"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" - "Nagi"Nanoka Hara's appearance overlaps with "Chihaya"Suzu Hirose

The first episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (Nippon TV, Wednesdays at 10pm), starring actress Ami Touma, was broadcast on July Getsuku. The episode depicted Meguru (Touma) from the Umezono High School Competitive Karuta Club and Tsukiura Nagi (Nanoka Hara) from the Mizusawa High School Competitive Karuta Club competing in a competitive karuta demonstration, which caused a stir on social media.

◇The following contains spoilers.

In the first episode, Meguru, a second-year student at Umezono High School and a ghost member of the competitive karuta club, places great importance on typography in everything she does. She is a member of the karuta club because it is beneficial for her school report card if she is a member of a club, but she has never attended a club activity and doesn't understand the rules of competitive karuta at all. However, she is called in to make up the numbers for the third-years' retirement match, and is stunned to see her seniors in tears after losing in the first round. Feeling that "youth doesn't suit me," Meguru decides to quit the club.

Meanwhile, the karuta club holds a competitive karuta demonstration at the school festival. At the request of the club's advisor, Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi), Meguru is forced to participate, and reunites with Nagi, a classmate from elementary school who is a member of the Mizusawa High School Competitive Karuta Club. Meguru runs out of the clubroom without thinking, and when she sees Nagi, who looks like the protagonist of a manga, she is reminded that she is a loser. She tells Kanade and tries to leave, but she reveals her true feelings, saying, "If I could beat her at anything, I might cry like the seniors did that day," and returns to the demonstration hiding her face with a mask... and so the story unfolds.

Afterwards, a karuta scene was shown of the Umezono High School Competitive Karuta Club playing against Team Nagi. As the karuta match began, Nagi concentrated, tucking her hair behind her ear with her left hand, and staring at the cards in front of her, quickly taking the first card. Then, not to be outdone, Kanade takes the card back, and Nagi smiles happily, saying, "Nice take...!" After winning the karuta match by one card, when Kanade asks her name, Nagi declares with a carefree smile, "Nagi, Tsukiura Nagi... I'm aiming to be the Karuta Queen!" Seeing her, Kanade sees Chihaya (Suzu Hirose) in her image.

On social media, many people compared Nagi to Hirose's character Chihaya in the film series, with comments such as "Nagi was more like Chihaya than I expected," "I got a little teary-eyed seeing Chihaya in Nagi," "I was surprised at how Nagi really looked like Chihaya," "The scene where she tucks her hair behind her ear was heartwarming," and "She's Chihaya herself."