News
Hikaru no Go Manga Gets Live-Action Chinese Drama Adaptation
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Chinese streaming service iQIYI announced on Thursday that it will stream a live-action Chinese drama adaptation of Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata's Hikaru no Go manga. Houhai Culture is producing the project, and Chang Liu is directing the show. The show is titled Qihun, and it will debut in summer 2019.
Viz Media publishes the manga in North America, and it describes the story:
Hikaru Shindo is like any sixth-grader in Japan: a pretty normal schoolboy with a two-tone head of hair and a penchant for antics. One day, he finds an old bloodstained Go board in his grandfather's attic--and that's when things get really interesting. Trapped inside the Go board is Fujiwara-no-Sai, the ghost of an ancient Go master who taught the strategically complex board game to the emperor of Japan many centuries ago. In one fateful moment, Sai becomes a part of Hikaru's consciousness and together, through thick and thin, they make an unstoppable Go-playing team. Will they be able to defeat Go players who have dedicated their lives to the game? Will Sai achieve the "Divine Move" so he'll finally be able to rest in peace?
The manga ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2003, and Shueisha published 23 volumes. Viz Media published all 23 volumes in North America. The manga inspired a 75-episode television anime adaptation in 2001-2003 and an anime special in 2004. Viz Media also released the television anime on DVD from 2005 to 2008. The manga has 25 million copies in print.
Sources: Oricon News, Eiga Natalie
