The main character of Takeshi Obata's and Yumi Hotta's manga Hikaru no Go and the anime of the same title. The series models the emergence of a fictional professional player from the time he first discovers the game through all the stages involved in becoming a go legend in Japan.
Originally Hikaru, much like most youths in Japan at the time, has no interest in Go whatsoever, but when scouring his grandfather's attic for stuff to sell, he finds an old, bloodstained goban. Cleaning it off, he hears a strange voice, and then passes out, only to awake with the ghost of a long dead Go teacher, Sai Fujiwara living inside him, who slowly but surely manages to spark Hikaru's interest in the game.
And so, Hikaru progresses along the stages of learning Go in Japan: Joining a go club, visiting Go salons, participating in tournaments, with his interest and obsession with the game growing every step of the way. Determined to follow his first strong opponent, Akira Touya, he decides upon becomning a go professional, so he first becomes an insei and finally participates in the pro-exam. And after that, his story is still long from over.
Hikaru is rapidly becoming a role-model, revitalizing an old game that was seen as sport for the elderly only just a short while back. And with the manga crossing the borders to the west (both printed and scanlated), Go may be set to finally gain a stronger foothold in the west as well.