Forum for Hikaru No Go
Is chapter 189 the end of Hikaru No Go? [#615]
This is sucked with no proper ending.
Eheh. This is such a late reply but i thnk that the ending was pretty good but u cantell that the author wasnt planning on ending it like that. It was way to sudden and doesnt really fit in with the story. Like, it fits inbut it just doest feel right almost like the author didnt plan the ending out but like someone else wrote the ending. I guess what im trying to say is that its not a bad ending but there couldve been a better one if the author planned for it to end so suddenly. Meh... I have no idea what im saying anymore
Yeah, I agree. But apparently there where some issues that led to the manga having to end. There are two extra chapters, but other then that chapter 189 is the last one.
How can you say that there is no proper ending. Hikaru has just played and lost against a Korean player in the North Star Cup, yet rather than descending into a funk or abandoning play, he realizes that there will be both wins and losses in his playing career, that wins and losses are to be his lot in life. He warmly embraces his future, anticipating the games ahead of him. It is the struggle for excellence (![[ext]](images/extlink.gif)
arete) that gives meaning to his go playing. Hikaru, who started as a child, is now an adult. Please read The Myth of Sysiphus (both the short article and the book by Albert Camus. There is no more fitting ending^H^H^H^H^H^Hcontinuation to the story.
I don't agree. Though Hotta Yumi was able to make an ending, that was as good as it could be, on such short notice, that was not where it was supposed to end.
It wasn't the proper place for the story to end, even if it was to end in such a way.
One of the costs of criticism is proposing an alternative. If this was not the proper place for it to end (at the conclusion of the North Star Cup) or not the proper ending, how would you have ended this story ?
Do I look like a writer to you?
I am not capable of makeing a better ending
...and I am certainly not going to accept that you claim that I am therefore incapable of proper criticism!
Are you capable of makeing an equally good manga as Hikaru no Go? If not, then I suggest that you either stop talking about Hikaru no Go, or stop your nonsense argument that would suggest that you are unable to properly judge it in any way (such as it, or any part of it, being good or bad).
What I do know is that Hikaru no Go was forced to end, which is also why the anime stopped where it did. At the same time, in real life, as the manga, but way ahead of the manga in the story. It could have continiued to the end of the manga, it was certainly popular enough, but was stopped for the same reason as the manga.
How can an ending be as good as possible, when it was not where the author intended it to end?
How do you know where the author intended it to end? Maybe even if there had been more chapters it would have ended the same way.
Perhaps it would end in a similar fashion, but not in a similar situation. The end in chapter 189 is an abrupt end.
Hikaru has become a professional and attained a level of skill that rivals Toya Akira. The last game of the North Star Cup ends. The North Star Cup itself ends. Hikaru declaims his soliloquy and so ends the story.
Other possible endings:
- More tournaments, more games, some wins, some losses...more of the same.
- Hikaru does not become a top level professional, but does continue to improve throughout his career, rising one dan rank each decade, reaching 6-dan in his sixties.
- Hikaru is hit by a vehicle and plays the next game while sitting in a wheelchair...puts up a valiant struggle yet loses. Over the next decades, he wins more titles than any other Japanese professional.
- Hikaru grows in stature defeating all the other top players in a series of head to head matches.
Zarlan, all good things come to an end. I also would have liked more episodes, but what remains to be said. Hikaru no Go is a coming of age story. Hikaru has come of age, overcoming certain obstacles and dependencies along the way.
Zarlan, did you read the short (one page) version of Camus' The Myth of Sysiphus ? Did you recognize the players referenced above ?
Other possible endings:
There is more to it then how it ended (also, the possibilities you list just mention the general manner of how it would end, although there is more to endings then that ...except #1, which realy isn't an ending at all).
There is also, as I said to 71.192.15.39, the question of when it ends. In which situation it ends.
Hikaru no Go didn't end at the end. It ended in the middle.
I wouldn't have minded an ending like that, if it had been at a proper place. It is a good way to end a story.
Zarlan, did you read the short (one page) version of Camus' The Myth of Sysiphus ?
No. I didn't check the arete-link either. I'm a bit to lazy. Besides, it's hardly as if it is the manner of ending the story that I thought was bad anyway. It is the situation and the fact that it isn't where Hotta Yumi intended it to end (which explains why it is so abrupt. It is a rushed end).
Did you recognize the players referenced above ?
Which ones?
3 out of the 4 other possible endings mentioned above are based, rather closely, on the careers of specific professionals. I imagine that a goodly number of folks on Sensei's Library can identify the individuals.
Well, I don't know too much about too many pros (studing pros won't help my much, at my low rank, anyway), but #4 is Go Seigen if I remember correctly. Though #3 seems familiar as well.
3 is Cho Chikun.
Well, I can't say where the author intended it to end, but they had to wrap it up because they got sued by a real korean go player. I don't know exactly why, but I'm pretty sure it was because one of the characters was based around him.
I haven't read this piece of Camus, nor the end of HnG yet. I just finished vol. 16 in French (because only vol. 8 is the latest available in German).
However, I once read that there are only a limited number of possible plots for literature/movies. Perhaps this holds for their endings too?
Actually I also prefer an 'open end' which leaves room for your own imagination.
Also for the huge number of small 'Hikarus', it makes identification whith their protagonist much easier (as they do not hear their Sai either).
What I read here from Velobici sounds so real-life & positive. It reminded me of the ending words of this movie, which of course I cannot recall in their exact wording (which I saw 20 years ago):
"Erst als Scott sich seiner Befähigung bewusst wird, verlässt er sein Haus und schreitet als Pionier in eine neue Zukunft, die nun mehr als je zuvor hoffnungsvoll und prophetisch vor ihm liegt."
I like many realistic endings (e.g. can also be bad, as in most dystopian stories) much more than a Hollywood-happy-end (of course, this whole story here is not realistic either).
I recall reading unverified articles in Chinese regarding that HnG actually enraged the Korean fans, because of how the young Korean player is portrayed. The original plot was to let Japan win the last round of the Japan-China-Korea tournament so that all three countries are even. However, to settle the matter, the comic publisher decided to let Japan lose all rounds in the tournament, and suspended it altogether. From what I see, this comic is not going to be restarted.
I also recall reading about koreans protesting, just about everywhere there was any information about Hikaru no Go.
Also that Hotta Yumi actually had wanted continue with less focus on Hikaru, so that the other players would get some more attention.
I don't understand the complaint. Is there a Korean character in HNG that is especially offensive? The majority of go-playing characters in HNG are arrogant, immature jerks, so it's hard to separate the insult levels along ethnic lines. I guess the Chinese Go school they visited was portrayed in a relatively positive light. There is a clear undercurrent in HNG acknowledging that the Japanese have some catching up to do in the professional go world---the whole theme is about an inspirational new generation of Japanese players who may be able to rise the level of past glories. Do you have any quotes from the protestors?
Ko Yongha might have been a bit too much for the koreans.
He was, after all, a bit much for the other koreans in the manga ;)
Also, he was openly offending, as opposed to the scheming old pros (like Kuwabara, and Ogata) you're refering to.
..and the part where they first meet Hon Suyon, does seem to create a bit of a "japan vs those arrogant koreans" atmosphere, but that is way before the manga ends, so I doubt that was it.
I'm a korean fan of both HnG and Go, and also was a member of a korean HnG fan club and can't believe how such silly rumors are being so widespread. HnG being ended because of korean protests? lol. Most of the korean fans (mainly kids) can't even write japanese nor are good at english so are not even able to write protest letters. And there weren't that much complaints about koreans portraited in the manga too (except for some minor complaints on looks and etc which happens in every kind of manga), usually the few childish complaints(again, mainly from kids) that did exist were concentrated on "hey, Shusaku is overrated" "Sai is weaker than Lee Chang Ho" and stuff.. (yes, all pretty much crap) Personally I loved the manga and didn't find anything even slightly offensive to koreans. I thought Ko Youngha was very cool, reminding me of my favorite go player, Yi Sedol :)
If there ever were protests strong enough to influence the manga to stop, it is much more likely to have come from some pissed japanese fans who (unexpectedly) saw their home team lose to a foreign team in their own manga. (you know, most japanese children don't know much about Go so probably didn't understand why japan was portrayed relatively weak in the manga.) I think the extraordinary honesty and reality of this manga might have been the cause of it's fate. If korea had that much influence on japan... lol. Such crap rumors are usually mass produced on ultranationalist sites like "enjoyjapan"(korean) or "2ch"(japanese) which is full of hatred against each other. If there was a chinese article as you said that mentioned such rumors as fact, it just shows how 'yellow' the article is.
Actually what I've read about why the manga ended like this is, Hotta Yumi(who is, if i'm correct, not a professional writer) originally intended to end the series after the chapter where Sai gives his fan to Hikaru and disappears in a dream after Hikaru playes Touya Akira for the first time as a pro(I forgot the exact number of the chapter), but as the manga became a hit, the publishers wanted her to keep writing extra chapters. So she added the "north star cup" episode but stopped there because of stress. I think she became upset about throwing unnecessary episodes to an already completed story, and she didn't even seem to have plans about the story after the original ending. Also some possible complaints about the manga's storyline (including all kinds of crap like "why is japan portrayed so weak?" "why did you make Sai disappear?" "I want this kind of story and that" "why are koreans portrayed so arrogant?" etc) and its growing popularity overseas could have added to her stress. Whatever the reason is, I hope she doesn't feel unhappy after giving her fans such a great pleasure and respect her decisions all the way.
That confirms my appreciation of the manga. The episode where Sai renders his fan to Hikaru was a natural ending, worthy of the series. You couild just feel that the rest of the story, however well crafted, didn't flow as naturally and didn't head towards a comparable natural ending. I had a comparable feeling with Twin Peaks and the comic series of 13 (XIII). Both extended their life long after the natural ending of the storyline.
I don't know about how natural or not it was after that, but I agree that it was a natural ending. If it had ended there, then it would not have been abrupt at all. Although there would be complaints, they would only be "I want more HikaGo!!!", but nothing about abruptness.
Actually, I would be happy to be proven wrong on this one. The only problem was, it is so widespread that I could not figure out whether this is really true or not.
That makes sense. I felt the whole Hokuto cup was forced; there was very little foreshadowing, it just happened out of the blue. The match-ups and results were also more plot-driven rather than character-driven, which was the characteristic of the story before Sai's disappearance.
But well, still disappointed with the ending. I would've liked it to end with Hikaru smiling :( And he hasn't even beaten Akira in a real game! At least give us just that. How can you call it a rivalry if Hikaru has lost in all their pro meetings? =/
I'm a fan of Hikaru no go, too. I agree with you about the ending of this story, and I think Yumi Hotta had a lot of stress when the fans asked her many things relating to HnG's ending. Moreover, HnG is very popular and many foreign readers like this, I also read the story in Hikaru no go fanfiction.A lot of stories are very amazing, one of them is "The never ending road". I wish HnG has promoters or sponsors to publish the second part. I think the problem is the cost of producing and revenue of HnG.
From what i heard, Yumi Hotta and the artist somehow ended up on bad terms, and didnt want to work together.
I would really love to know if any of what you guys have written is true. I mean, I at least want to know if the writer had intended it to end where it ended in the anime (which i think was a great end that flowed really well, you can feel that the story has come to an end and yet you still feel that hikaru's world will still move on without you looking at it from above).
But, I truly feel that the writer had plans for the story to span until hikaru reaches or before entering "adulthood (by w/e the writer sees/defines as hikaru's adulthood)" or until there is something that shows or symbolizes that the new wave has come and will be taking over. which has not happen in the story period! Hikaru was not able to even come close to surpassing his sensei even though he was not able to perform his best because he could not handle the intense atmosphere. Touya still had ways to go to be able to be on par with Ogata-kun and he had no excuses for the match, unlike hikaru. Though Touya seems to be catching up to that once title holder guy he played during his New Dan Series match. Most ImPoRtaNtlY I think, the biggest symbol of the old generation is Kuwabara sensei, and he is still there and waiting for the new wave led by Touya (or maybe Ogata-kun?)
when i was watching hikaru and reading(from a few chapters before the north star cup) i felt that there was something big being setup for hikaru and the other players to face and eventually overcome (not much room for Touya sadly, other than to be something to keep hikaru's fire burning strong, or further fuel it, maybe after Touya gets his first title ahead of hikaru hahaha).
Anywayz, while I watching/reading I got a feeling that the writer was slowly building something big for these guys and i can't believe that the writer would want to end it there. There's still so much development that can be done with all the characters, both low dans and title holders. There was so much foreshadowing that did not come to surface yet (don't want to make this longer than it is so i'll leave it at that lol). Unless the writer wanted to end it where the anime ended(which i don't think is where), if not then, i believe the writer definitely had more plans for the story.
When this happens to a manga, is there a way of getting an answer from the writer him/herself about what happend? if the story was complete as it is in the writer's mind? I would really like to know this. I really felt that the writer was staging a big role for kuwabara sensei for example.
P.S what happened to the hand of god then? was it when hikaru commented on Sai v.s Touya Meiji's match? no that wasnt it, then where is it? if hikaru isn't the one to reach the hand of god then is there no baton pass? or is hikaru (maybe and the others) just a really really really small part of achieving the hand of god?
the Writers boss liked Sai then when he died or disappeared he went [CANCELED!!]
or really they probably canceled it cause what came next wasn't as good so they canceled it before it started losing them money. ive heard of things like that happening before
Regarding the postsSome of the ones I have seen that delved into the topic of the manga's ending? from years ago...
The baton pass of the fan could have fit as a very natural ending. It made a lot of sense. I feel that, with a lot of the best anime I have seen, sad and slightly "disappointing" endings are prevalent.
If anything, these endings are a dose of reality. They remind me of the literature that has lived on from previous centuries and the plethora of modern books that are soaked with demoralizing and sobering endings. They provide wisps of optimism along the way but the inevitable endings ultimately crush our hope.
However, I would prefer to never look at the endings of these books as disappointing, rather-- a challenge to extract every little bit possible; to make it the best ending possible. I refuse to be defeated by the books and by that same token, I refuse to be defeated by Hikaru No Go or any other anime/ manga.
I hoped Hikaru would suddenly rise to the top and achieve the Hand of God in a brilliant match against Akira but I enjoyed all the other character development. Again, the disillusionment is healthy development.
I want to disappear like Sai with faith in Hikaru, faith that regardless of all the slumps he will tumble into and the short lived highs, he will ultimately bring about the Hand of God and "resurrect" Sai with Go. I want him to live life to the fullest he can and succeed. I want all the characters to do the same.
To make a time machine out of a board game...
There were clearly setups for tons of other possible plotlines. Then ending left a lot of loose ends.
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