"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" Episode 9 Synopsis Released

The drama series "Chihayafuru: Meguri" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10pm) starring actress Ami Touma has released a synopsis and stills for episode 9, which will air on September 3rd.

After losing to Mizusawa in the first round of the Tokyo qualifiers, Meguru (Touma) and the rest of the Umezono Karuta Club advance through the losers' bracket to decide the second representative. Meanwhile, the reigning champion Mizusawa, who missed out on the championship, also wins the losers' bracket and advances to the final qualifier. The last ticket to the national tournament will be contested between four schools: Umezono, Mizusawa, Kitao, and Adore.

With the big match coming up in three weeks, the Umezono Karuta Club is in the final stretch. After an old injury to his right hand recurred during the preliminaries, Fuki (Saito Jun Saito) trains hard under Taichi (Nomura Shuhei), an alumnus of Mizusawa, in order to learn to play karuta with his left hand. Meguru, who is accompanying Fuki in his practice, asks Touko (Uchida Yuki) and Susumu (Kaname Jun) to please let her take a break from cram school for just a little while, and Susumu and Touko wholeheartedly support her, saying, "Go for it, Meguru!"

Mizusawa's ace, Kenshin (Fujiwara Daisuke), seeks guidance from the master, Arata (Mackenyu). "Kenshin is strong, but he's not a scary opponent in a team match," says Arata. "A truly scary opponent in a team match isn't just someone who's good at karuta. It's someone who makes their teammates stronger together." Hearing these words, Kenshin recalls Megu's face. To become even stronger, Kenshin practices repeatedly with Arata, while Fuki trains hard with Taichi. The battle between Fuki and Kenshin is like a proxy war between Taichi and Arata...

Meanwhile, Taichi, who was watching Megu's karuta, commented, "Aizawa's karuta is unique and interesting." Megu looks at the cards that have been read and the ones that are left, and decides which one is most likely to be read next, and then makes a move. Taichi sees through Megu's personality and gives her some advice: "Why don't you try changing the way you think about karuta a little?"

Then, on the day before the fateful final qualifying round, an unexpected person appears before the Umezono members...

"Chihayafuru" is a manga by Yuki Suetsugu that was serialized in "BE・LOVE" (Kodansha) from 2007 to 2022. The story follows Ayase Chihaya, who awakens to the charms of competitive karuta through her encounter with transfer student Wataya Arata, and becomes passionate about the game alongside her childhood friend Mashima Taichi and the other unique members of the karuta club. The drama is an original story set 10 years after the trilogy of films "Kami no Ku" and "Shimo no Ku" in 2016 and "Musubi" in 2018.