The Totally Epic HikaGo Reread - Vol. 7

[effex]

~Volume 7 of Hikaru no Go~

Chapters 52 - 60

[winces] Have I really not posted anything else in the week since the last one? I suppose moving is an okay excuse but. Still.

Anyway, on to the discussion!

Comments

[lacygrey]

Hi there,

Sai forgets he's dead and asks Ogata for a game


At times I find this poignant; at times grotesque (because he killed himself). But if he forgets (and it has been a thousand years) I suppose it means that he's totally invested in his present 'existence'.

Its laid on very thick in the anime.

[effex]

He was, what, in his early 20's when he killed himself? He's been a ghost way, way longer then he was a living man.

Which is a little creepy (how would that affect your world view?) and a lot sad.

[lacygrey]

I wonder if he was watching all the games played on the goban/s he haunted.

This scene is at the heart of the Ogata/Sai ship manifesto too of course!

[onkoona]

The story says people didn't like playing on Sai's Goban, because it was haunted.
Talk about being hoisted with your own petard...

[onkoona]

The fact that Sai killed himself is something that keeos bothering me. To our modern western sensibilities, killing your self because you were banished from court for being a cheater and now you can't play anymore Go, seems, well stupid is not the right word.
But in a world where life expectancy and individuality is not so high, it might make more sense...
Still dead is dead, and you can't play Go when you're dead. Even Sai needs help playing Go this way...