𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐔𝐩, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐮?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭:
Sensei speaks about FUKUI, using real names of places, how the locals felt at reading/hearing their dialect and seeing their homeland names written everywhere, She said that this was another way to enjoy Chihayafuru specifically when fans went there during the exhibition, there was this feelings that they are a part of the manga and this suits people who are passionate and want more than reading and buying it, so it was an opportunity to feed their passion even more...

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭:
She spoke about the manga material:
She only created one fully digital cover which is the cover of volume 20 (containing my other ship enjoying sweets lol)… she talked about how she felt about it, in an era where the world was heading towards full digitalization she felt the necessity to learn and adapt but at the same time and with the upcoming (at the time) original art exhibition, she wanted to make original paintings that should be rare and then valuable in such era. So in the end, and from all her (160?) shown pieces, only volume 20 was digitally made.
She spoke about how she cares to make very expressive faces when she draws, how she always asks her editor what (they) think about it and if they convey the feeling she wants clearly and with enough intensity.. she says that especially concerning the Karuta side, she can’t say much to convey things so she should draw her point instead.

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞:
She spoke about the design of the covers too:
𝑄: 𝑊𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚?
𝐴: 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑦? 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙’𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎? (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠). 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑛𝑒… 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑏𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 (𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑠ℎ, 𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑣𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑜𝑛) …
she seems to chose freely.
She was asked about her beginning with Shojo manga and she says that she was reading mangaka Asagiri Yu’s works (I checked them and I know no one of them :p) And she was also greatly influenced by Keiko Honda’s art style (she is another shoujo mangaka, check the cover of her “Over the rainbow” manga, you’ll definitely be reminded of Chihayafuru :D)
Sensei also states that Chihayafuru is still different from the works of these two in the fact that it's passion-packed, more like a Boy’s manga than shoujo ...

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫:

𝑄: 𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑢 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑗𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑗𝑜
𝐴: " 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡/𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡 "𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒" 𝑖𝑛 "𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑢."(𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)..."

𝑄: 𝑆𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘?
𝐴: 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝐼 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.
𝐼 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠:
"𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝐼 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑤?
𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 ...
𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 (𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔). (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)

𝑸: 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕.
𝐴: 𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎’𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠:
“𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 (𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑖𝑡)”
𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤, 𝑠ℎ𝑒'𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, “𝐺𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡.”
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 (𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛/ 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑/𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒)

𝑸: 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 ?
𝐴:𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 (𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦)? 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 ….

𝑸: 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔? (Laughs)
𝐴: 𝐴𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 10 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 (𝑜𝑟: 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 18 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 10 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑.)
𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑠ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦) 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝑁𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑒 18.

𝑸: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒇 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒖𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕...
𝐴:𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ, 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒, "𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎? 𝑁𝑖𝑘𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛-𝑘𝑢𝑛?!" (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)…
𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡-𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝐼𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛.
𝑁𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒.

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞:
they mention that in 2007 when the manga started, the shinkanshen wasn’t functioning and it was difficult to get to FUKUI but things changed now...
And about the climax of the manga, When she reached volume 10, she said that she didn’t have any intention to write more but here she was with 41 volumes, she says something about how she feels like she put her readers in a ship that is not stopping, a long journey or something.

For her many characters:

𝑸: 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓?
𝐴: 𝐼 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑏𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜'𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘, 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒, 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑑𝑑, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚.
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑛𝑜 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑥 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑢𝑝.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘?
𝐶ℎ𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑖 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒, 𝑠𝑜 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛.

When asked if she modeled any character after a real person? she answers: “HARADA SENSEI” who is modeled after Hidehiko Maeda of Fuchu Karuta society (see him here, he really looks like Harada sensei)
She says having a model makes things easier but she rarely does that, she creates them herself and says it’s very important to think of them as people she knew before, to know where they live, what they like eating etc ..

She says that she doesn’t want to draw some chronology between Chihaya’s appearance and her wining at the end WHICH MIGHT EVENTUALLY HAPPEN, but she wants to write about the undulation of fate not a steady chronological one, she wants to draw about the path Chihaya will take and all the intriguing things that will happen along it, the failures, the meetings, change in one’s self and so on.

And speaking of characters trying to change themselves she mentions Taichi and his mother, She says that Taichi’s mother is someone who tends to make decisions in Taichi’s place but she also is someone who can trust her son and gives him some space too; and in those situations, Taichi tends to think of his mother’s expectations, he gets depressed but still, he chooses for himself, even when it comes to becoming a doctor like his parent, he will do it for himself because he chose it, and a mother who will trust her son's decisions is great.

In this story, she says, all adults won’t meddle after they learn of the reality their children live in, they’ll not force them to chose anything and they’ll leave all the deciding to them..
And I quote what she said at the beginning because it's beautiful: “I can’t fight for something and do my best in it unless it’s something I chose for myself”

She is asked about the transcendence of gender and age in Chihayafuru and whether she was aware of this concept since the beginning; she answers that she did since her interviewing phase (when she was preparing data for the manga) when she saw old guys having matches against elementary school students on equal footing, she found it attractive specifically because it’s culture-and-intelligence related where the physical differences in people aren’t an issue. it’s where even small children can face you so it’s interesting and also men and women fight on equal footing…it’s not about gender, it’s about efforts and talent! like in brass bands;

The interviewer mentions a manga about brass bands (青空エール / Aozora Yell) and sensei says yes, although that manga IS ABOUT LOVE WHILE CHIHAYAFURU IS ABOUT ONLY THE EFFORTS AND HARD WORK!! (then she laughed she is such a tease -_- :p )

She was also asked about MOTHERS in general in Chihayafuru, Inokuma-san as a mother and a player, she talked about it and about how some of her friends could easily relate, she said beautiful things about how parents should pursue what they love too because their love alone for their children isn’t all what these children need, they sometimes need an airy environment where the parent experiences liking and doing something so they will understand and cheer their children up more deeply .. they can also create an image of success and happiness that their children would aspire to follow (not sure if she said this or it’s only an idea that I got from deciphering what she actually said sorry about that :p)
She said she wanted to convey this message to both women and men who should support women and not be in their ways instead..
Fortunately Chihayafuru has lot of male readers too, she says that almost half of the fans who came to the autograph session at Awara were actually men.
The interviewers mentions the lack in the role/presence of “Fathers” in Chihayafuru, sensei says she didn’t notice it until it was late where she realize each of the families in chihayafuru look like a mother+child family … I didn’t understand all she said about it but I know she laughed at the fact that Taichi’s father was only mentioned by calling him a “oligosaccharide” in volume 37 lol

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭:

𝑸: 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒔, "𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆."
𝐴: 𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠.

𝑸: 𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝑺𝒖𝒆𝒕𝒔𝒖𝒈𝒖-𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒊?
𝐴:𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ. "𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠."

𝑸: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒍𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒍 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, "𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒍𝒂, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔."
𝐴: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙, 𝑠𝑜 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑖'𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡.

AND FINALLY: it’s time to go back to the first volume and it’s somuch pressure going back there, she says, Chitose will have a big presence now..

Lastly, when asked about any new work/manga in mind after Chihayafuru ends, she says that she actually thinks of it but her minds always ends up going back to Chihayafuru so now it’s a no.