Hikaru no Go (Seasons 1–3)

Hikaru no Go (2001) is a Japanese animated series based on the manga by Yoshihiro Hotta and Takeshi Obata that you can watch online on iFILM. Sixth-grader Hikaru Shindo finds a bloodstained go board in his grandfather's attic — and trapped inside it is Fujiwara-no-Sai, a ghost who was the greatest go master of the feudal era and has been waiting centuries for another shot at the game.

Sai can only communicate with Hikaru. His one obsession is the Divine Move — a perfect game that always stayed just out of reach. Hikaru, who wants nothing to do with any of this at first, slowly gets pulled into the competitive go world: tournaments, prodigies, rivalries and the question of what it means to grow through something you didn't choose. The series runs 75 episodes, voiced by Tomoko Kawakami as Hikaru and Susumu Chiba as Sai.

When the anime aired in Japan it sparked a measurable surge in youth go club enrollments. Whether you know the game or not, the progression from reluctant kid to serious competitor gives the show its hook. Watch all episodes of Hikaru no Go online on iFILM.