Watch the Live Action: Episode 1
I really enjoy the main character! The teenage version story was pretty very, and the child actor is very good (uh I don't speak Chinese). Very entertaining to watch.
Sai (Chu) is also very captivating great casting.
I liked the nod to the Akira Toya Go board.
Was the instructive game played with Komi rules, I don't remember the manga. Big difference in outcome if so though lol.
Starts off a little slow in the middle. I just wanna see them play Go!. But it takes forever to get to the first game. If I was not invested in the story, I would not stick through 1 hour for that.
But even for new viewers, they probably don't care about Go. But the hour-long exposition dump and then just cutting to the loss review is kind of not so good.
I also don't like the change in Xioa Bao being interested in Go. A big deal was Torajiro never learned Go, he just played for Sai. Changing that story seems like a risk, since it changes Hikaru's key difference.
Hong Kong storyline is weird so far.
Still great show so far. A bit long and slow, but I am sure the anime was slow at first too. I really hope it keeps going strong in future eps.