100 Books in Japanese - Book 4
And now we move from doctors to... elementary schoolers?
Title: ちはやふる
Chihayafuru
Author/artist: Suetsugu Yuki (末次由紀)
Genre: Josei manga (comics aimed at older females)
Published: 2007 - present
Volumes: 16
Story: To put it simply, this is a story about a game known as Hanafuda and several friends who want to become the best players in the world at it.
On Hanafuda: Most students of Japanese have played a form of this game at some time or another. I played it when I was learning my kana. We spread cards out on the floor randomly that had the kana written on them, then when the teacher read a kana to us we had to race to grab the associated card. The version played in the manga is the traditional, crazy difficult version using the poems of the 百人一首 (Hyakunin isshu). The cards consist of two matched sets - one set with the first half of the poems written on them, and another with the second half. It is played thusly: the cards on which the first half of the poems are written are put with a reader and the cards with the remainder of the poems are split between two players. These cards are then arranged strategically into two battlefields (and people wonder why Japan's so fond of card games) over which the players compete to empty their own field of cards first.
The Reader begins to read the first half of the poem and the players rush to clear the associated card from the field first. They can take cards from either their own or their opponent's field and as penalties they can have cards from their opponents' fields placed in their own. This game is incredibly high octane, or so the manga would lead me to believe, and players can rise through the ranks from beginner to expert earning 'ranks' which function like belts in martial arts. At the top of this ranking system there are Meijin and Queens, the highest ranked male and female players in all of Japan and, by default, the world.
Thoughts: When Kasai-sensei handed me a bag full of this manga, I wasn't impressed. The cover looked way too girly, and while the art inside was beautiful it was also following a bunch of elementary schoolers. However, upon giving it a read, I was shortly hooked on the story and characters. No, I'm not the biggest fan of the main character. She's fun, I'll admit, but she's clueless and ditzy and very much an average shonen hero turned female. But the characters around her are awesome, and by reflection, she becomes more interesting as well. Also the story pulls no punches, which is a nice change.
Summary: This first volume is the basis of the entire series in more ways than usual. The story starts with a young boy named Arata delivering papers and bumping into a girl on the street. The next day we find out that Arata is a transfer student in this girl's class. Arata is from Fukui Prefecture and speaks with a thick kansai accent, which confuses the other students and causes them to bully him. The girl, named Chihaya, looks and dresses an awful lot like a little boy. Her rough and tumble attitude brings her to accidentally get Arata in trouble, but also gets her to stand up for him and defend his honor from Taichi, the class bully.
Arata and Chihaya walk home together and, when she finally convinces him to speak, he challenges her to a game of Karuta. The school tournament is coming up, and while no one in the area takes it seriously, Arata has been playing the game for years and his dream is to one day become the Meijin, or strongest player in all of Japan, and thusly, the world. Chihaya plays with him, catches the Karuta bug, and soon starts playing with him all the time. They draw the former bully Taichi into their club as well, not hard as he clearly has a soft spot for Chihaya, and form a small team. The three start going to local the Karuta practice center and become the best of friends. They promise to play Karuta together forever.
Then, Taichi gets into an exceedingly competitive middle school an hour and a half's commute from school. He will no longer have time to practice Karuta. Arata's beloved grandfather falls ill and he and his family must move home to care for him. Chihaya will be advancing to middle school without her best friends. In a fit of tears, Chihaya quits the tournament the three were signed up for and runs home to sulk. The day before the tournament a t-shirt arrives at her door with their Karuta club name - Chihayafuru (the reading of her card - the one with her name in it). The book ends with Chihaya showing up to the tournament at the last minute and the three kids together at last, poised to compete in the last tournament they'll ever do together.
Favorite Moment:
Arata's reaction when Chihaya says she'll play Karuta with him. He's freaking adorable as he magically clears the room, produces a deck and a tape (in place of a reader) and a radio, and sits like an eager little puppy, waiting for Chihaya to come over. Also I adore his kansai accent. I'm not as used to it as I used to be (I speak like a north country hick now, not a
west one), but I do love picking it apart.
Fun facts:
- This manga has been adapted into a short anime. Mamoru Miyano is playing the prince character, for a change.
- The manga won the Manga Taisho Award and the Kodansha Manga Award
- Each volume of Chihayafuru has been on the bestselling manga list since March 2009
- The manga has sold more than 4.5 million copies in Japan
- The popularity of the manga has, naturally, spawned a whole new interest in traditional Karuta.
Would you recommend this to others?
Sure. It's not super spectacular, but it is quite enjoyable. And if you liked Yugioh or Hikaru no Go or even if you just like card games or manga about competetive things (this does kind of come off as a sport after a while) then you should give this a try.
Title: ちはやふる
Chihayafuru
Author/artist: Suetsugu Yuki (末次由紀)
Genre: Josei manga (comics aimed at older females)
Published: 2007 - present
Volumes: 16
Story: To put it simply, this is a story about a game known as Hanafuda and several friends who want to become the best players in the world at it.
On Hanafuda: Most students of Japanese have played a form of this game at some time or another. I played it when I was learning my kana. We spread cards out on the floor randomly that had the kana written on them, then when the teacher read a kana to us we had to race to grab the associated card. The version played in the manga is the traditional, crazy difficult version using the poems of the 百人一首 (Hyakunin isshu). The cards consist of two matched sets - one set with the first half of the poems written on them, and another with the second half. It is played thusly: the cards on which the first half of the poems are written are put with a reader and the cards with the remainder of the poems are split between two players. These cards are then arranged strategically into two battlefields (and people wonder why Japan's so fond of card games) over which the players compete to empty their own field of cards first.
The Reader begins to read the first half of the poem and the players rush to clear the associated card from the field first. They can take cards from either their own or their opponent's field and as penalties they can have cards from their opponents' fields placed in their own. This game is incredibly high octane, or so the manga would lead me to believe, and players can rise through the ranks from beginner to expert earning 'ranks' which function like belts in martial arts. At the top of this ranking system there are Meijin and Queens, the highest ranked male and female players in all of Japan and, by default, the world.
Thoughts: When Kasai-sensei handed me a bag full of this manga, I wasn't impressed. The cover looked way too girly, and while the art inside was beautiful it was also following a bunch of elementary schoolers. However, upon giving it a read, I was shortly hooked on the story and characters. No, I'm not the biggest fan of the main character. She's fun, I'll admit, but she's clueless and ditzy and very much an average shonen hero turned female. But the characters around her are awesome, and by reflection, she becomes more interesting as well. Also the story pulls no punches, which is a nice change.
Summary: This first volume is the basis of the entire series in more ways than usual. The story starts with a young boy named Arata delivering papers and bumping into a girl on the street. The next day we find out that Arata is a transfer student in this girl's class. Arata is from Fukui Prefecture and speaks with a thick kansai accent, which confuses the other students and causes them to bully him. The girl, named Chihaya, looks and dresses an awful lot like a little boy. Her rough and tumble attitude brings her to accidentally get Arata in trouble, but also gets her to stand up for him and defend his honor from Taichi, the class bully.
Arata and Chihaya walk home together and, when she finally convinces him to speak, he challenges her to a game of Karuta. The school tournament is coming up, and while no one in the area takes it seriously, Arata has been playing the game for years and his dream is to one day become the Meijin, or strongest player in all of Japan, and thusly, the world. Chihaya plays with him, catches the Karuta bug, and soon starts playing with him all the time. They draw the former bully Taichi into their club as well, not hard as he clearly has a soft spot for Chihaya, and form a small team. The three start going to local the Karuta practice center and become the best of friends. They promise to play Karuta together forever.
Then, Taichi gets into an exceedingly competitive middle school an hour and a half's commute from school. He will no longer have time to practice Karuta. Arata's beloved grandfather falls ill and he and his family must move home to care for him. Chihaya will be advancing to middle school without her best friends. In a fit of tears, Chihaya quits the tournament the three were signed up for and runs home to sulk. The day before the tournament a t-shirt arrives at her door with their Karuta club name - Chihayafuru (the reading of her card - the one with her name in it). The book ends with Chihaya showing up to the tournament at the last minute and the three kids together at last, poised to compete in the last tournament they'll ever do together.
Favorite Moment:
Arata's reaction when Chihaya says she'll play Karuta with him. He's freaking adorable as he magically clears the room, produces a deck and a tape (in place of a reader) and a radio, and sits like an eager little puppy, waiting for Chihaya to come over. Also I adore his kansai accent. I'm not as used to it as I used to be (I speak like a north country hick now, not a
west one), but I do love picking it apart.
Fun facts:
- This manga has been adapted into a short anime. Mamoru Miyano is playing the prince character, for a change.
- The manga won the Manga Taisho Award and the Kodansha Manga Award
- Each volume of Chihayafuru has been on the bestselling manga list since March 2009
- The manga has sold more than 4.5 million copies in Japan
- The popularity of the manga has, naturally, spawned a whole new interest in traditional Karuta.
Would you recommend this to others?
Sure. It's not super spectacular, but it is quite enjoyable. And if you liked Yugioh or Hikaru no Go or even if you just like card games or manga about competetive things (this does kind of come off as a sport after a while) then you should give this a try.