Chihayafuru. Imma slap that card from your reach!

I've decided it was time to talk about something important to me- how anime about games usually only popular or strictly played in Japan pretty much SUCK TO NO END. I mean, there's like this big boom of anime about card games in general, but there also way too many about games that I don't even care about. I mean even when Hikaru no Go was coming out I was like "blah no thanks" because the manga was good but the anime made me want to throw my DVD player across the universe. I tried out Saki before with not much more luck, I didn't get past the first episode. Basically, Japan's animation studios need to stop with the game anime. I know you want to sell more toys, and any other merch you can to young children, but please stop it japan.... because a lot of those toys come out over here T_T


Image copyright goes out to Madhouse.



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Specs:
Studio- Madhouse
Director- Morio Asaka

Series Information:
Year- 2011
# of Episodes- 12
Genre(s)- comedy, drama, karuta
Synopsis-
Chihaya Ayase is a frank and ebullient girl who becomes fascinated by the obscure world of competitive karuta, a card game based on Japanese poetry. Introduced to the aggressive style of the game by a quiet and thoughtful elementary school classmate named Arata Wataya, the two quickly become close friends. They start playing as a group with Taichi Mashima, Chihaya's smart and athletic childhood friend, until they have to part ways during their middle school years due to several circumstances. As their high school life begins, they meet once again.
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Let's get something straight, I really don't like anime based on games. A lot of them are made to sell toys rather than be a good anime so there are too many of them out there. Setting that aside, Chihayafuru isn't really based on a game directly- but on a manga that is based on a game played only in Japan. I've decided for this anime showcase to go ahead and let you know some details on the particular game played in this anime.

This game is karuta, a poem based game about "slapping" cards out of the way from your oponet. These cards containe lines from 100 poems, so in order to play this game you have to memorize 100 poems. That may sound easy but after watching the first 4 episodes of this anime, there's more than just initializing memorizing them- you also have to somewhat memorize the cards in front of you.

The main appeal of Chihayafuru isn't the gaming aspect; it's the main character Chihaya. There has not been an anime with such a fabulous main female lead in a long time, so watching this anime is like a breath of fresh air in a world of anime where %75 are about harems with main leads.

I can't say much about this show because it's one you need to watch rather than be told about but if you must be told here are some links about some other opinions on Chihayafuru:

Link 1 - this first one also has some nice comparison between PhiBrain, another game (more specifically puzzles) based anime

Link 2 - check towards the bottum of the page for some MAL user reviews