Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2016
Chihayafuru
Buy Chihayafuru now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox animanga/Header
| name = Chihayafuru
| image = Chihayafuru vol 1.jpg
| caption = Cover of the first volume, featuring Chihaya Ayase.
| ja_kanji =
| ja_romaji =
| genre =
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Video
| type = tv series
| director = Morio Asaka
| producer =
| writer =
| music = Kousuke Yamashita
| studio = Madhouse
| licensee =
| network = Nippon TV
| network_en =
| first = 4 October 2011
| last = 24 March 2020
| episodes = 74 + OVA
| episode_list = List of Chihayafuru episodes
}}
is a Japanese 'josei' manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Suetsugu. It has been serialized in Kodansha's 'Be Love' magazine since December 2007. It is about a school girl, Chihaya Ayase, who is inspired by a new classmate to take up 'Hyakunin Isshu karuta' competitively. An anime television series adaptation aired from October 2011 to March 2012. The second season aired from January to June 2013 and the third from October 2019 to March 2020. Three live action film adaptations were released from 2016 to 2018.
The manga has won the Manga Taish and the Kodansha Manga Award. Since its fourth volume was released in March 2009, it has regularly appeared on the Japanese Comic Ranking chart, and in 2022 was estimated to have over 27 million copies in print. Its popularity has boosted the profile of competitive karuta in Japan.
Plot
Chihaya Ayase is a girl who has spent most of her life simply supporting her sister in her modeling career. That changes when she meets a boy named Arata Wataya, a talented karuta player. After becoming friends, he believes that Chihaya has potential to become a great player. As Chihaya takes on a new dream of becoming Japan's best karuta player, she is soon separated from her karuta playing friends as they grow up. Now in high school, Chihaya is reunited with her childhood friend, Taichi Mashima. Together, they form the Mizusawa Karuta Club. With her teammates and friends supporting her, Chihaya strives to become the best karuta player in the world and to one day be with Arata again.
Development
'karuta' card with the 'Kami no Ku', or "upper phrase" from the 'Chihayaburu' 'Tanka' and the attribution to "Ariwara no Narihira 'Ason'" written on it. The name of the series comes from this Heian Era poem.
Yuki Suetsugu belonged to a 'karuta' club in high school and feels that the school years are a period of a person's life where "you can dedicate the most genuine part of yourself to something." The name of the series is a poetic 'makurakotoba', or pillow word, and comes from the first five syllables of the seventeenth poem in the 'Hyakunin Isshu' poetry anthology, a collection of 100 poems which are printed on the 'karuta' cards. In this poem 'chihayaburu' is used as an epithet to 'kami' and can be translated into English as "shaken in fury" and "swift in fury", according to Edwin A. Cranston, or "awesome", as offered by Joshua S. Mostow.
Media
Manga
The manga has been serialized in the 'josei' manga magazine 'Be Love' since 2007, and has been collected by Kodansha into 49 'tankbon' volumes as of July 2022. In February 2019 the author stated that the manga was planned to be close to ending in late 2019. Although volume 49 was initially announced to be the final volume, it was later announced that volume 50 will be the final volume. Kodansha has also published the first three volumes in a two-volume bilingual edition, with English translations by Stuart Varnam Atkin and Yko Toyozaki. On 14 February 2017, Kodansha Comics began publishing a digital edition of the series in English; 33 volumes have been released as of August 2022. The manga is licensed in French by Pika dition, in Korean by Haksan Culture Company, in Taiwanese by Tong Li Publishing, and in Thai by Bongkoch Publishing.
Anime
A 25-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by the studio Madhouse under the direction of Morio Asaka, aired on Nippon Television from 4 October 2011 to 27 March 2012. The screenplay was written by Naoya Takayama and character designs were by Kunihiko Hamada. The music was composed by Kousuke Yamashita, and the sound director is Masafumi Mima of Techno Sound. The series was simulcast by Crunchyroll. Animax Asia aired an English version of the anime from 13 February to 18 March 2013. The series was released in nine DVD and Blu-ray Disc volumes from 21 December 2011 to 22 August 2012. A Blu-ray Disc box set was released on 18 July 2013.
A second 25-episode season, 'Chihayafuru 2', aired on Nippon Television between 11 January and 28 June 2013, and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. An original video animation episode was released on DVD bundled with the special edition of the 22nd manga volume on 13 September 2013.
A 24-episode third season was originally announced to premiere on Nippon Television's AnichU block in April 2019, with the main cast and staff reprising their roles, but was delayed and aired from 22 October 2019 to 24 March 2020.
Sentai Filmworks licensed the first two seasons of the anime series for home video release in North America. The series' first episode premiered with English subtitles on the Hidive streaming service on 15 June 2017. Sentai Filmworks' dub is streamed by Hidive starting from 29 August 2017. The first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 September 2017. In December 2019, Sentai Filmworks announced that they had licensed the series' third season.
The first season's opening and ending themes are "Youthful" by 99RadioService and by Asami Seto respectively. 99RadioService released "Youthful" as a single on 30 November 2011. The original soundtrack with character song albums was released in two volumes on 18 January and 28 March 2012. The second season's opening and ending themes are "Star" by 99RadioService and by Seto. The third season's opening and ending themes are "Colorful" by 99RadioService and by Band Harassment.
Other
Kodansha released several guidebooks for the series, with the first released on 9 November 2011. It provided a study guide for the poetry and background for the story.A 4-volume novel series, 'Chihayafuru: Chgakusei-hen', was published by Kodansha under their 'KC Deluxe' imprint between 9 September 2012, and 13 December 2013. The books were written by Yui Tokiumi and illustrated by Yuki Suetsugu and follow the middle-school years of the three protagonists. A manga adapting the novels, written by Tokiumi and illustrated by Oto Tooda, was published in 'Be Love' from 13 October 2017 to 1 November 2018 and compiled into three volumes.
On 11 April 2015, it was reported that the series would be adapted into a live-action film. A live action film adaptation titled 'Chihayafuru: Kami no Ku' was released on 19 March 2016, with a second film, 'Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku', released on 29 April 2016. Starting on 20 February 2018, five webisodes titled were aired on Hulu Japan. 'Chihayafuru: Musubi', a third and final feature length film in the trilogy, was released on 17 March 2018. The films got a five-episode tie-in series on Hulu Japan on February 20, 2018. The series is titled 'Chihayafuru -Tsunagu-' ('Chihayafuru: Connect'), and connected the story of the second and third films. It also included behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews. In addition, the third film got another tie-in titled 'Chihayafuru -Manabi-' ('Chihayafuru: Study') on Hulu Japan on the same day that introduced the new members of the Mizusawa Karuta Club and explained the rules of karuta.
A 3-volume novelization of the films, 'Eiga Chihayafuru', was published by Kodansha under their KC Deluxe imprint. The first two volumes were released on 11 March 2016 and the third on 13 February 2018. The books were written by Yui Tokiumi, based on the screenplay by Norihiro Koizumi.
Another 3-volume novelization of the films by Yki Arisawa, 'Shsetsu Chihayafuru', was published by Kodansha under their Kodansha Bunko imprint in 2018. The first two volumes were released on 16 January and the third on 15 February.
Reception
'Chihayafuru' won the second Manga Taish award, and the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in the shjo manga category. When 'Chihayafuru' won the Manga Taish award, it was commented that the series combines elements of the sport genre and literary elements with a discerning eye on the subject matter. It was one of the Jury Recommended Works in the Manga category at the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2012. The manga had over 16 million copies in circulation in Japan as of the first half of 2016, over 24 million by the end of 2019, and over 27 million by the beginning of 2022. Its popularity has boosted the popularity of competitive 'karuta'. The manga has regularly appeared on Oricon's Japanese Comic Ranking chart. Between March 2009 and September 2011, the fourth through fourteenth volumes all appeared in the top 25 during the week of their release and the week after.
Among North American reviewers, Gia Manry, writing about the first episode of 'Chihayafuru', felt that despite the animators' efforts, 'karuta' seemed boring, and criticised the overuse of CG sakura, describing it as a "mixed bag" of an anime. Bamboo Dong says that Chihaya's passion and characterisation make 'karuta' interesting. Carlo Santos felt that the series was the "first genuinely good show of the season", citing its characterisation, unusual subject, and polish of the first episode. Marcus Speer enjoyed the production values of the first episode, but felt that the theme songs were "standard fare". He was intrigued by how the characters' childhood impacted on their present interactions. Theron Martin appreciated the focus on the characters rather than the game, feeling that while the teenage Chihaya seemed "gimmicky", her younger self was "quite likable". Chris Beveridge praised the tension shown between Arata and Taichi in the second episode's 'karuta' match. Theron Martin felt the second episode's 'karuta' tournament was tense and compelling, and that despite the plot unfolding in a predictable fashion, the execution made this forgivable.
Crunchyroll listed it in their "Top 100 best anime of the 2010s". 'IGN' also listed 'Chihayafuru' among the best anime series of the 2010s. Writing for 'Forbes', Lauren Orsini considered it to be one of the five best anime of 2011; she wrote, "Even Western viewers will quickly become invested in the fast-paced drama of competitive 'karuta'".
Notes
References
Buy Chihayafuru now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2016