Anime Review - Chihayafuru (ちはやふる) - Unique & Niche Take on School Life/Slice of Life Anime

I never really read anything of the Shoujo manga style, because a lot of it were pure romance. However, there are some exceptions to this genre, and Chihayafuru is one of them. I caught up on this after putting in on my watch list because the anime's main concept was karuta (card game involving poems), which I felt could be boring to watch. However, I watched Sangatsu no Lion previously and I loved it, and that anime's main premise was shogi (Japenese chess essentially). So after a while, I downloaded both seasons and watched it. Guess what? I loved it. I love how these anime have niche takes on presenting school life in anime form and I love it when they do it so well.

Story (8/10):

The story involves predominantly three main characters - Chihaya, Taichi and Arata, and their journey through life, and how they are bound to meet together through karuta. It initially shows Chihaya and Taichi in the current time, but it dives straight into a flashback and how it all started. I really liked the flashback because it gives a recount of their lives and what they have become in the current time. After this, it is basically school-life plot, and it also involved karuta competitions. What I liked about the progression of the story was that the MC cannot always win in the first try. This brings realism to the anime (maybe it's an Shoujo rather than a Shounen) and makes the anime more enjoyable to watch because we get to see how the characters learn from their losses and improve.

Another side of the anime is the relationship of the trio MCs, and how they are determined to meet again through karuta. The romance aspect of the story is also commendable, but it doesn't overwhelm the main story, which I personally like. One can say that Chihayafuru is different from the typical Shoujo anime because most of them are romance-orientated. I won't spoil too much so that's why I am just explaining why I like the story. The ending of Season 2 is open-ended, but it ended on a good note - it shows us that Chihaya and Taichi are travelling somewhere to practise and improve. Some people may not have liked how this ended, but in these types of anime, the ending is hard to make because the story can practically go on forever.

Characters (9/10):

All the characters are likable, and they all have some purpose in the story. The main characters are equally interesting, each having a unique technique when it comes to playing karuta, their performance in school, etc. The support characters are all interesting too, especially the other members of the karuta club. From Season 1 to Season 2, we can see how much the OG club members progressed not just through karuta, but also their "work ethic" and "relationship skills". We really see how the characters become more mature - even the teacher who ignored karuta suddenly became interested in karuta. It's probably not like that in reality, but I always like to see happy people doing what they like.

Sound (9/10):

The OP and ED are all good to listen to. They are not super catchy but they are pleasant to listen to. The voice actors for the characters are all good and suit what the character should sound like (macho man sounds macho, Retro sounds squeaky *LUL*). The sounds for "intense moments", hitting the ground during karuta matches, etc. were all realistic and makes us more engaged in the anime.

Art (9/10):

The art is very beautiful to look at, like most Shoujo anime/manga. You have the handsome male character, beautiful female character, but what is different is the other characters because they are typically not in Shoujo anime/manga. This anime really reminds me of Sangastu no Lion, which is probably why I picked up on this anime. None of the art is disappointing.

Enjoyment (9/10):

At no point in the anime was it boring to watch. The anime was extremely engaging even though it's a school-life anime. I think why I found it enjoyable is because this Shoujo anime wasn't focusing on the romance aspect, but rather the karuta aspect. There's not a lot of Shoujo anime that I find enjoyable to watch, but some of these are like Sangatsu no Lion, Ore Monogatari to name a few.

Overall (9/10):

If you like something different but in Shoujo form, this is a good anime to watch. If you like anime like Sangatsu no Lion, you will absolutely love this anime because it is extremely similar in terms of focus - one is about karuta while the other is about shogi. Even if you don't like Shoujo, this is still a would recommend, and what's even better is that there's more content after the anime that you can read in the manga. Unfortunately it looks like there won't be anymore adaptation in anime form because the anime was used to promote the manga. If you want to know who I ship - I ship Chihaya and Arata :)