Month: January 2018

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

—Mark Twain

I have been seeing a lot of responses to Ryuuou no Oshigoto! (The Ryuo’s Work is Never Done) right after the anime started airing. Among them, one that I frequently encounter is “how unrealistic the plot of the story is”. On one side, we have a 9-year old girl who has only played shogi for three months; on another, we have… a 16-year old boy who is both a professional shogi player and a title holder. Some remarked how the child prodigy trope is utilized too excessively, which ruined the so-called realism of the show.

But, is it really unrealistic? Or, if I were to pose another question, to what extent would a real-life achievement in shogi be considered “realistic”?

In this post, I won’t be talking about Hifumi Kato, a former Meijin who is the professional shogi player with the longest career. Nor will I be talking about Yoshiharu Habu, who is the only person ever to be qualified for seven professional lifetime titles in shogi. This time, it’s about Sota Fujii, the youngest professional shogi player who recorded a winning streak of 29 matches at his young age of 14.

Continue reading Sota Fujii, Ryuuou no Oshigoto!, and the New Age of Shogi