The Best Episodes of Chihayafuru

Harada leads Suo with two wins and one loss as the Master match enters its fourth round. Harada has studied everything about Suo, including the weakness that Chihaya told him about, and he dominates the match with his trademark offensive karuta. Suo remains calm despite Harada's strong momentum, recalling what his aunt, who raised him, said to him when he was a child. Her words are the reason Suo continues to play karuta.

Director: Kotono Watanabe, Kunio Katsuki

Writer: Misuzu Chiba

The club hosts an unofficial tournament, the Taichi Cup, to celebrate Taichi's birthday! Chihaya planned the event in hopes of cheering up Taichi, and she managed to gather 36 participants. The tournament is held in the style of a Genpei match, with competitors facing off in teams of three. Taichi is reminded of when he, Chihaya, and Arata used to play together in elementary school. Certain things have changed since then, but certain feelings haven't...

Director: Chie Yamashiro, Tomoya Kitagawa

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Mizusawa and Akashi's match has reached the tipping point and each side starts winning games; the pressure between Chihaya and Megumu have captivated the crowd.

Director: Yukihiko Asaki

Writer: Akemi Moriyama

Three wins for the victory. Taichi's declaration provides encouragement to the remaining players. The Mizusawa karuta club uses all of their experience and practice to fight to the end.

Director: Yusuke Onoda

Writer: Akemi Moriyama

The Class A Finals pit Arata vs Shinobu, Class B is between Taichi and Rion in the same area where Komano is participating in the Class C Final. Chihaya is stuck between supporting Taichi and Komano or experiencing the match between Arata and Shinobu.

Director: Hideki Hosokawa

Writer: Atsuo Ishino

With a packed house watching who could be the new King and Queen, Chihaya and Taichi are ushered in by Sakurazawa. The atmosphere is tense; who will win?

Director: Eiichi Kuboyama

Writer: Ayako Kato

Inokuma, who won the Queen title four times in a row; Sudo, who can throw an opponent off with his words alone; Murao, the fourth seat in the Nagumo Society; and Arata, who ended the Queen's undefeated record. The Shiranami Society members are faced with four powerful opponents, but Harada's insistence brings the other three back to the mindset of playing offensive karuta. How these four matches will end is anyone's guess!

Director: Kunio Katsuki

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

The audience at the Yoshino Tournament is taken for a wild ride with so many unexpected twists: Arata, the focus of high expectations, has been defeated, and Taichi, who only just reached Class A, advances to the finals. And now it's time at last for the final round between Chihaya and Taichi, teammates who have been practicing together since they were in elementary school. The odds are in Chihaya's favor, but Taichi isn't playing his usual karuta since he declared that he would defeat her in an official match.

Director: Toru Takahashi

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Both the Master and Queen matches come down to luck of the draw in an intense first round, ending in wins for Shinobu and Harada. Shinobu is shaken after learning that her grandmother, a politician, sees her as no more than a walking advertisement, as well as the fact that Chihaya chose her class trip over a chance to play in the Queen match, and she begins to break down in the second round.

Director: Kim Min-sun, Kim Sang-yeop, Masaki Matsumura

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Suo had been controlling the number of cards taken in the Master match, but with one win and two losses in the fourth round, Harada's momentum stops his plan in its tracks by coming down to luck of the draw. Harada shows his tenacity as someone who has loved karuta and worked to become the Master more than anyone else, but Suo still manages to keep his cool. The Master match finally nears its conclusion.

Director: Hideki Hosokawa, Mitsuhiro Yoneda

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Individually, Mizusawa players have grown, but Hokuo will try to use Mizusawa's lack of team playing experience to take back the Tokyo regional trophy.

Director: Tatsuma Minamikawa

Writer: Akemi Moriyama

It's the day of the Master and Queen challenger finals. Dr. Harada and Arata are competing for the chance to challenge the master, while Inokuma and Megumu battle it out to challenge the Queen. Harada confides in Arata that he once played against his grandfather, Eternal Master Wataya Hajime, and expresses his joy at being able to play karuta with Arata. A passionate battle spanning multiple generations begins at last!

Director: Kotono Watanabe, Kim Min-sun, Kunio Katsuki

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

The veteran players Dr. Harada and Inokuma were the winners in the first round, but Dr. Harada chose to yield the second round to preserve his strength for the third. Arata starts to feel sucked into Dr. Harada's pace, but after receiving some advice from Chihaya, he remembers how his grandpa, the Eternal Master, used to play. Both of them enter the third round with one win and one loss as the battle to determine who will challenge the Master begins!

Director: Chie Yamashiro, Chikayo Nakamura

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Arata's playing becomes reminiscent of Eternal Master Wataya Hajime's, allowing him to take control of the match's pace. Harada recalls the one match he played against Hajime when he was young and becomes painfully aware of how much his game sense has faded since then. But he sticks with the offensive play style that he teaches in the Shiranami Society, turning the match around in a way that leaves everyone in the hall holding their breath.

Director: Toru Takahashi, Park Jae-ik

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Chihaya appears to have recovered from her bad start, but Megumu will not let her take consecutive cards. As the players spur on their aces, both sides begin to pull together as teams. Which team will prove to be stronger?

Director: Hideki Hosokawa

Writer: Sumino Kawashima

Chihaya has injured her right hand, so she's forced to play with her left. Her first opponent is Yuube, from Akashi First Girls. Chihaya struggles to take cards with her left hand. Will she be able to make it past the first round?

Director: Toshikatsu Tokoro

Writer: Sumino Kawashima

Chihaya has advanced to the quarterfinals. Her opponent is the Queen, Wakamiya Shinobu. Chihaya decides to go all in and use her injured right hand. How will Shinobu respond? How will Chihaya fare?

Director: Takeyuki Sadohara

Writer: Akemi Moriyama

The Mizusawa karuta club has advanced to the finals to face a regular fixture at the national tournament, Hokuo Academy. As the match begins, Mizusawa is unable to go on the offensive, and Chihaya is distracted when her opponent, Sudo, begins to taunt her. However, she soon learns to play as a team, that every card she takes is a point for the team...

Director: Kotono Watanabe

Writer: Ayako Kato

Chihaya has recovered in time for the individual tournament. Players are grouped by their rank, and the youngest Queen in history, Wakamiya Shinobu, is in the Class A bracket, and Chihaya's second round opponent. Chihaya is overwhelmed by the Queen's ability and unable to take a single card. As she's about to give up, she remembers her first match against Arata back in grade school—

Director: Hideki Hosokawa

Writer: Satoshi Suzuki

Be it luck or skill, Tai seems to falter under pressure. The team needs three wins to proceed and their upcoming opponents are new and trained by an old friend.

Director: Jun Shishido

Writer: Ayako Kato

Mizusawa's next opponent is a group of geniuses that has been sweeping the Karuta scene.

Director: Kotono Watanabe

Writer: Akemi Moriyama

Fujisaka's training has proven to be a major hurdle to Mizusawa thanks to the training regimen demanded by their coach, Sakurazawa. Rion continues her lead over Chihaya thanks to her familiarity of the reader's voice. Doubts and injury plague Chihaya and her team as they fight to stay in the game.

Director: Hitomi Ezoe

Writer: Ayako Kato

A new found passion has brought Misuzawa back into the fight, as Chihaya herself tries to fight through the pain of her injury.

Director: Eiichi Kuboyama

Writer: Sumino Kawashima

The Yoshino Tournament features adults and students alike in many impressive matches, and among the participants is Inokuma Haruka, the former Queen who's just returned from maternity leave. But although Chihaya has recovered from the surgery on her finger and regained the use of her dominant hand, she still isn't fully on top of her game. Meanwhile, Taichi has mixed feelings when he finds out that Arata is trying to start a karuta club.

Director: Nobuaki Nakanishi

Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Arata wonders why he feels so relieved to learn that Taichi lost his match, even as dark memories of a similar feeling at the Yoshino Tournament come back to him, leaving him unable to concentrate fully on his match in the finals. His opponent, Murao, realizes that Arata isn't himself and sees an opportunity, but then...

Director: Hideki Hosokawa

Writer: Yuko Kakihara