"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" Audiences Moved by Ami Touma's First "Call" as "Meguru"

The fourth episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru: Meguri" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on July 30th. The episode featured a scene in which Aizawa Meguru (Touma), a member of the Umezono Karuta Club, shouts out a cheer for the first time during a team match at a joint training camp with Hokuo Academy, sparking a stir on social media.

◇The following contains spoilers.

In episode 4, the Umezono Karuta Club holds a three-day, two-night joint training camp with Kitao Gakuen, one of the most powerful schools in Tokyo. Meguru's cram school training camp overlaps with the camp's dates, but she lies to her parents and attends the karuta club's training camp. Oe Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi) encourages the others, saying, "You'll definitely learn a lot!"

At the training camp, Umezono is greeted by a former member of the Kitao Karuta Club, Kinashi Hiroshi (Sakaguchi Ryotaro), nicknamed "Hyoro-kun," and current Kitao students. The club's ace and captain, Okuyama Sho (Riku Onishi), was promoted to Class A in his first year of junior high school and is a talented player tipped to become a master in the future. He is the twin brother of Okuyama Haruma (Takamura Yoshito). However, Sho, ashamed of his Class C brother, doesn't want the others at Kitao to know, so he calls Haruma and tells him, "If they start to find out, I'll have you go home in a second." Haruma, too, is concerned about his younger brother and promises, "I'll never tell anyone that you're his older brother." Having overheard their conversation, Meguru has mixed feelings.

Umezono is unable to keep up with Kitao's hard training and is exhausted from the start. Even in the team match, he is overwhelmed by Kitao's speed and loud cheers, resulting in a crushing defeat. "I wonder why they're shouting so much..." Meguru wonders, not understanding why Kitao is calling out to each other. Meanwhile, Yono Sota (Soma Santoki) feels a sense of crisis about the current lack of players, saying, "In the first place, we're only four people, so I think this is a problem that goes beyond cheering." Haruma, unable to play in the match due to dizziness of unknown cause, feels responsible... and so the story unfolds.

Afterwards, feeling that he is causing trouble for the Karuta Club, Haruma leaves a note and leaves the training camp. However, after hearing a voice message from Meguru and the others on his smartphone, Haruma returns to the training camp and, enduring dizziness, heads to the team match. As Sho takes his cards one after another, he instinctively closes his eyes, but Meguru, watching him like this, calls out to him for the first time, "Haruman! Fight!" Furthermore, Fuki (Jun Saito), Chieri (Arashi Rina), and Sota also call out to Haruma, who yells "Umezono, fight!" and takes the cards even as he falls. Then Meguru realizes, "So when we say cheer, it's not something you say, it just comes out."

On social media, many people expressed their emotion at Meguru's first shout. Comments included, "It made me cry when Meguru shouted," "Meguru's 'Springtime Fight!' had me in tears," "Meguru said she couldn't shout louder, but then shouted louder first, and it was so touching that I burst into tears," and "Meguru's shout made me burst into tears."