At the first moment I asked myself why there was a card based anime which is tagged in sports. But I realized fast, that it's more about then just a card game.
Karuta's a traditional japanese card game which refers to hundred poems of Japanese classics. There are individual matches and team matches, the ultimate ambition is about using good hearing, quickness, instincts, strategy, feelings and the connection between the poems/cards and yourself to win the matches and to become better Karuta players. You have to take the cards from the opposite side faster than your opponent, while they were read and collect it to win.
Chihayafuru could take you to the world of Karuta and maybe you'll start to love it even more, than you did for an anime. At least it worked for me. The hole anime's outstanding and somehow I'm thinking about to play Karuta somewhere along the way. So I hope you'll enjoy Chihayafuru as much I did it.
