Chihayafuru
a review by terasel
a review by terasel
Prepare for a decently lengthy one, because I watched 74 episodes of anime in a shorter time than I usually do, so I have a lot of compressed feelings that I want to express thoroughly. Chihayafuru was one of my friends (whom I met on MAL forums) favourite series and he told me to check it out when I can. I had forgotten about it until I happened to see it in the community contract. And I was immediately reminded of him. So... I did what any sensible person would do in this situation, watch the entire 3 seasons within 10 days…
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~~The beginning. A heads-up, for the rest of the review, there will be small spoiler elements so if somebody is reading this, please do it after you finish the series. I think I already gave a warning but just in case!~~
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I already heard some stuff about karuta and how Chihayafuru handled it before watching this series, so I had some idea of what kind of place I was entering when I took on this series. But I personally never played the game, so I was not in a position to relate to the story because of karuta. But the thing that caught my attention was how it expressed the desire to be the strongest at something. A sense of being lost, the struggles you face while striving to become THE best at something, the friendships and the cynical mindset that many people have when they desire to follow a pathway of working hard. Like Deskomotu-kun being two-dimensional in his approach to life, or Taichi never believing that he will be able to raise his skill level to compete with the best in karuta. Or how Chihaya suffers from always having a passion for others, but not herself. And wanting to change that. Fighting desperately for something that they seek to change about themselves. That is the main conflict that had me drawn to the series. When people acknowledge how important it is to conquer your inner demons through hard work, this series becomes x10 more meaningful to them. And that was the case for me. If I watched this a year ago, I would have overlooked it as something normal and I would have dropped watching it at season 2. But it is thanks to that element of my life alone that I was so attracted to the series and immediately fell in love.
But the fight that the characters have put on is not the only thing that makes this series something special. In every karuta match, we get to see just how mentally taxing it is to focus up for long periods of time, and the thoughts that go through our mind when we chase a goal of such magnitude. We notice every little detail around our environment and have to adapt to the circumstances almost immediately to have a chance at doing our absolute best. But sometimes emotions or other circumstances get the better of us and drift us away from our main objective—the objective of why we came here in the first place. In this series, they go about showing this emotion with characters with inner monologues during the karuta matches they play, how they think, what their feelings are, how those emotions affect them, and how they learn to keep them in control under every circumstance. After some time, they start achieving some stability. Eventually to the degree of a spinning top, never losing its balance. They master the art of checking in with themselves and improving in life. While playing karuta. With each difficult opponent they face, they strive for more. They push their boundaries further and shatter everyone's expectations.
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“Who are they exactly?”
“Of course, Chihaya and her karuta club! “
But of course, having decided to take on this path does not come easy. It comes with the necessity to know what exactly you want to do, and what motivates you. And it does not remove the fact that you need to clock in an insane amount of time and have the talent to rise high on the ladder and eventually to the top. And the difficulties you are going to face along the way. Many conflicted desires and people's hard work that collide with each other. This series does such a fine job at putting on a display of just how many factors there are to little things we overlook in life. It allocates each of them the attention that we don't give on a day-to-day basis. Especially when it comes to improving at ANYTHING. And I love the fact that this felt so impassionate. So heartfelt, expressed with the purest emotions that go through us so cleanly.
There is always something that everyone seeks in your life. Even if you feel like you are not that passionate and do things for the sake of it. Or just to not get hate from other people. (a reference to Mayu from H!E s3) And it may be the warmth of being able to share your impassion with someone. Or it may be the ideal relationship that you are seeking with someone else. But everyone feels something whether they are aware of it or not. And we must go on, seeking that dream if we want to eventually look back on ourselves and think we did the right thing. We did the best thing we could possibly do and stay happy with ourselves. For doing what we wanted.
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Last notes before I wrap up, I am a fan of the OST for this series. And especially the utilization of the side flute because I am a kicker for the side flute and love its sound! (ever since I watched Liz to Aoi Tori lol) Violin and piano were used for most of the tracks as well, further implying the happy and supportive tone of the series while still allowing the narrative to get heavy at times and expressing emotions that are hard to comprehend. And I loved that they even performed the school anthem for that supporting section, but it was limited. Well, since it's not a music anime like Sound! Euphonium, I did not expect them to record all four movements. But the bits we got were still appreciateable. Even though I am not that adept at sound design when editing, I came to appreciate just how much I enjoy sound designing and I want to get better at it when I make videos myself.
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That's all, thanks for reading!
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