Aftermaths often are boring. But no, not with Chihayafuru! I still remember how awesome the final episode of the first season was, and this too was a delight to watch due to the characterization, even though there was no Karuta in it. This definitely was not another one of those “let’s just fill in some time to give the characters a bit of time to cool down”, this too had a purpose.
I’m surprised that they never showed the actual king here, but the alternative was also quite good as it showed how Chihaya dealt with the fact that she had a very soft bone in her finger. It’s something that most people don’t even bother with: getting surgery just to fix it. It’s an interesting way of showing Chihaya’s resolve, but there was also no way for her not to get that surgery, with her entire life revolving around Karuta. It was also interesting that they showed that scar of her.
There also was a lot of romance, and I like how this episode relied on not saying everything explicitly, but instead showing how feelings are developing. First Taichi definitely got more serious about his feelings, and that got time to flesh out. In the meantime, we have Chihaya who is locked onto footage of Arata for days upon days while writing romantic poetry about him. Yeah. The thing is, Chihaya manages to just bring a smile to my face so many times per episode. It’s incredible how well she’s fleshed out at this point.
Season 3 would be awesome. How high would I guess those chances? Well, I’d say about 30%. The manga needs to end first, and then the producers of the manga must see it viable to invest for a third time into a full fledged series. Remember that the DVD sales for this thing are really bad and that it’s a miracle that it got a second season to begin with. And dangit this show is too awesome to end right here!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
The 2nd season was a bit of a miracle to be honest but I feel a 3rd season has pretty good odds. It won’t be right away though since they need at least one year of material to make another 25 episodes season.
As I recall, the manga sales for Chihayafuru really got a boost from the anime.
Here’s a quote I found – The volume released in September, 2011, sold some 56,000 copies; the one released in December about two months after the anime began sold nearly 200,000. Overall, for the year from November, 2011, to November, 2012, Chihayafuru ranked sixteenth overall in Japanese manga sales, with nearly 2.5 million copies sold.
So all in all, the anime does help to promote the manga so its chances of a 3rd season are good IMHO.
Thanks for sharing the sales data — that’s very good to know.
The finale feels a bit rushed — especially when comparing to the time spent on those unimportant matches, but it’s awesome in a way that it reminded me of season one and why I came to love this show. Kana-chan is a beautiful person. She has all the designs of a moe character, but none of her personalities resembles the stereotype — which makes her even more adorable. I like how the finale ended on the forward note symbolizing that the characters will keep going forward to pursuing their dreams. I also like the ED sequence giving us a quick flashback on the past 25 episodes. Chihayafuru is indeed a great show blending josei, shounen, sports, shoujo, and character drama in one engaging story with quality production and great entertainment value. I will miss this show and patiently wait for a season 3 to come.
This is my favourite anime. It’s just all so amazing. The creators was amazing to make each episode and each karuta game so exciting.
I know the chances of season 3 is slim, so I tried reading the manga, but I stopped because the manga just wasn’t the same without the sound effects in during the karuta games and the amazing colours and movements. The characters also looks ‘better’ in the anime.
If there is no season 3 I’ll probably cry. =) I don’t mind waiting another year or 2 as long as I know another is to come.