Chihayafuru Part 1
Plot. In elementary school, Chihaya Ayase forms a bond, through competitive karuta, with two of her Tokyo classmates; recent Fukui transfer student Arata Wataya and Taichi Mashima, her childhood friend. Arata is a prodigious karuta player whose dream is to become Meijin, the men's division karuta champion in Japan, equivalent to the women's division Queen title. He believes that Chihaya has the potential to become a great player. Inspired, Chihaya commits to a new dream, becoming Japan's best karuta player. Not content with only participating in their school's tournament, the trio team up  and join a local karuta society. They are soon separated, at the end of primary school, when Arata moves back to Fukui while Taichi and Chihaya enrol in different middle schools. but not before promising each other to remain connected through karuta. In her first year in high school, karuta obsessed Chihaya is reunited with Taichi, when she is recruiting students to join her for karuta competitions. Together, they form the Mizusawa Karuta Club. Participation in tournaments enables them to reconnect with Arata. Unbeknownst to Chihaya, the two boys have fallen in love with her. With her teammates and friends  supporting her, Chihaya continues to strive to become the best karuta player in the world, while forging relationships with other players. Production. The film was shot at the Omi Shrine in Shiga Prefecture. The theme song of the two films is "FLASH" by the Japanese group Perfume. The original soundtracks are composed by Masaru Yokoyama. Release. The release date of the film was announced in December 2015 for March 19, 2016. Reception. The film reached the fourth place by admissions at the Japanese box office on its opening weekend, with 146,299 admissions and a gross of . Sequels. A sequel, titled  Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku, was released in Japan on April 29, 2016. Another sequel was announced at "Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku"'s premiere. This third and final film, titled "Chihayafuru: Musubi", was released March 17, 2018. Koizumi returned as director and the main cast reprised their roles. The conclusion of the story, set two years after the events of the first two films, features four new cast members, including Kaya Kiyohara who portrays Io Wagatsuma, a character written exclusively for the film. Kento Kaku appears as Hisashi Suō, as Akihiro Tsukuba and Mio Yūki as Sumire Hanano. Chihayafuru Part 1