5 down, 6 to go
Chihayafuru 1! based on a manga about a card game.
+ Excellent production from Madhouse
+ Well-paced episode
Quick impression~ Despite the very dull premise and the fact that I know nothing about the card game, the show was surprisingly engaging. The animation production is probably the best out of all the new shows I've seen so far. There's a whole shoujo love triangle going on in the background, but the three characters are likable in their own way. Most of episode 1 was about Chihaya's childhood when she first met Arata and learned of his passion for karuta; a card game based on japanese poems/phrases? Taichi is her other childhood friend who was/is jealous of the attention Chihaya places on Arata, but it looks like he will also play the game. Will this create a karuta popularity surge like Hikaru no Go did for the game of go?