Is it more Slice of Life or more Sports type..

Sharmat_00 said:
This is the most melodramatic piece of shit anime I've ever seen. I mean its not that bad tbh but seriously its a 3/10 and the main character is unbearable so I'd stay away.

Sharmat_00 said:
This is the most melodramatic piece of shit anime I've ever seen. I mean its not that bad tbh but seriously its a 3/10 and the main character is unbearable so I'd stay away.

Hyperthesis said:


Well, as they say: opinions are like assholes. Every thread has one.

OP, in a conservative sense, Chihayafuru is a sports anime in the same way that Hibike! Euphonium is a sports anime: the main plot driver is a competitive club/activity that brings unlikely personalities together. In this case it's karuta. Nearly everything that happens in the show does so for the sake of (or directly because of) karuta, especially character development of the main and supporting cast. Yes, even the "melodrama" the user I quoted bemoans--which I would argue is part and parcel of any good sports anime--is present, and is all thanks to karuta. Considering this perspective alone, Chihayafuru is already not your typical Slice-of-Life.

But in a more liberal sense, it is a quintessential sports anime simply because competive karuta is a real sport. Well, if you're like 99% of Westerners it may not be any sport you've ever heard of. Even in Japan, it was so obscure before Chihayafuru blew up that most never heard of it there either. And it's certainly nothing like football, volleyball, hell even ping pong.

Do not let that fool you though: we are shown the mechanics of this game in exquisite detail, and it is just as physically and mentally demanding, perhaps more so. High level players in this show, and the real world, train their bodies and minds to the point of exhaustion. The MC literally passes out after her tournaments. There's a real sense of camaraderie within the teams. Winning feels sublime. Losing is soul crushing, but is always an opportunity to learn how to become not only a better player, but a better person. I learned something too: karuta is beautiful, man. Like, it makes me wish I could understand Japanese classical literature and play this game myself.

So I'd say 10/10 give it a watch. Do keep in mind that Chihayafuru primarily targets josei audiences, which means minimal fan-service and plenty of mature themes and motifs--like loving something over someone, maintaining childhood friendships into adulthood, living with jealousy and inferiority, dealing with true consequences of failure, persevering when everyone tells you to give up, etc. But there's plenty of light-hearted comedy, and even some fourth-wall breaking during the obligatory recap episode each season (which actually feature additional content and commentary so don't skip them). So all in all, it may seem like a heavy show, but it's really not. It's actually very, very fun.

If your diet mostly consists of battle shounens, this show is probably going to be a slow burn for you, so don't binge it. But if you're a seinen guy, and aren't turned off by masterpieces like Steins;Gate that take quite a few episodes to build up its world and characters before really taking off, you'll do just fine to jump in with both feet. Either way, you can't go wrong with Chihayafuru. The art is excellent, the animation is excellent, the music is excellent, the writing is excellent, the karuta is excellent.

LordSozin said:


U say it's not that bad yet gave the anime a score of 3. Choose ur battles.

Sharmat_00 said:


What I mean is that it isnt Nobunagun or Kanamemo. It isnt unbearable cringe or pedophelic trash. Thats probably the highest praise I can give Chihayafuru.

In other words, its not THAT bad.

Sharmat_00 said:
How about how chihara has one personality trait and thats how she likes to play karuta? How about how chihara wants to create a karuta club so badly that she harrasses multiple people who have no interest in the sport until after days or sometimes weeks they finally concede out of plot convenience? How about how she Chihaya is the most detestable character I've ever seen in anime for the wrong reasons. Im supposed to hate griffith from berserk. But when a character like chihaya is written so unbelievably poorly that shes either the most unlikable bitch on the planet or a narcissist who cares only for her own whims is beyond laughable when clearly the author doesnt mean for her to be like that at all its more sad and pathetic than anything else.

Also, the show is Boring with a capital B. How tf am I supposed to care about a boring, slow and melodramatic card game where the strategy is to memorize cards positions and hit them as fast as possible? It never changes, it tries to do the shonen thing where chihaya obtains new knowledge about the game and becomes more powerful by doing so. But its always something eye rolling like hitting the very corner of a card to get to it faster.

Now tell me I'm wrong, but I bet I'm just an asshole huh?

Sandro8604 said:
I watched Bakuman and absolutely loved it then when searching for similar anime I got recommended Chihayafuru. It has 3 seasons and rating of each next season is better than the prequel just like Bakuman.
But I saw the SoL tag, I hardly watch any anime related to SoL.
IMO labelling SoL is a convenient way to add more and more fillers without actually calling it filler and enraging the fans. In SoL generally nothing happens apart from main cast eat sleep talk and festival visit.
So....Is majority of this Anime focused on Sports or SoL part...
Anyone who watched all seasons pls give your opinion..