@migh There is romance development and it's not static. The writer has no issue upsetting the status quo and developing relationships, BUT, it's a slow boil that takes time. We're nearing the end of the manga and plotlines from the very beginning are now finally reaching their ultimate payoffs and it's satisfying as hell.

hey i want to start this but is there any romance development or its really secondary

I ship her with Taichi. He always there for her and yet they have a lot of cute moments. I hope that dumb Chihaya wont ignore Taichi's feeling(poor him). Sometime chihaya piss me off for some reasons*?*. Actually I can say Taichi is too good for her. But I will ship her with Taichi until the end lolol...
I just want Taichi to be happy 😊 He already suffer a lot. I cant bear it. A lot of Taichi's scene that make me cry.

We still at it? Huuuh.
By the way, I don't need to read anymore seeing the end as it's easy to guess ---maybe..
This manga never planned to see the resolution of a relationship, but somehow it actually does imo. That encourages the reader to hope. And that is the position of all of us right now.
If the author plans to pull the winner from the struggle for one insensitive girl, this really will be a lopsided result.

It is a fact that individual problems go hand in hand with the ongoing matches.
It's about sports, but we also see something behind the scenes regarding the players' emotional movements.
Chihaya walks on it, but she acts as someone who rises to pursue her ambitions. That's the part that questions where her heart will dock because she never seriously thought about the problem, the confessions.

The reason why I ship Arata over Taichi :
I always felt Chihaya's reaction to Arata was special. A look of admiration and pride, a passionate encouragement along with her love for Karuta. This is a poetic description of love, not childish, but really really something.
Arata introduced her to the world of Karuta, and she was obsessed with it. Thus lead to a major conflict where Taichi will question his intention to walk together next to the girl he likes.
While Chihaya's relationship with Taichi is not a matter of fighting and fighting for, it is different, even though Taichi sacrificed himself until he lost control.

I really want to say this is not shoujo. So maybe it's better not to look there.
The stereotype with definite results is a bit unsettling but intriguing.

@goronyanpai I also ship Arata and Chihaya from the beginning, i feel like the whole story is about them, honestly i'll be dissapointed if this ended up like Hirunaka No Ryuusei.

And for people said the author is completely hates Taichi... that's just so wrong. Personally i find the Author loves Taichi, he is the one receiving huge character development...100% for the better, i feel like his love for Chihaya is the one who binds him, he's never been into Karuta since the beginning so his losses are just justified... but the moment he realizes to finally let her go, he'll be more free as a person, he can finally looking for something he really wants and i love Taichi for being like that as his own person, that's his story... his move-on story, who tf cares about love anyway it'll feel weird after all that he's still ended up with Chihaya, i feel like his arc is already completed. Look at that compared to Arata as goronyanpai said, i also feel bad for Arata since he never highlighted much, Taichi is more deeper as character.

@Ti0 I have, it follows the manga quite closely, the anime ends somewhere around the middle of chapter 93.
Also the 2 live action movies are pretty good, those skip a lot of details and the last scene of the 2nd movie is non-cannon foreshadowing.
Ps. Shinobus actress is great in the live action movies (edit: only appears in the 2nd one).

Anyone watched the anime here?

@Mossygirl
they weren't, period.
Reason was "watch anime if you want to know what happened", I think. Then someone got a group to get missing chapters translated, they did a couple, but afterwards official release was announced, and they dropped doing that too.
So I guess your best luck is to look for scans of official release or buy needed volume.

>competitive karuta
wew, what's next, a manga about curling?

I read this a long time ago and think I need to start over. Does anyone know if the "missing chapters" have ever been scanlated (and just aren't hosted here)? I'm trying to decide if it'd better to watch the anime or stick with the manga ...

@_Koutarou_
My opinion will make Taichi fangirls hate me.
Bluntly speaking, I only feel sad for Arata. He is clearly like an outsider, the starter of it all and never appear too much in the story (what I mean is, Chihaya and Taichi are more hightlighted).

I will hate it if Taichi wins, because, the final arc is just like that. The chapter goes downhill.

The best ending is, there is no exact resolution, no need miracles happened, I prefer if Taichi finally feels satisfied with his hard work. He had tried, aligning himself with his two best friends. And from this defeat, he will make a decision especially about his ambition and dream.

I always thought the Author hated Taichi, she makes him suffer the most, always loosing and never winning. So.... pretty sure Arata is going to win the third match, his gary stu levels are too high.

See how the author sided with Taichi. Okay, just let him win.
And Chihaya ends up with Arata. I kinda skeptic because, the strands of poetry that bridge them, can be between love and admiration. But it's too sweet If it's not about love.

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/11/12-1/chihayafuru-tv-anime-season-3-is-in-the-cards-for-april-of-2019?utm_source=community_cr&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=news&referrer=community_cr_twitter_news

Anime season 3 announced for April 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i don't care if chihaya choose arata but please make taichi win and challenge suou meijin please make him happy, but i would be really happy if chihaya choose taichi so please update soon, the vol 39 already end

I ship Arata x Chihaya
since the beginning..
But now, I don't care. Their friendship are too great.

New popularity poll results
Spoiler

I saw that TDX has already scanlated chapter 198. Does anyone know if there's a particular reason why they haven't uploaded it here yet?

Wow! Did anyone notice the untranslated page that told TV anime of chihayafuru season 3 will be airing in 2019!? I don’t know if it’s real or not... someone please tell me it’s real!

@Jak - If that is an unpopular opinion then I don't know what my shipping of Chihaya and Sudou is...