lalala

[cimorene]

i 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.

Comments

[suaine.livejournal.com]

*bites tongue so as not to spoil you* *squees about the OMGGAY! instead*

[perhael.livejournal.com]

Hey, I found a good torrent so now I have the first 20 episodes to watch! I can't keep up with you, though, you're waaaaaaaaay more into it than I am. ;)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, sinister gay uncle indeed.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

*dies of joy*

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 !