Mmm. There is definitely a disconnect there, but I've always seen it as going both ways - Hikaru has very little respect for his mother (a little more for his grandfather, but not much) and rarely tells her anything (even/specially Very Important things, like the pro exam). His mother assumes that he's doing nothing special and does not closely monitor his activities (or show much interest in his life, really. Unless there are multiple scenes off page where she asks him how his day was and he brushes her off - we see so little of his home life, it's hard to know if she's genuinely disinterested or just giving him space).
It leaves me with a million questions:
* What does his dad do? What's he like?
* What does his mom do all day?
* Is this behavior new or was it in place before Hikaru started playing go?
* What came first, Hikaru's disinterest in his home life or his parents' hands-off approach to parenting?
We don't know much about Hikaru before he meets Sai - he's out of pocket money (allowance was cut off? I need to go back and check), he doesn't have many friends (he doesn't like Akari much, but she's the only one he spends any time with), he doesn't have any real drive or desires.
My first thought is that his Dad's a real asshole (but we don't get any concern from his grandfather?). My second is that Hotta wasn't interested in talking about his family life so we don't see much of it (but that kind of shoddy storytelling isn't like her). My third is that he's like someone I know, eternally punishing his mother for a past transgression (real or imagined) and resentful of his absent father.
His dad's a 'saleryman' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaryman) His life consists of work and of after work social climbing (wives and kids not invited) His mom's a housewife. That's a job in Japan. Husband and wife in Japan lead totally separate lives.
Hikaru was doing so badly in school his parents cut off his allowance; he went to his grandpa's attic to find something he could sell. Yes he was stealing and pulling Akari in with him, some friend!
Oh, heh, I know - my Japanese culture classes were a couple years ago but I haven't forgotten that much (I hope!).
I'm trying (and failing, probably) to keep my USian perspective out of my reading of Hikaru's family but even given the cultural differences - the lighter supervision and increased trust in a child's responsibility, the stricter division of time and stress of exams and homework (although Hikaru's still a year away from worrying about high school entrance exams), the saleryman father who's only home a couple of times a year, etc - things seem a little off.
If it is the third option Hikaru is awfully casual about it. There'd be more fallout if that were the case.
But it certainly throws some parallels to Death Note and Light into the mix.
Methinks Obata is the one who potentially has issues, and it bled over in HikaGo and is more deliberately portrayed in Death Note. Together with the mystery surrounding Ohba's identity, there's the possibility of collaboration or something else entirely. Even with Hotta doing the writing for the story, Obata does have some influence over things that happen/are shown.
I think the Dad is "just" distant and absent, as is often the case for a Japanese salaryman.
Meanwhile, it does go both ways, but we don't know, as you said, which came first. Still, Hikaru is the kid in the situation, something had to have made him act that way.
Mmm... Artists can influence quite a bit - an angle, an expression, the pacing, it all makes a big difference in how the story is read. Don't think he had much to do with the absence of Shindou senior, though. Hmm.
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timeasmymeasure
I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-14 09:38 pm (UTC)It leaves me with a million questions:
* What does his dad do? What's he like?
* What does his mom do all day?
* Is this behavior new or was it in place before Hikaru started playing go?
* What came first, Hikaru's disinterest in his home life or his parents' hands-off approach to parenting?
We don't know much about Hikaru before he meets Sai - he's out of pocket money (allowance was cut off? I need to go back and check), he doesn't have many friends (he doesn't like Akari much, but she's the only one he spends any time with), he doesn't have any real drive or desires.
My first thought is that his Dad's a real asshole (but we don't get any concern from his grandfather?). My second is that Hotta wasn't interested in talking about his family life so we don't see much of it (but that kind of shoddy storytelling isn't like her). My third is that he's like someone I know, eternally punishing his mother for a past transgression (real or imagined) and resentful of his absent father.
I wish we had more to work with.
Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-14 10:10 pm (UTC)His life consists of work and of after work social climbing (wives and kids not invited)
His mom's a housewife. That's a job in Japan.
Husband and wife in Japan lead totally separate lives.
Hikaru was doing so badly in school his parents cut off his allowance; he went to his grandpa's attic to find something he could sell. Yes he was stealing and pulling Akari in with him, some friend!
Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-14 10:19 pm (UTC)Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-14 10:23 pm (UTC)I'm trying (and failing, probably) to keep my USian perspective out of my reading of Hikaru's family but even given the cultural differences - the lighter supervision and increased trust in a child's responsibility, the stricter division of time and stress of exams and homework (although Hikaru's still a year away from worrying about high school entrance exams), the saleryman father who's only home a couple of times a year, etc - things seem a little off.
Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-14 10:18 pm (UTC)But it certainly throws some parallels to Death Note and Light into the mix.
Methinks Obata is the one who potentially has issues, and it bled over in HikaGo and is more deliberately portrayed in Death Note.
Together with the mystery surrounding Ohba's identity, there's the possibility of collaboration or something else entirely.
Even with Hotta doing the writing for the story, Obata does have some influence over things that happen/are shown.
I think the Dad is "just" distant and absent, as is often the case for a Japanese salaryman.
Meanwhile, it does go both ways, but we don't know, as you said, which came first. Still, Hikaru is the kid in the situation, something had to have made him act that way.
Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-14 10:25 pm (UTC)Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-23 08:13 pm (UTC)Re: I'm working this out as I type, don't mind me
Date: 2010-07-24 04:43 am (UTC)