And the winner is Shindo! Even not there, he manages to chage the people of the Go world. I wonder if Ogata really will quit...

I like how you portrayed Ichikawa. It's really interesting.

Well written. I live it. Great read.

Love the insights that Ogata is showing here, and I enjoyed the way you fleshed Ichikawa out. It might be just a conversation between them, but the pacing is very smooth. It's an excellent fic--thanks for posting this!

How could I have missed this piece, I'd never know. *shakes head*

Both the characters are well-portrayed. I can just imagine Hikaru's puzzled expression when Ogata offered a cigarette to him. Even though I can't imagine Ogata quit smoking so easily, it'll certainly be amusing to see him try.

Overall, a pretty well written, especially your use of dry humor. ^^

Eh, the stupid thing cut off my review. (grr)

Anyways, I was saying, I like it when people seriously take a look at Ogata's position...especially with regard to Hikaru, and comparing the two of them. Ogata has the potential to be either a really manipulating, dangerous guy who has little concern for others (a little boring characterization, if you ask me) or he can be seeing plots-within plots and consider Hikaru (and the other new pros) with a hint of humor. I like your characterization better, haha.

As a side note, I hope Hikaru doesn't take up smoking, yuck. (nice use of anti-smoking lines in your story, btw. Thumbs up.)

Nice one.

Nice one.

It was very well written and your characterisation was pure genius. You make it so easy to picture the whole thing.
I absolutely loved this line :
Shindou, Ogata thought with a venom that surprised him, is a loud-mouthed brat with absolutely no manners or idea about the potential of the talent he possess.
It 'feels' so much like Ogata. I can just picture him thinking something like that.
Keep up the excellent writing.

lovely. lols. i can't stop smiling. picture perfect story that gets ogata's character so great in writing =)

Great story! I loved the line, "Of course, rites of passage usually didn't take place in Go salons, and that wasn't only because Go salons tended to be populated by a demograph whose only remaining ceremonial was cremation." It's funny, and so true! I hope you write more Hikago!

Nice fic, I enjoyed reading it ^_^

I thought you pieced everything very well. It was insightful and thoughtful, which most fanfiction writers lack. It started off slow and I considered stopping, but I'm glad I stuck through it. I liked how you looked at the characters and how you portrayed them. Overall, this has got to be one of the better one-shots I've read. It had depth and the insight into the characters's personalities made me really think.

~MEme

Very nice. You write ogata very well. I hope you write more from his pov or other characters. I'd like to see, for instance, how you would write kuwabara. ^_^ thank you!

Nice character piece, it's good to see a fan fiction author that doesn't make Ogata a monster. He's just a petty man who never grew up all the way and has been playing mind games with an old man for far too long.

I do not know if anyone else is having this problem but this posting does not look right to me. this is what I am seeing. " A cros t ltmately nsgnfcant detal < " in Both Firefox and IE. I did ask someone else I know to look at it and he said it looks fine. So it may just be my system.

Outside of that I read the story and it's a good story. Thanks for posting it.

Good story, but the ending was a little odd. I would never have expected that Ogata would quit smoking. Kuwabara offering Ogata a cigarette was genius and I can't wait to read the rest of your work!