Discussion: Favorite HnG tropes

[bridgetmkennitt]

What are your favorite Hikaru no Go tropes for ship or gen fic, either specific tropes to the canon or general tropes applied to said fic?

ETA: Here's the tag set from multifandomtropefest that has a bunch of different tropes towards the bottom for trope ideas.

Comments

[goodgriefcharlie]

One of my favorite tropes in general is when a character has a secret and there's lovely tension about whether or not anyone will find out what it is. This is already so gloriously present in HnG canon because everything about Sai and his relationship with Hikaru is a Captial-S Secret and I really love fic that play around with it even further: does Hikaru ever tell anyone the truth about Sai? Who would he tell and why? Does anyone believe him when he does? How does it change their relationship? It can also be really fun to read stories from an outsider's POV in which they get glimpses of Hikaru's secret but never quite are able to put the whole thing together.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Ooo, that's a good one. I do wish the canon had gone further than it did because I'd love to know if Hikaru ever told anyone about Sai and how that moment would go down.

[dancing_serpent]

Seconding all of this! Secrets are my jam, especially supernatural stuff like with Hikaru and Sai. I can be very particular about who I want to find out, though. In all of HnG, I believe the most deserving would be Touya Kouyou.

Also, outsider POV can be so amazing!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Ooo, yes. Touya Kouyou should definitely find out. I don't think I've read a fic where he does find out, but there are so many ways it could go.

I do love outside POVs and there's moments of that within the canon that meld into the secrets Hikaru is keeping. It gives me all the feels. :D

[dancing_serpent]

Yes, those canon moments are wonderful! I especially love it when people can kinda sense Sai within Hikaru.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Hehe, I both love and hate those moments because I'm like, "You're so close to knowing the secret!" Except they never do. I just want someone else to knooooooow besides Hikaru, though I'll have to settle for the amount of lives that Sai touched and for the better.

[dancing_serpent]

Haha, yes. I want someone else to knoooooooooooooooooow, too! *g* I'm on episode 46 now, and that feeling is as strong as ever.

[bridgetmkennitt]

No one else will ever know! Except in fic. :D

[goodgriefcharlie]

Shoot, I've definitely read a fic where Hikaru tells Touya Kouyou but I've checked my bookmarks and can't find it at the moment.

And because I can't resist, some of my favorite outsider POVs (assume all have spoilers for the whole series):

Where You Are by flyby. Akira follows Shindou to Innoshima at the height of summer, hoping for answers.

Golden Week by mousapelli. It's common knowledge on the Igo circuit that Shindou goes a little crazy during Golden Week every year, but this year Touya might actually be out-freaking him.

Things I Never Asked Him by priestessgrrrl. Touya finds something personal that Shindou has written. Makes my heart hurt every time!

What are your favorite outsider POVs?

[bridgetmkennitt]

Ooo, thanks for the recs!

I looked through my recs page and found these that are outsider POVs:

A kid like that? Five times people didn't think Shindou was a serious go player, and one time that they did

Everything Old is New Again Touya and Shindou aren't the first couple to ever fall in love. Shinoda, the all-seeing insei master, understands what is happening to the world of Go, and to his former student.

Chosei Ichikawa watches a game between Touya and Shindou and begins to understand what connects them.

[goodgriefcharlie]

Oooh, thank you!

[dancing_serpent]

Oh, nice! Going back into the comment threads really pays off - I'm going to check out both of your recs. Thanks so much!

[bridgetmkennitt]

You're welcome!

[godhaunt]

o|-< thank you!! omg ok, i'm fully onboard with getting back to fanfic now!

[godhaunt]

oh my god... i read things i never asked him back in 2008/2009.... i'm full of feelings now.......

thank you for these recs!!

[goodgriefcharlie]

I am 100% with you; Touya Kouyou absolutely deserves to know about Sai. It hurts my heart a little that he had this magnificent game with someone who could truly rival him -- but that's it, just the one game, and with no real explanation for all the secrecy. It's good that Kouyou's motivated and inspired to explore Go in different ways afterwards, but I also imagine that it's always a little bittersweet that he never gets the chance to play Sai again.

I'm also a big fan of Akira just quietly observing Hikaru and all his quirks and over the years putting it all together, so that when Hikaru finally is able to talk about it, Akira already knows the shape of his secret.

[bridgetmkennitt]

He really does! Even if he doesn't know who Sai is and the secret behind him, it's heartbreaking that he never got more games with him. I mean, Hikaru got numerous games with Sai and that wasn't enough. I think it breaks my heart even more that Hikaru found Akira to play Go with for the rest of their lives, but Touya Kouyou found Sai too late and barely even then. ;_;

Ooo, I like that idea and I wouldn't be surprised by that. There was already a hint of it in canon.

[dancing_serpent]

All of this, so much!

[catlarks]

An enthusiastic thumbs up for Akira having the shape of Hikaru's secret by the time he's told outright, canon definitely feels like it can be leading that way. There's just something really comforting and warm about trying to tell someone something difficult to talk about and it being so much easier than you expected because they already understand.

And yeah Touya Kouyou and Sai hurts my heart, too, with the sense of too little too late. ;;;

[godhaunt]

OMG i'm a sucker for people putting 2 + 2 together or just getting glimpses of a secret (or just something a person wants to keep private)! don't know why it makes me so excited, lol.

i'm imagining a fic with a humorous approach to it, going one by one over the characters, showing each of them figuring out or just seeing a different piece of the puzzle, and being even more, well... puzzled than before. except a few, they'd never mention their thoughts to anybody else, in fear of sounding silly, ultimately keeping the secret safe.

[bridgetmkennitt]

It's so good! But then they never get the truth and I'm like, "So close! You got this, figure it out!" Hehe.

Ooo, that would sound lovely since we know the truth, but it's something so out there that no one would ever think a ghost from the past was within Hikaru.

[godhaunt]

true! ut to be honest, i can imagine something like, akira trying to figure out how/why hikaru is so unpredictable with his go, and in a moment of extreme frustration, he says to himself "it's like something possesses him or something!" but nothing beyond that.

...and to expand on that, when hikaru tells him the truth, he just... "are you kidding me. the whole time. the whole time i got it right while i thought i was going crazy?!" LMAO

[goodgriefcharlie]

I love it so much too! It's like a non-romantic version of "will they or won't they?" lol. The tension of it is wonderful and I really admire writers who can draw it out realistically.

[godhaunt]

yes!!!! and sometimes the tension can get even higher if the outsiders find out bc, what if they decide to go with it and not say anything? act like they don't know? gah! it feels like a spy story!