Chihayafuru S2 - 25 [Finished]
Not in the mood for typing a lot, so the short version: I ended up enjoying this more or less as much as season 1. I consider S1 to be a bit better, however, S2 benefits from you being already much more attached to the characters from the getgo.
Thankfully only 2 new members joined the school's club and, while initially annoying, they were somewhat fine afterwards. I think this season suffers a bit more from pacing issues, especially as some of the matches drag on a bit when not only every Mizusawa member but also the opponents get a lot of inner monologue and backstory exposition. In general I consider this a good thing of course, it's just that it became a bit much towards the half-finals and finals of the international schoolteam tournament. Am glad I wasn't watching this when it aired as it would've been painful to follow those matches with a week between every cliffhanger ;P
The characters, the actual Karuta sport and its presentation are fantastic in this show. Found myself rooting for our protagonists more and more as the anime went on. The humor was pretty good, too, actually. Loved the occasional little annotation next to the characters.
I'm not sure what to think about the ending. Wish they tackled the relationship angle just a tad more aggressive but I leave mostly satisfied. Overall it's still really weird how little screentime Arata gets, although when he does get it, it's quite important. I don't know anything about the manga but since this ending isn't really conclusive there's room for another season. If one should ever come out I'll certainly watch it.
I think I'd give Chihayafuru S1 a 8/10 and S2 a 7/10. Also I did end up writing a bunch... damn it.
edit:
Arata's eyes...are quite something.
