Shindou Hikaru is a lazy, under-achieving 6th grader until the day he finds an old goban in his grandfather's storage shed. The goban is haunted by the ghost of the greatest Go player of the Heian era, Fujiwara no Sai, who has spent a thousand years seeking the Hand of God; the Divine Move. Sai's soul attaches to Shindou's, so only Shindou can see or hear him, and Sai wants only one thing: to play Go.

Shindou has no interest in Go, but he takes Sai to a go salon to allow him to play. There Shindou and Sai meet Touya Akira, the same age as Shindou and a gifted Go player. Shindou is fascinated by both Touya's intensity and Sai's love of the game. Soon he develops his own desire to walk the path of Go and become a great player... and Touya's rival.

Written by thefourthvine.

At 75 episodes, HNG starts out at a steady pace, accelerates in some areas, but drags towards the end. An additional 3 'special' episodes are also part of the anime. Of the three:
- one was a condensed version of the first dozen episodes
- one was a different version of episode 64
- one takes place after the 75th episode and continues the story
In short, the first two weren't really worth watching. The third did not advance the plot as far as I had hoped. I felt the 75th episode provided a better, more reasonable ending than that of the third special.

What HNG does well is developing side characters. For certain minor characters, we are able to understand their motivations and ambitions of playing Go.