Awesome, Chihayafuru is back! More addictive Karuta, and the two new characters will definitely bring in a new dynamic that will keep the series fresh here. Karuta was just a simple card game, and yet this series made it exciting beyond belief.
I do have to voice two major concerns at this point though. First of all, there was the animation. Unfortunately, it’s clear that the second season either lacks the budget of the first, or a lot more scenes are outsourced. In the first season, every hit on the mat packed a punch. Here though, there are a lot of awkward movements, rushed drawings. It does not look as polished.
Second of all… the series composition has changed people. This time there are two people doing it. The first is pretty much new: after writing one of the Stitch series, she did a bunch of episodes for the first season, and she adapted half of Sakamichi no Apollon. The second one though… is behind the mess that was Persona 4. In fact, she did the series composition for a lot of different series, none of which I liked. For Chihayafuru, it is the original material that shines through, but I’m really scared about them keeping the balance, which was done so well in the perfectly paced first season.
So far though, the two new characters still need to get introduced, and the problem with them is that they’re initially very unlikable, so they need a lot of time to warm up. With that in mind, the past two episodes did a very good job. The girl in particular is already developed and has quite a few different sides, playing off really well against Kana. Meanwhile the new guy will probably play really well off Nishida. It’s an interesting idea here to have this guy show off a different style of Karuta.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
I also noticed that they have changed people for the series composition, but at least we have the same (and awesome) director — I guess I should still hold my faith for now.
The second episode was still great in the character department — it managed to add layers to Sumire, bring more out of the existing cast, and introduce another new character. Still nice…although I am longing some karuta match…
I find sumire very likeable! shes like my favourite character now. he other guy is a rapist i swear………..
Yeah, I really really like Sumire myself, mostly because as odd as it may seem I see a lot of highschool-me in her. I’m hoping things go well for her, but not being Chihaya, she’s probably doomed to not get with Taichi. Joining the club for the guy, being super into the opposite sex almost to a fault, being into all the romantic side of things: man this is bringing back some memories hahaha.
As for the animation, the first thing I noticed is that the animation seems BETTER this time around. IDK what everyone’s talking about.
I’ll just stay here, cringing at what sections they’re willing to cut off from the original work…
Sumire is getting quite a bit of hate from the taichi fangirls but I think she’s a good character with room for development.
I also noticed that the budget had been cut back somewhate, esp some of the drawings of the characters didn’t look too good.
I’m not particularly fond of Sumire yet, but I don’t dislike her either. She’s probably going to change my opinion later, as did Tsukue-kun.
Well, in regards to the staff/budget issue, I’m too happy that this show even got a second season right now to complain about a few rushed drawings here and there. The original material is already awesome, so for now I’ll agree with you and say it is difficult for Yuuko Kakihara to do much harm.