Falling Stars

He's got momentum, this kid.
Good judgment, quick too.

I've played him at the study group but haven't seen his limit.
His go's been changing this past six months.
Or to be more precise...
His attitude towards go has changed.

After that period...
... when he didn't show up for his matches.

- Morishita-sensei, Chapter 160 of Hikaru no Go

SHINDOU:
It must be lonely to be the god of go.
You'd have no equal, no rival.

MR KITAJIMA:
Hmm... that's a curious thing to say.

MR KITAJIMA'S OPPONENT:
Well... maybe that's why the god of go teaches humans how to play.
To nurture a strong player who can someday be a worthy opponent for the god.

TOUYA:
So that's why go players down through the ages...
seem compelled to get better and better?

MR KITAJIMA'S OPPONENT:
Exactly right!
Why else would a game become a way of life?

- Chapter 168 of Hikaru no Go

***

Some things I've been watching lately:

* Star Trek: Lower Decks - I never expected to fall for this show the way I did. TNG is forever the show of my heart, and what I want most out of Star Trek. Lower Decks somehow manages to capture that optimism about the future, and that love of science, space, and exploration. It's been said that it's a Star Trek comedy, but not a Star Trek parody. Admittedly, it has a rocky start before it finds its feet, and recurring bursts of unnecessary crude humour. But some of its episodes are up there with the best of Trek I've seen, like the stunning Season 1 finale, "No Small Parts". It manages to pay tribute to nostalgia, both the beloved and the ridiculous, as well as add its own voice to the universe, distinctive and contemporary. I marathoned the first three seasons of this, and I'm hanging out for the fourth later this year.

* Willow - The movie was one of my childhood faves, so I was excited for a new TV show sequel, especially with Warwick Davis so enthusiastic about it. It was everything I didn't know I wanted. The new generation are a delight. Willow is a great flawed mentor figure who has Seen Some Stuff. Sorsha is fantastic and complicated. Even Madmartigan gets to be obliquely involved. I love all the banter and the interactions. I love how everyone is genre savvy. I love all the classic fantasy tropes, and how it sometimes feels like an RPG adventure. I just don't get all the criticism of it! I thought the writing was great, the acting was great, the cinematography was great. I am gutted that it got cancelled after a season. I am still hoping for a revival somehow.

Throughout the game, I felt in you an intensity characteristic of the most seasoned veterans. Next time, we'll play an even match.

- Touya Meijin, Chapter 102 of Hikaru no Go

***

It always feels like there's all the time to post when nothing is happening, and no time to post when everything is happening.

Anyway, some of the stuff I've been watching and reading lately:

* WandaVision - I went in with low expectations, because while I liked Wanda well enough, I disliked Vision for replacing JARVIS, and I just was not invested in their relationship. Well, count me wrong. Turns out, when they get the material, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany have amazing chemistry and awesome comic timing. And when the big emotional moments come, they really bring it. Plus bonus nostalgia for all the sitcoms I grew up with.

* The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - I would have been completely happy with buddy comedy shenanigans, but what we got was so much deeper and richer. Sam and Bucky finally get the character exploration that the movies never had room to give them. As one commenter put it, forget the action plot, I could watch a whole series about PTSD, race relations, and bickering. And I love that in the MCU, the story of Captain America is, now and forever, entwined with the story of Black America.

* Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells - New Murderbot novella! Timewise, it's set between the existing novellas and the recent novel. This means, plotwise, it's necessarily constrained. But it still manages to be an engaging adventure. Murderbot investigates a murder mystery on Preservation Station! There's a lot of juicy character stuff, with Murderbot getting to interact with numerous humans openly as itself, and all the angst, snark, and protectiveness that entails.

Akira, you are just chasing after my shadow and cannot properly see Hikaru's Go.

You don't realise that with every footstep, Hikaru is heading straight towards you.

- Sai, Chapter 28 of Hikaru no Go

I still have not accomplished my goal. I have yet to play "the Divine Move".

- Sai, Chapter 1 of Hikaru no Go

Shindo is coming. Soon he'll face me as an equal.

Then I'll get to the bottom of the mystery. I'm going to find out about him. I'm going to see for myself.

Come on, Shindo! I'm right here...

... waiting in the world of the pros!

- Akira, Chapter 96 of Hikaru no Go

"Hikaru, if I remember correctly, you became interested in Go because of Akira, didn't you?

And I was the one who actually played him. So he thought you were a strong player and came chasing after you.

And then when he actually did play you, he was so disappointed...

But you have come a long way, Hikaru."

*Akira Toya would never have been distracted had he not met Hikaru. Akira would have just continued down his own path.

He would never have stopped.

Nor would he have turned back to look...

... and pull Hikaru up to his level.

Indeed, when I think about Hikaru's remarkable progress...

... I get the feeling that...

... the gods sent Akira Toya to help Hikaru grow.*

- Sai, Chapter 50 of Hikaru no Go

This year, for Hikago Day, I offer some brief musings.

Hikaru no Go is still one of my absolute favourite manga - inspiring, funny, moving, and surprisingly gripping considering it is about a boardgame. ("Where will he put his next stone?!!") But one thing you can't praise it for is a strong showing of female characters. They are far fewer and more peripheral than the male characters.

I'm sure it's been discussed before, and really, it's no worse than what I would expect from the typical shounen manga. But on the other hand, some of my other favourite shounen manga, like Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach, have heaps of women running around - heroes, villains, mentors, housewives, soldiers, engineers - so it can be done, and done well.

I guess what I'm particularly feeling is the dearth of female go players, and especially female professional go players. Of the former, we see Akari and Kaneko (junior high school students) and Nase (an insei); of the latter, we see only mentions and glimpses. (The only named one I can recall is Sakurano, whose match Touya subbed for, and who we didn't actually see.)

So what I've been wondering about is which, if any, of the other characters could have been written as female, without altering the dynamics of the story too much. My personal favourite choice would be Kurata, the young hotshot pro climbing the ladder. He is prominent enough in the story to be a real person, and genderswitching him wouldn't detrimentally affect the story or the portrayal of women.

And if I were forced to pick another, I would say Kuwabara, who I can easily see transformed from a wily and irreverent old man to a wily and irreverent old woman. But then again, perhaps to have a woman at the top of the ladder would be turning the world of go upside down.

In honour of Hikago Day yesterday.

I didn't get into it when it was wildly popular. It wasn't until a long time after, when I stumbled upon the first few volumes at the library. After that, I went out and bought every single volume that had been translated. Problem was, that was only 5 out of 23, with Viz releasing new volumes on an achingly slow schedule. So getting hold of the rest of the series was a saga in itself, trekking to hole-in-the-wall manga rental places, hunting down sketchy online summaries, and pulling out my extremely rusty translation skills.

But it was worth it.

( Spoilers for the series - this means you, Mr Tang )

From another Anime News Network review of Hikaru no Go:

The great thing about shounen manga these days is that it can be written about pretty much anything without ever breaking from its quirky, inimitable style. You know what I'm talking about. All the one-on-one showdowns, and overwrought speeches on power and skill levels. The funky special techniques. How all the world's problems will inevitably be solved by engaging in some epic duel with the local ideologue. This all used to be pretty well limited to titles centered on martial arts or other similar forms of violence, back in the day. All at once, however, the entire industry seemingly picked up a volume of Dragonball or Hokuto no Ken and decided it would all work just as well without the punching.

They're right, of course. The appeal lies in the means, rather than the end. Diversity is inherently interesting.

And so, there are now shounen action series being written about everything. Somewhere in the depths of a Tokyo manga café there even exists one such series about... baking bread. I don’t remember the name, or how I came across it. None of that is important. What is important is the idea behind such an odd creation--the notion that one could take this premise, and, with enough belief in the process, find a way to leave the reader breathless. Who will win? Can our hero pull through? Watch the bread rise! On the surface, nothing could be more stupid. And yet, it is charming. All because of the unmistakably Japanese thought process that might lead a character to shout, in amazement, "I HAVE NEVER SEEN A YEAST SUCH AS THIS!"

That is shounen manga.