Inside Misaki's villa, both Misaki and Miyu quickly had their attention captured by the screen.
Although the work belonged to Rei, Misaki was his editor, and Rei had been introduced to her sister through Miyu. Coupled with her exceptionally close relationship with Rei, the two of them were no less immersed in the premiere of hikaru no go than the creator himself. The moment the opening theme began to play, both of them felt goosebumps rise along their arms.
As for Rei, despite being a consultant on the hikaru no go TV series, there was actually only one thing he truly cared about.
Fidelity to the original work.
The actors didn't need to look exactly like their manga counterparts, but their temperament, their spirit, had to match.
The plot didn't need to be a one-to-one copy of the manga either. Many actors chose to participate in this drama precisely because it could boost their visibility and reputation. Even if they were only playing third, fourth, or fifth-tier roles, supporting characters still needed moments to shine.
Otherwise, who would be willing to take on a supporting role?
Balancing the spotlight among characters inevitably required adjustments to screen time, and even some changes to the original plot.
But adaptation was not the same as reckless rewriting.
Adding scenes for side characters was acceptable, but it could not go so far as to contradict their established personalities, let alone completely destroy them.
The first episode unfolded much like the manga.
A rainy day.
The TV version of Hikaru, together with Akari, climbed to the second floor of his grandfather's storeroom, where they discovered the blood-stained Go board.
They met Sai.
And to fulfill the lingering wish of this millennium-old Go spirit, they went to a Go club.
It was worth mentioning that Rei's collaborator, Rika, made a friendly guest appearance as the elegant front-desk attendant at the Go club.
Her appearance instantly caught the attention of many viewers across.
She might not have been more beautiful than professional actresses, but more than twenty years of immersion in Go had given her a calm, refined temperament, one that ordinary actors simply couldn't replicate.
Then came Hikaru's meeting with Akira.
Their first game ended with Akira narrowly losing, yet he immediately understood that the result was only because the boy sitting opposite him had been playing a teaching game.
After that;
Seiji Ogata's appearance at the children's Go competition.
And that rain-soaked night.
Akira, realizing Hikaru might be at the venue, rushed through the downpour, finally catching him just as he was about to leave.
The three people watching had all read the manga.
They knew every detail of what would come next.
But what did knowing matter?
The manga was nothing more than black-and-white panels.
The TV series had music, movement, voices, and emotion given form.
An hour passed.
As the melancholic yet steady ending theme, "SINCERELY ~ever dream~", began to play, viewers across the country who had been glued to Capital Television Station suddenly snapped back to reality.
That's it?
It's over?
What kind of show was this?
I don't even understand Go, so how did I end up staring at the screen for a full hour?
And Akira chased Hikaru so desperately just to meet him… why?
Did he want revenge for that first loss?
Another match?
"This show is actually really interesting."
"A Go TV series can be filmed like this?"
"Sai is insanely handsome. Takagi hasn't acted in years, how did he come back playing a role like this?"
"Wait, was there really a Go player named Sai in ancient times?"
"During that chaotic era thirteen hundred years ago, Japan went through more than a dozen regime changes in just two centuries. Some dynasties didn't even record the rulers name, who's to say a 'number one Go player in the world' couldn't have been forgotten?"
"Interesting! But I came here for Kanzaki, why hasn't he shown up yet?"
"Kanzaki plays adult Akira. You'll see him in another week or two. Don't worry."
"Honestly, Akira and Hikaru are adorable, but the cutest one is still Sai."
"I'm a bit mad. It ended here? Is the screenwriter insane?"
"Hahaha, you TV viewers are finally experiencing it too! We manga readers suffer like this every single week. It's pure torture."
"So what happens next? Can a manga reader spoil a little?"
"Just tune in next week. I can only say this, next week's episode is really exciting."
"Don't even talk about next week. Which week of hikaru no go isn't exciting? The main plot is Hikaru growing up, getting crushed by strong opponents, then fighting his way back. The side plot is just watching Sai annihilate people at Go."
"I really want to see Sai play against Toya Koyo already."
In Japan, manga readers were numerous, and in fact, the commercial scale of the animation market was even larger than that of television dramas.
However, when it came to pure dissemination power, anime was always one step behind live-action TV series.
Anime fans were loyal. They bought merchandise, discussed details deeply, and supported works for years, but TV dramas were watched by everyone: men and women, young and old. Even viewers who never bought merchandise would still participate in nationwide discussions during a show's broadcast period.
That level of exposure was something anime simply couldn't match.
Because of this, hikaru no go experienced an explosive surge in popularity.
In truth, among the thousands of weekly readers of Dream Comic Journal, a significant portion bought the magazine but had never followed hikaru no go, flipping past it every week.
From their perspective, what was so special about a Go manga, no matter how much discussion it generated?
But after watching the first episode of the TV series with their families that night, many of them changed their minds completely.
Countless readers dug out the back issues of Dream Comic Journal they had purchased over the past half year and began binge-reading late into the night, trying to catch up with the manga's progress.
After finishing the episode, Rei, Misaki, and Miyu went out together for a late-night snack. Not long after, Rei returned home alone.
He opened his phone, logged into his account, and was greeted by an overwhelming flood of messages, fans praising the TV adaptation of hikaru no go.
Rei let out a long breath, a faint smile finally appearing on his face.
"It seems… not only casual viewers like the TV series," he murmured."Even the original manga fans are satisfied."
A weight that had pressed on his chest for days finally lifted.
Exhaustion quickly followed.
Not long after lying down, Rei fell into a deep sleep.
But while Rei slept, the television industry quietly began to stir.
Before its premiere, hikaru no go had already drawn enormous attention due to coordinated promotion from multiple sides.
Viewers who never read manga were pulled in by the Go Association's publicity.
Hardcore manga fans from Dream Comic, who normally never watched TV and spent their time on anime and games, dusted off remotes they hadn't touched in half a year and sat down in front of their televisions.
And on top of that, hikaru no go had a solid cast.
Because of all this, before the first episode even aired, Capital Television Station's ratings had already reached 3.8%.
In the Friday night 9 PM slot alone, this exceeded the station's six-month average of 3.62%.
After the episode aired, ratings continued to climb.
The peak instantaneous rating hit 4.56%, while the episode's average rating settled at 4.29%.
This result far surpassed the average performance of all TV series that had aired in the same time slot on Capital Television Station over the past six months.
From a data standpoint alone, this was already the second-highest-ranked new TV series to premiere in the first three days of October.
Even more unexpected was the post-broadcast word of mouth.
Viewers who understood Go praised the authenticity and competitive tension.
Viewers who didn't understand Go said the story was still gripping and easy to follow.
This dual approval was rare.
Of course, a wave of new dramas was scheduled to premiere across various TV stations over the weekend, many of them backed by major investments. But no matter how one looked at it, hikaru no go's first-episode performance was objectively strong.
By Monday, when the first-week broadcast data for the autumn TV drama season in Japan was officially released, the results became clear.
The premiere episode of the hikaru no go TV series ranked fifth overall among all TV dramas that debuted this quarter.
This result far exceeded the expectations that media outlets had predicted before the show aired, and even surpassed Hoshimori Group's own internal estimates for the series' opening performance.
Among all involved parties, only one organization appeared entirely unsurprised.
During those days, the Go Association had been relentlessly reposting hikaru no go–related news on its official platforms, almost to an excessive degree.
Their message was unmistakable.
Who said Go was declining in Japan?
Look, so many people across the nation are watching a Go TV series.
And if that's the case…
Why don't you investors take another look and put more money into Japan's professional Go league?