Since I finally finished Hikaru No Go (I did not want to say goodbye to it so I delayed the inevitable) NOW I HAVE TO WRITE MY FINAL REVIEW FOR THE DRAMA! You can read my "FIRST IMPRESSIONS" of this drama to see how I felt about Hikaru No Go after the first 8 episodes and see if my opinions have changed now that I have finished it.
Here is a quick synopsis of the drama for those of you who have not seen it yet - six-year-old Shi Guang finds an old Go Board in his grandfather's attic. When he touches it, he awakens the spirit of a Go Master that lives inside the board. This Go Master named Chu Ying had dedicated his life to the game of Go. Together they develop a friendship, strive to learn Go and find the DIVINE MOVE all while meeting and influencing the people they meet along the way.
As I said in my FIRST IMPRESSIONS post, I am a HUGE fan of the anime/manga that this Cdrama is based off of. This might mean that I am bias about this drama BUT, in my opinion, EVERYONE NEEDS TO CHECK THIS DRAMA OUT! Hikaru No Go is HANDS DOWN one of the BEST CHINESE DRAMAS I HAVE EVER SEEN! You are really missing out if you don't check it out AND WHO KNEW I WOULD FALL IN LOVE WITH A CDRAMA ABOUT GO!
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS DRAMA
-ACTING
I noticed the acting in my FIRST IMPRESSIONS and it did not disappoint to the end of the drama. Everyone stayed in character and really embodied the characters they were playing. THESE YOUNG ACTORS ARE AMAZING! I am, for sure, going to follow them in their careers and watch future dramas from them. The entire cast have such great chemistry with each other. They seemed to work well together and care about the production. The main leads' acting seem natural and effortless but I think that just proves HOW GOOD THEY ALL WERE IN THIS PRODUCTION! These roles were MADE FOR THEM! There was a lot of talent in this drama.
-CHARACTERS/RELATIONSHIPS
Partly because the acting was so good, YOU FALL HARD FOR THESE CHARACTERS and become invested in their relationships and story. What I loved is that this story was told from Shi Guang's perspective but you also got background/story with much of the ensemble cast as well. This caused the audience to care about these characters and not just the main characters of the drama. I think this also showed how much Shi Guang cared and influenced everyone he met throughout this drama. You really got the impression that he affected EVERYONE he met throughout his life whether it was for the good or bad overall.
These characters and relationships caused me to have a lot of emotions while watching this drama because I became SO INVESTED in their story. I literally cried non-stop for the last 5 episodes of this drama because of what the characters were going through. It was acted so well; I couldn't help it and just cried my eyes out! I just wanted everyone to be happy and fulfill the dreams they had the entire drama.
This drama was carried by the acting, characters and relationships. If you don't appreciate and love this drama for the well-rounded characters and their relationships, you won't love this drama as much as me. The relationships are a KEY PART of this story.
-OSTS
I still love the OSTs for this drama. I still listen to them on a regular basis and think of Hikaru No Go when they start to play on my playlist. The songs are memorable, impactful AND SO GOOD! The drama did a good job with the music.
-CINEMATOGRAPHY
You wouldn't immediately think of a drama about the game Go and set mostly in the modern times when you hear the term good cinematography. THIS DRAMA PROVES THAT WRONG! I loved the shots in this drama when the story went back and depicted the story of Chu Ying. His scenes that were in the historical settings were GORGEOUS to watch. I think what was also unique about this drama was the cinematography during the Go games. The angles that the drama had to do to depict the players, their thought process and the board itself made the cinematography in this drama a lot of fun to watch. The scenes were the drama showed Chu Ying and sometimes Shi Guang in his celestial setting were also really pretty to watch and well made.
-PRODUCTION
The production for this drama was FANTASTIC! You could tell that they cared about the story they were telling. You could tell that they cared about how the drama looked and how genuine they wanted to portray the characters and relationships. The team behind this drama did a great job making this drama look authentic and faithful to the source material but also adapted it well into Chinese culture and setting. As a fan of the anime, I can see the influence of the source material but I can tell that the production put their own twist on it and I am happy with how it turned out. It is a HIGH quality and well-done drama.
-MY INVESTMENT
I became VERY invested in this drama. I needed all the characters to have happy endings and to achieve what they wanted to do in life. This is a good sign for me because it means I was enjoying the drama as I was watching it. I cared about the characters and what happened to them. I wanted to see where all of their stories went throughout the drama EVEN THE ENSEMBLE CAST! To have this happen even with supporting cast members speaks a lot about the story and the writer. I cared a lot about these characters. I cried when they did. I cheered when they succeeded in something. I definitely did not want to say goodbye to this drama and its characters. If I become this invested in a drama, for me, that is a good sign that it was an EXCELLENT drama that drew me in and kept my attention.
-THE STORY
Last but not least, the story of Hikaru No Go. You got this beautiful story of growth, friendship, relationships and obviously the game of Go. It was well told and well-constructed. You didn't stick in one place for too long or with a character for longer than you needed to be. It transitioned well as the characters grew up and it also didn't seem forced. You got a well-rounded story that got the points across that you wanted and needed from the drama. You became engrossed in the games of Go that were being played (LET ME TELL YOU, some of these games were NERVE-WRACKING because I cared if a certain character won or not!) and wanted to see the results.
One thing I will note, I would have liked the ending to be constructed differently. You have a major character exit the drama to early, in my opinion, and didn't really get the proper goodbye that I wanted. I still see why this character needed to leave but I felt it could have been done closer to the end and not when it happened in the drama. It left the last episodes a little messy with the relationships that this main character held for most of the drama because the characters left behind had to deal with the fallout. I may not have liked this exit as well because it caused me to cry for multiple episodes (THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THOSE EPISODES) because all of the other characters were crying.
Overall, HIKARU NO GO IS ONE OF THE BEST CHINESE DRAMAS I HAVE EVER WATCHED! I really enjoyed it and would recommend this unique drama to anyone. I really do need more people to watch this one. You will become invested in the story and the characters. You will appreciate what makes this drama REALLY special! It leaves QUITE THE IMPRESSION on you!
Rating: 10/10 - I really want to re-watch Hikaru No Go now.
SO IS MY REVIEW OF HIKARU NO GO!
What did you think? Did you watch this Cdrama? Did you like it? Will you watch it now that you read my FINAL REVIEW?
WE NOW ALSO HAVE A DISCORD SO TALK TO US ON THERE AS WELL!
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