Hikaru no Go Gorgeous Characters Guide (ヒカルの碁―碁ジャス☆キャラクターズガイド Hikaru no Go - Gojasu Kyarakutāzu Gaido) is a character guide of the famous manga and anime series Hikaru no Go.
The Hikaru no Go Gorgeous Characters Guide is published by Shueisha in Japan. The guide has not been released in the United States, Canada, or any other English-speaking country as of 2006. The guide has profiles on 201 characters who appear in volumes 1 through 17.
In Japanese the "Gorgeous" part of the book's title is written for the kanji for Go (碁) plus "jasu" (ジャス) in katakana.
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The new Hikaru No Go Gorgeous Characters Guide was published in Japan last week (beginning of April 2002). The Gorgeous part of the name is a horrendous play on words - it is written in Japanese using the kanji for Go plus "jyasu" in katakana = "Go-jyasu" :-) For the Hikaru fans who think they have everything but need a little more, the guide lists 201 characters who appear in the first 17 volumes (BTW - volume 17 is scheduled for publication on June 4, 2002). It also contains game records for various of the games played although unfortunately no hints as to the original sources of those games. It includes a month-by-month time line for the events in the story (volume 1 begins in December 1998 and volume 17 ends in October 2001) and lots of other trivia as well. Enjoy!
I just got the guide from a friend, and it's great! I think the guide also misidentifies the second game between Hikaru and Akira, (See Hikaru no Go Games) but I am not confident enough in my Japanese to be sure.
It's a great guide, even if just for the art and kifu.
Chris
//////////// I picked up Volume 22 at Barnes and Noble today, 01-08-2011. The story is getting interesting again. There are two mentions of this "Gorgeous Characters Guide" in the English translations of "A Word About Hikaru No Go." But, as of January 08, 2011, there is no suggestion on Viz's site that they are ever publishing the guide in English.
david boise ID