Happy birthday to the main character of Chihayafuru, Chihaya Ayase (綾瀬千早)! If you don’t know, Chihayafuru 「ちはやふる」 is a manga series by Yuki Suetsugu (末次由紀) originally published in the shoujo/josei[footnote]Shoujo being how you’d find this series categorized in Japan, with josei being a term more commonly used outside of Japan to indicate an older readership. Both simply mean that the magazine contains stories created with women in mind as the primary readership. Although anyone can (and should) enjoy these series. They also have several stylistic and story conventions, but we don’t have to get into the full history of this demographic today.[/footnote] magazine Be Love. The series has over 29 million copies in circulation and wrapped up in Japan with 50 volumes in 2022. The official English translation concludes on June 3rd, so now is the perfect time to start reading! The story centers on an amazing, kind, goofy, and inspiring high school student named Chihaya who dreams of being the best karuta[footnote]Karuta (かるた) is a Japanese card game that involves memorizing the Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首) which is a collection 100 poems, printed on the cards. During a match, you listen to a reader recite the poems, and you try to grab the card that has the second half of the poem faster than your opponent.[/footnote] player in the world, alongside her dear and precious friends and fellow competitors. I don’t mean to exaggerate, but it’s the greatest sports manga of all time. There’s also a three season anime that’s a treasure, three live-action movies, a manga sequel currently running, and an upcoming movie for the sequel. Want to see more? You can watch the anime trailer below, and I’ve put a few images from the manga in a slideshow (refresh the page if the images are tiny) so you can see some of the beautiful art.
Click Here to See Beautiful Manga Pages
Have a nice day/night! 💖 Read Chihayafuru!