Yuki Suetsugu (末次 由紀 Suetsugu Yuki, born September 8, 1975) is a Japanese manga artist. Her career was put on hiatus after she was discovered of being accountable for plagiarism, including tracing. She later resumed her work on March 2007.
She debuted in 1992 in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine with Taiyō no Romance. Her works later moved to Bessatsu Friend magazine, also published by Kodansha.
On 2009-03-24, her work Chihayafuru was chosen for the Manga Taishō.
Amazing. I love that they have officially became a club and now are learning how to be a team. Where each of their strengths and weaknesses are. I especially liked that this shined on how joining a team and not being as good as some other members because they were doing it longer can really make you think you don't matter to the team, but overall you do and it's something to strive to become better.
I also like this shines on Taichi more as a character. He is such a people's person, he understands people so well and because of that, he can boost the morale in small ways and is always thinking about the people around him. It's so sweet.
i really love this story. i feel the excitement of everyone every time they strive to be better and i love that. taichi, you're my love and my precious boy💚
To understand why I am reading this series and a guide to the game featured in this series, check out my review of volume one: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This volume was surprisingly more brisk than I thought it would be. We see the recruiting of the last of the new Team Chihayafuru and they begin training the new recruits to karuta. It does not go well. The arrogance of the three vets blinds them to the fact that their team has little to no cohesion to it which comes back to bite them when they start to compete in their first tournament. They learn what the Chicago Bulls had to learn between 1986-1990. Though Arata does not show-up in this volume, his shadow looms large over Chihaya and Taichi. I really ain’t big on the nicknames for the other characters (it does not work in translation).
As always, the artwork wows me first and foremost in this book. Though this title was drawn and marketed as a josei work, the sports element centers it firmly as a shonen story (and reminds one that these demographic labels are all just for marketing and tradition). I was surprise to see them go into competition so suddenly, but the story handles it well and we end this volume on a cliff-hanger…that I will be resuming in the anime. I tend to prefer anime to manga if the adaptation is good and vice versa. I’m not big on sports anime/manga, but I am not above exploring new ground every now and then. Certainly, I’ll tolerate a story if it’s executed well. I’ll resume the manga where the anime adaptation ends, unless they adapt the whole thing before then—in which case I will review the last translated volume regardless.
Loving this manga, beautifully drawn, slice-of-life story about a girl who is passionate about kurata (a poetry card game/endurance sport) and whose passion inspires others who then in turn inspire her as they all learn and grow together. I love these types of stories, you just don't see many of these kinds of long form stories (outside of manga) about a group of people that are learning and growing through a shared passion that is also grounded and doesn't involve some high-stakes involving magic, super-powers and saving the world. Even the 'love-triangle' feels genuinely torn as all three characters are likable and given enough character development that you just want them all to be happy.
This manga is a slow burn, the focus is on characters and how they develop, grow and learn about themselves and what they can do to improve and become better. I guess it is stories like these that keep me reading manga even after I long ago gave up on comics being a satisfying fix for me (not all but the good ones are rarer for me now). Mangas like this are made for people like me, who still love comic/manga art form but prefer a light, wholesome story that feels grounded and inspiring at the same time. Throw in some ambition, rivalry, romance, true friendship and dealing with loss and you have a very satisfying slow burn story. The feels stories like this give me are just not the same in other media of a similar type.
My favorite scene was that the karuta club is completed. The firstly, karuta club was looked down by everyone, but it was good the karuta team gradually grew up. I can learn about karuta through reading Chihayafuru. The karuta is one of traditional Japanese sports. I could know the meaning of karuta and the fun of playing karuta.
A team CHIHAYAFURU that is MIzusawa high school karuta club is formed. There are 5 members in this club. Their characteristics are different but they have same strong feeling and passion. They really want to go a national tournament, so they try to do their best.
After reading the first two volumes I took a very long break from this. It was unintentional, I'm just stupid like that. But coming back to this was super easy, I instantly remembered why I love it so much. Even in this one volume there was so much character work, so much development. I think if you like Haikyuu you will definitely like this series, they have similar vibes.
I FINISHED THE SERIES. Okay, I really wish we could have seen more at the end there. But DAMN. EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD. IT WAS SUCH A LONG, ARDUOUS RIDE, AND I FEEL EXHAUSTED BUT SO EXCITED EVERYTHING WAS SO GREAT AND I WANT SOME MORE FILLER CRAP TO SOOTHE MY THIRSTY SOUL. Everything is too much. All the characters are too great. I just can't.
The only thing I’m not liking is the rushing, like we got the school team formed and then immediately they’re in the tournament and we’re at the finals of it. Also the romance is kind of throwing me off cause I feel like it’s so rushed it doesn’t feel as impactful. I don’t know that’s just me but still fun, also omg the panels of just character close ups are so good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I continue to enjoy the journey that is Chihayafuru. I continue to grow fond of each character, and continue to admire their determination to their various goals. I am so excited to see how this story develops and continues.
Team bonding! Team bonding! We finally get our fifth member to complete the club and see how team competitions work. (And Hiro is such a funny supporting character, I love how invested and ambitious he is.)
i ended up going to the last chapter to see who she ends up with because i thought this was more of a romance manga (who ever lied to me is going to hell) and without giving any spoilers away i will not be continuing this :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.