Jun 2, 2013
This series is excellent- I first found it as a Manga, but when I couldn't access chapters 49-88 I found the anime. I fell in love with this amazing anime because it is simply different. It steps out of the majority of it's genre stereotypes and appeals to it's audience in unconventional ways.
Story:
The story works so well for me because it takes something as generally dull as a competitive card game, that is accessible to a huge variety of people- and uses that diverse range of characters and their different reasons for loving karuta to make the viewer falls in love with the game
...
as well.
I'd never heard of it before watching the series and now playing it one day is on my bucket list.
Art:
I have little to say on the art other than- it's beautiful. It's attention to the content works extremely well. Using karuta and the poems as the inspiration for the artwork and animation serves to immerse the viewer into the story and feelings of the characters.
Sound:
The sound is very well done- I don't know enough about it to go into a detailed analysis, but it works to enhance the humor, the gravity, and environmental atmosphere that the characters are in. It makes me want to cry in frustration, joy and amusement at all the right moments.
Character:
This is where this anime really stands out for me. Not necessarily in the main characters (who are brilliant in their own right) but in the supporting characters as well. Very few of the characters that get even a little bit of screen time are in anyway dull or generic.
The main character- Chihaya is possibly the most endearing female lead I have come across (she's a close rival with Koizumi Risa from Love*Com). She isn't the most original female lead character- predictably beautiful and kind and silly- but she has an intensity that makes it impossible to dislike her.
The two main male characters- Taichi and Arata play off one another in a really great way that makes what could have been two very generic characters- the quiet, intense, glasses boy with talent, and the popular intelligent perfect prince, into something much more than that. This love triangle *that appears pretty much in the first episode so I wouldn't consider it a spoiler* is also something of a reversal of the norm- instead of the prince being the unattainable, it is the intense glasses boy- and he is unattainable in ways other than in romance, which makes Chihaya's relationship with Arata much more interesting.
The more minor characters are all fantastic as well- Chihaya's teammates, rivals, and teachers are all substantial characters that interact with her and each other in tangible and touching ways. A lot of them are not stereotypically attractive- they are really a bunch of oddballs that Chihaya is able to reach through Karuta, and they all develop and grow and enjoy their lives because of it. They aren't your stereotypical oddballs either. They're all a rather different breed.
I thoroughly enjoy watching this anime and recommend it to anyone that's looking for a refreshing take on the sport/shoujo/shounen genres.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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