Hikaru no Go

This special is a recap of everything that has happened up to episode 12 of the first season.

This is a variant of episode 64 (season 3 episode 4).

Hikaru gets a phone call asking him to enter the preliminaries to try to earn one of the three seats for Japan in the Japan, China, and Korea Junior Tournament. While discussing this with Akira, he finds out that Akira has already been chosen for the tournament and will not be taking place in the preliminaries. Now Hikaru must compete for one of the two remaining seats. Hikaru decides not to visit Akira's Go Salon until he takes his place on the team with Akira. But can Hikaru overcome his friends and new challengers including a strong player from the Kansai Go Institute. Two seats remain, and only two players in Japan will join Akira...

Chu Ying meets young Shi Guang and guides him in his first game with young Go genius Yu Liang.

Shi Guang catches the attention of Go professionals. He plays his second game with Yu Liang and also joins a Go tournament for children.

Shi Guang plays with Go champion Yu Xiao Yang and later gets into a fight with Chu Ying where he vows to never play Go again. Fast-forward to 6 years where he's re-learning Go due to a bet and Yu Liang comes back from rigid training in Korea to look for him.

Hikaru takes the prelims to qualify for the Pro exams whereas Waya/Isumi are admitted straight to the finals being among the top 8 of the Insei program. Hikaru is intimidated by Tsubaki, a really loud and brash guy, who turns out to be his first opponent. Tsubaki plays mind games with Hikaru and won the match. For Hikaru, the loss highlighted his inexperience with playing with adults since starting go and it represents a hurdle he has to overcome to reach his goal.

Hikaru is overwhelmed in playing go with adults and his second loss placed him at a precarious position (third loss means an ousting). As desperation climbs, he becomes more determined than ever by drawing his inspiration from Akira. Fortunately, his third match with Fuku started him on a winning roll. While Waya/Isumi were practicing at a Go salon, a customer gave them the address of another Go salon where there're supposedly many experts. Waya/Isumi decided to drop by the Institute to check on the gang and are dismayed to find out about Hikaru's performance. Hikaru won his last match by default and gained entry to the pros exams. Waya decided to bring Hikaru along on their Go salon visits after hearing about his encounter with Tsubaki.

This is a very fun episode where Waya, Isumi and Hikaru form a team to go around challenging the patrons of the various Go salons. The bet being that they won't have to pay the admission fees in event of a win and Waya raises the stakes even higher by allowing a few moku handicap in subsequent games, much to the protests of Isumi/Hikaru (since they have to wash all the stones if they lose). Hikaru becomes friendly with a particular go salon named 'Heart of Stone' and its patrons. Through this exercise, Hikaru manages to overcome his weakness in playing go with adults.

Hikaru discovers that Sai is missing and searches all over him. Unable to locate him, he travels to Inno Island to visit Shusaku's grave in an effort to find him. Is it true? Is Sai really gone?

The #1 Amateur Go Player in Japan, Shuhei, challenges Hikaru to a match while Hikaru is looking for Sai in Hiroshima.

Unable to locate Sai, Hikaru makes a vow to never play Go again without him.