Customer Reviews

Hikaru no Go, Vol. 9 (Hikaru No Go (Graphic Novels))

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Yumi Hotta, Hikaru no Go: The Pro Test Begins (ViZ, 1998)

The pro test is finally here, and Hikaru's ready for it. Meanwhile, Toya, playing in a Go festival, is asked to throw a game he's playing with a minor government official (this seems to be common practice, rather than any sort of ethical violation, as we might see it in America); can he overcome his own pride enough to do it? Hikaru and a couple of his friends start playing against adults in Go salons in order to improve their game, and the owner of one sets Hikaru a challenge which might improve his skills faster than ever. Unfortunately, though, he inadvertently insults a Korean insei, and the fallout from that leads him to what may be his most challenging game yet. You wouldn't think a comic about a game as sedate as Go could be as gripping as this, but it is. A fine piece of work, as usual. ****

(The plot summary at the top is wrong, what it is referring to is another series called One Piece)This is the ninth book in the Hikaru no go English series about Hikaru a young boy who plays GO.(read the reviews of other volumes to get a general plot summary)In this volume Hikaru plays a Korean boy who is training to become a Pro just like Hikaru and the other Insei. Hikaru shows how much he improves in this volume because a man who saw one of the games Sai played through Hikaru says that he no longer doubts his skill because he played as well as the did the first time. i.e. when Sai played. So Hikaru may very well be becoming as strong as Sai is.