Intro to Hikaru no Go
me: SAM, WHAT SHOULD I NAME MY HIKAGO DIRECTORY?
sam: handofgod
me: that is the first thing i thought of too.
me: after, of course, deciding “touyaismyasianprincess” was too long.
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I have uploaded one of my dear, rare, beloved most favorite of animes, Hikaru no Go, to a directory near you.
Things to know about Hikaru no Go:
Seriously, people, you could have Playboy models lined up in a hand-holding row from Boston to Encinitas, each of them watching her own personal Shindou bird fly away like swallows departing back to Capistrano, and it would still not make a dent in the Hikago gay. All you’d have in the end would be two boys desperately in love with each other and a bunch of Playboy centerfolds with bird shit on their heads.
- mirabella
1) General Love:
I have never pimped Hikago before in a way that has done it justice. I love this show. LOVE. I suspect most people on my friends list will too. It’s not like any other anime I’ve ever seen. It’s Shounen Jump, so there is the sports/competitive element, but mostly it’s just completely elegant and supernatural and sweet. The best word I have for it is “special.” You start out thinking it’s about a board game, but then quickly realise that it’s really about the characters. And about how Touya and Hikaru are spiritual partners and lifemates forever. and how Touya is gorgeous and amazing amazing amazing and how hikaru needs to wrap him up and take him home and cure him of his deep love for lavender and argyle and asfkjl;ads
2) The OTP: No, really. I heard over and over before watching this show that it was really, um, very OTP and slashy, but there’s no way to describe just HOW OTP and slashy it is. You know how Snape tells Remus and Sirius that they argue like an old married couple? Well. Touya and Hikaru are that old married couple. there are no similes here. And they are that old married couple at age 15. *_* FOR LIFE.
There are very, very few things I’ve ever found in fandom as satisfying as Akira/Hikaru. They are created for each other. You don’t even realize that this is the Truth of Go. Go is a game for two, and Touya and Hikaru have been waiting a thousand years just to play it. with each other. Fandomwise, there really are no competing ships, nothing that gets in the way of the overwhelming and canonical love of this pairing. Waya/Isumi is the second most popular ship, for reasons that will become obvious when you watch/read.
3) SAI. Sai is the heart of Hikaru no Go, and he is a beautiful, vibrant, and unforgettable character. You will be glad you met him. When the creator of HnG, Yumi Hotta, went to Korean and Chinese Go tournaments, she discovered that the adult tournament officials had been leaving a seat open for Sai in their official tournament matches - as a way to honor the character and the series. It is worth reading/watching to find out what a lovely, lovely gesture that was. I usually tear up just thinking about it.
4) PRETTINESS. The mangaka, Takeshi Obata, is the same artist who drew Death Note. I think that the manga and the anime are equally beautiful, though I know some people like the manga art better - but this series is beautifully drawn and there are absolutely gorgeous moments in both that I think everyone will love. There are also amazing amazing hikago fanartists and doujinshi artists, but that’s a rec for a different time. Just. Overall? This show is beautiful. It is one of my favorite things, and I am proud to recommend it to everyone I know.
–>>IGOCENTRIC.<<–
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ADDENDUM.
ladysorka has uploaded the entire Hikaru no Go artbook.
Basically I’ve never seen anything so stunning in my life.
The reason that in two years I have never properly flailed myself off the map about Hikaru no Go is simple. Because I was so into Prince of Tennis, and had already inflicted so much of it on my friends list, I did not want to then turn around and go, “oh, well, there is this other thing!”
But I have loved Hikaru no Go for a long time. I watched it only a month after I watched Tenipuri. I wrote three fics for it in three months, as opposed to PoT, for which I’ve written 3 fics in, like, what, 2 years?
There is nothing, nothing in the world as completely canonically gay as Hikago is without actually being gay. Other canons (like House/Wilson, and I think TezuRyo) are so blatant without actually being slash that it’s almost overkill. Hikago, though - Hikago gives you the goods. Hikago delivers. Hikago says “these two kids are in love and they will be in love for all eternity and that is all that we need to say.” No two people in any canon that ever canoned been more married than Hikaru and Akira. I include Brian & Justin in this sweeping blatant over-generalization, as well as every yaoi pairing ever. I include Tezuka and Ryoma in that and they even had a marriage ceremony officiated by 14-year-olds on a tennis court where they exchanged flying tennis balls for wedding rings. However. Tezuka and Ryoma do NOT have a canon that states with utter resounding authority that they are going to be together, that the entire point of canon was pretty much just to *bring* them together, and that their being together is part of a long, destiny-approved march through time and eternity. That is what puts Hikago canon at the top for me, the pinnacle of all other slashy canons vying for the title of “slashiest.” If by “slashiest” we mean “most canonically likely to end in boys falling in love forever.” :( Hikaru no Go has the most incredible OTP you’ve ever seen. Maya (mistful) just agreed with this the other day, and you know that when Mirabella, Maya, and Aja *together* are calling something gayer and OTP-ier than Harry/Draco, you are looking at the Waterloo of all other OTPs to come.
Hikago has the best of everything. The. Best. Of. Everything. Hikago canon is an epic slashfic without the slash. It’s got canonical acknowledgment without being fanservice: it deals straightforwardly with its pairing and does not bother to ask whether this is gay, slashy, subtextual, or metaphoric, because love is love, and Hikaru and Akira are soulmates.
If you are an anime fan, you will love Hikaru no Go. If you are into ghosts, you will love Hikaru no Go. If you are a sports story fan, you will love Hikaru no Go. If you are a slash fan, you will love Hikaru no Go. If you are a fan of the beautiful soulbinding partnership/rivalry of TezuRyo, you will love Hikaru no Go. If you are a Harry/Draco fan, you will love Hikaru no Go with the intense beating lovewings of a thousand fluttering Snitches.
The last thing I want to say about this show is that you really, really, really need to read the manga. There’s an entire arc in the manga that’s not in the anime- the OVA covers half of it but not the whole thing. As you can see from the art in this post, the manga is absolutely stunning; but it’s that final arc that, I feel, elevates this wonderful little story from being only beautiful to being truly sublime.
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Ahh! I just stumbled on this because themostepotente on LJ was looking for anime recs, and I was searching for the rec you posted on LJ about Hikaru no Go that utterly converted me to the series. (Well, it was your upload actually… I watched the first two episodes you’d put up and was utterly hooked.)