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Hikaru No Go Questions And Answers
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Question: Why haven't we seen a ko yet? Answer: We did: the match between Mitani and Kishimoto in the inter-school competition, remember? Question: I noticed in Episode 101 (the beginner pro game), Hikaru asked Sai to win by 15 pts which Sai was unable to do. Now, the game was played with reverse 5.5 pt komi, so a 15 pt win would require a 10 pt on the board win. Since standard komi is 5.5 pts, it is to be expected that even players will achieve a 5-6 pt win on the board as B. Ok so far? Sai learned go in the era before komi so a win as white (I never lost as Black) required the board to be in jigo or better, which effectivly means Sai can catch up at least five points on the board against a top pro. i.e. Sai is about 5 pts better than the top pros. Putting this together, Sai will be 5 pts ahead from playing first, 5 pts ahead from reverse komi, and 5 pts ahead because he is brilliant. I.e. Sai did not need to handicap his play. --Corrin Stefan: Lots of people seem convinced Sai is as good as or better than the present day top pros (also on the TW forum), but I have my doubts about that. To put it differently: great player though he was, I'm convinced Shusaku would lose out to Cho Chikun or Yoda. (Which reminds me I saw Episode II yesterday evening. Visually stunning, of course, but their plots ain't getting any better!) Even accounting for the 'differences in playing style', hoshi and the likes, that Sai is supposed to have picked up by now. And in any event: he tried and he lost, didn't he? :-) Dieter: Similar questions: would Pele have his place in the current Brazilian team ? Would Borg defeat Hewitt ? Would Luke Skywalker defeat Roy Robert McGregor in a swordsfight ? Shusaku was the dominant player of his era AND made substantial contributions to the development of the game. So did Dosaku and Wu. Cho dominated the Japanese scene - impressive indeed. Whether one could beat a player of another era is impossible to answer and therefor irrelevant, I think. Although I agree that comics are better if they have a coherent plot (which I think Hikaru has), it is rather funny to argue about Sai's strength. Stefan: I see your point, but it is not just a matter of A against B and who is the better player (in my, as always, humble opinion). There is such a thing as evolution of sports and their standards as a whole (I know I said "sports", but please don't get started on go-and-the-olympics). Take world records as an indication - Roberto Salazar was a great marathon runner, but he'd struggle to finish in the top ten of any major event these days. Eddy Merckx dominated his discipline more than Shusaku, but his level is common in today's peloton. Still irrelevant in light of your statement that it's pointless to compare, you say? Ah! But the entire Sai think in Hikaru makes it relevant, I say. :-) (And Nigel Mansell would whoop Schumi's ass, though.) TimBrent I do think a Genan,a Jowa,or a Shusaku would easily adapt to komi and the game of today. I also think they'd do very well,after all what a 7-Dan was then would be a 9p today. Also,there are tactics,etc. in their games that could be broguht back into the game and effectively used today,xuch as Fischer did with Staunton's games in Chess. Could a master such as Sai beat say O Rissei? Yes. Basically outside of some josekis and komi,there really is very little difference from the Go of ancient times(Heian and Edo periods) and today. After all,a lot of Shin Fuseki came from people such as Senkaku. Answer 3: (Chris) I thought the whole point of the game was "how" he played, and not actually what the score was. Sai was playing "like" he was behind by 15 points. He wasn't including komi. In other words, he'd have to win by 20.5 points, including the reverse 5.5 points. IMHO, they are equal strength, and I am looking forward to the rematch. It's just that Sai isn't two stones stronger than Touya Meijin. :) Question: (Thomas) In some of the jpg files from toriyamaworld, there are 2 pages of the manga. It sounds stupid, but i couldn't figure out which one to read first, so, here is my question: left page first, or right? The manga are printed to be read right to left. You read the right page first then left. It is the same as the situation when there are two panels side by side on one page, first the right panel then the left, also the dialog within a panel is read from the right balloon to the left. DaveSigaty Question: (Agnes) and how do you play at the GBA game ? it is all in Japanese, i'm not able to pass only the first screen... (question cut and pasted from the main page, by Dieter) Answer: (jvt) Initially you get to play 2 characters at a very low level. You can choose the handicap and board size (9x9, 13x13 or 19x19), see Hikaru Handheld Game. Meeting other characters, and finishing the game is more difficult. If someone could post translations or a walk-thru it would help a lot! Question: No one on IRC is willing to help me out, and I only have the first five episodes. I'm well on my way to becoming a Hikaru No Go Junkie. Anyone know any other way to find the rest of the anime? Thanks! --Regyt
Answer: They seem to be available at least on the Answer 2: Also, you can try the newsgroup alt.binaries.anime. But the load of the group is pretty high and unavailable in most news servers, so you may need to spend $$ to subscribe to a commercial server to get it.
Answer 3: Since they turned Napster down (sob!) i use musiccity's client Morpheus ( Answer 4: If you're really, really desperate, I could burn Episodes 1-9 on 3 CD's and mail them... That'll probably be cheaper than trying to download them via a phone line. Ahh, the joys of cable and Winmx and/or Kazaa :-) (Jan) Answer 5: (Regyt) I asked on IGS and some nice person sent 1-10 to me via AIM. I'd be glad to pass them on that way, just IM AshtorethD.
Answer 6: I just opened an FTP server for this purpose. Go to
Answer 7: (Tomjk) There has been opened recently another ftp server for HikaruNoGo anime download. Check it out at: Question: Windows media player refuses to play the anime. Where do I find the software for playing the AVI files?
Answer: (jvt) You need a fairly recent media player (such as Windows Media Player 7.1 - download at Answer to the Answer: (AGiss) You do not need to have a recent media player, only the right codec is important (notice that installing/uninstalling players (dvd/avi/other) may corrupt your media player, in the way the only solution is to unistall/install media player) Further Question: (Jan) Does anyone know what codecs etcetera are required to play episode 16? The first 15 played perfectly, but this one gets me a 'Invalid file format' error... Answer: (jvt) All episodes (1-20) use the same DivX codec. Someone asked the same question on #elite-fansubs a few days ago about HnG19. The file got corrupted somehow during download. I don't know why... It never happened to me. Jan: Oh well, I'll just download it again :-( Question: Is the 'room of profound darkness', mentioned in the manga, the Yugen room? Answer 1: (DaveSigaty) Yes but this is not a very good translation. The room's name is Yugen no Ma in the story. This would be better translated as room of mysteries (in the sense of secret or hidden knowledge). There is a scroll on the wall of the room that reads (I think) Shin-oh Yugen which means something like Deepest (most profound) Mysteries. I think that the proper implication is that this is a room for seeking the most profound mysteries of Go - the kami no itte (God's hand) that Sai seeks. Answer 2: (jvt) In the anime episode 13, Umezawa Yukari talks about a visit with children to the Yuugen room at the Nihon Kiin. A note explains:
Answer 3: Yuugen, subtle beauty, is one of the seven major aspects of Zen-based art. (Don't ask me what the other six are because I think I threw out that notebook when I graduated college.) It's the idea behind Noh theatre as well: extremely understated, calm, subtle art. I saw a video that explained this and gave examples of a tea ceremony room that was supposed to exemplify yuugen. It looked remarkably similar to the anime's "Yuugen no Ma." Question: What exactly is meant by "the hand of god"? Is it something that real players think about? Was it just invented for the series? --adamzero Answer 1: (Regyt) As far as I can tell, it's the perfect move. According to combinatorial game theory, for every two player game of perfect knowledge (games where you know everything your opponent knows, with no random chance and no hidden cards), there is a series of moves that will guarantee the win[1]. The perfect series of moves[2]. It could also just mean divine strength. I read an article somewhere in which a bunch of Go professionals were asked how many stones God would have to give to a professional 9-dan in order to have a fair and fun game. The answer they came up with was that God would need to give the 9p a three stone handicap. To achieve the hand of god, then, is to not need that handicap, in such a situation. [1]: Actually, that's not necessarily true! Take tic-tac-toe for example: perfect play will only get you a draw there. There are also games in which the second player will win. However, in Go, you have pass moves which ensure that Black doesn't lose in an even game without komi. If all moves would lead to a loss for Black, he would pass on his first move, and put White in the same position - thereby ensuring a draw (remember: no komi!). (Jan) [2]: Scartol has jabbered a bit about this in PhilosophyOfGo. Odd, insofar as he's a total newbie.
Answer: (AGiss) It sound like "kami no itte" in the anime. while kami mean god, it- mean one and te mean hand (meaning of the kanjis). but the itte as a whole word mean (referring to the Trick-Question: Whats wrong with the board position in ep 14 at approx 16:33? ;) Answer: The two stones at 4-3 and 5-3 get exchanged! Another one: In episode 34, 13:40, the goban don't look right too! =) --unkx80 Scartol: In the English translation of the manga, before a game, each character says "Please." What's the original Japanese, and is there (I assume) a difference in the meaning? (It feels like an awkward translation.) On a related note -- does anyone else get ticked when the sound effect for the stone clicking is translated into "pa-chi"? What's wrong with the original? And another thing -- was anyone else disappointed in the way the final chapter of Vol. 11 was told? I expected more celebration from Shindo. Instead, he's just mopey and his face is all twisted in preparation for his next meeting with Touya Akira. I would at least like to have seen Ochi's face when he lost.. moonprince: I bought a copy of Jump Weekly to help me study Japanese. In the original the sound of the stones is 'pachi' and written in katakana. splice: The original japanese is "onegaishimasu" (お願いします). It can be used in many situations, and does carry a meaning of "please". I think a better translation would be "Good luck" or "have a nice game", but then not as literal. I haven't read the manga, but I bet pachi was how the stone clicking on the board would have been written. In katakana, obviously, denoting an onomatopoeic word: パチ. It's a type of word that's often used in manga. HolIgor: I looked at the meaning of the word "negai" in the dictionary. It means hope, wish, desire. "O" is honourific, "shimasu" is a present polite tense of "suru" (to do). Thus the whole phrase means: "I do excersize a honorable hope (or wish)". It is clear now that taking away all politeness the phrase means "I wish". There is not much difference between "please" and "good luck" after all. --Just a note, "negai" is the verbal stem of the verb "negau", which in addition to meaning hope, wish, desire, also means request and petition. Given that Japanese is a foreign language, the meaning probably means something in between all of these, something like a wish/petition that you hope will be granted. In the context of Go, my theory is it means something like "I request/wish for a good game", although everything except the request/wish part is implied. "Onegai-simasu" is the humble polite form of the verb "negau" which is made by taking the verbal stem, adding "o" to the beginning, and appending the polite version of the verb "suru", which is "simasu" onto the end. This is mostly a ritual expression which essentially means "please". It means something like "I humbly make a request", which can be contrasted with a slightly less polite "kudasai" (which is incidentally the stem of the verb "kudasaru"), which means something like "give me" but in an honorific polite way. Another example of making a humble polite tense: the verb "kaku" which means "to write/draw", the stem is "kaki", so the humble polite tense would be "okaki-simasu". You would only use this when you are writing something down for someone to whom you need to be polite. For example, a humble little kyu ameteur recording a pro's game, "kifu o okaki-simasu". Incidentally, if you are speaking to someone whom you want to be especially polite too, you could use the humble polite version of the verb "suru", which is "itasu". "Onegai-itasimasu" wouldn't be used casually however. Under more casual circumstances, the verb "suru" may be dropped all together in favor of simply "onegai". --Your friendly neighborhood stickler for Japanese, who hopes he didn't sound to know it all, and tried his best not to ramble on forever and ever. Virag0?: Used in a restaurant the expression "onegai-shimasu" is essentially a jocular vernacular"Let us get on with it". nobody special?: I'm surprised that no one here has mentioned that "Onegaishimasu" in this sense is basically short for "Yoroshiku onegaishiasu." I know the full phrase has been said in a few places. I have seen yoroshiku onegaishimasu used in dozens of similar situations. It means "Please look on me? favorably," and is used when you meet someone for the first time, when you are brought into a new working or team situation, when you begin a competition, etc. The idea behind it is "Take care of me, treat me honorably and fairly, and let our relationship be what it should be." It's often translated as "Nice to meet you," "Nice to be working with you," "Take care of me," or, in this sort of rival situation, "Good luck" or "Let the best man win." Warcraft III player's should recognise "onegaishimasu" as like Perfect Play OK? Question: What is it with this "5" or "55" on almost every of Hikaru´s shirts. Is there something special with this number? --benni Answer: Sure. Ichi, ni, san, yon, go - one, two, three, four. five. Addenum: Also, if you see this character on his shirt: 五, it also means five and is also pronounced "go". :-)
Bitti: I asked me this question as well, and thought about the same connection between the pronunciation of "Go" and 5. But in my opionion, although there's a picture playing with this correlation ( So does anyone knows more on this subject?
Question: Am I the only one who -- while loving HNG and being a total HikaruNoGoJunkie -- has trouble with the implicit messages in the story? To wit: (1) Two years is a reasonable amount of time to go from complete beginner to professional shodan; and (2) It's a good idea to start a go club, recruit new members, then throw it all away in order to achieve your goal of besting another individual. The former seems to be another brick in the wall of our society's instant gratification fetish; the latter gives a nod to the maxim of 'go for self, forsaking all others'. Maybe I'm just too critical, but I wish the story were a little more realistic and the characters less single-minded. -- Scartol I do not see it like that at all, in fact I think the message you should read is - Two years of constant study under a 9dan Pro will probably bring you to Shodan level if you have the talent for it. - Sometimes you have to make a choice in life between your own achievment and not progressing to please someone else. Although I do agree on the fact that the characters are too single minded but then again would they progress so much if they weren't ? (Darak) Question: Does anybody know how many episodes have aired in Japan? I am wondering how many episodes elite fansubs have left to do. Answer(Sort of): I haven't heard of them stopping it, and the story follows the manga almost exactly. Currently, episode 46 of the anime corresponds to episode 96 of the manga, about a 2 manga per 1 anime episode ratio. If this continues, there will be at least 75 episodes and probably more, as there are currently over 160 published chapters of the manga. They'll be busy for quite some time. This is a copy of the living page "Hikaru No Go Questions And Answers" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |