...
Show More
With the foreshadowing from the previous tankobon, I had a sense of what was about to unfold. Artistically and literarily, it made perfect sense for this event to occur. However, I didn't have a liking for it. Yet, I was well aware that it was essential for the story to progress. I had initially thought that we would get one or two more tankobon filled with stories before this happened. But when I saw the title of the tankobon - Sayonara, which means Goodbye in Japanese - I knew, without a shadow of a doubt. When Sai expressed his concerns about potentially disappearing to Hikaru Shindo, the latter didn't believe him. I couldn't really fault Shindo for this. If history was any indication, Sai had lived alongside his host until their end, and Shindo assumed the same would be true for him. But he was mistaken, and Sai did indeed disappear. What followed was truly heart-wrenching to read. In a state of denial and thinking that Sai had run away, Shindo scoured all the places where he had been in his previous life with Honinbo Shusaku in search of his ghostly best friend. He was accompanied on his travels by Kawai, the laid-back taxi driver and a regular at the Go Salon that Shindo favored. He journeyed to Hiroshima and back without any success. It was in the archive room at the Go Institute, in the dead of night, that Shindo finally accepted the fact that Sai was gone and came to a realization. It was his own selfish desire to play Go that had driven Sai away. And to bring him back, he made the decision to stop playing Go. His determination was so strong that even Akira Toya, his rival, couldn't persuade him to play when he showed up unexpectedly at Shindo's school. For the first time since deciding to pursue Toya, Shindo yielded, because the need to reunite with Sai and find him again was more crucial than his rivalry with Toya. All in all, this tankobon was a poignant and necessary read. I truly felt sorry for Shindo, and I'm left wondering about his future. Although it was an emotionally charged tankobon, there was one notable Go game - the one he played with Shuhei, the Hiroshima Strongest Amateur Player. I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment of the series.
