hikarunogo | Reread: Volume 02: Game 015 (Reply)

マネ碁
Mirror Go

This chapter originally appeared in the 18th issue of Weekly Shounen Jump in 1999.

Material from this chapter was adapted into anime episode 8 (雨の中の策略, "Rainy Day Strategy").

This chapter takes place in April of 1999.

Chapter Summary

Hikaru is in a bookstore buying a manga comic, a manga magazine, and a copy of the Touya Meijin tsumego collection Kaga won and destroyed at the Haze Middle School festival. Sai is happy, and suggests Hikaru buy an introductory go book for Akari. Hikaru blows him off, saying she can't tell the difference between Othello and go.

Hikaru, worried about getting home before he gets into trouble, looks around for a clock. He finds one, and Sai points out the newsticker next to it, which announces that Touya Meijin acquired in the Juudan tournament his fourth title. Sai thinks that Touya Meijin is ascending higher and higher, and Hikaru wonders how Touya Akira is doing.

Akira is at the Kaiou go club studying a game. Other club members talk about him behind his back, but no one dares to go talk to him.

Yun-sensei approaches Akira and offers his congratulations to Akira's father for his new title. Akira thanks him, but Yun-sensei thinks Akira's a surprisingly cool and indifferent son.

Akira is consumed with thoughts of Hikaru, and reflects that he only joined the Kaiou go club to play him. Akira is training himself in preparation, and thinks he'll find the Hand of God he's aiming for in pursuit of Hikaru.

Aoki, a third-year student, wins his current match and then goes to challenge Akira to a game. The older students are alarmed and concerned. Okumura, a first-year new to the club, asks a senpai to explain what's going on. Aoki is the third strongest in the go club, and stands to lose his position as third-board now that Akira is here. The other students like Aoki, describing him as a kind person who helps others and has not yet lost a game, and understand that Aoki's settling things publicly so that the other members can't complain when Aoki loses his third-board position.

The game is quick; Aoki resigns. He thanks Touya for the game and leaves. Okumura is troubled by the negative atmosphere, and abandons his current game to go and challenge Akira to a game. His strategy is simple: start the game by playing tengen, then use Akira's own strength against him by mirroring his moves.

Other club members think Okumura is an idiot for challenging Akira and refusing a handicap, but he is confident.

On the eleventh move, Akira recognizes Okumura's play as a mirror strategy. Okumura knows he's been made, but he's confident it doesn't matter because he's already claimed the centre and no matter what Akira chooses to do, Okumura can do exactly the same back to him.

Games Played

Unknown Juudan vs. Touya Kouyou
Result: Touya Kouyou wins by resignation
Inspiration: unknown

Touya Akira vs. Aoki
Result: Touya Akira wins by resignation
Inspiration: Fujisawa Kazunari 4-dan vs. Andou Akio 2-dan in the 9 May 1990 Ooteai

Touya Akira vs. Okumura
Result: in progress
Inspiration: unknown

Bonus:
Akira is studying the game played on 6 June 1994 in the second round of the 20th Tengen tournament between Honda Kunihisa 9-dan and Ishida Yoshio 9-dan. Honda resigned on move 137.

Thanks to ヒカルの棋譜 and My Friday Night Files for identifying these games and making them available for download!

Featured Characters

Aoki
Fujiwara no Sai
Nakai
Okumura
Shindou Hikaru
Touya Akira
Yun

First Appearances

Aoki
Okumura

Featured Locations

a bookstore
Kaiou Middle School

Commentary

Apparently Hikaru's a fan of Sakigake!! Otokojuku! It looks like he's buying volume 15 to me. Not a choice I would have expected out of Hikaru! He's also buying a Weekly Shounen Jump (with -Shuukyuuden- Field no Ookami FW Jin! on the cover), and we know he's got scads of Jumps neatly filed away in his room. These are the series that were running in WSJ in April of 1999:

Which series do you think he's following?

AAAARGH WAY TO MESS UP THE DRAMATIC PACING WITH THE NEWSTICKER; actually, I think the most likely explanation for this decision is that the typesetter swapped the text going in each panel by mistake.

Yun-sensei always struck me as kind of an abrasive dick based on his language and the way he speaks to his students (at least in the original), but it's nice of him to say such a thing and his pose is pretty cute here. Thanks, Yun-sensei!

Touya's brain-Hikaru here looks so over-the-top and mystical that I have to admit it makes me giggle.

Touya, guess what?? He can hold the stones correctly now! Are you ready for Shindou Hikaru to rock your world??

No, bb, you really, really don't. Just keep waiting. Trust me on this.

One of the things Obata-sensei is really great at is drawing different types of people other than Slender Young Man and Lovely Young Woman. He's famously fond of drawing middle-aged men, but here with Aoki we see a really great example of a non-typical manga body size drawn extremely well, with a great sense of proportioning, weight, and scale. Aoki-san is solid but neither muscular nor obese, a body size not often done well in manga, and I think Obata-sensei's done a wonderful job with him.

Oh, sob. Aoki-san, I'm so sorry you had to be put through the Touya meat grinder. This panel captures his feelings of graceful but painful disappointment so well. Where all the Aoki fic at??

Oh man, just take a moment to look at everyone's face. Okumura here with his presh eyebrows, of course, but also all the EXTREMELY GRUMPY PEOPLE in the background. I mean, just make one of those faces yourself and you'll see what a tremendous effort it takes to get THAT FROWNY.