Hikari

12

PG-13

Rifle Is Beautiful

Rifle-shooting sports are competitive activities testing accuracy and precision using a rifle. In Japan, carrying firearms is prohibited, so most of the participants are members of the defense force. When the use of rifles using a light beam instead of real bullets as ammunition became common, rifle-shooting competitions became accessible to the younger population, giving way to school contests. First-year high school student and marksmanship enthusiast Hikari Kokura has just transferred to Chidori High School. She tries to join the club of her choice, but finds out that the club no longer exists due to the low popularity of the sport. Distraught, she tries to restore the club and somehow manages to recruit three other members: her childhood friend Izumi Shibusawa, the half-Russian Erika Meinohama, and the stoic Yukio Igarashi. This marks the beginning of the Chidori Rifle-Shooting Club, who have only one goal—to compete on the national stage!

TV Fall 2019 6.2

25

PG-13

Shin Ace wo Nerae!

Heroine, Hiromi Oka, has just entered a high school famous for its tennis club. She has started playing tennis yearning after Madam Butterfly. She was expecting to enjoy playing tennis with her best friend, Maki, but the situation changes when the new coach, Mr. Munakata, suddenly picks out Hiromi to be one of the players for the upcoming tournament and starts giving Hiromi tough lessons. She strives under any circumstance. The more the new coach gives her training, the better she seems to get. Finally she becomes the representative in the junior match tournament. (Source: TMS Entertainment)

TV Fall 1978 6.71

25

PG-13

Chihayafuru

As a child, Chihaya Ayase had only one dream: to see her elder sister Chitose become Japan's most successful model. However, upon defending her ostracised classmate Arata Wataya from his bully—Chihaya's childhood friend Taichi Mashima—she discovers the world of competitive karuta and soon becomes enamoured with the sport. Based on the Ogura Hundred Poets anthology, this card game where poems are studied requires excellent memory, agility, and a tremendous endurance from the players. Full of hope, Chihaya joins the Shiranami Society together with the newly reconciled Arata and Taichi, embarking on an exciting journey for the title awarded to the top-ranked female player—Queen of Karuta. Since middle school, Chihaya grew distant from a dispassionate Taichi and separated from Arata. However, in order to improve her skills, Chihaya decides to create a karuta club in her high school. With the help of Taichi, another veteran player, and a few spirited newcomers, Chihaya's new-founded Mizusawa Karuta Club aims for victory in the Omi Shrine's national championship.

TV Fall 2011 8.18

25

PG-13

Chihayafuru 2

Chihaya Ayase is obsessed with developing her school's competitive karuta club, nursing daunting ambitions like winning the national team championship at the Omi Jingu and becoming the Queen, the best female karuta player in Japan—and in extension, the world. As their second year of high school rolls around, Chihaya and her fellow teammates must recruit new members, train their minds and bodies alike, and battle the formidable opponents that stand in their way to the championship title. Meanwhile, Chihaya's childhood friend, Arata Wataya, the prodigy who introduced her to karuta, rediscovers his lost love for the old card game.

TV Winter 2013 8.38

PG-13

1

8.24