News

HIDIVE Streams Chihayafuru Anime's English Dub

Anime streaming service HIDIVE announced on Friday that it will stream Sentai Filmworks' English dub of the Chihayafuru anime series. The first episode will premiere for subscribers on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. EDT, and new episodes will debut every Tuesday. HIDIVE is currently streaming the entire series in Japanese with English subtitles.

Shannon Reed is directing the dub with assistant directors Joey Goubeaud and Brittany Deans. Javier Lopez, Kyle Jones, and Joel McCray are writing the scripts. The full cast includes:

• Luci Christian as Chihaya
• Adam Gibbs as Taichi
• Blake Shepard as Arata
• Vicki Barosh as Miyauchi
• Javier Lopez as O.Igarashi
• Carli Mosier as Chitose
• Melissa Molano as Michiru
• Katelyn Barr as Mari
• Rachel Landon as Chieko
• Allison Sumrall as Reiko
• James Belcher as Dr. Harada
• Kyle Jones as Hiro
• Andrew Love as Yasuda
• Natalie Rial as Yuu
• Jay Hickman as Wataya
• Juliet Simmons as Kanade
• Bryson Baugus as Desktomu
• Greg Ayres as Porky
• Steve Finley as Kitano
• Tiffany Terrell as Rika
• Mike Yager as Sudo
• Stephanie Wittels as Sano
• Brittney Karbowski as Amakasu
• Jack Ivy as Mochida
• Scott Gibbs as Takuma
• Benjamin McLaughlin as Hiroshi
• Johnny De La Cerda as Ryugasaki
• Chris Gibson as Kenji
• Ned Gayle as Shibata
• Kira Vincent-Davis as Shinobu
• Ty Mahany as Kuriyama
• Hilary Haag as Sakura
• David Wald as Snowmaru
• Stephanie Wittels as Tsubaki
• Emily Neves as Ririka
• Adam Noble as Murao
• Jack Ivy as Mochida
• Courtney Lomelo as Yumi
• Kaoru Bertrand as Kyoko
• Rachel Landon as Daisuke
• John Gremillion as Watanbe
• Scott Gibbs as Takemura
• Kyle Jones as Fukasaku
• Johnny De La Cerda as Yuta
• Scott Gibbs as Kenta
• Jack Ivy as Ise
• Luci Christian as Young Chihaya
• Shannon Emerick as Young Arata
• Chelsea McCurdy as Young Taichi
• Greg Ayres as Young Porky
• Benjamin McLaughlin as Young Hiroshi
• Kira Vincent-Davis as Young Shinobu
• Shanae'a Moore as Taichi's Gilrfriend
• Rachel Landon as E-Chan
• Stephanie Wittels as Ririka's Mom
• David Wald and John Gremillion as Anchors

Sentai Filmworks will release the first season on dual-language Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo pack on September 12. The combo pack will include art cards, two karuta cards, character cards, a booklet, and a glossary.

The anime adapts Yuki Suetsugu's ongoing manga series. Sentai Filmworks describes the story:

Chihaya Ayase is a beautiful and headstrong young woman with a passion for karuta, a card game inspired by classical Japanese poetry. As a child, Chihaya was introduced to the game by a quiet, gifted transfer student named Arata, and she was instantly drawn to it. Now in high school and reunited with her childhood friend Taichi, Chihaya dreams of finding Arata and the three resuming their love of karuta, only to discover that Arata has quit the game due to personal reasons. Determined not to let Arata's passion go to waste, Chihaya and Taichi form the Mizusawa High School Karuta Club, where they learn that in karuta - as in life - working toward your dreams is the key to winning, even when what you want seems just out of reach.

The first 25-episode television anime season ran from October 2011 to March 2012. The second season, Chihayafuru 2, premiered in January 2013 and also ran for 25 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed both seasons in several countries as they aired in Japan.

Suetsugu's manga has also inspired two live-action films, and a sequel film has been greenlit. Kodansha Comics is releasing the manga in English digitally.