Chihayafuru (Movie Review)

There's been a trend recently of manga being adapted into live-action films - Orange, Ao Haru Ride, and Hirunaka no Ryuusei are some good examples. Whilst it doesn't always work (see, Erased, where they went off in their own direction and royally screwed up the ending), Chihayafuru is a fantastic example of a series I knew about but didn't enjoy to the fullest which was given new life through an adaptation.

Chihayafuru is about three childhood friends, namely the girl of these three, Chihaya. As a child, she'd had no real ambition or talent until Arata moved near and taught her about Karuta. It's a competitive card game in Japan, and Arata teaches Chihaya to love it. They, as well as classmate Taichi, form a Karuta team. The three of them are together for a year before Arata's grandfather becomes ill and he has to move back home. Taichi and Chihaya then go to separate middle schools, and the three grow apart. In hopes of reuniting them someday, Chihaya decides she'll start a Karuta club in high school and meet Arata in a national competition - and she's thrilled to find Taichi is attending the same high school she is. But things can't be the same as they were.

I watched the anime for Chihayafuru a while back on Chrunchyroll, but in the days where anime was my main fix instead of drama. I liked the series quite a lot, but I found it too long and slow in places to be fully engaging. Well, that's the best part of having the story crammed into three hours (two films) - you get the good stuff, and only the good stuff. This wouldn't have necessarily set up the film to be so good; what made it good was how, despite the dramatically shorter running time, it still felt whole. I liked how, rather than inventing new material, the team behind this film tweaked and re-arranged the original plot to make the experience of watching Chihayafuru far better. Something that annoying me about the original series was the very noticeable lack of Arata. I loved his character, and the fact that he only ever got brief appearances in the show was irritating since he was such an enormous part of the back story. The short running time of the movies meant that what we did see of him felt longer.
  One thing that caught my attention straight away, almost as soon as I'd started the first film, was the directing style. I'm usually one to care more for the writing than directing, but the transitions between past and present were fluid and every scene was designed to engage the viewer. It felt like I was being swept along with the current of the movie.
  I like films with meaning. I used to be someone who always gravitated towards romance films, but eventually there was very little new territory to cover and I got bored of the same old tropes being used time and time again. It was my mistake for being so small-minded. I'm glad I've started exploring the depths of my tastes, because Chihayafuru was uplifting.
  It's insane how well the characters were written (not to mention how on-point the casting of most of the characters was). They felt like real people, with personalities and insecurities. Best of all, they had more to think about than romance. Each of them had their own thoughts and struggles - my personal favourite of the characters turned out to Desk, who's desire to be needed was portrayed beautifully.
  I'll tell you a secret: Chihayafuru isn't about Karuta. It's about finding yourself. It's about growing pains, love, and friendship. Especially friendship, about how some bonds don't disappear, no matter how much time passes and no matter how much you change. I feel at peace right now - go and watch these films!