ART: The cards are almost always 3D and it IS intrusive to viewing. For instance, there's this scene where Kana is standing in front of a sliding glass door and Chihaya smacks a card which goes flying through the air and smacks the door right in front of Kana's face. The difference in animation is so obvious it's detracting.
Every scene is covered in a Gaussian blur, making it seem like one long dream sequence. This might get annoying except that the characters are illustrated in such a gorgeous, soft, shoujo way that it's enjoyable. In particular, their eyes are lovely. Additionally, the 3D cards might have annoyed me but I adored the hakama patterns. In some shows where patterns on clothing are animated they don't move with the folds of the clothing or the way the characters move. In Chihayafuru however they took the time to animate intricate patterns, which I, as a viewer, appreciate. I can only imagine the time this took to animate since they wear hakama so often.
SOUND: I don't know what it's called, but I love the cadence with which the readers read poetry. It made me fell all cultured and stuff to watch.
CHARACTERS: Ok, naive girls annoy me. But Chihaya's personality quirks are so funny that I found it easy to overlook: for instance she falls asleep immediately after every match (right on the tatami mats), she can take criticism and learn from it, and she's so over the top innocent that in a gag episode where she is asked who she would date (obviously trying to pull a answer between Arata and Taichi), Chihaya answers immediately with: Kana-chan.
STORY: My big problem with the plot in general is that Arata tells Chihaya she needs to have her own dream, not her sister's, and she basically steals HIS dream for no deep, discernible reason. Also, the show should have focused a lot more on Chihaya's family's relationships between her and her sister. I hope they address that more in the second season.
However! This show honestly made me interested in karuta. There's so many translations and this show definitely does a great job with new takes on translations. The way they show Chihaya's innocent love for her friends and the game is great, too. One scene she sees a long lost friend that she wasn't expecting to see and it's just beautifully done, poetry in itself.
ENJOYMENT: The show manages to be sweet, serious, and competitive. There are also nice moments in which Kana explains the poetry in illustrative ways. Or Desktomu explains his mathematical analysis of Chihaya's playing. These scenes make the show more interesting to watch instead of just one karuta match after another. And the humor in this show is so cute. Although the only thing this show has in common with K-on is the struggling after school group theme, they remind me of each other in innocence and humor.
