Full-time comic artist

By that time...

At this point, he suddenly looked up at the sky.

God's favor allowed him to live for over a thousand years; he must have had his own mission, and he could not possibly receive this favor forever.

perhaps……

"Hikaru, you must remember, use the power of the Divine Hand to defeat 'AI'," he pleaded, seeing Hikaru's nonchalant attitude. "Hikaru, you absolutely must remember that!"

“I understand, Sai.”

Hikaru Shindo nodded solemnly.

The comic ends here.

Shinoda Shidan let out a long sigh; the prophecy in the manga had left him feeling very depressed.

Will the realm of Go, an art form, also be invaded by cold, mechanical machines in the future?

Kurata 6th Dan shook his head; he didn't know either.

They start learning Go from a young age, and even more so, they learn the philosophy behind it. This represents elegance and the most complex art form among human board games. It is not just a sport, but also contains the cultural connotations of ancient Chinese civilization since Emperor Yao 4000 years ago.

“No… there’s no need to look for these things,” Kurata said. “Artificial intelligence hasn’t even conquered chess, let alone Go. Don’t worry unnecessarily.”

“That makes sense…” Shinoda wiped his sweat and put the comic book down.

……

Since this chapter of "Hikaru no Go" appeared, a huge wave of discussion has taken place regarding the manga.

Even at Higashino Hibiki's school, Enhiko High School, many students were discussing it.

Just like when he discussed Naruto and One Piece with his classmates back then.

"Can machines play Go?" asked Shinohara Otsu in the seat in front of him. "I've used computers before, and they're really bad. They take up a lot of space, but they're not even as good as handheld consoles when it comes to playing games."

“I don’t know,” Nishimura shook his head, then said excitedly, “No matter how good he is, he’s still not as good as Sai!”

He's a huge Sai fan, and he really enjoyed watching Sai battle against players from all over the world and win every single one of these episodes.

He recently went to the Go club again. After losing to a new member, he started fantasizing that he could also have the spirit of a thousand-year-old Go master, or make a divine move under the admiring gaze of everyone.

“Yes!” Shinonome nodded. “But…”

Hesitation and worry appeared on his face.

The manga has foreshadowed this many times: Sai is worried that he will disappear.

This time it sounded like a dying wish.

It made him very uneasy.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Nishimura waved his hand. “Sai has lived for 1000 years, and his popularity is much higher than Hikaru Shindo’s. The author must be a fool.”

Higashino Hibiki sat to the side, utterly speechless.

It feels like someone is insulting me.

He'd make a mental note of this debt for now, and settle it with that fool Nishimura later.

After school on Monday, Hibiki Higashino, who had finished drawing the storyboard, went to an internet cafe nearby and opened the "IGS" Go website.

He played Go twice on this website and lost both times.

Now is the time to avenge our defeat.

Clicking on the number of online players reveals that there are several hundred players of considerable skill who are not playing chess.

They were all newbies; the website suddenly crashed right after they submitted their applications.

Higashino Hibiki could only switch out, and it took him four or five minutes to recover.

A player named Odagiri sent a match request, which Hibiki Higashino approved immediately.

The game only lasted 20 minutes, and Odagiri resigned in the middle game.

He's still a novice, equivalent to Higashino Hibiki's skill level in April, but he always manages to pull off one or two brilliant moves.

Odagiri: "You're amazing!"

Higashino: "Thank you. How long have you been learning Go?"

Odagiri: "It started in April this year. Go is really complicated, but very interesting."

Higashino was surprised. He had only been learning for three months and was still a novice, but his chess skills were decent. He should have no problem being a pillar of the Yan Yan High School Go Club.

Higashino: "Good luck!"

Odagiri was a good match for Higashino Hibiki, and the two chatted like that, treating the Go website as a chat website.

According to Odagiri, due to the influence of "Hikaru no Go", especially the recent updates, thousands of people have started playing Go online, and suddenly "IGS" is under a lot of pressure.

The official team is already preparing to purchase servers, so we'll have to endure this situation for a while longer.

Higashino felt a little ashamed and wanted to send money to the official website, but then he looked at it again and realized that it was a membership-based website, which meant he was essentially advertising for the website, so it was fine.

It's good enough that they don't ask the other party for advertising fees.

Odagiri said that he also started learning Go because of "Hikaru no Go" and he aspires to become a professional Go player one day.

Hibiki Higashino was pleased that he had finally made a positive impact.

He told Odagiri that, given his progress, he might be able to enter the Go Association and become an in-senior by the end of the year.

After checking the remaining time, I said goodbye to Odagiri.

He glanced at the computer and decided to wait a little longer.

I'll be in college next year, and Windows 95 will be released then, so I'll just do it all at once.

In fact, Higashino Hibiki was still poor. After paying his assistant the royalties from the regular serialization, he didn't have much left.

Manga artists mainly earn money through collected volumes. His manga has been released for seven months and is currently on its 30th chapter, which is the content of three collected volumes. He should be able to make a lot of money soon. He should just have to endure some hardship for a while longer.

……

One week later, at Yoshiwara-sou.

Yuko Asahina knelt beside Hibiki Higashino, watching the anime on TV, "Hey—Come Out!"

After reading it with great interest, Higashino nodded.

As expected of a professional animator, his work is far superior to the animation videos uploaded by content creators on Bilibili.

The animation frame rate is already quite high, and the content is also very refined. At least you won't see any animation breakdowns unless you look very closely.

The content, needless to say, is a meaningful micro-fiction that has been selected for Chinese textbooks.

It's just as good as the animation produced by college students.

Asahina Yuko stared intently, having looked at it many times, yet she still couldn't believe it—had she really created this?

She turned her face, gasped, and then smiled.

There are 7 days left until the animation festival, and the deadline is fast approaching.

After Hibiki Higashino's final review, he found no problems except that the female host's voice in the animation sounded somewhat familiar, so he immediately submitted the work.

Chapter 58 Animation Festival

The Tokyo Student Animation Festival is funded by the Japanese government, animation production companies, and toy development companies.

For fresh blood in the animation industry.

Even the Japanese government didn't expect that animation would be so profitable. Public opposition is a matter for the public, but foreign exchange is still necessary.

Junichi Sakata looked at the young people coming and going in the venue and a slight smile appeared on his face.

Middle-aged and elderly people dislike animation, but young people still like it very much.

This indicates that the animation industry has a bright future.

"Sakata, what brings you here too?" Junichi Sakata felt someone's hand on his shoulder, and when he turned around, he saw that it was President Masao Maruyama.

He asked with a smile, "Aren't you working on 'DNA2'? What brings you to the animation festival?"

Junichi Sakata broke out in a cold sweat and quickly bowed in apology: "I'm so sorry, I'll go back to work now."

Just as he turned back to return to Crazy House Company, he felt a strong hand grab his arm. He turned around in surprise and saw it was Masao Maruyama.

“I’m not questioning you,” Masao Maruyama said, pulling Junichi Sakata forward. “I just want to ask you what stage the production is at? Will it be able to premiere on October 7th?”

“Of course, of course!” Junichi Sakata exclaimed. “The first episode is already finished, and the subsequent episodes are also in orderly collaborative production.”

Although the company president is a very nice person, his aura is too strong, which always makes Junichi Sakata overthink things.

"Okay, let's do it together then."

He led Junichi Sakata through different venues, explaining, "A total of sixty-seven works participated, thirty-one of which were truly unbearable to watch, so a total of thirty-six are being shown."

Jun Sakata was overwhelmed by the sights and only spent two or three minutes looking around before moving on to the next venue. However, he did have some ideas in mind.

"This is an 18-minute work produced by students from Musashino Art University, titled 'The Four Major Public Health Problems.'" At this point, Masao Maruyama stopped to let Junichi Sakata watch it properly.

"Yes."

Musashino Student's animation is about environmental protection.

The first half of the century was dedicated to the devastation caused to the people by the four major diseases.

Minamata disease, Minamata disease II, asthma, and Itai-itai disease.

The sight of companies recklessly discharging toxic substances for profit made Junichi Sakata break out in a cold sweat.

The horrific conditions of the victims in the anime sent chills down Junichi Sakata's spine.

The damage to the human nervous system and the rapid damage to the brain ultimately lead to death; this is the disease of Minamata disease.

Asthma caused by sulfur compounds emitted into the atmosphere;

There was also cadmium poisoning leading to bone softening and kidney failure. The screams from the extreme pain in his joints and spine made Junichi Sakata cover his ears.

Although the voice actors were very young, their voices were full of emotion.

It took him a long time to process this before he calmed down.