LOL I'm sure this is a debate can go on forever and that's the reason why I love the series. If it can prove that much emotion and defense of any and all the characters then both the mangaka and the anime producers did their job well. I look forward to the development of all the characters and can't wait to see the characters introduced that are in the opening but haven't been introduced yet. I'm sure that will open up a whole can of worms and help move the story along. So far not a single character in this anime has been a "throw away" character. That can't be said of a lot of anime.

I'm also watching a series called Kimi ni Todoke and it was interesting to see Chihaya be so close to the character of Sawako. Neither aware of their romantic surroundings until forced to be confronted with the head on. Chihaya hasn't been pushed yet. I mean seriously.. Chihaya is a ditz to not notice. I feel like Kana-chan going "Why am I surrounded by Nincompoops? can't they see the President loves her?" It's cute to see Kana's perspective on the whole romantic scenario around her. I'm looking forward to seeing Kana's reaction to Arata when she finally meets him. Personally I hope she and Komano hook up...

Yep. It's the main reason why I love this show so much. The characters are well-developed and excellently acted. Watching how Kana & Desk-kun fought in the finals, compared to what they did the year before, was extremely satisfying.


Oh, I hope so! That's a pairing I'd love to see.

Kimi ni Todoke was an excellent series. I was mentioning it last week. I cannot believe I didn't find it sooner. I thoroughly enjoyed that anime

I'm hooked on this series but I want to know if anyone here is still confused as to how Karuta is played and the rules? lol I just see the cards fly and I know they're winning. haha/

They've done a good job of explaining the rules over the course of the series, and they purposely spread out those explanations so that the audience isn't overwhelmed by all the complexities. It might help to re-watch the older episodes; since you already know what happened, you can focus a bit more on the rules/timing/strategy than the action. The show does stand up to repeated viewing, after all.

haha, shipping wars.

Oh well, personally, it's hard to say. Chihaya doesn't look like she loves the both of them. But then again, that's because it hasn't been said and she's just karuta crazy.

I do pity Taichi. He is intelligent, talented and good looking. But the girl that he likes doesn't even look at me, while everybody else chases him.
And the one thing that the girl he likes love, is the one thing that he lacks the talent in.

As for Arata, he likes Chihaya too,right? Oh god. It's a love triangle. Arata probably feels inferior against Taichi. Who wouldn't? A rich, smart and talented boy.

So yea.

Hard to say.

But the real reason I love this series is that it's very human. It shows the human spirit. How one fight very hard and even then, doesn't get what his wants.
But despite that, they still move forward.
Better still, it shows how everyone has dreams and hopes. And that's just sweet to me.
I also like how the series is very real with bullying.

Like how, everyone calls Chihaya a beauty in vain or when everyone first ignored Arata for his weird Fukui accent or Desktop-kun being called that.

So yea.

Wow. That was an intense Taichi vs. Arata debate. I'm with Chihachi for sure! <3

On another note, can someone translate the Japanese from this one karuta app? It's in English besides for these. And the cards themselves of course.

I want to know what the two categories between No. and Random are. And also what the sub-categories at the bottom are. Thanks in advance for anyone that can help!

I feel that Chihayafuru is more engaging when you can recognize the verses and cards (though I only know the first few syllables of 10). ^_^ It's like, "Oh! I know that verse!" LOL But only when I rewatch episodes. The first time, I'm too into the actual episode to really listen to the poems being read. <3

See the Chihayafuru wiki!

http://chihayafuru.wikia.com/wiki/Hyakunin_Isshu_Karuta

At its heart, Karuta is simple. There are poetry cards with the second verse face up and the first verse face down. The reader reads out the first verse. If you have memorized the whole poems you will know the second version by the first verse. Touch the card before your opponent does and the card is yours. Win half the cards and you win the game. After that, the rules get a bit complicated with penalties and moving cards and cards on your side and their side but basically karuta is: memorize poems and cards, recognize poems and cards, touch cards, win cards, win karuta!



I like Chihachi too but at the moment Chiyaha seems to be married to Karuta LOL

I love that I can turn the subs off here as I find it confusing to read English and hear japanese at the same time...

For the top of the image:

No. あいうえお　あなおわ Random

No. is numeric order, card 1, card 2...

あいうえお is aiueo and is not a word, it is just the vowels and the first row of the Japanese alphabet. It is like us saying "aeiou". It probably implies that it will go through the cards in Japanese 'alphabetical' order.

おなおわ onaowa. Show the whole card, both verses. Only usable in memorization/learning mode.

Random is random...

At the bottom, in one image it shows:
わ　やま　はな　たさ　かあ

Not quite sure here, what happens when you press them? わ　Wa is peace and harmony, やま　yama is mountain, はな　hana is flower, たさ tasa could be stride or walk and かあ kaa is mother (kaasan) so I wonder does it change the pictures or ??? not sure. Sorry, you stumped me on that one...

The bottom of the second one is more obvious:

一枚札　二枚札　三枚札　四枚札　みこたわ　おなあ

Ichimaifuda Nimaifuda Sanmaifuda Yonmaifuda Mikotawa Onaa

One card Two cards Three Cards Four cards Medium Stack? Big Stack?

Sorry, you stumped me again, not sure about the last two. What happens when you press them? Time for a little trial and error I think...

Oh thank you! That helps me get an idea. So through trial and error, I found that the third one categorizes by number of cards that start with that syllable. Like the one-syllable cards are under "Ichimaifuda." The "chi" cards are under "Sanmaifuda" since there is "Chiha," "Chigirio," and "Chigiriki." I'm assuming the last two are the ones with 5 or more? Like the ones that start with "A."

The other one sounds like it's alphabetical. The first one gives cards that start with "wa." The second starts with "mi" but following them are ones that start with "hana." Then there's ones that start with "na," "s," and the last starts with "a."

I love this show! It's what helps me get from one week to the next .

I get the same feeling with this show, that I got from Hikaru no Go. Guess I just love games lol xD

Oh, that makes sense actually. I always thought of 一枚 as just meaning one sheet but looking it up I see it means syllables too. 一枚札 makes more sense as a one syllable card than a one sheet card. The last two counts were tough ones, must be karuta specific terms as I didn't find them anywhere else. I will need to do a thorough reading of karuta terms sometime.

And the phonetic ones make sense too. From the show we recall that they think of them that way, grouping them so they know the hana cards that are still out that they have to watch for. If there is just one hana card out then you can grab it as soon as you hear hana.

lol i know - i only know some of the rules but will have to go back and re-watch - buuuut first i gotta finish season one which i'm close to finishing. :)

I really enjoyed this episode. But,

I enjoyed it too. A nice character building break from tournaments, though I am looking forward to the next ones.

Great as always.