Chihayafuru 1
Chihayafuru was my pre-season pick as the standout show, and I think that the first episode did a good job in supporting that view. It had a solid combination of good characterization and direction that entices the audience and forms a firm foundation that the rest of the show is going to rest on. I wish that more shows would understand this concept.
I'm unfamiliar with the manga, so I wasn't sure if Chihayafuru was going to be more of a sports anime or if it was going to be more of a relationship show. Given the ending of the episode, I think that it's pretty clear that it's goin to be the former. The loving way the Kurata play was animated brings Hikaru no Go to mind where we see how much passion and intensity is infused into the game. This intensity is likely to be the focal point of the show even though the relationships are going to play a large role.
On a side note, I want to commend Terasaki Yuka's job at voicing the young Arata. Normally, I don't like that accent, but she made it sound pretty good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HandofFate
getting kind of hikaru no go vibes from it, where it takes a game and attempts to dramatize it up a bit.
|
There's an interesting contrast between Chihayafuru, Shion on Ou and Hikaru no Go. They feature games which are respectively not played outside of Japan, very uncommon outside of Japan, and Japan being the third-strongest at the game. Arata even made note of how the Japanese Kurata champion is also the world Kurata champion.