EP 1 Hikaru no Go: Hokuto Hai e no Michi

Hikaru is given a phone call asking him to appear in the Japan/China/Korea Junior's Tournament but he finds out he will have to take place in a preliminary tournament to choose Japan's three contestants. Upon discussing this with Akira, he discovers that Akira has already been chosen for the tournament and will not be taking place in the preliminaries. Hikaru then decides not to visit Akira's Go Salon until he takes his place on the team with Akira. That may be tougher than originally planned, as not only does Hikaru have to battle with old friends for one of two coveted spots, but he may have a new challenger, in a promising player from the Kansai Go Institute. (Source: Anime News Network)

Franchise 1 related

Hikaru no Go

Prequel

Cast 12 characters

Hikaru Shindou

Tomoko Kawakami

Akira Touya

Sanae Kobayashi

Kiyoharu Yashiro

Katashi Ishizuka

Akari Fujisaki

Yumi Kakazu

Yuuki Mitani

Yoshitaka Waya

Reiko Takagi

Shinichirou Isumi

Kenichi Suzumura

Kousuke Ochi

Youko Matsuoka

Seiji Ogata

Keiji Fujiwara

Shigeo Morishita

Katsuhiro Kitagawa

Honinbou Kuwabara

Rokuro Naya

Atsushi Kurata

Mitsuo Iwata