After stumbling across a haunted go board, Hikaru Shindo discovers that the spirit of a master player named Fujiwara-no-Sai has taken up residence in his consciousness. Sai awakens in Hikaru an untapped genius for the game, and soon the schoolboy is chasing his own dream--defeating the famed go prodigy Akira Toya Hikaru faces the preliminary rounds of the pro test, during which he must eliminate not only his classmates at the insei school but also any outsiders who want to take the test. One of them in particular appears to know how to exploit Hikaru's weaknesses, and poor Hikaru seems powerless to stop him.
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. ****
THE BEST -- non-violent manga!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
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!
ThriftBooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. We personally assess every book's quality and offer rare, out-of-print treasures. We deliver the joy of reading in recyclable packaging with free standard shipping on US orders over $15. ThriftBooks.com. Read more. Spend less.