History Manga / Chihayafuru

The ''Chihayafuru'' manga was the winner of the Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shoujo and the Manga Taisho Award. It also marked [[CareerResurrection the recovery of the author]], Yuki Suegutsu, after the infamous [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-10-19/yuki-suetsugu-copies-art-from-other-manga plagiarism scandal]] that almost ruined her career.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Chihaya_2976.jpg]]

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the anime Chihaya has red eyes, Arata blue eyes and Taichi gold eyes. Not so much in the manga, where Chihaya's stated to have 'big, serious black eyes' and Arata has GrayEyes.

** In the second season, it's revealed that Chihaya doesn't actually know what "Chihayafuru" means Kanade says, "We're in the second season and she still doesn't know what the title means?!"

Two seasons of an [[AnimatedAdaptation anime adaptation]] aired as part of the Fall2011Anime and Winter2013Anime seasons, with a third season slated for 2019.

An [[AnimatedAdaptation Anime Adaptation]] was made, and aired as part of the Fall2011Anime season. A second season aired as a part of the Winter2013Anime season.

There is currently a [[Characters/{{Chihayafuru}} Character sheet]] in development.

* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Mom]]: Taichi's mother is a bit of an EducationMama, for any competition.

* [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Arrogant Karuta Guy]]: Oh, Sudo.

* {{Bishounen}}: Arata and Taichi; they were also cute young boys in the flashback episodes.

* BreatherEpisode[=/=]ClipShow: Episode 16 is a mix of these. Coming hot off the episode where Chihaya just lost to "The Queen" and Taichi losing in the final round of B group, a comedic episode is due. These joke scenes take place in between clips from past episodes, which seem to serve solely as framing for when the scenes occur.
* BrattyHalfPint: Young Taichi.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Chihaya's older sister and seemingly Taichi's younger sister in their respective teenage years. Chihaya's sister takes it UpToEleven.

-->'''''Sidetext:''' "Those are a pain to draw, so no thanks!"''

->"All the best Karuta players are weirdos."
* BuxomIsBetter: Kana-chan, who is also a NiceGirl and is shown as getting approval as the most attractive dating candidate from all of the club members (quite begrudgingly from Taichi's side). [[LesYay Yes,]] [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer even Chihaya's]].
* {{Cast Of Snowflakes}}: Yuki Suetsugu seems to go the extra mile on this trope. Sometimes when she makes some minor characters, she puts them in prominent places on the page, even gives them background stories, and we'll never see them again.
* CatchYourDeathOfCold: Shinobu after getting caught out in the rain.
* CharacterDevelopment: Everyone gets some.

** ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving
* ConspicuousCG: Episode 13, when Arata drops the cards.

* CrushBlush: Chihaya and Arata. A lot.
* CurbStompBattle: The Queen to Nayuta, Chihaya and Sudo in the Omi Jingu tournament.
* DistaffCounterpart: Shinobu to Arata.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Funnily enough [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Tai]][[MrFanservice chi]] ends up as this to [[ObliviousToLove Chi]][[YouGoGirl haya]].

** Chihaya is one due to her looks, but men are usually driven off by her personality.
** Kana-chan is this along with EvenTheGirlsWantHer, as all the other karuta club members unanimously decided that she's the person they would all want to date (Chihaya included).
* EpiphanyTherapy: Chihaya and Taichi when they go to Fukui to see Arata. [[spoiler:Their meeting helps bring Arata back to karuta.]]
* FanDisservice: In-universe example with Chihaya and Shinobu, both are often complimented on their looks and at the same time they're considered weird. The former's personality and the latter's fashion sense.

* {{Gainaxing}}: By Kana-chan in episode 17 during the relay race. Cheers from the male crowd were extra loud when it was her turn to run.
* GamingAndSportsAnimeAndManga: Obviously, although it overlaps with SliceOfLife sometimes.
* GenkiGirl: Chihaya.

* {{Cast Of Snowflakes}}

* {{Jerkass}}: Taichi and his mom, but the former kinda leans to JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Sometimes.
** As of the timeskip, Taichi is more firmly within the JerkWithAHeartOfGold category.
** Also, Chitose, who withheld from giving Chihaya her New Year's money to buy herself some new clothes (since she'll be giving them to Chihaya in two years anyway) can't bring herself to continue acting that way seeing how nice and cheerful Chihaya always is and immediately gave her that fashionable new jacket she bought as an indirect apology.
** Sudo also qualifies.

** Kana - the dependable, [[WomenAreWiser wise and closer to Earth]] Wife.

* OneSteveLimit: With the ever-growing list of characters, this is bound to be averted. As of the last count, there are 3(GASP!) Taichis and 4 Midoris.

** Kana-chan is this, along with EvenTheGirlsWantHer, as all the other karuta club members unanimously decided that she's the person they would all want to date (Chihaya included).

* GamingAndSportsAnimeAndManga: Obviously, although it overlaps with SliceOfLife genre sometimes.

* TheGlovesComeOff: At the end of episode 21 of season 2, Chihaya [[spoiler: unwraps her injured right hand in preparation for the match with the Queen]]

** So is Sudo, who manages to drive Chihaya to tears by bullying her 'lack of motivation' (ie. passing out during the match).

** Tsutomu is called Tsukue/Desktomu due to his studiousness and hilarious devotion to his school desk.
** Kanade goes as 'Kana-chan'.
** Nishida is Nikuman/Porky, [[BigEater no points for guessing for what reason]].
** Chihaya is known as 'Beauty in Vain' in the school.
** Arata is called 'Megane-kun' by Harada-sensei.
** Taichi is called 'Matsuge-kun' (Eyelashes) by Harada-sensei. Which fits as Taichi is a {{Bishounen}}.
** Hiro is 'Retro-kun'.
** Taichi's mom is, quite fittingly, 'Mrs Pressure'.

* {{Jerkass}}: Taichi and his mom, but the first one kinda leans to JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Sometimes.

* LadyOfWar: Kana tells Chihaya that she needs to be more graceful at all times even in the heat of battle.
* LapPillow: Between Chihaya and Arata, after she [[spoiler: faints from a fever during a match]]

* TheNicknamer: Chihaya
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: The rules of Karuta are amazingly lax when it comes to unfair playing tactics. For example, if you aren't sure which card to remove, you can swipe a whole bunch out of the playing area with one move. If the correct card is among them, you get the point; if not, there's no penalty. Since players are allowed to array their own cards as they choose, they can even maximize the effectiveness of this tactic.
** On the other hand, Taichi rearranging cards in the middle of the match is improper behavior.
** There are penalties for touching a card when the poem being read isn't on the field, or touching one side of the field when the correct card is on the other side. You still have to have some idea of where each card is to win (or a really, really quick hand, which is Chihaya's strong suit).

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Harada-sensei says it best: kids can't go far in karuta without friends

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Chihaya is the {{Tomboy}}, meaning she will wear leggings under her skirt or heft a desk carrying a possible recruit into her clubroom. In comparison her sister Chitose, a model, and club member Kanade are girly girls.

* UnskilledButStrong: Chihaya. She's incredibly fast, but has no technique. In episode 17, both Tsutomu and Kana-chan point out her weaknesses, which actually pulls her out of her HeroicBSOD after Harada-sensei points out to her the problem of relying over much on speed. In episode 18, it's all but spelled out to her why her over reliance on her speed and sharp ears isn't the best way to play.
* WeakButSkilled: Tsutomu and Kana-chan aren't the quickest to react in a karuta game, but after some time, they've devised personalized playing styles that utilize their strengths. The former keeps track of his games with everyone, figuring where their strengths and his are. The latter can tell apart the cards with a certainty, to the point where multi-syllabic cards that start similarly are two totally different cards to her. They haven't won much, and still lose often to those faster then them, but in such a short amount of time, they've already closed the gap against ranked players.
** Kana-chan's arrangement of cards on her side of the field (by season instead of by sound) probably also confuses the heck out of her opponents, although it hasn't been mentioned as a competitive advantage.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The flashback when Chihaya is pinning up the notice about the karuta club starts halfway through episode 1 and doesn't end until the end of episode 5.

Chihaya Ayase dreamt of seeing her sister become UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}'s next top model until the day a new transfer student, Arata Wataya, tells her that she should have a dream for herself to work at. Arata's own dream is to become a top Karuta player; this dream also becomes Chihaya's own after she experiences the game firsthand and becomes entranced by it.

''Chihayafuru'' is an anime based on a manga by the same title, winner of Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shoujo and the Manga Taisho Award. It also marks [[CareerResurrection the recovery of the author]], Yuki Suegutsu, after the infamous [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-10-19/yuki-suetsugu-copies-art-from-other-manga plagiarism scandal]] that almost ruined her career.

An [[AnimatedAdaptation Anime Adaptation]] was made, and has aired as part of the Fall2011Anime season. A second one has aired as a part of the Winter2013Anime season.

* SeriousBusiness: Traditional Japanese clothing is this for Kanade, to the point where she joins the club on the condition that they start wearing hakamas.

** The actual hundred poems, also to Kana, who takes it as a personal affront to be berated on her card arrangement by Nishida when he doesn't know any more about the cards than how he arranges them for ease of play compared to her, who knows them all by heart.
** Karuta to the karuta players, who don't let the fact that few others care for karuta, only that they play their best.
*** Arata's grandfather who was diagnosed with early dementia and was on his sick bed, for a brief moment remembers the tournament and demands that Arata goes.

* TheUnfavorite: Chihaya. Subverted as her parents seem to come off as uncaring toward her at first when they seem to have endless picture albums of her older sister and her modeling career, but it turns out that they're overjoyed at the fact the can collect newspaper clippings of both their daughters. Chihaya's only just started.

* UnmovingPlaid: in the OP.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: While trying to decide on a new design for the team uniforms, Chitose comes up with some pretty good concepts; but then Chihaya hears a "voice from the heavens" (the author) vetoing the designs.

* DudeMagnet: Chihaya is one due to her looks, but men are usually driven off by her personality.

* HotBlooded: Chihaya is very dedicated to playing karuta and will make very sure that everyone around her knows it.

Chihaya Ayase dreamt of seeing her sister become Japan's next top model until the day a new transfer student, Arata Wataya, tells her that she should have a dream for herself to work at. Arata's own dream is to become a top Karuta player; this dream also becomes Chihaya's own after she experiences the game firsthand and becomes entranced by it.

''Chihayafuru'' is an anime based on a manga by the same title and winner of Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shoujo and the Manga Taisho Award. It also marks [[CareerResurrection the recovery of the author]], Yuki Suegutsu, after the infamous [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-10-19/yuki-suetsugu-copies-art-from-other-manga plagiarism scandal]] that almost ruined her career.

!!This work contains

* AbusiveMom: Taichi's mother is a bit of an EducationMama, for any competition.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Chihaya_2976.jpg

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Chihaya
** TheLancer: Taichi
** TheBigGuy: Nishida
** TheSmartGuy: Komano
** TheChick: Kanade

* MeaningfulName: ''All'' of the major characters have a karuta poem with which they are associated, often times this card is considered their "signature card". The most blatant one is Chihayafuru, which is both Chihaya's signature card and the series namesake. However, Kanade's signature card is Ooeyama, and the card Sumire identifies with is Hananoiro, which both of their last names reference.

* SternTeacher: Miyauchi-sensei, who is feared for her strictness but is also supportive of her students. She initially doesn't think much of competitive karuta until she sees how seriously the karuta club was practising, after which she decides to personally chaperone them to Omi Jingu and learn some about the one-hundred poems herself.

* TheGlovesComeOff: At the end of episode 21 of season 2, Chihaya [[spoiler: unwraps her injured right hand in preparation for the match with the Queen]]
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Harada-sensei says it best: kids can't go far in karuta without friends

* UnknownRival: The Queen treats Sudo this way, although it's quite obvious that she's mocking him.

* PottyEmergency: Arata due to [[TheFoodPoisoningIncident food poisoning]]. He also routinely has [[CatchYourDeathOfCold unlucky illnesses.]]

** Chihaya is known 'Beauty in Vain' in the school.

** Taichi called 'Matsuge-kun' (Eyelashes) by Harada-sensei. Which fits as Taichi is a {{Bishounen}}.

** Taichi called Matsuke/Eyelashes by Dr Harada. Which fits as Taichi is a {{Bishounen}}.

* KidsAreCruel