As I've mentioned in my previous entry, I've been quite into sports series again recently.
I watched a LOT of good, quite recent ones (and I'll list them all in a separate entry that's coming soon, I promise).

But at some point I was running out of sports series to watch. However, there was ONE series that kept popping up in the top 10 rankings of great sports anime and that is: Chihayafuru
I tried to avoid it because it's not EXACTLY a sport anime. I was really looking for something like soccer, basketball etc.
I read it's about karuta and I knew it would work out as I was in love with "Hikaru no Go" back in the days.

Like I said it kept popping up in the rankings and people were praising it, so I KNEW it had to be good ...... and while I desperately was looking for another GREAT sports anime, I might have found something even BETTER! ^^; .....




( Naniwa-zu ni * Sakuya Kono Hana * Fuyu-gomori * Ima wo haru-be to * Sakuya kono hana (= the beginning poem of each karuta game) )



( No worries, I've put spoiler warnings where necessary ;) ... )

Of course there are a lot of other lovable characters as well.
Omi Jingu in Otsu (Shiga Prefecture) is also shown as that's where the karuta tournament is held (in reality, too, btw.)
Aaah, if only I had watched this BEFORE leaving Japan. I've been in Otsu so many times, but never to Omi Jingu. *headdesk*
And I'm actually QUITE sure that I've seen a train in Otsu with pictures of Chihayafuru on it. I also should have a photo of that somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. XD ....
Only that back then I didn't know what it was, of course. XD ......

Oh, and there's also the real tournament to decide the yearly "Queen" and "Meijin". You can watch a real match on Youtube - it's quite interesting. ^___^


Have you read / watched the series yet?
How do you like it?
Who are you shipping? (And if it's Arata, WHY OH WHY??? ... XD ...)