The Animation Station

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

July 9.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

Chihayafuru, S1: This is the story of Chihaya, a girl with a head eternally in the clouds who dreams of becoming a champion of Karuta, a Japanese card game of fast reflexes, sharp listening and Japanese poetry, while longing for a childhood friend, Arata. This season shows those two first met, how she fell in love with Karuta and how later in life she, along with Taichi, another childhood friend and rival of Arata, meet in high school and form a Karuta club, as Taichi completely falls for her, most likely setting up a future love triangle (if she ever finds out about his feelings, because she is a total airhead). For me, this season is at it's best when it focuses on intricacies of the game it self as Chihaya, Taichi and the team they eventually form, learn it and get better at it, with the matches itself full of different strategies and changes of momentum.

Chihayafuru, S2 begins a little slow, mostly focused on introducing new characters Akihiro, a talented, but reckless newcomer to first syllable Karuta and Sumire, a recently dumped 1st year who initially gets in the school's Karuta club to chase Taichi and eventually gets hooked by the game itself. They are two welcomed additions to our main team and allow to explore further several facets of our original staff, particularly Taichi's unrequited crush on Chihaya and Destomu's embrace of strategy and analytics (that's right, a card game has a guy freaking Moneyballing the competition) even at the expense of of some of his teammates' trust. However, the season takes steam by the fourth episode by which the season becomes focused on Karuta tournaments almost non-stop (sans a recap episode a little after the middle), first with team regionals, followed by nationals and an individual tournament. This stretch of episodes is almost scary in how efficiently written it is, constantly setting up elements like Taichi's sheer bad luck, Desktomu's analytical expertise and Akihiro's almost counterintutive drive to play in tournaments (even when it hurts his team), and of course, Chihaya's further development as well as setbacks as a Karuta player and continuing crush on childhood friend and Karuta extraordinaire Arata. This season delivers in all fronts.

[Philip J. Fry]

Awesome.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

I still need to watch The Owl House. Infinity Train and Kipo are fantastic, though.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

This summer.

[Philip J. Fry]

Probably this summer as well.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]