Go Go Igo!

It's amazing what anime can do to a person. Until I watched Initial D, I drove my car from point A to point B. In fact, I still do except that the difference is that now I live in the GTA, everyone drives faster and more aggressively. As a result, I often feel the urge to push my civic more than I would in a small town. Admittedly, I do that out of necessity, but who knows how much longer it would have taken me to start doing as the Romans if I hadn't seen the show?

Similarly, I get the same feeling when I watch the anime that has recently taken over my after-work life: Hikaru No Go. Admittedly, I probably don't have the patience to play Go anymore, but just watching this show makes me want to know enough of the strategy to see why the moves made in the show are as significant as they are.

Go is a reasonably popular board game in Japan. I first learned to play way back when I was very young, but I was terrible. I didn't even play my first game until years later (possibly junior high or high school). And to nobody's surprise, I was slaughtered. The rules are simple, but the strategy and skill required to play at a reasonable level is higher than many games I've played.

People often ask me what the show is about. I usually say "It's about a guy named Hikaru who plays Go". Really, it's more than that. It's also about all the people around Hikaru. Each one has his or own story that keeps me intrigued. Each of them have their own goals and ambitions and I feel that's what really adds so much to the story.

Without further ado, I had best be getting back to watching the show.