Hikaru no Go is a story about a boy that meets a spirit and learns to play Go. It's a boring concept and it can make the series pretty dull at times, but Hikaru no Go is, at core, a coming-of-age story of a boy and his slowly discovered passion for a game, the challenges he meets and the lessons he learns from the people he encounters. Just like how Nodame Cantabile is a slice-of-life comedy before it is a music series, Hikaru no Go is a story of personal growth first before it is a series about Go.

--Story--

It's a very slice-of-life setting, with the only apparent supernatural element being the fact that the main character bumps into a thousand year ghost with an undying passion for Go. This is a story that completely revolves around the rivalry between Hikaru and Akira, and Go. There are no romantic subplots nor are there fanservice beach scenes, every character, every location, everything is set up for the purpose of Go. One might almost think the whole world revolves around this children's card gam-.. I mean Go.

Aside from the 24/7 fixation on Go, the story is very enjoyable, you slowly see Hikaru rise up in the world of Go as he faces new opponents while meeting interesting and sometimes eccentric new characters. The story has a steady but sometimes slow flow to it. And the most commendable part of the story is that you can very clearly tell the characters grow, both in terms of personality and appearance. However, my main quirk with the series is that many things in the story were left open, oftentimes making you feel rather unsatisfied with the conclusion leaving a very sour taste in your mouth. The characters all set up promising stories only for them to end abruptly. And it seems the author oftentimes stuffs the series with fillers just for the sake of dragging things on. For a story with just potential, it was a disappointment that the author couldn't carry it through at times. The story felt like it was going at a steady pace and then it is suddenly rushed and ends out of nowhere, I don't know if it was a business decision but clearly the story did not feel like it ended even as I flipped through the last page.

--Art--

It's Mr. Obata's artwork so it's (as it's always been) very aesthetically pleasing. The art work is simplistic but very good. The problem is that some of the characters can get hard to differentiate due to similar appearances and it's pretty amusing when you can tell a character is going to be important just because they don't have small eyes and have a slightly more recognizable hairstyle.

On a random note, I liked how Hikaru no Go had some very sly looking characters that you wouldn't trust but actually are good people (ex. Ogata haha...). This is pretty interesting for a Shounen Jump series where you normally can tell who's a good guy and who's a bad guy just by looking at them.

--Character--

Hikaru is the series focal and he is a pretty fun character, he has some of the usual hotbloodedness and naivety of your standard Jump protagonist but that doesn't make him boring per say. It's that his growth throughout the series is so apparent and how you can see him develop from a school brat to a mature and seasoned Go player that makes him an enjoyable character. His rival Akira has pretty much all the traits of the standard Shounen rival, black hair, seemingly perfect at everything, collective and calm. These two are watched over by the spirit that tails Hikaru around, Sai. Sai is a special character in that he can act like an all-knowledgeable spirit and a three year old amazed by something on the same page, that is what makes him an enjoyable character. The other characters are only fun to read but do not develop that much partially due to them being out of the spotlight too fast but also due to the fact of this series' tendency to abruptly end subplots.

It's also a shame that some of the series most interesting characters only get introduced in the last fifteen to twenty chapters, a pity as they really were very interesting but underdeveloped characters.

--Enjoyment--

Hikaru no Go is an enjoyable series, you don't need to know Go to enjoy the series but having prior knowledge to Go would certainly help when characters break down Go strategies and discuss the games. It's a fun, if not a bit silly, series to read and I would recommend it. I would read it for Hikaru and the interesting character interactions.

--Overall--

An all-round enjoyable series worth reading if you have some spare time.. despite plenty of wasted potential and some slip-ups (or laziness??) in the story. In essence, it is a lovable simple story about personal growth filled with fun characters, approach this series with that in mind and you won't feel disappointed.