By the port of Naniwa slept a flower through a harsh winter. Spring has come and now the flower blooms. No spoilers. 600https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/chihayafuruchihayavstaichi2.jpg Chihayafuru is just brutal. It pulls no punches ever. It has no hesitation about slapping its characters down. Everything does not always work out in the end. And despite that all...its hopeful. Its truly joyous. When the protagonists win it seems to matter in a way that doesnt make an awful lot of sense from the outside. It feels for lack of a better word great. And Chihayafuru is weird too. Its about a weird niche sport that nobody outside of Japan has ever heard of and probably one that precious few inside Japan care about. Karuta is a sport about memorising poems and then touching the cards with the second verse of those poems on them. What? How could this possibly be exciting? Yeah okay when you watch the reallife equivalents they really are that fast...but the matches are kind of boring and kind of long. Im going to try and get into how its possible as much as I can. But its awful hard for me to explain some of this in words. Ill do my best but since a lot of the work Chihayafuru puts in is as much about what isnt said as what is maybe the only way to really figure it out is to watch it and read between the lines for yourself. Oh and one more thing. Im reviewing the series as a whole so Ill talk about stuff in the first and second season as well. As far as Im concerned this season stands on the work of the first two but the first two are brilliant of themselves as well. Chihayafuru in the anime anyway is not yet a finished story. So this review might change. The way this ends will matter a lot. But the going the journey matters too. And its an awful good one. But theres still a ways to go from here. And Ill be along for the ride whenever and wherever Chihayafuru decides to take me. Like a boatman sailingOver Yuras strait without a rudderI know not whereThe depths of love will take me Story 600https://i.pin.com/originals/67/95/1d/67951df20e7e9c0461805ee94c4216b1.jpg Chihayafurus story is framed in a bit of a weird way to start. It seems a lot like your standard romance fare. A childhood friendship combined with some strong character dynamics initially establish a strong sense of place but where Chihayafuru does the best is in establishing goals in terms of the plot. Theres always a sense that the plot is regular meaning things are going a certain way for a certain reason and that means that the plot is often more about how the events drive the character relations rather than the other way around. For example placing in a tournament is important in terms of its knockon effect on the character interactions between Taichi and Chihaya. The people that the characters face in matches matter not so much because its about who wins or loses but because who wins or loses affects both players so deeply. When Misusawa High School competes in a team match the winning and losing matters besides just the simple fact of victory. When they win and lose it makes a difference to the characters. Ultimately because we care so much about the characters and Ill talk about this more in a second each match is so heavily freighted. Characters have defined goals which means that innarrative there are serious stakes. That doesnt mean characters will die if they lose. Thats lame. It doesnt mean that its just as simple as romantic relationships are wagered on matches. Chihayafuru is better than that. Whats physically at stake in the matches is almost nothing. No money as far as we know barely any prestige outside of the insular world of karuta. Its just winning and losing. But whats mentally at stake? Aha. Thats where the whole nut of the thing is. That is to say the plot gives goals and the character dynamics drive the stakes of the piece. And these stakes are regularly invoked because characters lose and lose hard. In those rare moments when Chihayafuru allows yes allows is definitely the right word a second of respite from crushing loss it is all the more cathartic and fulfilling. These players are no monstrous sports gods on a training arc toward their inexorable victories. They are fallible and fail. Chihayafurus confidence that when its characters are knocked down theyll get up again is second to none. And that confidence pulls watchers along with it fervently hoping that maybe this time will be the time. That creates a lot of tension in the matches. Because you think theyll lose. But maybe just maybe they could win when it matters. Here seems like a good time to mention that I really like the way that some cards are given in narrative meaning. The obvious one is Chihayas card Even in the age... but there are some others. The show does itself a big favour by having poetry as a subject which means that it can afford to be a weensy bit on the nose sometimes with which cards get read when. But...honestly? I dont really mind that much especially when the poetry is so great. On the surface Chihayafuru is a sports anime and one replete with all the tropes of that genre. Tournament arcs competitions long internal monologues during matches side characters offering running commentary the whole nine yards. And then another level deeper its a shoujo anime in fact its even got character designs reminiscent of that genre. Two pretty boys a boyish girl love triangle youve seen the script before. Except its not. Its something much more impressive and much fuller than just a sports anime or just a stereotypical romancedrama. With consummate skill careful writing and gorgeous animation Chihayafuru realises a whole mental world in a way that Ive only seen in a few other shows. It is a story that is worth telling. And maybe more importantly it has a cast of characters that are worth knowing. What it is actually under its exterior is nothing less than a brilliant study of character dynamics. That is especially impressive given that one of the main characters spends almost all of the first two seasons and a good portion of the third completely offstage. Selling character dynamics like this is astonishingly hard and Chihayafuru pulls it off with ease. Even in the age of swift gods and miracles I have never seenSuch burning autumn redAs drenches the Tatsuta River Characters 600https://abandonedfactory.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/chihayafuru91.png You can sum up Chihayafurus characters by saying simply that you root for them. Always always. Because nearly everyone in this story is basically a good person. Chihayafuru is better than having the foes of the main character be easy hateable villains. Even Wakamiya the character that youd expect to just be a onenote kuudere antagonist becomes so much more than that by midway through the second season and even better in the third. By halfway into the show theres a very big cast of characters which the writers can call on almost at will to hang some new ideas on. And the confidence that the viewer will buy into the world enough to remember all the characters is nice. But best of all I think Chihayafuru does a great job at establishing a sense of place about the hobby. I noted this in my review of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuhttps://anilist.co/review/7278 but I think one of the best things a piece of work about a hobby that is relatively niche can do is let the reader feel familiar with the world that it creates. Things like recognising readers cards and so on all really hook you in. The big interlocking network of characters Chihayafuru expects you to buy into allows for every single interaction to matter in the grand scheme of things. But make no mistake this is and was always Chihaya Arata and Taichis show. Although other characters may steal the limelight for a couple episodes they always give it back to those three in the end. I think that the bond the author creates in the first few episodes and then proceeds to explore and sell throughout the rest of the show is awfully good and is a much better way of going about it than just a simple boring love triangle. The likeability of these characters stems from the fact that theyre always at least partially realised. I think we get a lot more insight into the motivations of the main three but Im always aware of the subtext of what almost everybody is doing. There are exceptions to this of course and sometimes Chihayafuru does just straightup tell you what the characters want but I think usually its left to your imagination. This lets character interactions feel heavy and meaningful. But theres such a light touch at play here so gentle and so careful. Chihayafuru has good jokes and sharp moments to relieve tension. I think there are less of these running gags in later seasons but they punctuate the story well. Ultimately characters are believable as people and not just as 2D cartoons joke intended. Chihayafuru gets you invested in what happens to its characters unlike almost anything else even though the stakes are relatively low. Thats a testament to how worthwhile it is to know what is going on how worthwhile it is to care. Though the waterfallceased flowing long agoand its music is stilledits name yet flowsand in fame it can be heard Music and Sound 600https://ephemeraldreamer.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/horriblesubschihayafuru25720pmkvsnapshot025220120329215230.jpg The sound design is probably a weaker spot of the show if Im honest. It does itself a lot of favours by being based on sound and the voice acting in the reading is always really good...but sometimes things just feel a weensy bit off. I think this kind of works in Chihayafurus favour insofar as matches arent tense because of tense music but instead because of the plotting and characters but there are definite missteps here. Similarly I think the OP and EDs are...fine. Theyre all generic Jrock fare with the first seasons OP being actively good and the subsequent ones being just passable. Animation in the OPs is good and wellsynced although it doesnt matter an awful lot. Insert songs...could have been better. Nothing to write home about really. However the voice acting...oh boy. Almost everyone turns in a hell of a performance from the readers reading the poems to Asami Seto as Chihaya and by far the best Kenta Miyake as Dr. Harada. The VAs sell everything from emotion to joy with equal range. There isnt an awful lot for them to do sometimes Chihayafuru is very visual but they do a sterling job with what they are actually given. Gust of wind carriesleaves from the treesGiving the name of stormto the mountain wind Animation 600https://abandonedfactory.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/chihayafuru242.png OK. I could write thousands and thousands of words gushing about how brilliant and wonderful and incredible the animation by MADHOUSE is. Ill try and keep this as nonhagiographic as possible but it would be amiss of me to go any further without mentioning how transcendentally brilliant the animation of the karuta matches are. I might go so far as to say that they actually carry the show in its entirety. Without properly exciting karuta matches this show is nothing. Thats why the animation matters. Im going to pick out a couple of things though. First the depiction of movement is so rock solid. The low framerate of anime makes it impossible and impractical to show people moving as fast as competitive karuta players do. Instead MADHOUSE uses carefully framed freezeframe shots to show speed as well as animation of things like hair and fabric oh god the fabric animation is SO GOOD to depict motion. Theres a real sense of weight to things onscreen and its awful hard to imagine almost any other studio doing this. Second the show is very good at depicting skill. Probably the best example of this is the introduction of Master/Meijin Suo. By this point weve seen an awful lot of players we know are very good. Weve seen Wakamiya obliterate her competition with ease and unbelievable speed. And then Master Suo takes his first card and in literally one frame he just slams his hand down on it. Its genuinely a jawdropping moment as the true insurmountability of the best karuta players becomes clear. The sense of oppressiveness that comes from a brilliant player of this game is conveyed so well. Third the blocking and shot composition is almost always brilliant in the matches. While just fine in the school scenes in the matches where clearly the majority of time was spent every movement is so carefully storyboarded and framed to create an extremely kinetic and inertialaden sense of movement and rhythm to the matches. Finally I think the show kind of does itself a favour by having romantic poetry as its subject matter well one of its subjects anyway because it gives it an awful big stock of imagery to draw from. But MADHOUSE doesnt waste those ideas at all giving each their fair share of screentime by far. If I had one criticism I think the use of CGI flower petals especially in the third season sometimes gets a little bit much. Im not sure how consonant it is with the general general realism of the piece to suddenly take a left turn like this. I dont think its awful and I think its generally used to good effect but sometimes it can overwhelm all the other careful decisions. On and off I think of former daysand how I long for thee.More than een the clinging vines hangingbeneath the ancient eaves Final Thoughts 600https://rabujoi.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/chi3232.jpg I think Chihayafuru is excellent but I dont think its great. Why not? Because it is not a finished story yet. Weve seen the main trio and the side characters develop an awful lot in competition and out of it but their story isnt even close to over. Its barely begun really. Similarly I think the story oftentimes moves on from moments a bit quickly for my liking. There are a lot of moments in the narrative which had some really great impact but I always felt there might have been a bit more. Maybe its asking too much to hang so much on a silly game. But I dont think it is. If theres any show that can do this Chihayafuru can. It can definitely become truly great a true moving cathartic 10. There are moments I can think of that are possible within the narrative which if executed well and animated to the highest standards would top almost anything else. But they havent come yet...and I dont know if they will. Look I wish I liked Chihayafuru more than I do. I love the concept I like the characters so much some have become some of my absolute favorites. I wish I could give it a 10 a 90+ I want so much to do so. I want it to move me deeply and touch me Im rooting for it. But its not there...yet. But you should watch Chihayafuru. You really should. Its an awfully good time. And maybe like me you can join the ranks of people waiting. Waiting for the author to open her mouth and read the next card. Though we are partedif on Mount Inabas peak I should hearthe sound of the pine trees growing thereIll come back to you again. Pointy