volume 1, page 10
Kristi assures me this is a Bad Thing, but I see so many bad Asian bleach jobs every day (including Gary's occasional "don't touch it! you'll break it!") that I fail to notice that Hikaru's hair is particularly bad. (disclaimer: Kristi lives in the middle of a cornfield and it's the sort of hairstyle that people get beat up for there.)
volume 1, page 5
This might have been acceptable in the 60's or 70's, but only because everyone dressed in atrocities like this. My personal problem with the skirt is that it apparently fastens with only two toggles, which makes it physically impossible for the skirt to stay on. Otherwise, those toggles exist only for decoration, and who the hell would want THOSE on their skirt?
volume 1, pages 11 & 12
Look, either Sai wears make up or he doesn't. Obata for some reason can't seem to make up his mind on this though, so Sai's makeup randomly appears and disappears. The first image is from page 11 of volume one and Sai has makeup on, and then you turn the page to 12, and Sai's makeup has vanished. Is consistancy too much to ask for?
volume 1, page 15
This is the first in a loooooong series of visual puns. The number 5 in japanese is read as "go" and the manga is "Hikaru no Go." Ha ha, we get it. This one is worse than most because it has these inexplicable bands of plaid around the sleeves. These serve no purpose except to make the shirt ugly.
volume 1, pages 48 & 61
This is intentionally bad. Hikaru does the world a service by eliminating Akota-san's toupee both times he comes into contact with it. It wouldn't even be worth mentioning, except Akota-san shows up again later...
volume 1, page 58
This is the second in the hideously long line of visual puns. This time however it uses the kanji for five, and many times. Not really all that bad, but there's too many of them to ignore.
volume 1, page 67
THIS IS GAY. It is a terrible terrible haircut. Oh sure, characters like Xelloss in Slayers and Haku in Sen to Chihiro may have the same haircut, but because they can kick your ass nobody dares call them on it. Akira probably gets beat up on a regular basis at school. Or if he doesn't, it's only because daddy is paying someone off.
volume 1, page 67
As if his hair wasn't fruity enough, Akira proceeds to tear what little was left of his masculinity to shreds by wearing what Dom terms to be "English Schoolboy Shorts." Dom also made an unflattering comparison to Angus Young of AC/DC. Fortunately for us, Akira is still young and much err...prettier. Kya and I have concluded that scissors confuse Akira and rather than cutting his hair appropriately, he mangles his pants. It is the only explanation.
volume 1, page 91
Here we have the first appearance of Ogata the Pedo and his White Pimpsuit(tm). The man is some kind of go prodigy pimp, chasing young players around to molest them, and he dresses the part. Approximately 80% of the time when you see Ogata he is wearing the White Pimpsuit(tm). He just needs a cane and some blings. Puu says about Ogata "he's a character straight outta ghettopoly."
volume 1, page 143
Get the idea yet? Good. It says "go" in japanese. It's not that bad really, but I'm going to address ALL of these because I'm sick of them. Let's move along now to...
volume 1, page 151
Didn't we just see one of these less than 10 pages back? It actually says "GO" on it in characters english speakers will understand. But still, that's four of these shirts in less than 150 pages. It wears a little thin.