Chihayafuru Vol. 1

I've been a big fan of this manga for years now and am ecstatic to see it available officially in English. The story begins with Chihaya as a young girl, falling in love with the game of Karuta, alongside her two friends Wataya Arata and Mashima Taichi. The first volume masterfully establishes the bond between the three of them, which is the foundation upon which the story as a whole is built. The artwork is beautiful, and though only a few characters are introduced in this volume, there are so many fantastic characters to look forward to as the story progresses. The characters are, I feel, Chihayafuru's strongest point. There are no true antagonists, only rivals who receive the same care and development as the main characters. Even the most periphery characters have a story, and Suetsugu is fantastic at imbuing them with the sense that their lives continue outside of the brief times we see them. Kodansha have stated that, if there is enough interest/sales are decent enough, Chihayafuru will receive a physical release too. And for those that enjoy this first volume, there is also a two season anime adaptation that really does justice to this beautiful manga!

I love the characters, they are so realistic. So far this is an awesome manga. The artwork is amazing. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Me enamoré de Chihayafuru por el anime, estuve leyendo un poco el manga de manera no legal y ahora que esta disponible en formato digital es excelente para poder leerla de nuevo, seguir disfrutando y apoyar esta gran historia :D

Never knew about Karuta before. The story seems very interesting ! I’ll keep reading and see how this goes. So far it’s been good! I like how there are nuances that are actually deep.

I have absolutely no idea how I even overcame my extreme ambivalence over Chihayafuru's premise and gave it a shot, but I'm so glad I did. This is one of my absolute favorite series (both manga and anime). My advice for those wondering if they should try it is actually to start watching the anime on Crunchyroll now, and then switch to the manga once you've exhausted all 50 episodes. The manga is excellent, but it's one of those that you have to read a volume or two to really get into it, and seeing the characters move in the anime really helps someone who has no idea what karuta is about to get a better feel for the action sequences in the manga. But either way, you're in for a treat. Chihayafuru is basically a mix of josei/shoujo quality character development with sports manga quality action, and is one of those series that takes you from completely ambivalent about a particular activity (karuta) to weirdly loving it too much simply because the characters do. Highly recommended.

Cannot recomend this series enough! Do you like poetry? Do you enjoy seeing determined protagonists who work hard at what they love? Are you a fan of strong friendships and one track minded females? If so, check out this series! At 30+ volumes, it might seem like a bit of a stretch, but it is well worth it. The karuta poems are really beautiful, and it's really nice to see how the author has tied some of the poems to a particular character's development. Chihayafuru is a real gem of a manga, can't wait to keep reading!