Chihayafuru Seasons 1, 2, & 3
TV Show Review
Felt inspired to watch more anime after enjoying March Comes In Like a Lion, and so I decided to watch Chihayafuru! Chihayafuru, like March, is a sweet and heartwarming anime about a competitive game, Karuta. Karuta is a Japanese card game that mixes strategy, poetry memorization, and physical agility, played between two people. Chihayafuru is a show about three childhood friends, Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata, who played together in elementary school, and after a time jump, come back into each other’s lives as they strive to win competitions in high school. When I first started watching this show in Season 1, I wrote notes about how this wasn’t as interesting as March. But by the end of Season 1, I was hopelessly addicted. I think I finished the bulk of Season 2 and Season 3 (each around 24 episodes each) in 2 days!
The main driver of the plot is that the main characters want to become the best Karuta players in Japan. That means there will be a lot of Karuta games every episode, and I felt myself starting to get a little tired of seeing game after game by Season 3. However, the story is smart and keeps things interesting, by adding new characters and building emotional attachments to other characters. In addition, each major game arc is played out in a way where the audience is kept in the dark about the winners and losers until the end. I found myself crying every now and then because the friendships and team moments were so touching! Even though the bulk of the show is about Karuta, what made this show binge-worthy to me was the love triangle subplot between Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata. It was furiously uneventful, but I was still at the edge of my seat hoping that some new development would happen in each new episode. As much as I enjoyed the game play and watching characters grow, the main driver of my addiction was the hint of romance.
A story can only be as good as its characters, and the characters in Chihayafuru are excellent! Chihaya is the main protagonist, and is a super likable and ditsy high school girl. She is a classic anime heroine (gorgeous and clueless about her love triangle), and I was the most invested in her character development and wished the hardest for her to become the winner of each match. Taichi is a very complex character, and probably my favorite in the series. He served as a dark horse and an underdog, and was the most relatable because he displayed so much personal insecurities. Most importantly to me, he kept the romantic subplot interesting. Arata is a very likable and sweet character, but not the most interesting to watch because he was so isolated from Chihaya and Taichi for the bulk of the seasons. And just to add in for good measure, my favorite side characters were Harada-sensei, Sudo-san, Shinobu-chan (the Queen), and Sakurazawa-senpai!
Overall, I may have complaints here and there about this show, but at the heart of the matter, I felt the same joy binging this show as I felt years ago when I binge-watched shoujo anime in middle/high school. My favorite season was the second one, because I really liked following the team’s energy as they progressed through the national championships. I felt regret here and there for spending so much time on a show…but the joy was unmistakable and I know my time wasn’t wasted if I truly enjoyed it! For now, I’ll try to take a break from my computer screen.
SPOILER ALERT
After I finished Season 3 of the anime, I caught up with all of the manga chapters. I’m really glad I took the time to do this, because my motivation for the show was slipping away from watching the growth of Chihaya as a Karuta player, and more focused on figuring out if there was hope for Chihaya and Taichi to get together. Reading through it really saved me a lot of time…and gave me some closure. At this point I feel like they won’t end up together, and she may find herself with Arata instead (or no one at all?). It’s a devastating conclusion, but now I feel like I can finally start to put this show behind me.