While the Hikaru no Go manga reached the critical turning point of Isumi and Hikaru's match, Friday night saw the broadcast of Episode Two of the Hikaru no Go TV series at 9 p.m.
This episode opened with young Akira, still carried away by Hikaru's earlier words, challenging him for a second time, only to be decisively defeated.
One thing that drew widespread praise was the casting of young Akira in the live-action adaptation.
When calm, the boy's performance was gentle and refined, carrying an innate sense of pride and restraint. When anger flared, he was like a young lion pushed into a corner. Despite his age, his acting struck deeply with viewers.
Though his appearance differed somewhat from the manga, his temperament was almost perfectly reproduced.
If the first episode left the audience exhilarated, then the second match between Hikaru and Akira in Episode Two brought a heavy, almost suffocating pressure.
The scene in which Akira lowered his head and cried silently over the Go board after his defeat moved countless viewers, even those who knew nothing about Go.
To many people, Go was merely a game, something to pass the time.
But to those who aspired to become professional Go players, Go was everything. It was their entire world.
Later in the episode, Toya Koyo made his appearance.
Facing him across the board, Hikaru felt the crushing pressure of a true professional. Overwhelmed by Toya's calm, elegant, and commanding style, Hikaru, driven by instinct rather than instruction, made his first move using a proper, formal hand-placement technique of his own will.
The moment the stone touched the board;
Sai's astonished expression, Toya Koyo's solemn gaze, and the perfectly timed music all converged.
As the ending theme "SINCERELY ~ever dream~" began to play, the episode came to an end.
Once again, Hikaru no Go left its audience desperate for more.
That week, not only adults but even children flooded online forums to share their thoughts after watching the show.
"Hikaru is so cool! Can I play Go like him?"
"Is Go hard? Where can I learn?"
"Akira's devotion to Go, Toya Koyo's seriousness, and Sai chasing the Hand of God, it really moved me."
"No wonder the original manga is so famous. Even someone like me who doesn't understand Go was completely hooked."
"I can't wait anymore. I'm buying the tankōbon to catch up."
"Same here."
"You'd better hurry. I went to seven bookstores today, Volumes 1 and 2 of Hikaru no Go were completely sold out. Volume 3 won't last long either."
"Didn't Hoshimori Group coordinate with the printing factory in advance? This is way too amateur."
"This show is amazing. I was genuinely moved. Tomorrow I'm signing my son up for Go lessons."
"Can anyone spoil what happens later?"
"No spoilers. A real Hikaru no Go fan wouldn't ruin it."
"A Professional Go player is live-streaming an official breakdown of tonight's matches on the Go Association account!"
"The Go Association really knows what it's doing."
"Of course they do. It's rare to have a Go drama the public actually embraces."
"So does Hikaru just casually become a pro and win world championships?"
"Not even close. The manga is still in the professional promotion tournament."
"And trust me, the later arcs are incredible, especially the promotion tournament."
With massive discussion traffic, amateur Go players began voluntarily writing guides, explaining rules, and breaking down the matches from the TV series to help newcomers understand the game.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell, the popularity of Hikaru no Go in its second week far surpassed its first.
Two weeks into the October drama season, truly outstanding works were rare. Yet Hikaru no Go, with its novel subject matter, stellar reputation, and passionate support from original manga readers, was repeating the very path of its manga.
Quietly, steadily, becoming the dark horse of the TV drama market.
After a single night, the next morning, Capital Television Station officially announced the viewership data for Episode Two of the Hikaru no Go TV series.
The episode opened with a 4.03% rating, reached a peak of 4.79%, and recorded an average viewership of 4.41%.
Compared to last week's peak of 4.56% and average of 4.29%, this was a clear and steady increase.
Over the next two days, as the second episodes of this quarter's flagship dramas from major broadcasters, such as Tokyo Television Station and Kyoto Television Station, were successively aired, the Week Two Viewership Rankings for Japan's autumn dramas were released.
Second Week of October – Drama Viewership Rankings
Clinic in the Reverse Light - 4.86%
Our Little Sister - 4.71%
Hikaru no Go - 4.41%
Among the top two works, Clinic in the Reverse Light was adapted from a medical novel by a well-known author. The original novel itself had sold tens of millions of copies, giving it an exceptionally strong foundation.
Our Little Sister, meanwhile, was a remake of a famous foreign television series and already enjoyed broad public recognition.
That said, Hikaru no Go was hardly weak.
The fourth tankōbon volume sold 2.01 million copies in a single week. Judging from this momentum, an average of six million copies per volume was well within reach. If the manga continued for a longer run, total sales reaching tens of millions, or even over a hundred million copies, was by no means unrealistic.
In Japan, where the commercial ecosystem surrounding animation is exceptionally mature, anime-related works possess the strongest monetization potential. Even when compared to novels, the combined scale of the film and television industry often struggles to match it.
Rei's previous life Japan had already proven this point.
There, the annual market size of television dramas was measured in the hundreds of billions of yen, while the animation industry alone reached three to four trillion yen.
Ultimately, the real profits of such works did not lie in broadcasting fees, but in merchandising.
Many manga were adapted into anime or live-action series primarily to drive traffic back to the original work, not because animation or television alone was the primary revenue source.
Of course, exceptions like Demon Slayer existed, but they were precisely that: exceptions.
Before its premiere, the television industry had not been particularly optimistic about the Hikaru no Go TV series.
After all, Hikaru no Go was not considered a top-tier manga nationwide. It had only climbed to fourth place in Dream Comic Journal after benefitting from television-driven traffic. And Japan had six major comic journals like Hoshimori Comic.
In other words, at any given time, twenty to thirty manga of comparable scale were being serialized simultaneously.
Moreover, manga typically achieved explosive popularity only after animation, not live-action adaptation. Many such adaptations were openly mocked by fans as being "tragically adapted into live-action."
Yet here was Hikaru no Go:
Week One: Top five in viewership
Week Two: Already third place
The industry was stunned.
What was happening?
In truth, Rei had already anticipated this outcome.
Television broadcasts were fundamentally different from manga serialization. Watching TV carried virtually no cost, and every household could tune in effortlessly. Once a high-quality work gained traction, its rise was far faster than that of a manga relying on weekly magazines and tankōbon releases.
The strength of Hikaru no Go's original story was beyond doubt, and the production team had approached the adaptation with genuine care and respect.
With both the original work and its adaptation maintaining high quality, and with the autumn season lacking overwhelming competitors, it was only natural that Hikaru no Go surged in viewership.
Still, the results felt almost excessive.
Headlines soon followed:
Hoshimori Group's "Genius Manga Artist" Shirogane Sees "Hikaru no Go" Rise to Third in Viewership and Fourth in Magazine Rankings. Will His Bold Words from Last Year Come True? Could "Hikaru no Go" Claim This Year's Annual Manga Award?
"Hikaru no Go" Ignites Public Interest in the Go Industry, Go Association Website Traffic Up 1.8×, Searches for Professional Promotion Tournaments Triple Year-on-Year
Hikaru no Go Surges on Hot Searches. Among All TV Series Premiering This Quarter, Hikaru no Go Records the Highest Approval Ratings Across All Age Groups and the Highest Volume of Post-Broadcast Discussion!
The School Attended by Genius Manga Artist Shirogane Recently Besieged by Hikaru no Go Fans, Campus Gates Temporarily Impassable. The School Issues Public Statement Urging Fans to Follow the Manga and TV Series Rationally, and Not to Transfer Their Affection for Hikaru no Go Onto Shirogane Himself. With Only Half a Year Remaining Until the College Entrance Examination, the School Hopes the Public Will Allow Shirogane to Focus on His Studies Without Disruption.
Shoma, President of the Japan's Go Association, and Minato, Three-Time Former World Champion, Jointly Accept Media Interviews, Praising the Hikaru no Go IP for Making Immense Contributions to the Japan's Go Industry. Conservative Estimates Suggest That the Number of People Influenced by Hikaru no Go to Learn or Understand Go Has Already Exceeded Tens, or Even Hundreds, of Thousands.
Online Live Broadcast Popularity and Viewership of Japan's Go, A-League Professional League Increase by 75% Compared to Pre-Hikaru no Go Levels. Multiple Professional Players State That Since the Manga's Serialization, a Large Number of Fans Have Begun Attending Matches Offline to Support Them.
Undoubtedly, the Hikaru no Go TV series had an immediate and explosive effect on expanding the influence of the Hikaru no Go IP.
As the TV series gained popularity, it simultaneously ignited enthusiasm for the manga itself, the game of Go, professional leagues, Go training institutions, and numerous related industries.
Driven by continuous media coverage and the fervent support of manga and TV series fans alike, Hikaru no Go reached its highest popularity peak since serialization during the second week of October.
At the same time, the previously steady sales curve of the Hikaru no Go tankōbon volumes suddenly steepened.
On Monday, Rei directly took leave from school and followed Misaki to Hoshimori Group headquarters.
With the Hikaru no Go TV series exploding in popularity, the group's corresponding promotional efforts naturally had to keep pace.
Scheduled interview recordings, controlled disclosures about the future direction of Hikaru no Go's plot, and short promotional videos for Dream Comic Journal were already lined up.
These activities occurred roughly every half month, and Rei had long since grown accustomed to them.
However, upon arriving at Hoshimori Group this time, Rei clearly sensed a change in how internal staff viewed him.
Although everyone still addressed him as "Teacher Shirogane," the tone was no longer merely polite convention.
Before, few people truly took a seventeen-year-old manga artist seriously. Now, even mid-to-high-level executives greeted him with noticeably greater respect.
After all, who could say whether Hikaru no Go's current momentum might eventually shake one of the three pillar manga of Dream Comic Journal?
Not to mention that tankōbon sales were now soaring.
Still, there was a quiet sense of regret among some within the group.
If only Rei's breakout work had been a different genre.
While Hikaru no Go had proven extraordinarily effective at promoting the game of Go, the commercial ceiling of Go-themed manga simply could not match that of battle or fantasy series.
Rather than Hoshimori Group being the greatest beneficiary of Hikaru no Go's explosive popularity, it seemed that the Japan's Go industry itself had gained even more.
On Tuesday, Hoshimori Group struck while the iron was hot, releasing a short interview video featuring Rei on its official website ahead of the latest chapter's serialization.
Such videos were usually filled with harmless fluff, but they attracted large audiences nonetheless. And among those viewers, some were always paying very close attention.
Indeed, sharp-eyed fans quickly noticed an intriguing exchange.
When the interviewer directly asked Rei how long Hikaru no Go would continue serialization, Rei answered clearly:
"When Sai finds The Hand of God, the manga will rapidly approach its conclusion."
Sai finds The Hand of God?
At the very least, that would require Sai to face the world's strongest Go player of the current era.
The Professional Promotion Tournament arc alone had already run for an extended period. For Hikaru to reach 9-dan, and for Sai to stand opposite Toya Koyo, would realistically require several more years of serialization.
And yet, The Hand of God.
What kind of move could truly deserve such a title?
The characters inside the manga might be easily convinced.
But what about reality?
With so many professional Go players closely following this work, how would Rika, Hikaru no Go's collaborator, together with the Go Association, design a match worthy of being called, The Hand of God?
...
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