One title I could speak volumes about and never run out of praise for is the series Chihayafuru. A poetic masterpiece that successfully manages to combine all the best elements of josei drama and romance, along with intense sports action, this anime adaptation has been a critical darling ever since it first premiered in 2011. Unfortunately, the manga that the series is based on doesn’t get mentioned nearly as often, which is a crying shame, but that might change soon as the manga series might be heading towards a conclusion sooner rather than later.
In the Amazon.jp listing for the upcoming 47th volume (which will be released in Japan on August 12th), it mentioned that the series is heading towards its climax. This would be the first update we’ve heard regarding the end of the series since early 2019, at which point they predicted the ending to be around the end of that year.
Now, it’s impossible to gauge how long a series has left once the “climax” has been announced. In the case of My Hero Academia, for instance, they revealed the series to be entering its ‘final act’ in March 2021, but who knows how long the author plans on dragging the final act out. The same goes in this case with Chihayafuru; we might be heading towards the climax, but who knows when the true final chapter will drop.
Regardless, fans should start stockpiling the tissues and get ready for some major tears as the series begins its descent into something that resembles a conclusion. Maybe at that point fans of the anime adaptation will finally get their long-awaited season four.
In the series from author Yuki Suetsugu which has been running since 2007, the main character is a girl named Chihaya Ayase who, as a child, only dreams of seeing her sister become a successful model. It isn’t until a transfer student in her class tells her that she should have a dream of her own to follow that she realizes she wants to become the best at something. That something is a competitive card game called karuta. Though she and the boy named Arata become separated by his family having to move, Chihaya continues to chase her dreams in the hopes of being reunited with him someday at a future tournament.
Source: Anime News Network
