It's been a long time since HNG hit the scene. What do you think the overall impact has been? For me I was already been hooked on the game, so it didn't change much (although I did really enjoy the anime).

At our local club, you can still count on a large number of the new players who show up mentioning HNG as a reason they got interested in the game. What is your own experience?

I voted that it had little or no impact on me. Although, indirectly, I probably wouldn't have heard about Go if not for HnG.

At the time, I spent a lot of time on message boards and IRC. One day, a fellow IRCer started asking people to play Go with him. I was the only one who took him up on it, even though I had no idea what it was. He had never played either, so we both learned by reading the rules on Yahoo games. I ended up winning that first game, and the next one or two, and I was hooked. It was only later that I learned he only wanted to play because of HnG; and by following the after-episode lessons, he finally beat me. Which prompted me to start studying as well.

As far as I know, he stopped playing completely a few months later, while I've more or less stuck around (I don't play much anymore, but I still visit these forums, idle on KGS and watch some dan games from time to time, as well as play the occasional game).

I think that the choices appear related to the reason you started go, whereas the subject, to me, sounded like the topic of interest in the game after starting.

But for me, the answer is the same either way: it had a major impact. If I had black hair, I might have dyed it golden yellow.

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be immersed

I became interested in HnG because of Go (not the other way around -- not sure how to answer that poll)

I was already intrigued by Go, but HnG got my wife interested which helped immensely as I could now play Go and spend time with my wife simultaneously.

Holy crap did HnG hook me in. Even though I felt I was a bit old to be reading manga.

I didn't realize it was a real game until a few volumes in. Then I went full-tilt, learning the rules, showing my friends how to play on a chessboard with coins, memorizing pro games (already), etc. I was crazy about Shusaku, of course. I just wouldn't let up.

I actually drove a few of my friends away from the game with my intensity and by beating them so hard repeatedly.

I'm definitely going to make up for it though. I've learned a lot, and I'm still dedicated to showing others what a fantastic game Go is.

Being Chinese, I've been exposed to Go pretty much since I can remember, but I never learned how to play until I watched Hikaru no Go.

I don't read manga.

I'd heard about go back in college, but I only took up the game when I heard a report on Radio Japan back in 1999 or 2000 about Michael Redmond becoming a 9p.

Needless to say, I haven't been quite as successful as Redmond.

Same here.

I actually did have Hikaru's hair in about...8th? grade. My hair was a very dark brown and I dyed the front blonde like his. I did not actually watch the show until years later.

So, Like stated above, I knew of HNG long before I ever paid attention to it. But I didn't watch it until After I started playing. I got into Go and then said "Oh, Hey isn't there an Anime about this game?" then watched it.

So to answer the pool above, I started after HNG and it had no impact on why I started.


But for a few months in 8th grade my hair was Super-Fly. Then it grew out and looked dumb.

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Lose 1,000 games? Challenge Accepted.

HNG introduced Go to me, sooo...

Yes, without HnG I wouldn't be here :o It is all the reason why I play Go and strive to become a better player =D

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I got interested in go because of HnG, just like 50% of the community on kgs a few years ago. Many of them quit I think by now when I came back... but there are still a lot of people I know who started because of it like me.

Toonami Jetstream

When HnG came out, I was already a dan level player, but I had mostly lost interest and taken up other hobbies. HnG inspired me to pick up go again. No regrets

I was into Go before finding HNG. My option would be: I was into Go and that made me interested in HNG.

I became aware of HNG shortly after I started playing go. I was taught by a friend who himself became interested after playing around with cgoban on his linux machine.

I never actually sat down and read or watched it until last year, but it's been surprisingly useful. My wife used to be somewhat disdainful of both go and the show, until she would start talking to me during an episode and not leave until the episode was over. I sat her down last winter and had her watch the whole thing after she had surgery, and now she's started becoming interested in problem books.

I'm deliberately being very patient and not pushing, but I think she might be eventually won over into at least casual play.

I'd heard about Go and looked into how to play it, but I never really paid enough attentions to see the patterns or the traditions. I'm a sucker for narrative, so HNG was a way to introduce me to the idea of stories about go. The fiction was a gateway to the historical stuff - especially the fortunes of Go in the Shogunate, the Meiji period, and the WWII era.

That narrative interest lead me to actually stepping up and playing.

I still find a lot of enjoyment coming from stories from the history and community of go.

- Marty Lund

The boise Go Club has been ephemeral for 40 years but there were about 6 years when I was regularly entertaining inquiries because of Hikaru No Go. A few of these contacts resulted in my having the distinct pleasure of teaching about 20 people to play. Some of these folks went on to kick my butt. Others, of course, never really got it.

I hope another adventure series will feature go as a major story element.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

HNG came thirty years too late for my interest in Go, although I enjoyed it immensely. However, living in Japan, it did prompt me to buy the weekly Shonen Jump manga, which I had refused to allow my kids to read. They've never looked back!

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Go had crossed my path a few times already and I had some games under my belt. These were with friends and flatmates - we had just a basic understanding of the rules. But watching HnG was the impact that finally got me starting seriously - playing online and going to the local club. From that point on I was hooked.