Chihayafuru 3
Alternate Title
ちはやふる3
Synopsis
Chihayafuru is the story of the everyday life of Chihaya Ayase, a high school girl with a talent for karuta who forms a club for the Japanese card game at her high school as she strives to become the best karuta player in the world. She also hopes to see Arata Wataya again, a childhood friend of hers and talented karuta player, who believed in her potential before she started playing at a time when her life revolved mostly around her sister’s modeling career.
Background
Chihayafuru began as a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Suetsugu and has been serialized in Kodansha Be Love Magazine ever since December 2007. Yuki herself belonged to a karuta club in high school. The manga has won the Manga Taisho and Kodansha Manga Award as well as had regularly appeared on the Japanese Comic Ranking chart. There have been three live-action film adaptations and two anime seasons. The third season, from studio Madhouse and directed by Morio Asaka with the main cast and staff set to return, is planned to premiere in October 2019. The third season’s opening and ending themes are “Colorful” by 99RadioService and “Hitomebore” by Band Harassment.
Characters
Chihaya Ayase (Voiced by: Asami Seto)
Chihaya Ayase loves karuta and the childhood friend who introduced it to her who first believed in her potential, Arata Wataya, despite their now long-distance relationship. She is the captain of the Mizusawa Karuta Club, a karuta club she started at her high school with Taichi Mashima, her childhood best friend who loves her but sees Arata as his enemy in love. She works hard at improving her karuta skills which are already Class A level.
Taichi Mashima (Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano)
Taichi Mashima is Chihaya Ayase’s childhood best friend, and he’s loved her ever since childhood. He is also the former president of the Mizusawa Karuta Club as well as a talented student and karuta player, though he has bad luck. He is more serious than Chihaya and is always there to support her whether it be starting the Mizusawa Karuta Club or being there for her when she is sad.
Arata Wataya (Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya)
Arata Wataya is the talented karuta player who told Chihaya Ayase that he thought she had a talent for karuta when they were elementary school students and friends. He is passionate about karuta and wants to become a Meijin like his grandfather. He is caring, shy at times, thoughtful, quiet, and serious.
Kanade Oe (Voiced by: Ai Kayano)
Kanade Oe was the third member to join the Mizusawa Karuta Club started by Chihaya Ayase and Taichi Mashima. She loves Japanese poems and traditional clothing. She cares about proper etiquette but can lose her temper over people not taking traditional Japanese things seriously, though she is mostly optimistic and determined.
Sumire Hanano (Voiced by: Megumi Han)
Sumire Hanano has feelings for Taichi Mashima and sees Chihaya Ayase as an enemy as well as gets jealous when she sees them together. She can be moody and sarcastic. She is a member of the Mizusawa High School Karuta Club, but has no interest in the Hundred Poets, only joining to get close to Taichi.
Akihiro Tsukuba (Voiced by: Miyu Irino)
Akihiro Tsukuba is a member of the Mizusawa High School Karuta Club. He is nice but prideful, and doesn’t have the skills yet that he hopes to portray or posses. He’s known to have used prohibited and underhanded moves.
Yusei Nishida (Voiced by: Tooru Nara)
Yusei Nishida is the president of the Mizusawa Karuta Club. Though competitive, tough, and aggressive at times, he is loyal to his friends. Chihaya refers to him as Nikuman-kun which means Meat Bun or Porky. Despite his short, stout build though he has shown himself to be athletic having excelled at playing tennis.
Tsutomu Komano (Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga)
Tsutomu Komano is a member of the Mizusawa Karuta Club. He is nicknamed “Tsukue-kun.” Though he hates school, being very quiet and reserved, he enjoys studying and is often at his desk learning about something as he feels nothing is worth doing unless it makes you smarter. He is in love with Kanada Oe. He collects data on opponents and analyzes it to think up a way to counter them. He shares his knowledge with other members.
International Streaming
- Animate Gamer
- Crunchyroll
Official Links
Staff
- Original Creator: Yuki Suetsugu
- Director: Morio Asaka
- Series Composition: Yuuko Kakihara
- Character Designer: Kunihiko Hamada
- Art Director: Tomoyuki Shimizu
- Color Designer: Harue Ono
- Director of Photography: Akane Fushihara
- CG Director: Daiki Suzuki
- Special Effects: Team Taniguchi
- Editing: Kashiko Kimura
- Music: Kosuke Yamashita
- Sound Director: Masafumi Mima
- Animation Production: Madhouse