Anime Thoughts: Chihayafuru
Dec. 15th, 2017 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerI'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.
I suppose I'd thought a bit of anime series I understand to promote collectable card games, not many of which I watch. As I started off with the story of the high schooler Chihaya, who started realising what a high level karuta can be played at back in grade school ("drawn" works like manga and anime do have an advantage there in showing the passage of time), though, I have to admit to beginning to think of the "fake sports" in other anime I've seen, from "tankery" to "Gunpla Battle" to, so help me, "keijo." Some subtleties might have eluded me; I did wonder a bit about the grabs that send cards flying across the room and the need to see if that's actually the right card (along with what happens when more than one card moves). Before too long, though, I was able to pick up on the familiar theme of "do the best you can at whatever you do and don't stop trying to improve" (Chihaya has a specific natural talent, but that in itself can only take her so far in this set of episodes). The fellow high schoolers she assembles in a karuta club have their own takes on the game, and I admit it did get my attention that they sometimes play alongside older adults. The look of the characters (ranging from attractive to plain) and the show itself might never have seemed an absolute standout to me, but it kept the story supported.
While I believe I'm less less insistent than some seem to be that anime and manga have to be presented as unadulterated artifacts of a foreign land the acquisition and interpretation of proves your seriousness (and should anyone come to them anew but get tripped up by untranslated signals of this foreignness, that's their problem), this series did manage to stand out for me by presenting something I'd been unfamiliar with before, bringing back a few thoughts of my first years watching anime-known-to-be-anime. (There might have been a bit of amusement, too, in one of Chihaya's first motivations being the thought that since not many people outside of Japan play karuta, it's an easy way to be the best in the world at something.)
On finishing this first set, I knew there was another set upcoming (with another school year impending and not just the possibility but the necessity of recruiting more students). However, that second set does seem to require following it with the original manga. I've noticed that manga being translated and released in digital format (although paying for something so ephemeral does get me thinking I should wait for potential sales). Still, this was another anime series I was glad to get around to at last.
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.
I suppose I'd thought a bit of anime series I understand to promote collectable card games, not many of which I watch. As I started off with the story of the high schooler Chihaya, who started realising what a high level karuta can be played at back in grade school ("drawn" works like manga and anime do have an advantage there in showing the passage of time), though, I have to admit to beginning to think of the "fake sports" in other anime I've seen, from "tankery" to "Gunpla Battle" to, so help me, "keijo." Some subtleties might have eluded me; I did wonder a bit about the grabs that send cards flying across the room and the need to see if that's actually the right card (along with what happens when more than one card moves). Before too long, though, I was able to pick up on the familiar theme of "do the best you can at whatever you do and don't stop trying to improve" (Chihaya has a specific natural talent, but that in itself can only take her so far in this set of episodes). The fellow high schoolers she assembles in a karuta club have their own takes on the game, and I admit it did get my attention that they sometimes play alongside older adults. The look of the characters (ranging from attractive to plain) and the show itself might never have seemed an absolute standout to me, but it kept the story supported.
While I believe I'm less less insistent than some seem to be that anime and manga have to be presented as unadulterated artifacts of a foreign land the acquisition and interpretation of proves your seriousness (and should anyone come to them anew but get tripped up by untranslated signals of this foreignness, that's their problem), this series did manage to stand out for me by presenting something I'd been unfamiliar with before, bringing back a few thoughts of my first years watching anime-known-to-be-anime. (There might have been a bit of amusement, too, in one of Chihaya's first motivations being the thought that since not many people outside of Japan play karuta, it's an easy way to be the best in the world at something.)
On finishing this first set, I knew there was another set upcoming (with another school year impending and not just the possibility but the necessity of recruiting more students). However, that second set does seem to require following it with the original manga. I've noticed that manga being translated and released in digital format (although paying for something so ephemeral does get me thinking I should wait for potential sales). Still, this was another anime series I was glad to get around to at last.