Most of us have probably seen at least a few minutes of a Japanese broadcast of a televised game. The camera will alternate between the board, the players and of course the commentator. Often a distinguished professional, he (exclusively he, in my experience) will explain the board position and present variations, often quite quickly since the game time controls are short.

There will also be a much less heralded presence on the screen--the commentator's assistant. She (exclusively she, in my experience) will slip in a few words here and there (hai, being the most common) but I had always thought she served as eye candy for the middle-aged viewer demographic. I am now prepared to reevaluate that assessment.

I had the opportunity to watch fairly large parts of the commentary broadcasts for both the recent North American Pro Qualification tournament and the just-finished US Masters. Various professionals were paired up with amateur hosts to present commentary over the span of many days. The difference a good sidekick can make to the quality of a broadcast was striking. The good hosts make sure the commentary flows smoothly, act as an interviewer to draw out the commentator's historical interactions and opinions of the players, inquire about interesting lines of play but don't bother to add their own commentary alongside the professional's. Stephen Hu should be held in particularly high esteem for his excellent on-camera work.

As the Western world moves forward with its great professional go experiment, it may be worth it for everyone to consider that the sidekicks may be just as important as anyone else in bringing go to the (hopefully paying) public.

Apologies to all the young ladies on NHK that I have rolled my eyes at. I don't think my hai's would be nearly as good as theirs.

Yeah but in Japanese I prefer no co-host because with two people the commentary gets more conversational, laughing, talking quicker, and back to back. Of course you get the benefit of good questions.

But I've noticed that when the commentator is alone, they speak slower and clearer, and are much easier to understand for someone with limited understanding.

It's good to have both styles.

By the way, the co-hosts are pros, often men, and not always some shodan. The Nihon Ki-in does a good job of bringing in 8-dans off the street to co-host. But yeah, the NHK TV programs have their own production style.

As I am able to understand the commentary by the pro and the interaction between the main commenter and the assistant, I enjoy the NHK format. The assistants are also pros, around one or two dan level players. When they ask questions they often know the answer and are asking the question for the benefit of the weak amateur viewers. I appreciate the way some of the assistants bring out the personality of the main commenter. For example, when a good assistant works with Cho Chikun we get to see Cho's sparkling sense of humor.

Many years ago the regular assistant on the NHK games was a male amateur and it seemed to me that the whole thing was too stiff, with too much male posturing.

I appreciate the sidekicks!

It's fun when you see them ask a ddk question (as discussed, on behalf of the audience) and then shortly after, assist in quickly putting a fighting variation on the board that seems to show a strong pro level of understanding.

Ali J also does a great job when sharing commentary duties on the European go streams. Doesn't hide his strength but seems to try to keep things grounded and make sure that the basic questions get answered.

Can we expect one day to see a female commentator, and a male assistant asking DDK questions?

Ah... I have seen Xie Yimin and Hoshiai Shiho but yes, they were just the listener/interviewer. A few other women are frequently doing the interview part. I looked quickly and didn't see any women listed as the main commentator in the open tournaments. I've seen Xie giving the commentary recently in a women's tournament (Senko I think).

... This reminds me of hearing old men complain about not being able to hear the higher pitched voices of young females. I'm not sure that has anything to do with the current situation but most of the men attending the Big Board presentation might have this problem. So maybe.

There was a female commentator / male sidekick combo last year, iirc. I don't remember who either of them were. It was something I read on L19.

In the last month or two Fujisawa Rina was giving the main commentary on one of the Nihon Kiin streams with two different sidekicks I believe. But like half of the steams, people were constantly coming in and out. I think later someone else showed up... maybe it was Seki Koutaro, and then he took over the controls for giving commentary and she was the sidekick.

You can look at the list of commentators (newspaper, Net, etc) on the Nihon Kiin's tournament website but I've found the online commentator is not always there and sometimes mixed in with other people.

The conference room for streaming the games must be next to the coffee machine.