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SYLBXX and YLSG as foils: The scenes of SYL and BXX meeting on campus and YL and SG playing go on CY’s board are interspersed. Why? I think we are meant to draw parallels between these two pairs, treating these scenes as the reunion of lovers after a long separation. Of course, I can’t not mention YL’s "8 years 6 months 11 days” quote.
The pork rib scene: There’s a close-up shot, and I’m pretty sure this is meant to be YL’s POV. Why? The shot immediately before has YL looking down to the pork ribs, and then we have the very close-up shot of the pork ribs, leading to SG’s face, specifically, SG licking his lips. There’s no one, or nothing, other than YL that would allow for such a close-up POV. So the canon gave us a few seconds of YL staring at SG licking his lips…
Clothing symbolism, esp. ending scene outside the go salon: a lot has been said already by other talented meta writers about clothing choices. SG has yellow as his main color, whereas YL dresses in monochrome: sun and moon. What I want to point out though is specifically the ending scene- SG and YL’s tops, yellow and white respectively, both have a small design on the left chest area. This is where we often consider the heart to be symbolically, since it is located slightly left of center. So, they have similar/ matching shirt designs over the heart- I don’t think it’s too big of a stretch to say this is symbolic of the matching of their hearts.
Sai/ CY as a father figure: It only took me ten years and obsessing over the symbolism in SG’s name to realize how deep Shindou Hikaru’s name actually is, beyond the obvious “wisteria” character connection to Fujiwara 藤原. Shindou 進藤 has the same sound as 神童 whose characters together mean prodigy or genius, but individually are “god child.” Hikaru is the child of the god, Sai. So, Shi Guang’s name loses this connection, although it gains other meanings I’m definitely not complaining about. But in contrast, in the manga Hikaru’s actual father Masao appears through a few quotes (I don’t think he is ever actually drawn), but drama SG’s father is cut out completely. Just to emphasize that yes, CY is SG’s father figure.
On growing up: The father figure relationship thus answers the question I’ve seen some people ask: why do we spend so long on the plot after Sai / CY (who typically is their favorite character) disappears? Because, fundamentally, Hikaru no Go is a coming-of-age story. It’s a story about Hikaru growing up from a child into an adult. And while Sai is around, he will always be the god’s child. When Sai leaves, it forces Hikaru to take flight from the nest and become an individual in his own right. The Hokuto Cup arc is a portrayal of Hikaru as the adult he has become. His relationship with Akira now takes center stage after Sai leaves (and oh wow did the drama dial this up to the max). Akira is the one person he, as an adult, has chosen to be his partner for life, ostensibly for go- but remember! This is a growing up story. If this all sounds like a metaphor for marriage, then I’m going to make the bold claim that it actually is. Compare to the relationship with Sai: Hikaru doesn’t have a choice in the spirit coming out of the board and haunting him. Children don’t get to choose their parents. But adults do choose their significant other.