Rewatch Hikaru no Go 25th Anniversary Rewatch: Episode 26 Discussion
The Twenty-Sixth Match: Welcome to the First Class
◄ Episode 25 | Index | Episode 27 ►
Series Information:
Streams:
Purchaseable:
On Apple TV or Prime Video.
Proverb of the Day:
Urgent points before big points.
Tsumego of the Day:
Today's theme: Quickie Life&Death!
Questions of the Day:
- Should Hikaru have admitted to Waya that he's being taught by Sai?
- Do you have fond memories of your graduation, from any school?
Rewatchers, remember there are first-timers present!
Be careful not to spoil anything that hasn't happened yet in the show. If you wish to discuss something in the future, make sure to hide it under spoiler tags.
Spoiler tags work like this:
[Hikaru no Go]>!Sai is cute.!<
Which becomes: [Hikaru no Go]Sai is cute.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky 9d ago
First-Timer no Go, subbed
It might be the bottom of first class, but that’s still progress!
I am still really loving the visualization of them swordfighting over a Go board.
Ah, this is even more fun of a match than I thought it would be.
And so Hikaru beat Waya, mostly because he was distracted thinking about Sai the whole time?
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u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad 9d ago
I am still really loving the visualization of them swordfighting over a Go board.
Yeah, it worked really well in this episode. I could follow the basic gist of the metaphor without any familiarity of the game itself - like Hikaru making a risky advance, then getting cut off by Sai. Plus, Hikaru looked so much more confident with his imaginary sword this time.
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u/wloff 9d ago
wloff's go corner #26
It's little baby 1 dan Iyama Yuuta!
u/TradingStoicly was sharp-eyed to catch him in yesterday's Go Go Igo! I did too, but I knew we'd be getting even more of him today, so I wanted to save my piece on him for this episode!
Iyama Yuuta ended up reaching his goals of "winning a title and being an international competitor", and then some.
He was the first one in history to hold all seven Big Titles at the same time.
He has the most total title wins in history with 79.
He's broken basically every single record in Japanese go.
At his peak, he was the only Japanese pro among Korean and Chinese players who could genuinely compete for the biggest international titles, though he never won the biggest one (LG Cup), only being the runner-up in 2018. Which of course says something about the level of go in China and Korea.
Now, I don't claim to be an Iyama Yuuta expert, and I don't have much insight to give on him beyond his records... but he's up there in the GOAT discussion. What a treat and a stroke of good luck to have him appear as a 12-year-old new pro in Hikaru no Go! I had totally forgotten about this before the rewatch!
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u/TradingStoicly 9d ago
Thanks again u/wloff for all of the extra tidbits! Absolutely insane to see him on Hikaru No Go before he became one of the best players of all time. It's so cool to see. I love how Mai asked him what kind of girls he likes hahahaha
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u/wloff 8d ago
No worries, I'm glad if someone gets something out of them!
Absolutely insane to see him on Hikaru No Go before he became one of the best players of all time.
Yeah, it's a crazy cool coincidence the HikaGo TV run happened to coincide with his pro promotion. He must have been exceptional already as a 12-year-old for him to have caught everyone's eye even back then, of all the new pros he was the one they highlighted and interviewed!
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u/wloff 9d ago
Tsumego of the Day
Today's theme: Quickie Life&Death!
I've got nothing. I'm not even going to try to pretend these have anything to do with our episode. It's been a real busy week for me, I've had long days of training, so it's going to have to be a quick one of random life & death today! I'm heading back home in a couple of days so hopefully then I'll have more innovation to spend on these.
For now, let's keep things quick and simple.
Beginner 26-1. Black to kill.
Intermediate 26-1. Black to kill.
Advanced 26-1. Black to kill.
Solutions to yesterday's problems:
Beginner 25-1
- If Black plays atari at 1, the white stone cannot avoid being captured.
- If Black gives atari with 1 here, it's the black stones that can't avoid being captured.
Beginner 25-2
- Black should play 2. The white stone in atari cannot escape.
- If Black gives Atari at 2, White can rectify her mistake and connect at 3. Black captures one stone with a, but this result is inferior.
Intermediate 25-1
- The stone in atari is not important. Black ataris with 1 and continues to attack White's group with 3.
- If Black rescues his stone with 1, White plays either 2 or a and will have no problem with these stones.
Intermediate 25-2
- Black should jump in with 1. If White resists with 2, the moves to 7 follow, and White has been separated into two groups.
- Black 1 does not work. White answers with 2 and 4, and Black has run out of moves. The white position is still intact in one group.
Advanced 25-1
- Peeping with Black 1 is the key move. White has no choice but to limit her loss and defend at 2. Black can now isolate the four white stones with 3.
- Black 1 fails. Black may try 3 in response to 2, but after White 4 he has no follow-up.
Advanced 25-2
- Black should cut at 1. If White answers with 2, Black plays 3 and is connected to the outside. White can't cut because she is short of liberties.
- If White cuts from the outside with 2, Black plays 3, capturing three white stones.
If you wish to discuss today's problems, please do so under spoiler tags, to give others the chance to solve them on their own! I'll be posting the solutions to today's problems tomorrow.
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u/Blackheart595 https://anilist.co/user/knusbrick 9d ago
[Beginner 26-1]D-3, placing D-2 and C-4 in miai.
[Intermediate 26-1]This is a devious one. Playing inside ultimately ends in seki at best, if I'm calculating this correctly. Instead, white needs to attack via A-2 and A-1.
[Advanced 26-1]C-2 and B-4 both fail against the White response at B-2. Instead, Black needs to play B-2, forcing C-1 to become a false eye and putting C-2 and B-4 in miai.
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u/TradingStoicly 9d ago
First Timer Subbed
Hikaru is progressing so well! The thing I love about his progression is that it's not just straight up. He's having losses mixed in as well and he even speaks about his doubts. I feel like this aspect is missed a lot in shounen anime. No one grows linearly. Anyway, I'm really happy he made the tournament. Now I wonder who his first opponent will be?
Also super cool to see Yuta Iyama part of Hikaru No Go history! He became world class and of the best players in Go and he's forever a part of Hikaru No Go history! Haha I wonder what people think of me 25 years from now lol
QOTD: 1. I think Hikaru was smart to say what he said. If it were me, I'd want to tell Waya the "truth" but it'd lead to him asking me to meet Sai...which would then see me in a mental institution in the future lol 2. I do. My high school and college ones were whatever tbh. In my family, I was expected to graduate both of those. Grad school was a different story though. I worked so hard to get there. My family and my girlfriend at the time (now fiancé) flew all the way up north to see me graduate. It was awesome graduating with my classmates who also went through so much to get to that point. That's a special memory for me
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u/zambonijesus 9d ago
Rewatcher, manga reader, subs
I would have liked to see Hikaru's turnaround to get promoted rather than just skipping straight to he's in A now. I want to know more specifics about the promotion/relegation between A and B. Also I guess it is mostly for longer term story reasons, but it's kind of interesting that Hikaru didn't befriend anyone in B while he was there while the A group seems to be a friendly bunch where Hikaru fits in pretty quickly.
Hikaru's big mouth strikes again. The whole Sai thing is funny now because in 2026 you'd just assume that Hikaru was Sai and he was using an AI probably, which is why he's not as good playing in person.
Whenever people go on about the superiority of fansubs, decisions like not translating the Young Lions tournament name comes to my mind.
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u/wloff 8d ago
Whenever people go on about the superiority of fansubs, decisions like not translating the Young Lions tournament name comes to my mind.
For me personally, those decisions are kind of whatever, but the way the official subs often use first names for people when they clearly said the last name really grinds my gears!
But granted, I haven't watched the official subs more than the occasional glance here and there, so they may well be superior overall, I wouldn't know.
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u/MaskOfIce42 https://anilist.co/user/MaskOfIce 9d ago
First Timer, Subbed
Not too surprised Hikaru made it to A league, and he even kept up the momentum to win his first 4 games! Of course it can't last that long, but he still overall made his goal, although I do have to question if that win against Waya was because Waya was so thrown off his game thinking about Sai. There is a part of me that wanted Hikaru to tell Waya what's actually going on, but also I kinda get why he can't, beyond just it being unbelievable. It creates kinda a weird ethics question I feel, having someone tell him the moves to play, and nobody can check it because only he can hear Sai. I think part of it is the show didn't really want to get into that, so we keep the lie going as long as possible. And he did a decent enough job of bluffing out of it.
Darn it, I meant to say last episode it's been a while since we've seen Akari, Yuki, and Kimihiro, but forgot to post it so I was thinking "oh well, I'll mention it here", but then we do see them here. Still it kinda highlights how far Hikaru has come that his surroundings have changed so much. Pity we didn't actually see Yuki, but given what happened, I do kinda get it.
Question 1: Lol, I already talked a bit about this. Honestly, I still think maybe, from a storytelling perspective I think there could be interesting things with having someone else be aware of Sai, like having Waya play a game against Sai and recognize that it's absolutely 2 different people, but like I said it also gets into a kinda weird thing regarding the integrity of the game, so there's an argument that not having anyone else know about it is also for the best.
Question 2: I guess I don't have many specific memories of graduation. I do remember some of the stuff related to high school graduation in choir (I was very much a choir kid), like the songs we performed our senior year and our various traditions like singing "I will remember you" and our performance of the Star Spangled Banner at the graduation ceremony, and college graduation is just kinda a blur with how many people there were.
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u/Blackheart595 https://anilist.co/user/knusbrick 9d ago
Rewatcher
Hikaru made it to the A league club! And all of it was offscreened. We don't even know how much time remains to make it into the top 16.
Look at Hikaru applying the lesson he learned last episode. He even surprises teacher Sai at times!
And he even won his second game, against Fuku. I was really expecting him to lose ater getting pulled into Fuku's quick pace of play.
They're sure being loud, paying around like this. Does this not bother the other players that are trying to concentrate on their own games? Sure does!
Now, how will this tension through the both of them off their game during their match?
Hikaru can still talk himself out of it. He did say that he never played internet go himself and only saw others play. Maybe one of those others was this Sai guy.
I like when anime draws faces like this.
Playtime is over. Stonecold. Man, Ogata just keeps being great. He always knows how tocatch people off guard.
I still like when anime draws faces like this.
Nice end card. Farewell, you two
That you have, boy. That you have.
Should Hikaru have admitted to Waya that he's being taught by Sai?
God no! How would he have refused to let Waya meet Sai, especially after Waya invited him to his own study group?
Do you have fond memories of your graduation, from any school?
Kinda, but it wasn't a particularly emotional occasion to me. Just another step in life.
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u/ClearlyQ 9d ago
Just answering the QotD for right now:
- I feel like it would have raised more questions if Hikaru did tell Waya at this moment. IDK. Plus, as friendly as they are to one another, they aren't that close yet at this point in time. They've been hanging out for maybe... 3-4 months at this point? Even if it was just a half-truth (Sai is Hikaru's teacher leaving out the part where Sai's a ghost...) it must still feel too big of a secret to entrust to someone you've only known for a short time.
- No, not really. I don't remember how my high school graduation went and weirdly the most vivid memory I have of my college grad is a pang of regret for not suggesting a change of graduation song!
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u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad 9d ago
First-Time Viewer no Go
I figured Hikaru would be moving up to the next level soon despite his difficulties in the previous episode, but this one just started right out with a time skip to the A league!
Personally, I don't mind the fast pace. A few months passed by quickly for them, Tetsuo and Kimihiro are already graduating and it's almost time for Hikaru to enter the Young Lions tournament, but for someone like me who's not all that interested in the go matches themselves, the fast pace is welcome so Hikaru's rise to the top doesn't feel like an experience grind that drags on too long. The show has maintained a fairly good balance so far of discussing the games and also having the characters talk about something relevant to the story or just chatting like friends do while they play, which holds my interest better than the silent games.
The highlight was Waya coming close to finding out that Hikaru was the one playing as "Sai" online. I liked Sai's little remark that technically, Hikaru was in front and he was standing behind, but his guess was still pretty close to the truth! It's almost a shame that he had to make up a (quite good) cover story instead of being able to admit that he is Sai's student, though this is for the best to keep Sai's identity secret. Plus, he wouldn't be able to explain it if word ever got back to his mom that he was getting training on the side from an (invisible) pro.
Questions of the Day:
1) I think he did make the right choice keeping the secret, but as a viewer, telling the (half) truth would've had the highest entertainment value.
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u/zambonijesus 9d ago
It's almost a shame that he had to make up a (quite good) cover story instead of being able to admit that he is Sai's student, though this is for the best to keep Sai's identity secret
I think he should just say "I'm possessed by the ghost of an ancient Go master!!!" and Waya would just think he's joking around.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 9d ago
Rewatcher
ep 26
Topic: Hikaru is a magical girl and Sai is the mascot. Discuss.
It always makes me want to giggle when this one BGM starts that sounds like it belongs in a visual novel.
- Bow, or something!
- SHHHHHH! People are palying here!
- You've had like 3 months to look up Waya's games....
- LOL it's been a few weeks since Hikaru put his foot in his mouth!
- Both of them were too distracted to play cleanly
- good save!
- Who's going to tell him that he's not going to get mached against Akira?
- Does Ogata ever take his hand out of his coat pocket?
- Sakura...Oh, it's graduation. The 3rd years are leaving.
I didn't think Hikaru was going to dodge the Sai question.
I was pretty sure Hikaru would force Kaga to join the Go club by beating him in a match, but that never happened.
I guess we never found out how the middle school winter tournament played out.
What's the japanese word for "blunder"?
First Season is over...did we watch it all weekly for a year and a half back in the day?
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5d ago
Hikaru is the type to get huffy about being compared to anything "girl"
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u/cppn02 9d ago
First Timer, subbed
Hikaru's moving up and just in time for the tournament against the pros.
I was anticipating this coming up eventually but I was caught off guard by how Sai became the topic of conversation and of course Hikaru almost immediately blundered and gave up information that only Sai should know. But he did kinda save it there.
Oh and we also get the rare sign of the passage of time since Hikaru has now already speant a whole year in middle school. About a third of the total amounts of episodes passed so I wonder if we're just gonna follow Hikaru throughout middle school or if the pace will slow down/speed up. Or if even he'll even finish middle school.
QotD:
Should Hikaru have admitted to Waya that he's being taught by Sai?
Seems like an easy lie but what about follow-up questions? What if Waya (or anyone else down the road) wants to meet Sai? I don't think Hikaru would be able too keep up this web of lies he'd have to spin. He made the right call denying that Sai is his teacher.
Do you have fond memories of your graduation, from any school?
Not really.
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u/wloff 9d ago
Rewatcher and your host, E-F subs
Welcome to the first class, Hikaru!
I think the pacing of the show is well done here. Hikaru struggled for a while, which is narratively very good just to let us know it's not all linear progress and easy sailing for Hikaru, but we don't dwell on it for longer than an episode or so so it doesn't get tiresome.
And at the end of the day, Isumi is right: struggles and all, he did get up to first class in just a few months, which is impressive considering he was supposedly "not quite strong enough" to be an insei when he joined. And he's off to a flying start in first class, too!
Another reminder that go doesn't have to be all serious competition and tough study. It should just be fun, as well!
And leave it to Sai to keep Hikaru humbled.
Goddammit, Hikaru, you really can't keep your mouth shut when you should, can you?
It's probably a good thing Hikaru stopped playing internet go, eventually someone would have caught on that he was playing as Sai one hundred percent. Waya is really close to figuring it out, even with his limited knowledge.
Is that the first time Waya has actually complimented Hikaru, or somewhat acknowledged his strength? I guess with how close the two have become, Waya must have noticed how quickly Hikaru is again growing.
I somehow really like this scene of the first class crew just hanging out at NacDonald's. They're just being a bunch of friends, a group of teenagers hanging out. The whole insei program must feel a bit interesting because you're practicing together, but you're also competing against each other, but at least for now, there seems to be a good vibe in the group!
Ah, the parallels... Shindou moving up to join the first class, Akira joining up to officially join the world of pros.
And Tsutsui and Kaga graduating middle school!
I think I want a spin-off high school anime starring the two of them.
QotD1: I always kind of felt like he should have, before. I don't know, Waya has become a friend, and a part of me thinks he sort of deserved to know, since he pretty much figured it out already. But I can obviously see how it could have been a bad idea, because it would have raised so many more questions!
QotD2: Weirdly few! I attended a school that had all levels of school combined all the way from 1st grade to high school, and I really enjoyed my time there, but by the time I was finally graduating I was going through a bittersweet high school love heartbreak phase, and the last few months are a bit of a blur for me, including the graduation.