"TV drama adaptation? That fast?"
"My brain can't keep up anymore."
"It's not just Hoshimori Group. The Go Association is backing him too!"
"Honestly, Go hasn't been doing well here for years. Young people just watch anime, scroll short videos, play mobile games. Who still signs up to study Go? But since Hikaru no Go came out, the amount of attention to Go exploded. Even a manga did more for Go than the Go Association's entire year of paid promotions."
"Same. I wasn't interested in Go at all. After reading Hikaru no Go, I immediately signed up for a Thursday night online Go class. The teacher literally uses boards from the manga to explain moves! Imagining Sai, Hikaru, and Akira playing those exact patterns… suddenly a silent board becomes cool."
"I joined an offline dojo. Guess what? Half the students are middle schoolers who sit together discussing Hikaru no Go plot twists. A manga attracting kids to study Go, I never imagined it was possible."
"Shirogane-sensei is a genius. I can't even imagine what'll happen when the TV drama and anime air together. Families might go register for Go lessons together!"
"Don't jinx it. A hit manga doesn't mean a hit adaptation. Plenty of live-action and anime adaptations flop. I just hope Hoshimori picks a decent production company and doesn't make garbage."
"The animation studio is Shadow Realm Animation, a big name with solid reputation. As for the drama… yeah, casting and fidelity matter."
By the next morning, the news had spread through Rei's entire school.
It was a replay of the chaos from when his identity as a mangaka was first exposed.
The school gate was once again blocked by fans, far more than usual.
But this time, the school leadership was surprisingly enthusiastic.
These fifty- and sixty-year-old educators usually looked down on manga and anime.
But a student from their school having a manga adapted into both an anime and a TV drama…
And even promoting Go, an intellectual sport?
It instantly became a matter of school pride.
So when Rei told the school leaders he might need to take leave because of the adaptation work, every single leader waved their hand:
"Go. Do whatever you need."
The school would brag about him for decades.
In the following weeks, Hikaru no Go dropped several transitional chapters.
In the original version, Hikaru prepared to leave his school Go club, becoming an insei to pursue professional certification and catch up to Akira.
But, this Japan doesn't have the insei system.
So Rei had to restructure the arc.
Instead of an insei program, this world has: Go dojos, Professional trainee systems, Training camps run by professional players
They serve the same purpose: A gathering place for talented young Go players training full-time to qualify as professionals.
Rei studied this real Go industry carefully: 30–36 new professional players per year, 5–10 new female professionals, 20+ new male professionals.
About 10 major Go dojos nationwide, 1000 total trainees across them, 700–800 certified professional players, 500 active pros at any given time
Small numbers, but frighteningly elite.
Even the trainees, kids who haven't turned pro yet, are strong enough to dominate county- and city-level amateur tournaments.
Becoming a trainee is already entering the world of geniuses. Becoming a professional Go player? That's becoming a genius among geniuses.
Naturally, in Rei's version:
Hikaru lives in Modu.
So Hikaru joins a Modu-based dojo.
Rei even fictionalized the dojo's name slightly, to avoid copyright problems, but anyone in the Go world who saw the manga would instantly recognize which real dojo the story was modeled after.
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It was worth mentioning that Rei's partner, Rika, had successfully earned her professional rank after training in this very dojo.
She naturally couldn't interfere with Rei's manga creation, but as Hikaru no Go grew more and more popular, she quietly fed Rei information, insights, and "useful references" about the dojo system.
Rei immediately saw through her intent.
She was advertising her "master's dojo."
After all, if the Hikaru no Go anime and drama became hits, the name of her dojo, even if Rei only used a homophonic fictional version would gain tremendous exposure.
Rei didn't mind helping her.
As long as he avoided direct copyright issues, giving her dojo an indirect boost was hardly a big deal.
After several new chapters were released, fans who originally knew nothing about Go industry were in complete shock.
"Wait, to become a professional Go player, you need to be strong enough to enter a dojo first, compete with a thousand geniuses, and then fight for thirty pro spots a year??"
"I wanted my son to learn Go after reading Hikaru no Go. I was too naïve."
"That Kaio Middle School captain who looked like a monster earlier, the three-time Modu Campus Champion, turns out he was a professional trainee too?! And he quit because he couldn't keep up?!"
"Holy crap. This industry is brutal."
"Is Hikaru really going to survive this? Can he even become a professional Go player?"
"Look at Akira, same age as Hikaru, and already a full professional. That's insane."
"But the reason Akira became a legend-like figure is exactly because he met Hikaru."
"He crushed him so hard that even he started doubting his talent. If I were Akira, Hikaru would also be my inner demon."
"Sai barely showed up these chapters. I miss him."
"No, but seriously, Hikaru slowly growing from a clueless kid into someone qualified to enter a dojo, it hits so hard. Feels like watching your own child grow up."
"What hurt me most was Hikaru's farewell to the school Go club, leaving them for the dojo created such a rift."
Throughout June, Hikaru no Go released five chapters, cutting off the school Go club arc entirely.
Rei shifted the viewpoint to: the Modu dojo, Hikaru's rivalries with trainee prodigies, the harsh environment of young players aiming for professional rank.
From Chapter 18 to Chapter 23, the rankings were:
6 → 6 → 5 → 6 → 6
The One Week Hikaru Hit Rank 5
The spike happened in the chapter where Hikaru had a full emotional blowout.
To prove his resolve, and that he deserved to enter the dojo, Hikaru accepted a simultaneous match against: Tsutsui, Kaga, Yuki.
He beat: Tsutsui, Yuki.
Then barely lost to Kaga.
Fans cried their eyes out over the friendship drama, and that surge of emotion pushed the work to Rank 5.
But Then… Hikaru Was Crushed Again
In the next two chapters, Hikaru officially entered the dojo.
And instantly he was destroyed, humiliated, outplayed, unable to keep up with prodigies trained since childhood.
Fans felt it.
"Bro, I can't handle watching the protagonist get flattened like this."
"It's realistic but painful."
Because of that emotional discomfort, votes dropped slightly, and the ranking slid back to sixth.
No matter how much fans like a work, it still depends on the serialized plot. If the plot doesn't move them enough, the proportion of votes will naturally decrease.
But overall, the national discussion and popularity of hikaru no go continued climbing without slowing down.
And so, June quietly came to an end.
Two weeks remained before Rei finished his second year of high school… Yet just when everyone thought the momentum would stabilize, hikaru no go dropped another explosive announcement at the end of the month.
The production team officially declared that actor auditions for the hikaru no go live-action drama would begin in late June and run until early July.
Filming was scheduled to begin in mid-July.
And, if everything went smoothly, the first season of the live-action series was expected to air in October, right in the autumn broadcast slot.
Even though Rei had personally discussed becoming a creative consultant with Hoshimori Group, this level of speed still left him speechless.
He knew Japan TV drama industry liked rushing, but this was absurd.
Acting auditions announced. Filming starting in a few weeks.
Broadcast this October.
This wasn't normal production speed anymore.
This was warp-drive efficiency.
Rei stared at the notice and almost doubted reality.
Hoshimori Group couldn't possibly push things this fast alone.
Then… who else?
He didn't need to think for more than a second.
The Go Association.
It had to be the Go Association deliberately pouring fuel on the fire.
After witnessing how hikaru no go had boosted Go's visibility, after seeing Go classrooms across suddenly overflowing with kids after seeing the youth enrollment rate jump nearly 40% in a single quarter.
They must have realized: "If we let the hikaru no go TV drama air at the same time the manga hits its peak, the influence will multiply.
....
Read 50 chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir
Bonus@ 1200 PS