And then there was…the Master above all else in karuta.
Last time we left off with Hisashi Suou essentially winning the match just by taking one card. The match was far from over, but we know Suou was going to win. In Chihayafuru volume 9, he absolutely dominates his opponent, who’s actually really good! But the gulf between him and everyone else is sizable, and that depresses Team Mizusawa. But this doesn’t make them give up. In fact, it does make them focus on their goals. Chihaya of course desires to get better, but Kana, inspired by the reciter in the Master match, wants to become a professional. Taichi continues his quest to reach Class A while Nishida and Tsutomu aim to help the club succeed.
However, all of those goals start to clash as the new school year begins. The five are now second-year students, and they’ve also been established on campus as a worthwhile club. Not worthwhile enough however, since the school wants the karuta club out of the room they’re in. The Empress stands her ground on that, until one of the tenured professors proposes that they’ll have to move if they can’t get five new students to join their club. She accepts, lets the five know, and then they execute their marketing strategy to trick the freshman.
And finally, we’ve officially arrived into Season 2 anime territory! Sumire Hanano is a new student looking for love, and once she spots her man (Taichi), she dives right into the karuta club. This unfortunately leads to her discovering the club is not a romance hotspot in an embarrassing way, but this also leads to priorities changing for the club as everyone’s wants get jumbled up. Exactly how will the club resolve their issues…and still get new members? And don’t think Arata’s arc is totally thrown aside!
…Ok, it sorta is. Aside from a brief chat with Taichi, his arc began in volume 8, and wrapped up quickly in volume 9. It didn’t really add anything aside from him attempting to get better. Though him and others realizing how dominant Suou is is something else! It’s definitely not a huge moment, but it’s something that they can’t avoid as they play karuta. The endgame is facing the Master and the Queen, and both are super strong. I’m glad they didn’t spend too much time with Suou other than what was necessary, and I’m curious to know when he’ll reappear in the manga again.
Outside of that, this volume spends its time establishing new goals for each character in the club, but their goals are affected when they have to recruit new members. And one of those members is in it for love. Though in general the freshman they did attract were all into it for Taichi, but Sumire was on another level. But, as always, time is an enemy, and so’s attention spans! Once the rules of karuta were finally explained, that essentially separated freshmen who were interested and those who weren’t. Sumire’s frame of mind definitely breaks things up in a good way for this series.
Well, in general this series is really good. There’s generally a misstep for most series I read, but Chihayafuru is consistently great every time. Maybe a few things are sorta good or solid, but reading this manga is terrific. And between the karuta battles now and to come, plus (eventually) establishing the romance we’re waiting for, I can only look forward to more of this series.