By any reasonable measure, this is a story for me. Dipped and fried in the inescapable nostalgia of the late 90s - console whipping boy the 3DO gets name dropped, of all things - it remains a treat seeing what will come up next.
Now, if you don’t have the attachment, as I mention every review, you can safely drop your rating by a notch or two. I think this has a certain level of merit on its own, but it’s also gleefully treating my eyeballs to a Revolutionary Girl Utena reference. I cannot separate the two sides.
Poor Hajime is in the middle of a love triangle without really knowing it. After my grousing about stupid boys fighting over a girl last time, I was greatly satisfied when I saw the scenario get inverted with the grudge match that closes this volume out.
Mind you, this is a contest that has already been decided. And that’s fine - I like Hajime and Emi together quite a bit and her comforting him in this volume when he’s feeling especially down is one of the best moments in the book. She really does care about him.
The irony of the situation is that Yakumo and Hajime technically have more in common - pretty sure they’re listening to the same song at different times here - and Yakumo’s got a good reason to like Hajime, as it turns out.
But that doesn’t necessarily translate to affection, as it happens, so Yakumo is trying and getting her small wins, but she’s definitely coming up short in more than just her height.
Most of the action settles around a tournament in Kyoto and Hajime gets some intense training that he hopes will lead him to victory. But, as we have often seen, there’s always a bigger fish out there. And a more annoying one.
Hajime’s struggles are always interesting because he IS getting better, he’s just not good enough. Which can be a little rough to take when you’re young and learning, and he’s both. I think the emotional core of the volume is rock solid.
Otherwise, I also quite enjoyed how the art on the Magic cards was translated to certain poses by the characters. It’s a small detail, but this does integrate its corporate sponsorship rather well. It’s a (much) less polished Hikaru no Go.
4 stars - still really enjoy this and watching the games play out. I think it’s easy enough for the neophyte to follow and for those of us thoroughly steeped in the game and the era, well, it’s an easy recommendation.