Whoops typo, I meant Akira, of course.
Really you should know better than to leave a dyslectic in charge...

I do feel that most of the characters live in a vacuum, unless and until, their background is need for the story.

I mean honestly! We know more about Akira than we do Hikaru! And about Sai we only know his Heian fairy tale and some historical facts about Shuusaku.

And all personal histories are go related, like no-one was born or married or had fun (without go). The only death we see is Sai's and Shuusaku's.