![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimorenei opened a text file to contain the squee and then i turned out to have a lot to say, so here's running commentary on hikaru no go:
on the anime:
touya shows up to watch hikaru's match in a lavender shirt under a hot pink argyle cardigan and carrying a lavender jacket. he is definitely dressed for a date. he was like, "lavender IS one of my best colours, but i should wear a cardigan and not a tie. i need to achieve a casual note. casual, but interested." the cardigan says "i'm not going home with you", while the v.v. gay colour scheme says "...but i might let you buy me a drink", as the effervescent andraé gonzalo would put it.
the first thing touya meijin says to hikaru is to (needle him? feel him out? unsettle him? encourage him?)... tell him that akira came to watch him. okay, i guess everyone including the meijin can see akira's love for hikaru. well, it only took kuwabara like two seconds, and as soon as he suggested it akira - as always when hikaru comes up - went wide-eyed, sweaty and stuttery.
then touya's all "he's finally come this far! i've been WAITING for this." (in a kind of choked, aroused voice, by the way.) i guess that, for him, this is like bringing his boyfriend home to meet the parents... his long-distance boyfriend. oh, but it turns out he doesn't really have time to angst about his father's part in it: he's too busy obsessing over hikaru again. "what kind of game is he going to play... what kind of game is he going to *show me*?" and then his little hands clench into fists. oh, AKIRA.
then twenty minutes pass without hikaru placing a stone, and akira has this little face on, this joy luck club face, like, "i just brought my boyfriend to dinner and he insulted mom's cooking. :((" and okay... why the hell doesn't hikarutell sai to HURRY UP?
okay, kuwabara is really hilarious. but i still hope ogata 9-dan will roll his eyes and quietly snark at him some more. <3 <3 <3 ogata!
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. then ogata's all *smirk* "the meijin is probably interested because akira-kun thinks of shindou as a rival." and akira gets this ADORABLE NERVOUS "omg shut up or you are no longer my favourite sinister gay uncle!" face. OGATA TOTALLY KNOWS TOO. I LOVE HOW HE TORTURES AKIRA ABOUT HIS SOULMATE. ♥ and every time kuwabara mentions intuition, ogata rolls his eyes again and this time he SIGHED EXASPERATEDLY. oh god, could my love for him become any greater?
as the atmosphere of tension grows thicker and ochi, waya and the reporter keep thinking hikaru's playing stupidly (in spite of kuwabara and ogata's doubts, and akira's nervous face)... akira gets more and more distressed. in his head, he's saying in a throbbing voice, "SHINDOU." is he just crying out (mentally) in anguish and suspense about his soulmate? does he fear that hikaru will lose, and hope that he will win? or does he marvel at hikaru's unsurpassed ability to surprise and move him? AND THEN HIS REACTION when kuwabara says hikaru was playing with a self-imposed handicap -- ! of course kuwabara and touya meijin are going to keep hikaru's secret? this is so cool! sugoi!
for me, hikaru and akira's angst over each other is the light side of this show. they're both actually very sweet, so even though they make my heart crack, i'm mostly happy about them. but the angst between sai and hikaru tears me apart. it keeps bringing me to the brink of tears, which is as close to tears as i ever get, really. i hope the angstiness they're in right now is relieved before the ending. i don't know whether to expect it to be or not.
**
on the manga version of the same match (issues 99-102):
the clothes in the manga are universally better. they can't capture the total gayness without colours of course, like ogata's earlier Chartreuse Waistcoat of Supreme Gayness, or like touya's incredibly fabulous hot pink argyle cardigan and lavender jacket in this episode. but for some reason ogata and kuwabara were drawn in their standard outfits in the anime - white double-breasted suit, navy shirt and golden tie for ogata. in the manga he's got on a black leather motorcycle jacket and a sleek ribbed sweater.
issue 100 starts with some coloured panels, so we can see that hikaru's pants are actually supposed to be of grey wool tweed. they're a kind of odd blue colour in the manga which made me wonder if they were meant to be jeans, though i eventually concluded they were actually chinos. no! they're actually fairly acceptable attire.
we also see that ogata and kuwabara's bet was 10 000 yen each - which is around $86 USD right now. (they seem to make an effort to clean up the anime, for example by removing kaga's cigarettes. i guess it's okay for adults to smoke, though.)
and i think the characterisation of the conflict between sai and hikaru is a little different - like the anime is trying to aim for slightly younger children and make what's going on more understandable perhaps.
on the anime:
touya shows up to watch hikaru's match in a lavender shirt under a hot pink argyle cardigan and carrying a lavender jacket. he is definitely dressed for a date. he was like, "lavender IS one of my best colours, but i should wear a cardigan and not a tie. i need to achieve a casual note. casual, but interested." the cardigan says "i'm not going home with you", while the v.v. gay colour scheme says "...but i might let you buy me a drink", as the effervescent andraé gonzalo would put it.
the first thing touya meijin says to hikaru is to (needle him? feel him out? unsettle him? encourage him?)... tell him that akira came to watch him. okay, i guess everyone including the meijin can see akira's love for hikaru. well, it only took kuwabara like two seconds, and as soon as he suggested it akira - as always when hikaru comes up - went wide-eyed, sweaty and stuttery.
then touya's all "he's finally come this far! i've been WAITING for this." (in a kind of choked, aroused voice, by the way.) i guess that, for him, this is like bringing his boyfriend home to meet the parents... his long-distance boyfriend. oh, but it turns out he doesn't really have time to angst about his father's part in it: he's too busy obsessing over hikaru again. "what kind of game is he going to play... what kind of game is he going to *show me*?" and then his little hands clench into fists. oh, AKIRA.
then twenty minutes pass without hikaru placing a stone, and akira has this little face on, this joy luck club face, like, "i just brought my boyfriend to dinner and he insulted mom's cooking. :((" and okay... why the hell doesn't hikarutell sai to HURRY UP?
okay, kuwabara is really hilarious. but i still hope ogata 9-dan will roll his eyes and quietly snark at him some more. <3 <3 <3 ogata!
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. then ogata's all *smirk* "the meijin is probably interested because akira-kun thinks of shindou as a rival." and akira gets this ADORABLE NERVOUS "omg shut up or you are no longer my favourite sinister gay uncle!" face. OGATA TOTALLY KNOWS TOO. I LOVE HOW HE TORTURES AKIRA ABOUT HIS SOULMATE. ♥ and every time kuwabara mentions intuition, ogata rolls his eyes again and this time he SIGHED EXASPERATEDLY. oh god, could my love for him become any greater?
as the atmosphere of tension grows thicker and ochi, waya and the reporter keep thinking hikaru's playing stupidly (in spite of kuwabara and ogata's doubts, and akira's nervous face)... akira gets more and more distressed. in his head, he's saying in a throbbing voice, "SHINDOU." is he just crying out (mentally) in anguish and suspense about his soulmate? does he fear that hikaru will lose, and hope that he will win? or does he marvel at hikaru's unsurpassed ability to surprise and move him? AND THEN HIS REACTION when kuwabara says hikaru was playing with a self-imposed handicap -- ! of course kuwabara and touya meijin are going to keep hikaru's secret? this is so cool! sugoi!
for me, hikaru and akira's angst over each other is the light side of this show. they're both actually very sweet, so even though they make my heart crack, i'm mostly happy about them. but the angst between sai and hikaru tears me apart. it keeps bringing me to the brink of tears, which is as close to tears as i ever get, really. i hope the angstiness they're in right now is relieved before the ending. i don't know whether to expect it to be or not.
**
on the manga version of the same match (issues 99-102):
the clothes in the manga are universally better. they can't capture the total gayness without colours of course, like ogata's earlier Chartreuse Waistcoat of Supreme Gayness, or like touya's incredibly fabulous hot pink argyle cardigan and lavender jacket in this episode. but for some reason ogata and kuwabara were drawn in their standard outfits in the anime - white double-breasted suit, navy shirt and golden tie for ogata. in the manga he's got on a black leather motorcycle jacket and a sleek ribbed sweater.
issue 100 starts with some coloured panels, so we can see that hikaru's pants are actually supposed to be of grey wool tweed. they're a kind of odd blue colour in the manga which made me wonder if they were meant to be jeans, though i eventually concluded they were actually chinos. no! they're actually fairly acceptable attire.
we also see that ogata and kuwabara's bet was 10 000 yen each - which is around $86 USD right now. (they seem to make an effort to clean up the anime, for example by removing kaga's cigarettes. i guess it's okay for adults to smoke, though.)
and i think the characterisation of the conflict between sai and hikaru is a little different - like the anime is trying to aim for slightly younger children and make what's going on more understandable perhaps.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 19 Jul 2006 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20 Jul 2006 07:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20 Jul 2006 08:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19 Jul 2006 10:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19 Jul 2006 10:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20 Jul 2006 07:05 am (UTC)you've got to love a guy who lurks in the darkened tropical fish store of foreboding piano music for stress relief. plus, his little sportscar!
(no subject)
Date: 20 Jul 2006 05:20 am (UTC)See, I have nothing coherent to say here - except that Ogata is totally the sinister gay uncle. You can fuck all the girls from here to Hokkaido, Ogata; we know what you're doing with Ashiwara in episode 60.
I love the mutual obsession of Hikaru and Akira, and you're right - it is the light side of the story. The Hikaru-Sai stuff is much more serious, and - *bites tongue*.
OMG HIKARU AKIRA SAI EEEEEEEEE !
(no subject)
Date: 20 Jul 2006 06:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 20 Jul 2006 07:22 am (UTC)This is why you'll see references to Ogata's manwhore tendencies in
(no subject)
Date: 21 Jul 2006 08:12 pm (UTC)i've barely started looking for fic. you're saying there's a fandom, hmm?
(no subject)
Date: 21 Jul 2006 08:39 pm (UTC)There is a fandom, but it's small and kind of scary for people coming from media fandom - the writing is different, the customs are *really* different. Also, 95% of the fic is on ff.n, and I assume I do not need to point out how well that correlates with Sturgeon's Law. Even the good stuff is often not, shall we say, exactly beta-read. And the people who are on LJ tend to friends lock their fic.
But. I have been patiently collecting links to all the ff I could stand well enough to bookmark (plus the occasional really, really kick-ass story - read rageprufrock's Inertia RIGHT NOW if you haven't already, and lynnmonster, the hoyden, and mousapelli are all very reliable purveyors of quality HnG), and you can find them here (http://del.icio.us/tfv/HnG), if you want to.
Or you could just write some fic, you know. That would be extremely excellent. I've got to go to a horrible wedding this weekend, and the knowledge that you were writing HnG would give me desperately needed will to live. Not that you, you know, should feel pressured in any way. *doe eyes*
The pairings are, as far as I can tell, in order of popularity:
Shindou/Touya
Ogata/Ashiwara
Isumi/Waya
Ogata/Shindou
Kaga/Tsutsui
Ogata/Everyone Else on God's Green Earth
Shindou/A Creature Almost But Not Entirely Unlike Akari
But that's just what I've found. I wonder where
(no subject)
Date: 22 Jul 2006 11:04 am (UTC)i have ideas, but i can't promise to write anything yet. i'm on a reading binge at the moment. actually, i probably can promise to write some eventually - if that makes you feel any better! just don't expect it to be done soon. :)
and really, ogata/oshiwara more popular than isumi/waya? that sounds so bizarre.
sidenote. i hate when people friendslock their fic on lj. :|
i will ask
(no subject)
Date: 22 Jul 2006 11:31 am (UTC)But I could be wrong about the popularity of Ogata/Ashiwara v. Isumi/Waya - they're pretty close to even, I'd say, and Isumi/Waya could well be on top. (Ew. I just went to an Ogata/Ashiwara/Isumi/Waya place in my head.)
If you do use my del.icio.us tags, please keep in mind that me tagging a story in there isn't a rec - most of those I wouldn't rec. It just means the story had something that made me want to bookmark it. In this fandom, I basically save anything readable. (And I have lower standards for usage errors than in other fandoms, because - OMG. My normal standards would eliminate most of the stories not written by Pru, Mousapelli, Lynn, The Hoyden, and Aja.)
And if you find any other HnG stories that are even halfway decent, please, please let me know. I'm in my voracious devour-all-fic-in-the-new-fandom mode, and there's nothing for me to eat. (Read. Whichever.)
*hungers for fic*
(Oh, and yes - I hate the fic friendslocking, too. Seriously, why do people do that? But it's pretty damn common in HnG. I still haven't been able to get to read Aki/Absence of Mind's fic, which is some of the more talked-about stuff in the fandom. And Lynnmonster does flock her fic, but she also posts it in the igo_yaoi community, thank god.)
(no subject)
Date: 22 Jul 2006 01:08 pm (UTC)i remember that episode well! and it's even better in the manga! because that was one of the episodes with kind of deformed crappy drawing but the art was gorgeous in the manga... and the watercoloured panel of ashiwara sleeping all dishevelled and his foot sticking out of the blankets... god. *__* and i'm not surprised, because people usually are unwilling to give enough exposition for the really intense and important pairings in canon; they just skive off and skip over it, or else write background pairings where they can get away with making up more of the details.
hah, aja only got into hikago about a year ago and she didn't even mention to me that she had written any of it. perhaps it was short or unfinished or something else to make her crack-headedly consider that it didn't count.
(no subject)
Date: 26 Jul 2006 06:49 pm (UTC)http://del.icio.us/cimness/hikago:hikaruakira
http://del.icio.us/cimness/hikago:isumiwaya
i haven't finished going back through the community, yet, and i haven't tried to poke around ff.net, so i probably still have another week or two of slushpile-wading in front of me. i predict i've already done most of the bookmarking i'm going to do, though.