Episode 11 of 'Hikaru no Go' aired with an initial rating of 7.01%. Still, within ten minutes, thanks to the flood of Sai fans, the rating surged by another 0.3 points.
This episode focused on Hikaru's emotional journey following Fujiwara no Sai's disappearance.
He visited every place they'd once been together—every location he thought Sai might appear.
But he wasn't there.
The place where they first met? Empty.
The spot of their first game? Also empty.
He went to the Go Institute, the hometown where Sai once lived, and every Go salon and training hall he could find.
For an entire month, Hikaru searched.
He withdrew from his pro-level Go tournaments, even gave up a scheduled match against Tōya Akira.
Still, there was no trace of Sai.
"I'm panicking now! I know Jing Yu-sensei said Sai would return, but… why does it feel like he's really gone for good?"
"The longer I watch, the more I feel the same way…"
"Classic misdirection. I'm done falling for Jing Yu-sensei's tricks!"
"Come on! He's the one who plays Sai—no one feels more connected to the character than he does. There's no way he'd let Sai disappear like this! Even if Sai fulfilled his wish and vanished, being with Hikaru should've been enough of a reason to stay."
"The way Hikaru keeps shouting for Sai… It's breaking my heart. He remembered that Sai once mentioned an old hometown in the Capital and went all the way there—only to come up empty again."
"Sai, please just come back!"
Failing to find Sai, Hikaru begins reflecting on all the ways he had treated him poorly.
How he'd yelled at him, ignored his feelings, refused to let him play—even though Sai lived only to play Go.
Even at the end, Hikaru hadn't said goodbye.
"I won't play Go anymore."
That was Hikaru's final decision.
If Sai wouldn't return… then he wouldn't play Go either.
The rating for Episode 11 continued to climb—7.29%—but Sai still did not reappear that week.
"Next week… next week for sure… Sai will come back!"
With that shared hope, fans waited another week.
Episode 12
The perspective shifts.
We follow Inoue, Hikaru's friend and a pro Go player who lost to him last year.
Now, right before the new professional tournament, Inoue returns.
He asks Hikaru for one more game—not for pride, but to rid himself of the mental block from the match he forfeited due to a foul the year before.
Flashbacks show Inoue's training in a neighboring country.
Moved by his friend's sincerity, Hikaru—who hadn't played since Sai vanished—finally picks up a Go stone again.
As he places it on the board…
A ghostly flicker of Sai's fan taps gently on the same spot.
It was the same motion Sai always used to signal his next move.
Sai wasn't really back.
But…
This was Sai's Go.
Though he had vanished, everything Sai left behind lived on in Hikaru's play.
"The Sai I couldn't find anywhere else…"
"Was right here, in my Go."
Sai lives on in Hikaru's Go.
As the music swelled and Hikaru broke into tears mid-game, unable to hold it in, so too did countless fans at home.
"What the hell?! It's episode 12 and they're still playing with our emotions!"
"I'm sobbing. Snot and tears everywhere…"
"Wait… so… did Sai really disappear for good? Didn't Jing Yu-sensei say they'd meet again?"
"But they did meet, didn't they? As long as Hikaru keeps playing, he'll keep seeing Sai on the board. If he wastes his life wallowing in the past, then he'll never see Sai again."
"This hurts. More than Sai's disappearance two weeks ago."
"Can we accept this kind of twist? Is this really a 'reunion'?"
"As painful as it is… It's kind of brilliant. Sure, I wish Sai could return. But this? This hits deep."
"I can't accept this trickery. It's clearly misleading the audience!"
"But… maybe we've been missing the point. Maybe we fans got so obsessed with whether Sai would return, we forgot the show isn't about him—it's about Hikaru. His growth is the real story. If we just wanted to stare at Sai's pretty face, we could've asked Jing Yu-sensei to shoot a costume idol drama. But that's not what we fell in love with. It was Go—that's what moved us. And while we were tangled up over Sai, we forgot what the story was really about. Looking back now, it feels foolish."
"Exactly. After two weeks of reflection, I get it. If Sai never disappeared, Hikaru would forever play in his shadow. That would've been the real tragedy. Hikaru began this story using Sai's strength to win rigged games. If he ended the series still relying on Sai, then what would all that growth even mean?"
After Episode 12 aired, fans finally began to calm down.
There were still some who couldn't accept Sai's departure, but more and more started to understand why the story took this turn.
The show's rating on Yindou Net rose from 9.5 to 9.6, reflecting the growing appreciation for the depth of this arc.
Debate between the two camps continued online for a week—
Until everything came to a head on June 25.
Final Episode – Episode 13
The finale aired.
The first half of the episode built up the tension before the ultimate match:
Hikaru vs. Tōya Akira.
Akira had now reached the level of defeating 9-dan pros.
Hikaru—the one who had discovered the 'Divine Move' in Sai's final game against Tōya Kōyō.
Season 1 began with their very first game as kids.
Season 2 ends with them facing off again—now both as full-fledged professionals.
They had grown, side by side, regarding each other as the ultimate rival.
Across the entire show, they had only played three official games.
This last match was layered with commentary: the Go rivalry with young players from neighboring countries, Tōya Kōyō's retirement after losing to Sai, and more.
Then, in the middle of the game…
Akira suddenly realized something while reading Hikaru's moves.
"It's you… There's someone else in your Go.
When I first met you, your play carried someone else's presence."
Though Akira didn't know anything concrete, he felt it.
Even though the world didn't know about Sai, Akira had sensed it from Hikaru's play.
In this final episode, Akira acknowledges Hikaru's Go.
The game's result is never shown.
Because between twin stars… There is no victor.
Only endless pursuit. Rivalry. Growth. And the cycle continues.
The show ends with a scene in Hikaru's dream, where he sees the folding fan Sai once gave him.
And then, in the early morning, standing outside the tournament hall, under the rising sun—
Hikaru and Akira face each other once again.