Hikaru No Go, Vol. 8, 8

Yumi Hotta, Hikaru no Go: The Pro Test Preliminaries: Day Four (ViZ, 1998) Aside from the rather odd choice of title (the book covers the entire preliminaries), another winning entry in the series. Hikaru is used to playing with his study group, but the pro test preliminaries allow anyone, including adults up to the age of twenty-nine, so Hikaru is playing with people he's never played with before. He meets Tsubata, a heavily-bearded, obnoxious adult who seems to take a shine to him, which throws his game off tremendously. Can Hikaru overcome his problems and make it to the pro test? Good stuff. ****

What a find! My family loves anime and manga but we have a problem with much of it because it is too violent. This series centers around the Japanese game of Go. The premise is that a middle school boy, Hikaru, becomes the "avatar" of the ghost of a Go master. The Go master plays games through Hikaru -- and then Hikaru becomes interested in GO in his own right. The premise and the story line allow us to see an interesting aspect of Japanese culture and the rivalries inherent in Go provides fertile ground for character development. My seven year old son LOVES this series and can't wait for number 9 to come out. He has even become interested in learning to play Go (playing with his father) and asked for a Go board for Christmas!