Chihayafuru: Season 1

First-year Mizusawa high school student Chihaya Ayase tries to form a karuta club, but no one takes the club seriously. When she is reunited with Taichi Mashima, her friend from East Ōsato elementary school, she remembers when she met Arata Wataya in sixth grade. In an extended flashback, the other elementary school students, led by Taichi, make fun of Arata and his Fukui accent. Chihaya stands up for Arata and discovers his amazing proficiency at competitive karuta. He tells her that his dream

In the annual elementary school karuta tournament, the final match is between Taichi and Arata. Feeling threatened by Arata's skill, Taichi steals Arata's glasses before the match. Chihaya substitutes for Arata and defeats Taichi. Her mother and her older sister, Chitose, a beauty pageant contestant and aspiring model, are indifferent to the accomplishment, because a talent scout is recruiting Chitose. Taichi's mother scolds him for losing and tells him to attempt only things at which he is guar

Chihaya, Arata, and Taichi visit a Shiranami Karuta Society practice session. There they meet Dr. Harada, the society's director, and the oddball Hiro Kinashi, known as , a sixth-grader like them. Chihaya, Arata, and Taichi play Retro and his friends in a three-on-three Genpei match. Taichi tells Arata he should just play alone against Retro and his friends, but Arata says he wants to play as a team. At Chihaya's urging, they decide to compete in an upcoming tournament for teams of three. In the

As Chihaya and Taichi say good-bye to Arata, Chihaya declares she will become a karuta queen, the top-ranked female player, and Taichi declares he will become a master. Back in the present, Chihaya tells Taichi that she made Class B over spring break and that, if she wins a tournament that Sunday and makes Class A, he has to help her form a karuta club at school. When Taichi goes to watch Chihaya play, Harada recognizes him immediately. Taichi tells him that he played karuta in middle school wit

Chihaya and Taichi travel to Fukui to see Arata. Once at his house, Arata tells them to leave. Chihaya takes out a deck of cards and tries to get him to play karuta, but Arata kicks the deck, scattering the cards. Taichi drags Chihaya away to leave. Yuu, the girl who lives next door to Arata, runs after them with the cards and tells them to take the cards away. She tells them Arata's grandfather died from a stroke on a day Arata was supposed to be nursing him but was instead at a tournament maki

Chihaya has convinced Taeko Miyauchi, the science teacher and tennis coach, to allocate a storage room in one of the school's out-buildings as a clubroom. Kanade Ōe, who currently belongs to the archery club so she can wear a hakama, considers joining the karuta club instead, because she thinks they love the classical poems and also wear hakama. She is shocked that competitive karuta is not the refined love of poetry that she thought it was. She is further disappointed that the karuta club does

Taichi assesses his karuta skills. His advantages are memorization and adaptation based on what cards have been read. Chihaya has enough speed, however, to take cards even if Taichi reacts first. Chihaya attempts to recruit the second-ranked first-year student, Tsutomu Komano, nicknamed by his classmates because he is always studying. Komano is not interested. When Chihaya says that players memorize the positions of all the cards, he does not believe her, but he pauses when he realizes that Taic

At school, Chihaya encounters Nishida, who refuses to join the karuta club because he is now in the tennis club. Chihaya realizes that he is using karuta timing to play tennis and tells him that that is not fair to tennis. Nishida thinks the karuta club is at an elementary school level, so Taichi challenges him to play Chihaya. As Nishida plays, he remembers how much he enjoyed karuta. Although Chihaya wins, Nishida insists that he is still not coming back to karuta, because he can never be as g

Miyauchi grants the club official status, with herself as provisional advisor, if the members select someone other than Chihaya as president. When the other members select Taichi, Chihaya declares herself captain. Chihaya sets a goal of winning the Tokyo regional high school team tournament, so the club decides to hold a camp at Taichi's house over a long holiday weekend while his family is away. Chihaya sets an exhausting schedule, especially for Kana and Komano. When Taichi's mother and younge

Chihaya sends texts to Arata throughout the regional tournament, but he never responds. She asks Taichi why Arata only sends texts to him. Taichi says nothing, but thinks that it is because he and Arata think of Chihaya as belonging to both of them. Komano, frustrated that he cannot win any matches, declares that he is going home. Taichi allows him to skip the semi-finals, but orders him to compete in the finals. When Nishida says they should forget about Komano, Taichi faults everyone for not p

Harada and Hiroshi Tsuboguchi, the Shiranami ace, go to cheer for Chihaya and Taichi. Chihaya suggests an order that brings out the best in themselves rather than worrying about Hokuō's order. Using Retro's cards, Hokuō matches Sudō against Chihaya, Retro against Taichi, and the rest randomly, since they are confident of an easy win. Mochida, the Hokuō coach, warns them they may be over-confident. Arata finally checks his email and sees all the texts from Chihaya. When Mochida tells Harada that

At home, Chihaya tries to tell her parents about the tournament, but they are preoccupied with Chitose's appearance on a quiz show. At school, Miyauchi minimizes the importance of karuta and says another teacher will accompany the club to Ōmi Jingū. When Chihaya loses a game to Harada at the Shirinami Society, she feels the pressure of representing Tokyo at the nationals, but Taichi tells her that Retro gave him all of Hokuō's intelligence on their competitors. Chihaya returns home and is touche

In the first round of the national tournament, Chihaya has alternating sweats and chills. Meanwhile, Arata makes his way there and thinks of his grandfather, who continued to coach him even after he had suffered a stroke. After a subsequent stroke, he lost lucidity and even forgot what karuta was. On the day of a tournament when Arata was nursing him alone, he regained his lucidity and commanded Arata to compete. As Arata won and made Class A, his grandfather suffered another stroke and died. Ar

The next day is the individual tournament. Taichi thinks about how he needs to be in Class A to play Arata in a match. Sudō tells Chihaya that Shinobu Wakamiya, the youngest karuta queen in history and a first-year high school student, is playing Amakasu in the first round. Shinobu defeats him by 24 cards. Chihaya faces her in the second round. Taichi gets a bye in the Class B tournament and goes to watch their match. He sees that Chihaya reacts first, but Shinobu is faster and moves more accura

Shinobu defeats Chihaya by 20 cards and resolves not to let Chihaya take any cards if they ever meet again, but she is disarmed when Chihaya compliments her Snowmaru t-shirt. Chihaya resolves to improve her accuracy. Eventually Shinobu defeats Sudō in the Class A final. Chihaya goes to watch Taichi in the Class B final, where his fatigue and lack of physical speed lead to his loss. After reflecting on their weaknesses in the tournament, Taichi says the one thing everyone in the club lacks is sta

A recap of the events so far, interspersed with various omake segments.

Taichi researches the schedule of upcoming karuta tournaments so the club can use them to meet their individual goals. Chihaya needs to train for the eastern queen qualifier. Taichi and Nishida need to make Class A. Taichi also secretly desires to compete in the eastern master qualifier. Komano and Kana need to make Class C. Komano reflects on how much happier he is since joining the club. Taichi frequently travels to tournaments to try to make Class A, discovering Nishida and Retro are also at

The club members compete in a regular individual tournament. Chihaya tries to play a balanced style that doesn't rely on speed, but she is unable to restrain herself and commits a lot of faults. She also recognizes that her opponent, Sakura Kanai, is using the strategy against her that Komano described. She loses the match, but learns from watching Kanai that what she lacks is timing. Afterwards, she and Retro watch the Class B final between Taichi and Nishda and the Class D final between Komano

Chihaya reflects that faults are costing Komano his match against Kana, just like her faults cost her the match against Kanai earlier. Komano realizes he isn't losing to Kana so much as to himself. Kana defeats Komano, and both make Class C. When the match between Taichi and Nishida comes down to luck of the draw, Taichi tries to increase his chances of winning by trying to push Nishida into a fault, but he fails. Nishida defeats Taichi and makes Class A. On the way home, everyone comments that

Komano tutors Chihaya and Nishida for exams while Taichi enters a tournament, his last opportunity to make Class A before the eastern master qualifier. Arata, also there, gives him a note with his contact details to give to Chihaya. Chihaya ditches studying, but arrives after Taichi loses. She watches Arata, who loses to Tsuboguchi. Taichi gives him the note back, saying Arata should give Chihaya his information himself. Arata responds that he wasn't sure if Taichi and Chihaya were a couple or n

Nishida points out that Taichi's strength and weakness is seeing karuta only as a mental contest. He says Taichi needs to start taking practice swings, so he can learn the distance to the cards. At the eastern qualifier, Sudō tells Chihaya that colleges give scholarships to students who place first or second in national tournaments. Chihaya inadvertently bets Sudō that the first one of them to lose must shave their head. In the first round, Chihaya faces Ririka Tachikawa, a child prodigy hailed

In the second round, Chihaya faces the former queen, Yumi Yamamoto, who lost the title to Shinobu a year ago. Yumi has a history of contesting every card she loses, but this year she is unenthusiastic. Watching through the window, Kana is impressed with the clear voice of the reader. As Chihaya dominates the match, Kitano, the Suihoku Karuta Society director, forces open the window and tells Yumi to play her own karuta. She contests cards, which Chihaya is unprepared to handle, and defeats Chiha

Depressed by her loss, Chihaya hides inside a locker. Harada takes up the defense of Chihaya's hair against Sudō. When Taichi says she needs to come out to cheer for Harada, she comes out but says Taichi needs to watch them because they will be his rivals when he makes Class A. Harada defeats Sudō, but loses in the semi-finals. Tsuboguchi and Yumi become the eastern finalists. Arata loses in the fourth round of the western qualifier. Arata tries to convince Murao to come back to karuta to help h

The club members watch the master and queen matches on TV at Taichi's house. They are shocked to see that Shinobu is now pudgy, she ate too much ice cream to win limited-time Snowmaru items, which affects her speed and accuracy. Shinobu, wearing her grandmother's kimono, remembers when her mother divorced her father. She and her mother went to live with her grandmother, who took Shinobu to the Myojo Karuta Society when Shinobu became interested in karuta. As Yumi takes several cards in a row, Sh

Suō reflects that other players may not appreciate how Kyoko Yamashiro, the reader for the match, loves the Japanese language. Watching on TV, Murao thinks about how he has left Arata alone. Arata, also watching on TV, visualizes playing Suō, but knows that he needs to play strong opponents. Suō wins and retains his title. Ise, the Myojo director, invites Shinobu to visit the society, but she politely declines. Komano amazes Chihaya by using his statistics to figure out that she has 20 one-sylla