This incarnation of Hikaru No Go is the Chinese Live Action Adaptation of the wildly successful Japanese Manga and Anime of the same name. The anime was a masterpiece that pulled all my feelings out and left me emotionally gutted, so I had high expectations for the Drama and the producers succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. Let's quickly preface that I know little to nothing about Go, but lack of knowledge about the game will not impact your ability to enjoy this drama one bit.

The characters have been slightly changed from the anime and all of the changes have been improvements. The acting by the younger and older versions of our 2 rivals, Shi Guang (Hu Xian Xu) and Yu Liang (Hao Fu Shen) is fantastic. Juck Zhang who played Chu Ying (Sai in the Anime) disappears into his role, and manages to retain Chu Ying/Sai's childlike innocence, fun and adorableness which accounts for why Chu Ying/Sai was such a fan favorite, he's just kawaii/cute beyond all imagining and I know if I were a kid I would not mind having (and hugging) a friend like him. The extremely realistic special effects constantly remind us that Chu Ying is a ghostly figure not real.

This Drama gives a richness and depth to all who interacted with Shi Guang during the time of his "go" journey. His classmates and the people who helped start the Go club at his school. The teachers and other students at his Go Academy. The fat guy who messed with him at the Go Grading Preliminary qualifiers. Brush graffiti guy! The bath house masseuse! The Go Factory guys and boss! The crazy Monks! The struggles and friendships. All of those just leaped off the page and were just likeable and relatable.

The story also had themes of times changing, and the necessity to adapt and change with the times or get left behind. They showed the slow decline of Go's popularity waning over a decade as the public lost interest in a difficult game to learn or play, less tuition centers, gaming centers closing and without the new blood or something to spark interest it will become an even smaller niche hobby than chess. For the game to continue flourishing, there needs to be new blood, which needs to be trained. The baton needs to be passed on. People choose to play or quit for all kinds of real life reasons, that are fully explored in a direct yet sensitive manner.

I can't say enough good things about this show except you should watch it. The story, characters, acting, VFX, OST (listened to the ending song all the way through every episode) all are impeccably done. At the ending I understood why the original mangaka (manga author) posted that he approved of the live action adaptation, high praise indeed coming from what is probably the world's harshest critic on this topic. He was satisfied, and having finished this, I'm also satisfied that I've watched and enjoyed this masterpiece.

P.S. I would not turn down more episodes but alas the live action ended where the manga story ends so there's no more content to adapt.