Amadan na Briona

Although this was really only an average installment, I'm being generous and giving volume 19 four stars because it's nice to see the story move forward again.

So apparently Hotta has decided to set up a big international tournament as the storyline that will occupy the rest of the series. Namely, the "Japan-China-Korea Junior Team Tournament," open to pros 18 years old and younger from all three countries. In other words, an excuse to bring back the Chinese and Korean players Hotta introduced in earlier volumes, plus give Hikaru another goal to shoot for, as unlike Akira Toya, who has automatically been seeded by virtue of his higher rank and superior record, Hikaru has to actually qualify for a seat on the Japanese team.

It will be nice to see Hong Suyong and the bratty Chinese geniuses who p0wned Isumi again. Meanwhile, Hikaru and Akira are definitely developing a "Foe Yay" friendship/rivalry. In this volume we also see the return of the corrupt professional go player whom Hikaru exposed a year earlier as hawking fake Shusaku antiques, and there are a few brief scenes showing what Mitani, Akari and Hikaru's other middle school friends are up to. Oh, poor Akari, who obviously has a crush on Hikaru despite the fact that so far he's shown about as much romantic inclination as a go stone. Is Hotta ever going to go anywhere with this hint of a subplot? Am I turning into a ridiculous manga shipper? Well, the series only has four volumes to go...