This review contains spoilers!

I will probably never play One Hundred Poets karuta in my life, but it's enriching just to scratch the surface of its rich cultural background and present-day strategy through the wonderful cast of Chihayafuru. Chihayafuru is a story of that culture, but it's also a story of passion, a story of love and grief, and a story of goofy t-shirts.

The game itself was completely foreign to me when I started watching, but the show does an excellent job of introducing and explaining karuta from the rules to the poetry itself. If you're big on literary history or played Fate/Grand Order in the last year, you'll be met with a few familiar names like Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shounagon and be treated to translations and analyses of their poetry through Kanade.

The rules, on the other hand, are explained as we follow along with Chihaya learning the game. In middle school, Chihaya lives in the shadow of her older sister with no greater ambition than to support her modeling career. After playing a karuta match with Arata and bonding with him and Taichi, she finds herself with a natural talent and a growing love for karuta that persists long after Taichi moves on and Arata moves away. Dragging Taichi back into the world of karuta, she starts a school club in the hopes of meeting Arata again at a competition.

It's through the karuta club that Chihaya brings the cast together, literally. Her optimism is infectious and her antics are enough to let every other member of the team play the straight man. Beyond that, they each have a remarkable amount of depth that comes naturally over the course of the season; Kanade tries to balance her love for the cultural aspects of karuta with the competitive aspect, Tsutomu finds fulfilment in karuta as a novice, and Nishida acts as another rival and a foil for Taichi's natural talent. It's heartwarming to see how the new team members' interactions with each other change over the season, especially when taken with how comfortable Chihaya and Taichi already are with each other.

They're close, everyone knows they're close, and Taichi struggles with wishing they were even closer. Their friendship is shown throughout the season through their body language and interactions besides it being the driving force of their karuta club. Taichi's affection as well as his hesitation to take their relationship further is shown in contrast through extended, quiet shots and offhand remarks, making it believable enough that Chihaya hasn't noticed amidst everything else going on.

In the meantime, Arata struggles with the loss of his grandfather and karuta mentor, swearing off the sport entirely from the guilt of leaving him alone when he suffered a fatal stroke. The presentation of his dementia and moment of lucidity was almost entirely too vivid for me to keep watching, but it's that kind of heartache that makes the lighthearted and celebratory moments that much more appreciable. It's hard to call this my favourite part of the series, but it's one I wasn't prepared for that impressed me completely.

On the whole, Chihayafuru is incredibly funny, heartwarming, and educational to boot. If you're still on the fence and especially if you're completely baffled by the concept of karuta, slap away your doubts and watch it.