Chihayafuru/Characters

Characters appearing in Chihayafuru

Chihaya Ayase

Voiced by: Asami Seto

• Big Sister Worship: Chitose Ayase is the prettiest girl in the world, and don't you dare tell Chihaya otherwise.
• Book Dumb: It's been noted by the others that she is one of the last twelve people in terms of grades.
• Cheerful Child
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Determinator
• Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Sings the ending.
• Dude Magnet: Subverted. She would be one due to her looks, but men are usually driven off by her personality.
  • Lampshaded in the episode 16 when the male members of the club decide which one of their female collegues they'd rather have as a girlfriend. When Nishida and Komano declare Chihaya 'out of question' Taichi is upset... but after they present their arguments (Chihaya being Married to the Job and a maniac about karuta) he sees no option but to admit they're right and gives off his vote to Kana-chan too.
• Genki Girl
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: The athletic one.
• Hot-Blooded: She is very dedicated to playing karuta and will make very sure that everyone around her knows it.
• Nice Girl
• The Nicknamer
• Oblivious to Love
• The Pollyanna: Especially as a child. Always believes the best of the people, in cases of Taichi and her own sister usually incorrectly.
  • Taichi's mom on the other hand scares the crap out of her.
• She's All Grown Up
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With her sister
• Super Senses: Her hearing.
• Sweet Tooth: It's a ritual for her to stuff herself with chocolate after a match.
• Tomboy: With Kana-chan or Chitose as girly girls of her.
• The Unfavorite: Subverted as her parents seem to come off as uncaring toward her at first when they seem to have endless picture albums of her older sister and her modeling career, but it turns out that they're overjoyed at the fact the can collect newspaper clippings of both their daughters. Chihaya's only just started.
  • Except that they ignore her when she wins her first karuta tournament (which is probably her first big success) in favor of Chitose's photo-shot.
• Unskilled but Strong: She's incredibly fast, but has no technique. In episode 17, both Tsutomu and Kana-chan point out her weaknesses, which actually pulls her out of her Heroic BSOD after Harada-sensei points out to her the problem of relying over much on speed. In episode 18, it's all but spelled out to her why her over reliance on her speed and sharp ears isn't the best way to play.

Taichi Mashima

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano, Ayahi Takagaki (young)

• Abusive Mom: His mother a bit of an Education Mama, for any competition.
• The Ace: Subverted, as Kanade quite harshly sums his up in one omake: "Jack of All Trades, Master of None".
• Alpha Bitch: Despite being male, he does a textbook job in his childhood and even transfers into Lovable Alpha Bitch territory as the time passes.
• The "B" Grade
• Bishounen
• Bratty Half-Pint: As a kid.
• Cannot Spit It Out
• Character Development: As the series progresses and also a big one over the Time Skip.
• Club President: After the club was officially recognized.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He's less a Jerkass about it as a teenager, but it's still there.
• Dirty Coward: The glasses incident. Though he redeems himself.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Chihaya as they grow up. In childhood times he might be dogged too, but anything near 'nice'.
• Freudian Excuse: Young Taichi is such a sore loser and will engage any underhanded trick to win because his Abusive Mom will chew him out if he ever loses a competition.
• He's All Grown Up
• In-Series Nickname: "Matsuge-kun" by Dr. Harada.
• Jerkass -> Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a kid.
  • Nice Guy: As a teenager. By the comparision to his past self anyway.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Chihaya's red and red to Arata's blue. In the second case Color-Coded for Your Convenience.
• Team Dad
• Tsundere
• Weak but Skilled: Not that weak, as Taichi is pretty athletic and doesn't come off than less physically capable than the other players, but the balance certainly leans this way, especially compared to the likes of Chihaya. Taichi is well aware than his physical skills don't match his thinking abilities, too.
• Your Cheating Heart: It's easy to forget since she hardly shows up, but Taichi has a girlfriend for the most of the series.

Arata Wataya

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hisoya, Yuka Terasaki (young)

• All of the Other Reindeer: In elementary school.
• Always Someone Better: In Taichi's eyes anyway.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: How his friendship with Chihaya started.
• Bishounen
• Blind Without'Em
• Blue Eyes
• Cool Loser: In Chihaya's eyes.
• Kansai Regional Accent: He got teased as a kid because of this.
• Megane
• New Transfer Student
• Nice Guy: Actually a better example than Taichi, even in their teenage years.
• Photographic Memory
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Taichi's red.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience
• Real Men Wear Pink: His cellphone.
• Tall, Dark and Handsome

Kanade Ōe

Voiced by: Ai Kayano

• Buxom Is Better: She is also a Nice Girl and is shown as getting approval as the most attractive dating candidate from all of the club members (quite begrudgingly from Taichi's side).
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Yes, even Chihaya.
• Gainaxing: In episode 17 during the relay race. Cheers from the male crowd were extra loud when it was her turn to run.
• In-Series Nickname: Kana-chan
• Nice Girl
• Serious Business: Traditional Japanese clothing to the point where she joins the club on the condition that they start wearing hakamas.
  • She gets it from her mom.
  • The actual hundred poems as well. She takes it as a personal affront to be berated on her card arrangement by Nishida when he doesn't know any more about the cards than how he arranges them for ease of play compared to her, who knows them all by heart.
• Weak but Skilled
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Her goal. In fact she is one, but she sets the bar higher, requiring wearing traditional clothes and mastering classical poetry for the ideal.

Tsutomu Komano

Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga

• Graceful Loser: Following his match to Kana-chan.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: His initial opinion due to not being able to surpass Taichi in grades.
• In-Series Nickname: Tsukue/Desktomu.
• Megane
• Nerd Glasses
• Self-Deprecation
• Weak but Skilled

Yūsei Nishida

Voiced by: Tooru Nara

• Big Eater
• Big Fun
• Hidden Depths: You wouldn't take that mean, chubby kid met in grade school tournament seriously, but after years he proves himself as a decent player, valuable team member and, despite his appearance, a guy athletic enough to win a relay race for his team.
• Hot-Blooded
• In-Series Nickname: Nikuman/Porky.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: He doesn't like it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• The Rival: Sees himself as this to Taichi and actually is more than a threat to him.

Dr. Harada

Voiced by: Unshou Ishizuka

• Alliterative Name: His first name is Hidehara
• Cool Old Guy
• Cool Teacher

Hiro Kinashi

Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai

• Eyes Always Shut
• Gonk
• My Name Is Not Retro

Chitose Ayase

Voiced by: Aya Endo

• Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: During the Christmas Skit
• Big Sister Bully: Not that Chihaya notices.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: The fashionable one.
• Jerkass
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Chihaya.

Akito Sudō

Voiced by: Takashi Oohara

• Arrogant Karuta Guy
• Eyes Always Shut
• Jerkass/Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Has a honorable side as a karuta player, but still remains rather petty and ill-tempered.
• Manipulative Bastard: Fond of bringing down his opponents psychologically.
  • Hannibal Lecture
• Sitcom Arch Nemesis: To a degree to Chihaya.
• Unknown Rival: Treated that way by Shinobu, even though she's obviously mocking him.

Shinobu Wakamiya

• Always Someone Better
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Her obsession with Snomaru apparel
• Distaff Counterpart: To Arata in a sense.
• But for Me It Was Tuesday: Treats this way her matches with Sudo and Yumi Yamamoto. Taken to ridiculous level in the second case, because Yamamoto is the former Queen, whom Shinobu was playing previously exactly at the occasion of taking the title from her.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Perpetual Smiler
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
• Smug Smiler
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
  • Fat Girl: When she shows up in the Queen Qualifier, much to everyone's shock.
• Worthy Opponent: Played with. Take an interest in Chihaya despite only losing five cards to her.

Yumi Yamamoto

• Alliterative Name
• Always Someone Better: Shinobu to her. Continuously.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Feels this way about her karuta.
• Manipulative Bitch: Her style contains shaking her opponents' rhythm and morale by questioning every close call in taking cards.

Hisashi Suou

A college student and the current Meijin. He's been holding this title 4 years in a row.

• Brilliant but Lazy: He's the king of Karuta, but he doesn't seem to do well in school.
• Super Senses: His hearing ability is so remarkable that he can catch the sound before it barely leaves the reader's lips.