Chihayafuru - Season 2

New first-year student Sumire Hanano, who is dumped by her boyfriend on the first day of school, takes an interest in Taichi as the karuta club appeals for new members. Twenty first-years, Sumire included, apply to join the club, although most are inexperienced and intimidated by the effort the game requires.

Nearly all of the new applicants leave the club. Only a boy named Akihiro Tsukuba remains, but Sumire returns when she becomes bored with her new friends. During practice, Tsukuba expresses an inflated opinion of his karuta skills.

Murao and Arata place first and second, respectively, in a Fukui tournament. Meanwhile, the Mizusawa club competes in the Tokyo regional team tournament.

In the semi-final, Mizusawa is matched against Homei.

Sumire reports that Amakasu plans to target Taichi, thinking that defeating Komano and Kanade will be easy, to secure three wins for Hokuo with minimal effort. Nishida catches Tsukuba trying to substitute himself for Komano again.

Chihaya catches up to Amakasu. The four Mizusawa players all have matches that are luck of the draw.

After begging to keep the clubroom despite recruiting fewer than five new members, Chihaya allows the concert band to use the room above the clubroom as storage. Chihaya's mother buys Chihaya her own kimono and hakama to support Chihaya's karuta.

Komano and Taichi choose Tsukuba as a starter for the first round against Chiba International High School of Information Sciences, whose team members are all ethnically non-Japanese. Komano and Sumire gather intelligence on Fujisaki, last year's national team champion, and First Akashi Girls' School, including Megumu Ousaka, last year's western queen finalist.

Arata's friend Shoji, who attends Fukui West and whose team is short a member due to traffic delays, convinces Arata to substitute for them, so they can play at least one round.

As Mizusawa begins a match against Yamaguchi Mioka, a distinguished school, the tournament officials discuss what to do concerning Arata's violation. Although Chihaya is able to defend her cards, she struggles to attack her opponent's. All the Mioka members place their cards randomly and move them frequently.

Komano's easy agreement to skip the next round angers Nishida, who says Komano has lost the drive to compete. Mizusawa's next match is against Shoyo High School from Kyoto. As Mizusawa effectively uses the information Komano gathered, Chihaya reflects that his data is just as important as their skill. Meanwhile, Arata is allowed to compete on the condition that he wri...

The semi-final round matches Mizusawa against Akashi and Hokuo against Fujisaki.

Chihaya continues to struggle against Megumu, who has no interest in becoming queen, even though she was the previous year's western finalist. Megumu realizes Chihaya wants to become queen, stiffening her resolve to defeat Chihaya.

The match between Mizusawa and Akashi has reached the tipping point and each side starts winning games. The pressure between Chihaya and Megumu has captivated the crowd.

Kanade reveals that she jammed her finger during the match, and it is painfully swollen. Meanwhile, Midori Sakurazawa, the Fujisaki coach, removes one of third-year Class A players from the line-up and replaces him with Rion Yamashiro, a second-year Class B player. Chihaya is matched against Rion.

Second recap of the events so far, interspersed with various omake segments.

Fujisaki takes an early lead over Mizusawa, including Rion, who has game sense rivaling Chihaya's and familiarity with her grandmother's voice. Chihaya listens carefully to Kyoko's reading and begins to catch up, but she injures her index finger.

While Chihaya endures the pain of her injury, she notices Shinobu watching and gives her teammates encouragement. Listening outside, Arata reflects that it is teams that recruit and teach new players.

Taichi's and Nishida's matches come down to luck of the draw, but they manage to synchronize their cards, giving them a chance for two more wins.

After the team tournament award ceremony, Miyauchi takes Chihaya to a clinic to attend to her injury. Meanwhile, Arata tells Taichi that the only team for him is one with Chihaya and Taichi. He also says he will win the individual tournament and attend a college in Tokyo.

Chihaya, able to take cards from Yuube, but unable to defend her own, realizes her card placement is right-handed. She also realizes how a right-handed defense is weak against a left-handed player. She mirror reflects her card positions and wins the round, amazing Arata, although it requires much more concentration. In the second round, Nishida is matched against Arat...

When Midori sees the tape on Chihaya's finger, she is stunned to learn that Chihaya has been using her left hand. Shinobu then jokingly offers to play with her right hand to allow for Chihaya's injury, but Chihaya responds sharply that she should not joke about that. As Shinobu dominates the match, Chihaya takes the tape off her finger to move faster,

The Class A final is between Arata and Shinobu. The Class B final is between Taichi and Rion in the same room where Komano is in the Class C final. Chihaya is torn between supporting Taichi and Komano or watching Arata and Shinobu.

The Class A final is packed with spectators, but Midori sneaks Chihaya and Taichi into the room through a side door. Arata has the lead over Shinobu, but Shinobu manages to close the gap between them by taking risks. Watching him play, Chihaya is reminded of Kanade's image of a stable spinning top for "impassioned," a word used to describe gods. Murao wonders what bro...

A hospital examination reveals Chihaya has enchondromatosis in her index finger, so she decides to undergo an operation. While hospitalized, Chihaya borrows Chitose's laptop to watch the DVD of the Class A final. She calls Arata, who tells her that, whenever he plays, he thinks back to the apartment in Tokyo when they used to play karuta together. Hearing that, she th...

The cultural festival is one of the most important events on the academic calendar. Just like all other clubs, Mizusawa's Karuta Club is preparing to participate as well. Due to previous circumstances, Team Captain Chihaya Ayase is temporarily absent during the team planning. First year student Sumire Hanano is intent on taking advantage of this occasion to fulfill he...