At first I thought it was a bit weird - an anime about a card game? But I've really grown to like this one. It's generally classified as josei, there's 18 episodes so far and it's still going on.
When Chihaya befriends her new classmate Arata, he introduces her to the competetive card game karuta. She becomes obsessed with the game and starts dreaming of becoming the "Queen", the best female karuta player in Japan. When Arata moves away, she vows to keep on playing karuta.
Later when she's in high school she meets her old childhood friend and former karuta teammate Taichi again. She convinces him to try to form a karuta club at school. They need five members to officially form a club, so they look for suitable candidates.
The plot then follows them becoming friends, trying to get better, going to tournaments, etc.
What I really like about Chihayafuru ist that they don't magically win everything. There are defeats and set-backs. The characters are distinguishable, have their own strengths and weaknesses and all get some character development.
It's heart-breaking how Taichi - nice, good-looking, good in school, rich, good in sports - obviously loves Chihaya, they're such an amazing team, but she's completely oblivious of it and goes on raving about Arata.
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Uta no☆Prince-sama♪
Another one of these otome game adaptions (13 episodes). But what can I say - I like bishonen reverse harem. And as long as the girl is a flat character, there's a chance she's not totally annoying.
The story (if you can call it such) takes place in a boarding school for artists. There are pupils who want to become "idols" and ones who want to become composers, there's a mad principal and falling in love is against the rules. Naturally the story is full of music, songs - and innuendos. And besides it being an otome game adaption, there's also lots of possibilities for yaoi couples (though there's not even hints at such).
I really like the drawing style. Nanami, the main girl, has yellow eyes though, which I found rather strange and distracting. She also has an annoyingly high voice and is rather clumsy, and an airhead... the usual. But of course everyone wants to pair up with her. The usual. But there's a mysterious cat, too, so that's a bonus point. I also like the voices of some of the voice actors, especially when singing.
You don't watch these for the plot, you watch them for the dream that maybe someday, someone like these guys will turn up in your life and love you. Don't you?
Still. Like with Starry☆Sky I kind of wish this one would have gotten a bit more time and depth. It would have been a great opportunity to get more into the single characters and their friendship. And what's up with that cat? Even on the basis of an otome game, it could have been much more than just these 13 episodes.
Good news is that I heard there's gonna be a second season - so let's hope they'll take the chance and build this up to a good story.
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Koukaku No Regios
Chrome Shelled Regios (its English name) is an anime adoption of a teen book series.
Sometime in the future Earth is polluted and humans are living in mobile cities, called regios. Outside of those they can't breathe and there's giant "filth monsters" roaming about.
Layfon Alseif had to leave his hometown - where he was a member of a group of special warriors - and tries to start a new, peaceful life in an academy city. Layfon seems like an average nice guy (and most girls fancy him), but turns into a total badass when fighting. His superior fighting abilities are soon discovered and he's coaxed to join the martial arts students and the 17th platoon.
This is a quite good shonen anime. It's not too long (24 episodes), the characters are all likable (even most females) and the plot is suspenseful. I also like how women are treated absolutely equal to men.
Sometimes it gets a bit gory (but not very often) and there's these flashbacks in bad English that apparently explain the back story - but I didn't get it. I also would have liked to get to know some characters better, like Harley. Maybe there'll be another season?
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