"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" Episode 4 Synopsis Released

The drama series "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10pm) starring actress Ami Touma has released a synopsis and stills for the fourth episode, which will air on July 30th.

The day of the new Umezono Karuta Club's first training camp has arrived. It's a three-day, two-night joint training camp with Kitao Gakuen, one of Tokyo's most powerful schools. Aizawa Meguru (Touma)'s cram school training camp overlaps with the camp's dates, but she lies to her parents and joins the karuta club. Oe Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi) encourages the others, saying, "You'll definitely learn a lot!"

On the way to the training camp, the sound of a deer can be heard coming from somewhere in the shrine grounds, and Okuyama Haruma (Takamura Yoshito) immediately recites a poem: "Deep in the mountains, stepping through the autumn leaves, when I hear the sound of a deer crowing, autumn is sad."

At the training camp, Umezono is greeted by Kinashi Hiroshi (Sakaguchi Ryotaro), an alumnus of the Kitao Karuta Club known as "Hyoro-kun," and current Kitao students. Okuyama Sho (Riku Onishi), the club's ace and captain, was promoted to Class A in his first year of junior high school and is a talented player expected to become a master in the future. He is actually Haruma's twin brother. However, Sho, ashamed of his Class C brother, does not 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." Meguru, who accidentally overhears their conversation, has mixed feelings.

Umezono is completely 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, and is defeated devastatingly, unable to do anything. "Why are they 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 are 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, begins to feel responsible...

"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.