It looks like karuta’s back in a big way! The latest issue of Kodansha’s Be Love magazine announced that Chihayafuru‘s third anime season will air for two cours, making it a half-year series. The project will air in April 2014, as part of Nippon TV’s Anichu block.
Morio Asaka (My Love Story!!) will return to the director’s chair at Madhouse to helm the project.
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Chihaya Ayase: Asami Seto
- Taichi Mashima: Mamoru Miyano
- Arata Wataya: Yoshimasa Hosoya
All three cast members are reprising their roles from the first two seasons.
Yuki Suetsugu’s Chihayafuru manga launched in the pages of Be-Love in December 2007. The title currently spans 35 collected volumes, with the most recent hitting stores on August 10. Kodansha Comics currently holds the rights to the title in North America.
The Chihayafuru manga inspired a pair of anime series from Madhouse, which ran for a combined 50 episodes. Morio Asaka directed the title, while Kunihiko Hamada (My Love Story!!, Nana) provided character designs. Digimon Fusion composer Kousuke Yamashita was in charge of the show’s music.
Sentai Filmworks currently holds the rights to the Chihayafuru anime. They describe the show as:
Chihaya Ayase is a beautiful and headstrong young woman with a passion for karuta, a card game inspired by classical Japanese poetry. As a child, Chihaya was introduced to the game by a quiet, gifted transfer student named Arata, and she was instantly drawn to it. Now in high school and reunited with her childhood friend Taichi, Chihaya dreams of finding Arata and the three resuming their love of karuta, only to discover that Arata has quit the game due to personal reasons. Determined not to let Arata’s passion go to waste, Chihaya and Taichi form the Mizusawa High School Karuta Club, where they learn that in karuta – as in life – working toward your dreams is the key to winning, even when what you want seems just out of reach.
A live-action film trilogy starring Suzu Hirose was also produced. The first two movies hit Japanese theaters in March and April 2016, respectively. The third feature, titled Chihayafuru: Musubi (Chihayafuru: Conclusion), hit Japanese theaters on March 17, 2018.
Source: Twitter (pkjd818)
Chihayafuru Anime Season 3 Gets 2-Cour Run – Samantha Ferreira
