Hikaru no Go, Vol. 2

Simply charming. There's a lot of ways where this series could have lost me, I'm not really it's target audience, but so far I continue to be sucked in this world of middle school boys and ancient board games.

When we first meet Hikaru, there isn't really that much to the guy. There still isn't. Despite showing some yet hidden promise, Hikaru is little more then a stand in for the young boys who are the target audience for this series. Certainly not something I could really find any room to outright hate, but rather simple and if it was just about him I don't think that I would really feel myself still wanting to read more. But I do. Why is that?

The biggest reason I can give for continuing with this all ages boy manga series is the wide cast of supporting characters. Despite Hikaru's decided lack of nuance and creativity, the (mostly boys) who surround him are almost all of them dramatic and interesting. The ghost of an ancient Go master, an isolated and sheltered Go protege, A boastful and crass middle school Shogi player - this series lacks nothing when it comes to personality.

My one issue (as usual) was the under-representation of female characters. Which wasn't too much of an issue at first (they just weren't there) but seemed to spawn into more of an issue as several random girls showed up just to fawn over Hikaru's self-proclaimed rival. Thankfully the end seemed to indicate that we will see a bit more of Akari, and Hikaru did get a bit of a talking to from Sai when he asserted that "Go wasn't for girls".

I also really enjoy the way that Go is integrated into the books. Not only with pages talking about the rules of Go, but also through various plot points. Even with the unique characters, I'm not sure if I would be interested with the series if it was a normal sports manga.