get serious, and boom, game over! Again, given that nobody reading this is likely to be at a level to even comprehend what they're doing, this means you can pretty much make whatever claim you want.
So in the end HNG becomes a matter of the artist's ability, not the writer. It's easy to write: "Hikaru does a 'Hand of God' and win!' But the artist still has to draw it in a convincing way. This is where HNG's brat-squad fails. In Sai versus Koya Koyo, both characters are portrayed in a way that it appears they're super powerful even though you actually have no idea what the heck they're doing. When it is Akira or Hikaru you just see some giant head aura that's supposed to indicate the same thing, but it simply doesn't have the same effect. The current Honinbo is another good example. You've never actually seem him make any single move that can be interpreted in the entire series, but he feels like he should be one of the most powerful characters in the game.
2. Why did HNG end?
Usually stuff end early because nobody is reading it, but I think HNG has pretty good popularity even after the author prematurely killed off Sai. I've heard everything from Koreans protesting to the author had a disagreement with the artist, but nothing seems to make very much sense. As far as I can tell it's mega popular, and after about 18 volumes you finally started having the brats in a position that can actually threaten the masters. Toya Koyo has only played 1 real game so far, and the Honinbo has played 0 (all his games more or less occur off the screen). I know sometimes the author just gets tired of continuing, but the story has just started. I don't know if HNG could've been something greater, but it was at a point where things are going to get more interesting than Hikaru beating a bunch of other brats who quickly faded into obscurity because their Go power level is too low.
I mean, if losing Sai is such a big problem, he can always come back as an AI or something.
