Anime Thoughts: Chihayafuru

I've watched my share of "popular" anime series, although I can think of some examples I haven't yet got around to for several reasons. Every so often, though, I do manage to pick up on a series that may not be what everyone's talking about, but for which the interest that is shown seems to make up for that. In the past, I've sought out Princess Nine and Princess Tutu for that reason, although I did take quite a while getting around to watching the DVD collection I'd bought of that second series.

When I began noticing people talking about a series streaming called Chihayafuru, built around a Japanese card game called karuta that involves listening to the first half of one of a hundred Japanese poems and then grabbing the card with the second half of that poem before your opponent, it did get my attention. However, I could never quite seem to find the time to watch it myself, and I did start thinking that streaming series aren't available forever. One day, though, there was an announcement the series had been licensed at last for a home video release over here, and taking note of how pleased some people were at that news I ordered the Blu-Ray set sight unseen (although I didn't go so far as to order the deluxe boxed set). What was more, when the set did arrive, I was able to fit it into my viewing schedule right away.
( My trip through the series )