I read up to ch. 32 of the manga. I don't really plan on continuing. Although at first it became very promising, the humor was extremely funny and the wackiness of the characters even better, it slowly became one of those mind trips reminiscent of Serial Experiments Lain or Evangelion where it becomes a dialogue of thoughts that go in one ear and out the other. It doesn't surprise me that Yoshitoshi Abe (of Lain, NieA, and Haibane) illustrated the light novel.

I read less and less humor as more and more drama crept in. True, the characters are all screwed up. That can be golden material for humor; instead the mankaga tapped into the depressing areas of themselves. The more I read, the less I became interested in their outcomes.

Although I rarely give high marks, overall Hikaru no Go takes the cake. The whole cake. When I first started reading Toriyama World's scans to obsessively trying to get through all 189 chapters, it's a shame to see this story end short. When I found out the manga ended with chapter 189, I was speechless. I didn't know what to think. The manga that inspired me to play go... has ended. It had so much potential. A part of me is lost.

So the reason why a point is taken off story is because the ending was miserable. There was built up potential, then poof. Gone.

But if you like, simply LOVE a good read, Hikaru no Go is a great investment.