Hikaru No Go: "The Awful Opponent" Talkback (Spoilers)

[bigddan11]

Episode 31
Japanesse title: "The Preliminary Starts"
English title: "The Awful Opponent"

Get ready for a new opening and conclusion folks. Hikaru No Go advances to the next level as "I'll Be The One" and "Sincerley ~ever dream~" are on the DVD's, so if Jetstream does it the same way, we'll get to have some fun.

Previously on Hikaru No Go, Ogata and Kuwabara had their final match in the best-of-seven showdown, and Ogata was thankful when he realized he played the correct move. What he didn't expect though was Kuwabara's mind games effected him the rest of the match, and ultimately Kuwabara retained his title as Hon'inbo.

Today: Hikaru has managed to climb into the top half of the A-League, and he's ready to begin his quest to become a Pro. What he doesn't realize though is new opponents are waiting for him at every turn, and each one of them has mind games Hikaru has never seen before waiting to test his skills. Can Hikaru overcome the distractions and win his first matches of the prelims?

The Go Squad:

Hikaru Shindo: This young boy has the spirit of Sai constantlly travelling with him. At first he hated Go, but eventually he began to grow and respect what it stood for. Now Hikaru is determined to be Akira's rival, and his game has improved enough to where he's an Insei, but can Hikaru make it to the A-League?

Fujiwara-no-Sai: Sai is a spirit from the past, and he desires to play the divine move. At first Hikaru always let him play Go games, and he crushed Akira, but now that Hikaru has developed his own skills Sai is forced to watch on the side, and he's feeling left out since Hikaru is getting all the credit.

Akari Fujisaki: Akari is one of three fermales on the Middle School Go team, and she's on eof Hikaru's best friends. She started playong Go so she could spend more time with Hikaru, but now she wonders if Hikaru is destined for something bigger than she could imagine and if she'll be left behind in the process.

Akira Toya: He's the son of the world champion, and he's one of the newest Professional Go players, but Akira desires to prove that no youth his own age can hope to defeat him as he pulls further and further from the shadow of Hikaru, but little does he realize Hikaru is actually gaining on him.

Touya Mejin: The world champion of Go, or so his name says (Mejin means world champion). He is Akira's father, and his real name is Koyo Toya. Sai looks up to him as the man to beat, but in order to challenge him, Hikaru and Sai will have to endure a lot of challenges ahead.

Seiji Ogata: This man was one of the officials during the children's Go tournament where Hikaru accidentally announced a move a pro would even have to think about. After Touya Mejin asked him to locate Hikaru, he kept a careful eye out for him, but now he's noticed that Hikaru may be more advanced than originally believed and sponsored him for the Insei examination.

Kosuke Ochi: This sixth grader is one of the top ranking Insei's in the A League, and he's determined to defeat Akira at all costs and prove he is the best. He doubts Hikaru's abilities, but he wonders exactly what Hikaru holds with his potential.

Shinichiro Isumi: He's one of the top ranked A League students, but he sees this as one of his last chances to pass the Insei examination. Can he find his best chane to advance here, or will Hikaru prove he's better than anyone expected?

Yoshitaka Waya: Waya played Sai online and wondered if he was a Pro, but he predicted Hikaru would pass when he showed up for the exam. Now he's taking a liking to Hikaru, but he's wondering if Hikaru has a lot of potential or if he is over confident about being Akira's rival.

Yuta Fukui: He's one of Hikaru's A-League teammates at the Insei school, and he has ambitions of one day being the best. He is able to think fast in a Go match, but can he actually close the matches when he faces the best players?

Asumi Nase: Nase is the lone female student in the A-League, but she doesn't mind it and sees fit to coach Hikaru and Fuku whenever they have some spare time. She knows she'll eventually become a pro, but how soon ti will be before she arises to the top is still being determined by her inconsistent play.

Toshinori Honda: Honda is one of the top Insei's in A-League, and like Isumi he wonders if this is his last chance to make it to the Professional league. How well will he do against the new generation of stars when he hasn't played them in three months time is the question he keeps getting asked though.

Kuwabara Hon'inbo: Kuwabara is the title holder for the Hon'inbo badge, and he has a desire to never give up his title. He also desires to see the new wave of youngsters that are coming in and that could take over the Go world.

From this point on many of these episodes have not been seen dubbed for many people. As a result, avoid as many spoilers as possible.

Next week: Episode 32- "The Last Day of the Prelims"

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[bigddan11]

I'm glad to see they did decide to show the new beginning and ending on Jetstream, and Tsubaki is a character that Hikaru really needed to meet to advance to the next level. After this round of the tournament gets over he'll never play the same way again.

I do fill sorry for Hikaru's mom though. He basically gives her no respect by not sharing any information about the exam and then yelling at her to mind her own business.

[D Dubbs]

Finally! A new opening! It's been what, 11 months?

I'm a couple episodes behind, so please excuse me for not commenting on the actual episode.

[Master Moron]

Asumi is hot. I just felt the need to point that out. Actually, most of the women on this show are pretty attractive. It's unfortunate that there aren't more female characters in this show.

I'm not sure why Hikaru was so intimidated by that guy. He didn't seem all that mean. I mean, he bought Hikaru lunch.

[D Dubbs]

Asumi is hot. I just felt the need to point that out. Actually, most of the women on this show are pretty attractive. It's unfortunate that there aren't more female characters in this show.

Even that chubby girl in the Go club who plays volleyball?

[bigddan11]

I'm not sure why Hikaru was so intimidated by that guy. He didn't seem all that mean. I mean, he bought Hikaru lunch.

Who has Hikaru played Go against that's noisy? Kaga is probably the closest person character wise that Hikaru had played who was noisy, but when he first faced Kaga it was actually Sai playing, so Hikaru had never faced anyone who had been noisy before. I'm sure you've experienced times where you get intimidated by unusual surrondings before, but that will change in a couple of weeks.