Where do you think season 3 will end?

Misery_Gaming said:
Taichi x Arata match is too far in the manga, considering the number of chapters adapted in previous seasons. It should be somewhere around sensei's match vs Master Suo

Akkala said:
Maybe it'll stop at

Akkala said:
True.. the new kids part is a lot of content. Maybe until
Because it'll be weird if Chihaya goes through only one championship. It's still a lot, but I doubt they'd go for a fifth season...

Akkala said:
That's fair. Well, as long as Taichi's confession scene is in there, I'll be happy. (I don't wanna wait for more half a decade for that) xD

Akkala said:
Omg, Taichi confession scene, yoshino's final (Chihaya vs Taichi) and Taichi's birthday! omg! That's so much goodness! I feel like 3rd season will be my favorite one.

lapiswife said:
I think it will end after the cards became black for Chihaya.

MaahHeim said:


The first two seasons adapted until half of chapter 93, so we can assume they adapt more or less 46 chapters per season. Taichi and Arata's match is more or less on chapter 133-134 so it's pretty much in

Edit: Oh, wait. You thought I meant the more recent match. Nope, nope. I meant the match right before Taichi's birthday/Taichi's confession.

Uchiha_Shadow said:
I NEED it to end on the confession, I don't care if they skip some minor stuff if they have to as long as they end it there, that would be the PERFECT way to end the season, though I hope they confirm Season 4 as well otherwise it would be too cruel for Anime-onlys.

GoldenChrysus said:
I must be getting old, but I've been really enjoying this anime for its karuta rather than its high school romance. I used to be someone who wanted romance in every anime, even just nuanced romance for those anime that aren't real romances.

In Chihayafuru, I've been kind of annoyed when the anime (and I suppose the source material too, though I haven't read it) focuses on some romance subplot because I get impatient and just want to watch more karuta.

I suppose the romance has and will have impacts on the karuta plot, though I don't know how I feel about that. e.g. someone falling in love with someone else but it's not reciprocated, or letting their feelings cloud their thoughts, so they start performing poorly in karuta. This seems realistic because, after all, it is a high school anime -- but I'd be disappointed if the anime chose to focus heavily on romance.

In that way -- and it seems like I'm the only person who feels this way in this thread, but oh well -- I hope the anime doesn't end on a romance cliffhanger, because then the audience immediately treats it as a romance anime where they just want to see what happens next in the romance plot, whereas this is ultimately a high school sports anime (as far as I know). Yes, romance plays a role in high school, but the characters in this anime have huge dreams of becoming the best players in the world in a sport -- I'd hate to see all that reduced by some trivial romance that (probably) won't matter to the characters in a few years.

I'd much rather it end on something karuta-related. Someone mentioned , and while I don't know what this means (haven't read the source, as mentioned), it seems a much more interesting ending than a romance one, as I assume it illustrates some sort of internal struggle Chihaya is having (though I could be totally wrong -- I suppose you guys would know more).

Anyway, I'll personally cast my vote as hoping it ends somewhere karuta-related and related to the characters' dreams and ambitions they have been building throughout the entire series, as that is what is most important and relevant in this anime, in my opinion.

MaahHeim said:


As someone who plays karuta in real life, I'm actually really happy that you think of karuta so greatly like that! I particularly love the romance aspects of Chihayafuru (I'm a big TaiChihaya shipper), but don't worry, the manga/anime is, and forever will be, focused on karuta rather than romance. But remember that the Hyakunin Isshu is an anthology, ultimately, about love. So everything is connected, somehow. As Chihaya keeps saying, "she got to know passion" when she met karuta. Because karuta itself is passion (and not just I'm passionate about the sport, but a deep, meaningful passion, that holds the meanings of all the 100 poems and the poets feelings with them).

The scene where the cards turn black for Chihaya is probably way too much ahead for the anime to cover in this season (This is a guess taking into account how many chapters Madhouse adapted in previous seasons). However, what you assumed to be a romance-related ending (When I mentioned Taichi's confession), is much more than that, and much more karuta related. Spoilers ahead, if you don't mind spoilers (Since you read the thread this far I don't think you do?):

GoldenChrysus said:

I don't really mind spoilers, mostly because 1) I will forget them anyway, and 2) knowing what happens doesn't take away the impact of the storytelling, for me.

I do recognize that the Hyakunin Isshu comprises love poems, and I appreciated the various moments in the anime where they were able to learn from the poems' stories and apply them to their own lives.

However, as someone aging further and further away from being able to relate to high school, I get more and more annoyed by the trite romances that occur in high school anime. I like the pacing of this anime -- in both the development of the karuta, teamwork, and inevitable romance -- so it doesn't seem like it would succumb to suddenly being 100% romance all the time, but I do worry about how the very-obviously approaching confessions and emotional turmoil is going to affect the characters' goals in karuta. Hell, in that way, I guess you could say the plot has me right where it wants me, but as someone's who's been there and done that years ago, I know that the characters would (likely) be wasting their times on ephemeral emotions when they have more important dreams and desires at hand. So I just don't want an anime that has such a captivating story to tell to fall victim to typical high school romance shenanigans.

Speaking of real-life karuta, when did you start playing? I've recently become very invested in competitive games like chess, but I feel like I'm starting at a very late age. I keep speaking like I'm ancient, although I'm a little shy of 30. But when it comes to competitive games, my age is when people begin thinking of retirement, not when they're just starting to learn. I've been studying chess daily, and I plan to begin participating in tournaments within the next year. But I always feel like I've missed my opportunity since strong players in every sport/game usually begin in their teens or earlier, but at that time I was occupied learning to code not learning games. I watched basically every shogi anime there is, since it's similar to chess, but it didn't inspire me to play. However, karuta looks incredible, and I would like to learn it (based on my own research and watching of several recorded matches, not just the anime matches). I'm moving to Japan next year, so it seems like an ideal game to learn. In your experience, do you think think someone who's starting essentially a third of the way through their life and willing to commit time to it would be even remotely decent, or would it be a waste of time? As far as playing competitively, not just with friends or something (though I wonder how a foreigner playing karuta competitively in Japan would be received).

landofthekwt said:
I think it will end with him crossing the railroad tracks in Chapter 138 The perfect 5 centimeters per second moment

MaahHeim said:


I've been playing since march this year! Here in Brazil the main karuta society, Meguriaikai, is in São Paulo, a different state from where I live, so I couldn't start before, sadly. I'm in my early twenties, and most of the people there are more or less my age (late twenties at most). However, karuta is a sport where it doesn't matter if you're 15, 30 or 50. In Chihayafuru they say it a few times, in fact: Karuta is a game/sport where age, sex, weight, height, none of this matters. Pretty much like chess, in fact.

I think it would be awesome if you got to play it. Karuta only requires good memorization and fast movements, and your body naturally gets used to it with time. I've only been playing it for 6 months, but I've become *so much* better. See, I'm trying to create a society in the state where I live, so I've been teaching people, and even though I haven't been playing for much longer, I am still able to continuously win against my juniors by 24 cards.

Well, in fact, Japan has been holding World Karuta Team Tournaments, so I don't think it would be that odd for a foreigner to be playing competitively. You'll need to find space in a society, however. A friend of mine said that the societies she tried to enter in Tokyo were all full (don't know if you're going to Tokyo, though, nor if the societies are all full in other cities). But yeah, I 100% think you should give it a shot. It is an amazing game for sure. *And* they have a rank system, so you can already give it a shot in a few competitions after only a few months playing.

GoldenChrysus said:

Yeah, I'll definitely be giving it a try at least, just worried about being able to keep up with the younger folk. :( Before anything though, need to work on my memorization of the poems. Think I'm going to build a web app in the coming weeks (after my trip to Japan and I have cards, recordings, etc.) to help with my memorization and hopefully the memorization of people trying to learn.

Ken34 said:
my initial thoughts even before episode count was announced(cause i assumed they would just adapt the same number of chapters again) had led me to your same initial conclusion, either right before or after the confession. just based on previous trends they dont mind leaving a cliffhanger or going without a "anime only" ending, yes, i consider stopping right at the fujisaki training camp a cliffhanger, so in that regards im pretty confident on that stopping point. im just praying to the anime gods its after. please!!!

MaahHeim said:


PLEASE ANIME GODS! Seriously, if it really ends in the freaking cliffhanger it will leave the anime-onlys CRAZY. I bet a lot of people would run to read the manga too. It would be an awesome play.

Also it would end up like the transfer from Season 1 to 2, with the new members joining! Since the whole scene happens right when they're presenting the club for the first years and is when Chihaya gets the sad news, the 4th season (WE GOTTA BELIEVE) would start right with the new members joining... Just like it happened in season 2! Aghhh! I'm so anxious!

The only thing that scares me a little is that in the PV Arata is shown around the shadows of the members that will join (they're still shadows, but they're there). And this is a bit after 139, but is already showing on the PVs. I just hope they don't rush anything. I want my karuta matches done right, and my characters developing done right as well. So far Madhouse did a great adaptation and I tbh really trust them on adapting things (it's my favorite studio), but I'm a tiny bit scared. Hope everything goes right!

Ken34 said:


hmm, you got me kind of worried now lol, its been a while since i read where season 3 is going to cover, after rewatching PVs, i see they show arata team behind him too in another shot.....



i hope they dont rush anything, but like you im trusting of them considering they have been faithful to the source material so far.

MaahHeim said:


Yes, it's way past

But yeah! Let's trust them and hope for the best!

MaahHeim said:


Yes, it's way past

But yeah! Let's trust them and hope for the best!

Valiantlion960 said:


That shadow team scene from chapter 97 from manga.
resimag.com/p1/aa5af136a2d.png

MaahHeim said:


Thank you! You're right! It's from the scene when Taichi and Arata are talking only! It's been years since I read it hehe Thank you!

Thess said:
Maybe Taichi going with Suou?

Nim0174 said:
So will Season 3 finish the Manga if it ends soon or will there be a fourth season to adapt the rest?

shanimebib said:


Fourth? With the current pacing, they will need a Fifth season to catch where the manga is at. And I am not seeing Madhouse leaving anything out since they have followed 99% of the content in these 55 episodes (including 5 from this season) from the manga. There's nothing they can leave out from here on either because everything is intertwined and related with the development of the characters and their dynamics/relationship.

Jkyi, the only thing they left out adapting in the previous 55 episodes are:
a) Suou-meijin's bizarre yet hilarious personality and
b) Arata imagining Chihaya in a pair of bikinis and blushing

Fionavar said:
Hold on.. ik about the second scene that got cut but.. they cut out some of Suou's scenes?! fucking damnit! Isnt it enough that he barely has any screentime in the first two seasons?! smh... how cruel..

shanimebib said:


Fourth? With the current pacing, they will need a Fifth season to catch where the manga is at. And I am not seeing Madhouse leaving anything out since they have followed 99% of the content in these 55 episodes (including 5 from this season) from the manga. There's nothing they can leave out from here on either because everything is intertwined and related with the development of the characters and their dynamics/relationship.

Jkyi, the only thing they left out adapting in the previous 55 episodes are:
a) Suou-meijin's bizarre yet hilarious personality and
b) Arata imagining Chihaya in a pair of bikinis and blushing

shanimebib said:
With the current pacing, it's gonna be Chapter 141. And I believe Chapter 141 would be an excellent point to stop as a foundation for Season 4 (fingers crossed) or at least create more fans to start picking up the manga.

Fionavar said:


Yeah its very likely to end on that.. I might actually feel bad for the anime onlys haha such an evil way to end the season x)

shanimebib said:


I have this strange feeling that we might get an S4. I still remember back in the days when MADHOUSE said Chihayafuru is a special anime and it is something they love working on. ^_^