As one will know from the summary alone, the film centers on Kazuha competing for Heiji's love in a game of Karuta, an ancient Japanese sport where players must swipe a card that is called out by a speaker. From what I can gather, it's like Bingo, except more aggressive and each card has its own poem associated with it. Since I knew this much, the Karuta games never bothered me that much this time around.
What does bother me is that almost all of the movie-original characters are very forgettable. With the exception of Momiji, the girl Kazuha is competing against, I couldn't recall any of the other characters involved in this movie. This is a real shame as this is supposed to be a mystery film and remembering who the suspects are and what they did is crucial for the audience to become involved in it. Easily the weakest link in this film.
That said, it's not a terrible movie. The art is fantastic and is still one of the best looking movies in the series. The scenes with main cast interacting with each other is still as entertaining as it is in the series. The fact that this is the movie where we are introduced to Momiji for the first time in the series is enough for it to be worth remembered for.
Overall, this isn't a bad movie. It's just not one that I can recommend. Not because I hate it, but because it's too difficult to follow. As such, newcomers are better off watching another(better) movie over this one. But if you already are a fan, just expect to have a trickier time following this one.
