Anime: Chihayafuru 3 6s3b3r

Well, I seem to be the odd one out. I think the first two series are some of the best series ever, but this series ruins it, and it's really not worth watching - unless you are obsessed with the game, because there's practically nothing else in this series. Just endless games after games after games. It's like watching some tedious sporting tournament (except that you aren't expected to worship obnoxious millionaires who are supposed to be the 'best in the world' but are really only the best amongst the few hundred that ever got the chance to actually play games for a living). Of course, anime is really just an advert for the manga (where there is one), and is meant to get you to buy the manga to find out what happens, but I hope they do more chihaya, and that they make it more like the first two series with much less karuta. That said, it's still better than 99% of the anime released these days (I just used the fast forward key to skip the games).

Review
Chihayafuru was a surprising high-quality show that I had missed back in 2013. It brought to life a style that was likely lost in the 90's, mixing the typical shoujo romance with intense shounen action while managing to craft an entire world of a very peculiar sports that is karuta. It managed to turn a seemingly boring game into an exciting watch, all of that while working on a love polygon with Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata. 

It worked wonders for the first two seasons. The first, in particular, managed to introduce the world of karuta and its main trio with outstanding grace and pace. The second, while it may have truly worked to expand the side-characters, felt a bit lost in too many losses and a unnecessary postponing of the matches that were really important. 

Now comes the third season, which follows the second semester of Chihaya's second high school year.

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1. It's more about Taichi and Arata this time
   Well, Ayase is still the main star, but the story points a clear light at Taichi and Arata this time around, more so on Taichi than ever before. It invests a lot of time giving Taichi a deeper probe into his feelings and problems (yeah, that he is a selfish prick who never really cared for others) and makes him confront those problems in very direct ways. He both improves a lot during this season as a person and as a karuta player, rising to the ocasion when it really matters. 
   
   Yeah, but his opposition is Arata
   And Arata is god. I mean, he is not only a better player, he is also the guy who seems to really be in Ayase's heart. However, as most as he seems like the winning boy, he is also the most boring one. This seasons try to remedy that, picking Arata into yet another dump to make him overcome his newfound worries, also known as his love for Chihaya. Yeah. It is full-on romantic triangle while we see exciting karuta matches. 
   
   Yeah, and the best karuta matches
   This season takes place during the matches for Queen and Master and this time around we have a much deeper insight into those tournaments. Hell, they are surely exciting. These are the best matches yet in the show, especially because they now focus on the real players and not the high-school club. 
   
   What we see here are matches between real pros, many of them characters introduced in the last season and some teased a lot. They provide amazing matches with really interesting outcomes, which works a lot to make you nervous, excited, and satisfied by them at almost every turn. 
   
   Still no deal for Ayase
   Well, there's the final high-school year to be played in the next seasons, so you know that there will be no real advancement here, otherwise the next season would be pointless to the point of view of the typical japanese audience (although I would have loved to see a season with one of the main characters defending a title).
   

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Comments
It's been a while since I met a character that made me so damn furious as Suo. Although I ended up really appreciating the outcome of his matches, he is one guy that I really want to see being beaten to a pulp in a match. Anyway, the overall experience of this third season is a really interesting one. In one side, we see little for Ayase, which is sad because she is a fun main character to see on screen. However, it manages to provide a very powerful insight for Taichi and also made the karuta star of the season be Harada, which is one of the most amazing things I've seen in the anime industry in the last few years. I mean, an old guy being the star? Beating young people and showing determination and positive attitudes? Hell, there's almost unheard in anime. 

Yeah. So, for treating adults as people who have knowledge and skills and are not dumb assholes like in almost every other anime, the third season of Chihayafuru already becomes iconic. It does that with superb quality too, with exciting matches and some interesting emotional takes on the main love polygon. Hell yeah, can't wait to see the next seasons.