The final episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru: Meguri" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on September 10. In the episode, after the final qualifying round to advance to the national tournament, Meguru (Touma) and other members of the Umezono Karuta Club invite Fuki (Jun Saito) to karaoke, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In the final episode, Meguru and the Umezono Karuta Club face off against the champion Mizusawa in the final qualifying round. Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi) serves as the caller. And then, the match finally begins. Umezono and Mizusawa, Meguru and Nagi (Nanoka Hara) face off against each other. Kanade's introductory song echoes throughout the venue, and her beautiful voice captivates Mizusawa alumni in the audience, including Chihaya (Suzu Hirose), Taichi (Nomura Shuhei), Nishida (Yamoto Yuma), and Sumire (Yuki Mio).
The match was a back-and-forth battle with neither side giving in. With Chieri (Arashi Rina) and Yakumo (Sakamoto Aito) losing, Umezono was pushed to the brink, but Meguru and Mizusawa's ace Kenshin (Fujiwara Daisuke) and Fuki and Sota (Soma Santoki) showed a furious comeback, and finally the fateful match between the three pairs came to an end. Meanwhile, when Sota scored a win, Meguru began practicing the signal that the Umezono members had decided to use to attack the enemy camp. Then the cards were called, but Meguru and Fuki's hands were just a little short of the cards, and the match ended with Nagi and Kenshin winning, and Mizusawa finishing with four wins... and so it went.
In the episode, after the tournament, Meguru and the other members of the Umezono Karuta Club are talking with Kanade when Yakumo suddenly asks the group, "Oh! What's the after-party for today?" Then, Chieri claps her hands and suggests, "Okay! Let's go to karaoke!" Haruma (Takamura Yoshito) then agrees, saying, "This time, I really want to hear Shirano's beautiful voice," and Fuki initially declines, saying, "No, no, I'm fine," but Meguru also says, "Maybe I'd like to hear it too," and they end up heading straight to karaoke.
Saito, who plays Kazuki, previously appeared in the film "Karaoke Ikou!" (2024, directed by Yamashita Nobuhiro), based on the popular manga by Yama Yama, in which he played the role of Oka Satomi, the captain of the choir club, which has led to a flood of reactions to the "karaoke" theme on social media. Comments such as "He's definitely aiming to invite Kazuki to karaoke, isn't he!?", "It's really making my heart warm," "A surprise 'Karaoke Ikou!' joke," "'Karaoke Ikou' was too good lol," "His teasing about karaoke is hilarious lol," and "Shirano has some sort of connection to karaoke" were among the comments.
