Hikaru no Go, by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata (supernatural sports manga, 1998-2003)

[lb_lee]

Recced by Janusz of talewisefellowship !

"Sai... I guess the one and only way to see you... is for me to play go. Sai, is it... is it all right for me to play?"

Blurb: When average 6th grader Shindō Hikaru finds an old Go board in his grandfather's warehouse, he is possessed by the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai, a master Go player who lived about a thousand years ago, and from that moment his life changed forever. Although Hikaru originally had no interest in the old board game, through spending time with Sai he gradually comes to appreciate the game and Sai becomes his guardian mentor and teaches the game to him. Thanks to Sai's actions, Hikaru manages to catch the attention of a young go prodigy his own age, Tōya Akira. The two develop a mutual interest in each other and Hikaru dedicates himself to studying the game so that he may become a player worthy of Akira.

Why is it worth your time?:
Because only Hikaru can see and hear Sai and they talk to each other in his head, the way the two live together is very similar to the experiences of many plural systems, especially the "host and soulbond" type. The story portrays their relationship and their struggles in a very human way that a lot of systems might find relatable. It was this story that first motivated me to get in touch with my system.

Also the gay subtext between Hikaru and Akira is so strong it might as well just be considered text. Since it's early 2000's Shōnen Jump there is no official confirmation of the nature of their feelings for each other, but I wouldn't consider it queerbaiting either; it is what it is.

Plural Tags: Spirit possession, the dead

Content Warnings: Contains spoilers, in comments below

Accessibility Notes: Available in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and French, as comics and anime, digital and analog. Quoth Janusz, "Unfortunately the anime doesn't cover the entire manga and the english voice acting is not very good, so if you listen to the dub I recommend listening to the original Japanese voice acting to get a sense of how everyone actually sounds." Also, apparently it got remade into a Chinese live-action remake a while back! No clue if it's any good though.

Comments

Content Warnings

[lb_lee]

Quoth Janusz: "something like system member death happens and it's a very big deal. Hikaru blames himself for it so he stop playing go, falls into a depression and withdraws from all his social circles. the rest of the story is about Hikaru learning to cope with it but he does get to meet Sai again in a dream and is able to get a sense of closure that way."

[talewisefellowship]

re the Chinese live-action remake: haven't personally seen it but we've seen it around and we think of it as a story about different people who happen to have similarities to us. (Sometimes fans treat them as if they're us and refer to them by our names which bothers me a lot, pls call them by their names ;w;) For example my counterpart's name is 時光 (Shí Guāng) while my name is 進藤光 (Shindō Hikaru). If you know Japanese you can see the name comparisons here.

I'm sure it's good though! It's just definitely its own thing.

--Hikaru