“If I can be the best in the world at something, then I think it’s worth a shot.” – Chihaya Ayase

Finding what you love is the most important lesson I've taken away from this series, and the Chihayafuru series has become an important part of my life. Life is full of ups and downs, and I believe that everyone experiences these, but sometimes you just wonder "what am I doing?" or "what is the point of my life?" You don't know what to do, how to feel, or where to lead yourself. We often start to doubt every area of our lives when we're feeling lost, which sends us spinning out of control.
And right now, I'm not even sure what I love, but after finishing this series, I feel encouraged, much like when you watch Chihaya working her tail off to pursue her dream—you can't help but feel inspired.

I loved both anime and manga but anime covered about 143 chapters out of 247 chapters and manga is recently ended.
So after finishing all the seasons, I read the manga from the start, and many people out there still doesn’t know about this gem. So I decided to write a review...My main reason was to just write about this...how much I loved this... There might be some minor spoilers in this review.

Chihayafuru contains themes like discovering one’s identity, finding purpose in life, friendship, solitude and achieving dreams.
Right after starting this series, I had a strong emotional connection to the characters right away, and I found the story to be compelling right away.

The reason Chihayafuru work is Yuki Suetsugu's skilled writing because how well she made the storyline that is focused on karuta. But it has been shown in series that karuta is not a very famous sport, she made the plot like this so the readers will dissolve in that sport and it is so good that it’ll make you want to get involved in competitive karuta.

After finishing the series, I became very interested in karuta, and I occasionally watch Queen-Meijin matches on YouTube, as well as high school championships, And to be really honest, I still have trouble putting into words how much I loved this series, how often I cried rivers while watching the anime and while reading the manga too, and how I believe it transformed me. I also struggle to express how much this series matters to me...Like I could brag about it for like forever.

Chihayafuru is technically a sports manga, but unlike other common sports series, The plot centers around the traditional Japanese card game karuta and centres on Chihaya's journey to the top female player in the country, Despite its unique subject, Chihayafuru is a classic sports anime that may not be enjoyed by action lovers. It’s wonderful mixture of shoujo and josei genres.

In Japan, karuta is regarded as a sport, and in Chihayafuru, we go deeply into the domain of karuta competition.
Basically Karuta is a card game It involves memorization of the Hyakunin Isshu, an anthology of one hundred poems. A reader reads out a randomly selected poem, and the player has to find the corresponding lower phrase of said poem., Before this series I’ve never heard of karuta and Hyakunin Isshu poems.

And this wonderful line by kana-chan

“As long as the emotion is there, a short phase can sound like a poem.”
– Oe Kanade

But after this series i was totally into The 100 poets, And my favourite Kana-chan, the cheerful darling of the school karuta club, deserves credit.
My favourite poem:

Flower's colors have faded away

While in idle thought,

my life passes by in vain

as I watch the long rains fall.

• Ono no komachi

So, Chihaya is the main protagonist. Pure, energetic, and ambitious. Watching her work so hard towards her dream will kind of motivate you, and Chihaya is beyond likeable for me.
Chihaya is an airhead. Her love for karuta takes priority over everything else, frequently at the expense of her friendships. She is completely unaware of Taichi's apparent affection for her, and anytime Arata's name is spoken, she transforms into another person, completely consumed by her childhood memories. Taichi looks on wistfully, but he can't even bring himself to despise Arata. Chihaya's dedication inspires me. She is driven by her love of the game and her desire to become Queen.
And I love chihaya, and all the karuta club members.
Arata, The primary trio's reclusive genius is Arata. Being from a low-income household, he meets Chihaya and Taichi for the first time when he enrolls at their grade school.
In the whole series Arata was praised because he was so good at karuta since the age of 4 also as the grandson of eternal Master.

Taichi is a complete opposite character of Arata. He is attractive, well-liked, quite wealthy, and generally brilliant at all he does, and the reason he plays karuta because he wants to stand beside Chihaya and Arata. He begins off in middle school as a horrible little brat before developing into a sensitive young man, who is loved by everyone.
Though he never loved karuta, But watching him losing was frustrating.

“Eventhough you don’t like it, you still tried your absolute hardest in it. So I thought that, it was really admirable. That’s how much you loved those people”
-From Manga Chapter 141

He is the main pillar of karuta club, Soon, you can't help but understand his intense love for Chihaya, and it becomes clear that he is making an effort to atone for his prior actions by showing consideration and compassion to people around him. I like taichi.
The characters themselves are what actually carry the narrative, and their different paths are so fascinating.

Talk about the main trio, The love triangle's basic idea is rather simple, yet their karuta journeys are so strongly influenced by how their relationships grow.

All the other characters besides those three, like Shinobu, Sou , Sodou, Nikuman kun Xd , Kana-chan , Deskmotou kun lol, Harada sensei , Sakurazawa sensie and all the other students from another school plays important part in the story.
Chihaya meets many people in her journey, and meeting wakamiya shinobu lits up a fire in her heart to defeat wakamia(she is the current queen) and become the queen.
Personally I liked Shinobu and the Mejin Sou.

The art was so so prettyy.

And the matches are super intense, both solo one and the team tournaments also.

And I loved the ending of this series, Probably one of the best ending in my opinion.

I loved everything about this series, And No, it’s not just about the romance.
Chihayafuru is about youth and passion, and easy to get into. The main themes of the story are never lost, and Chihaya doesn't take too long to understand her feelings either.

Its a lovely, peaceful series with lovable characters.

I appreciate you reading my review, And I genuinely hope you would give Chihayafuru a chance. It might change your life, you never know.

( I am just copy pasting this here from my mal account because i wanna remember this...and i will be deleting my mal account so that's why.)