Chihayafuru is an anime about a card game, where the card game is not important. Confused?
Ok, let me explain. Chihayafuru is, like so many others like Hikaru no Go and YuGiOh, a game promoting anime that tries to motivate the viewers into learning of that said game and eventually picking it up as a steady hobby. The problem is that I doubt many will be inspired by it, and it’s not the show’s fault for that. The way it presents Karuta (the name of the game) is fine, but the game mechanics are plain… bad. Well, bad in the sense that it requires from you to have amazing mnemonic capabilities, light-speed reflexes, and complete focus on the tiniest sound around you. And as cool as that sounds at first (like you are a ninja or something) I ensure you it is not a game most people would pick. I mean, seriously, you listen to this poem and you pick up the card corresponding to it as fast as possible. There is no interaction amongst players, no visual card flavor, not much variety in the things you can do, and all the time you just stare at a bunch of cards filled with kanji on them. Anyone who has played Magic the Gathering, Poker, Race for the Galaxy, or in general card games with player interaction, multiple rules, and myriads of variables will definitely find this the dullest game imaginable.
But you know what? Screw the game, It is all about the characters LEARNING of the game and interacting with each other. We have the geeky boy prodigy, grandson of a super powerful Karuta champion, picking up his grandfather’s footsteps. We have the tomboy girl who is in love with geeky boy and plans to be good in the game just to win his attention (far fetched but it works). We have the second boy rival-gone-ally, who is in the team after realizing bullying them to stop is not going to achieve anything. And we have all sorts of situations where Ayase (the girl) is slowly realizing the means to be a good player and how fun it is when you manage to do all of it right and get a card faster than anyone else. Sure, in theory it all works fine.
I must make this clear by mentioning that Chihayafuru is unique as a motivational anime because unlike all others of its kind, it is NOT aimed at shounen demographics but at josei ones. That’s right; it is primarily for late teen girls. So that means the protagonist is not a boy but a girl. And since this is Josei, there is romance and light situations and fluff all over the place, to the point the game is overshadowed by them. It has a feeling far closer to a teen romance than that of a fighting championship.
At the same time, as much as I dislike the game, I must admit that its simplistic rules and complete dedication are exactly what makes it fair and balanced. Meaning, there is very little luck going around and there is definitely no “heart of the cards” saving you at the last moment with a card you just picked up. It is almost pure strategy and mnemonic ability, how you will manage to place the cards in a way you can remember them without even looking at them, figuring out the poem in a few syllables, and zapping the corresponding card in a fraction of a second before the opponent. Doubt and wrong assumptions are what get you to lose the game. It is all understood and the series makes sure to constantly show you how competitive and rewarding it feels when you do all that right, as means to motivate you (sometimes in a comical overdone way). It is a weird situation where the procedure of the gameplay is more interesting than the ACTUAL game.
Anyways, the context of the series is very simple yet plays out in a captivating way. The characters are likable without being anything uncommon, the game is interesting to study (but not stare or play), and the production values are ok without being amazing (what’s with those red lips all girls have?). My only complaints are in the soundtrack which is underwhelming, as well as some messy scenes where something happens too fast to feel natural (like, when Mashima stole Mataya’s glasses and a second later was walking twenty meters away) or the rules feeling rather off (like when Ayase knocked out of the way a dozen different cards at once and yet it counted as a valid point). These are not big enough to ruin most of the enjoyment a casual viewer can get out of the series and so far it is a fine light watch.
I don’t know for how long the series can keep being interesting after the core mechanics have been established and the characters are in need of development. So far they get lots of that since a time skip took place in episode 4, and now they are all grown up. It already delves into their romantic and angst-filled lives, so it is captivating as of now. I will wait to see if they manage to keep it interesting all the way to the end but for now this weird card/romance combo is working fine. Karute is there as motivation for friendship and romance and not as the meaning of life, as in the case of so many other card game anime. At the same time it flavors the otherwise simple lives of the three main characters, as without it just looks as yet another dorama most people would get bored of fast.
… And seriously, watch it for the characters and not for the game.
