kimi ga tame ch.01
The chapter starts with someone (who’s not the protagonist) asking someone named Izumi which one they meant when they said their favourite Hyyakunin Isshu poem is kimi ga tame. They say they'll wonder about this for the rest of their lives.
If you didn't know this already there are two kimi ga tame poems.
Poem 15
kimi ga tame
haru no no ni idete
wakana tsumu
wa ga koromode ni
yuki wa furitsutsu
(For you I head out to spring fields and gather first herbs, while snow continues falling upon my sleeves.)
and
Poem 50
kimi ga tame
oshikarazarishi
inochi sae
nagaku mogana to
omoikeru kana
(For you, even this life of mine, I thought not precious, I realised I wish it was everlasting!)
There is a little intro to the Hyakkunin Isshu and competitive karuta; mentioning that it's a competitive sport that uses both your body and your brain.
We see a little girl (Rika) playing karuta while her brother (our protoganist, Ritsu) scolds her for making a mess in the morning saying they’ll be late for school. Rika says that she's copying what her brother does! They rush down the stairs and we see an old lady who says that the Nagara boy (Ritsu’s surname) is amazing because he plays baseball, tennis and basketball.
Ritsu thinks “But I quit everything after my mom died 3 years ago.”
Nagara Ritsu is a first year student in high school. They are in class where the teacher is talking about the amount of protein required for certain age groups and Ritsu asks how much protein is needed for an elementary school girl. His classmates whisper around saying that Ritsu gets weirdly excited during home economics class , always asking questions about laundry and sewing and does the cooking all by himself and is always playing with the karuta cards during his free time.
We see Ritsu playing fudanagashi “flow of cards” - this means to quickly sift through the cards and correctly guess the kimari-ji. (the one Shinobu does when she and Arata along with the Fukui boys are waiting during the high school tournament in their 2nd year). There's a guy creeping under Ritsu's desk.
This guy is called Akino and he takes photos of the food and the receipt Ritsu buys for lunch. Turns out this guy needs to buy something secretly without his parents knowing so he is saving his lunch money, but if he doesn't send a receipt to his parents he won't get the allowance for the next day, so Ritsu’s helping him by letting him take pics of his lunch. Akino notes that Ritsu's been buying the same meal these past few days, to which Ritsu replies that he intends to collect the campaign sheets and get the t-shirt his sister wants. Akino’s moved by this and bursts into tears calling Ritsu ‘a great big brother’. Ritsu shares his lunch with Akino which causes him to cry again.
The thing Akino wanted to buy without his parents knowing turns out to be a smartphone. Akino says he was always teased for carrying around an outdated phone, to which Ritsu replies that he owns an old phone too. Akino says that's the reason he asked Ritsu to help him with the receipt thing. They goof around knocking over the karuta cards. When picking it back up, Akino recognizes the cards by their kimari-ji. Ritsu asks him how he knows which card is what and he says it's because he sees Ritsu with it all the time during lunch.
Ritsu thinks that because he’s a member of the karuta club remembering the poems and recognising the cards is like knowing the alphabets. He thinks Akino is pretty amazing for recognizing them. Ritsu asks him how is he that good? Akino says that in his house they only watch TV once a year, the annual singing contest, every new year, so he'd desperately remember the names of the singers and the songs.
We move on to the club, where we see two first year girls (Mai and Yoshiko) grumbling about not memorizing the poems yet. They ask their senpai, Hara, if she has any tips. Hara suggests that they try being the reader today. They're eager for it when Ritsu interrupts saying he doesn't want his practice to get thrown off-kilter before the national karuta tournament by listening to weird reading. (Harada-sensei who? I only know Ritsu. lol.) The girls are all why are you raining on our parade when we are trying our best here? Ritsu says even if you try your best you won't be on the starting lineup. So the most important thing is to level up individually to show results at the nationals.
Mizuzawa won the Tokyo preliminaries and are Tokyo’s 2nd representatives (1st being Hokkuo)(as seen in the Hanano special chapter in the main series). Ritsu says that their goal should be to “win the Nationals and not to visit Oumi Jingu”.
Ritsu drags Tsukuba says that he and President Tsukuba are going to enter a Class B tournament to become Class A players before the nationals, so they don't want to practice with a beginner reading. The girls are deciding who’s going to be the reader today by playing rock, paper, scissors, followed by an arm wrestling match, followed by who can hold their breath for the longest match. Ritsu screams at them saying that if they didn't reach a clear winner in the rock, paper, scissors and arm wrestling, they wouldn't reach the winner in who can hold in their breath match too. (Lol)
Hanano is here! She says the first years are really enthusiastic this year! Hanano tells them it's a good idea to try their hand at being a reader. Ritsu says Hanano shouldn't indulge them and that ‘a beginner's enthusiasm is just troublesome’. Hanano tells them that when you read in a match, you can’t sit for the whole match, if you make a mistake, the players glare and click their tongues at you. So you learn to be grateful to all the readers. She says they shouldn't decide who’s gonna be a reader and who's gonna be a player when they are just starting out, so they don't turn out to be a strong player who just complains all the time. The second years’ tease that it's already too late for Ritsu, who is already a strong player who just complains all the time. (There's a wall of text behind Ritsu saying how cute and lovely Hanano is. The boy is whipped!)
They start practicing. Ritsu plays with Tamaru. Tamaru is the only Class A player here. He says the amount of practice he has isn't enough and that karuta is much harder than baseball or tennis or basketball, but karuta is where he has decided to shine. It's 6 already and Ritsu has to leave. The senpais’ talk about him saying ‘he’s handsome, he’s athletic and his passion for karuta is amazing. he's like that senpai’ they say...
They wonder why Ritsu is so focused on winning the National championship. Namida, a second year student, says that Ritsu used to play baseball, tennis and basketball but quit after his mother died. Tamaru asks why he chose karuta, to which Namida replies that when Ritsu was sorting through his mother’s things after her death, he found a lot of materials related to karuta.
The panels show bags filled with notebooks titled ‘Road to winning nationals note 7’ and a huge banner filled with signatures from club members.
Ritsu goes to pick up Rika from her daycare center. The man in charge glares at him saying he’s late. Rika is the only one left there. She says all her friends went to their extra classes(like piano classes and such) (Rika speaks loudly all the time, and Ritsu tells her to speak softly ‘coz it's hard on his ears) They stop by a convenience store to buy dinner. Ritsu sees an ad for smartphones on his way home.
They have dinner and do their homework. Rika says that she wishes she could take extra lessons too. Ritsu is a little taken aback by this. Rika falls asleep and Ritsu practices karuta.
Their father gets home late and says that he’s sorry he couldn't pick Rika up as he had an important meeting. Ritsu asks him if he could get him a smart phone. His father’s (we are not shown their father's face) shocked that he doesn't have one yet and tells him to use his old mobile, he is busy and can't buy him one immediately. Ritsu remembers Rika’s wish about taking extra lessons but he doesn't tell his father that. (Ritsu asks his father for stuff hesitantly)
Ritsu picks up the ‘kimi ga tame haru ni’ card and ponders its meaning. He thinks that he couldn't be like that person in the poem who puts the other person before him. He thinks about how he asked his father for a mobile for him but couldn't tell him about Rika’s wish. He’s sad and conflicted by this.
The next panel shows a smart phone with a cracked screen. Ritsu's at school with Akino. Akino says his parents found out about his mobile so they broke it with a hammer and put it in miso soup. When Ritsu asks why they would go that far, Akino says that doesn't know and that his parents said that ‘he’s a liar and a coward’ for wanting a phone. Akino says that they were really strict with his studies and his discipline and that they want him to go to a good university and they want him to lead a great life. But Akino feels that the great life they’re talking about seems really empty no matter how deep he looks, that's it's like an onigiri without salt.
Flashback to a few girls asking Ritsu to exchange line id with them and Ritsu asks them if they want his info because he is handsome (this guy calls himself handsome all the time) and he says he doesn't have Line app in his old phone. Akino overhears this and tells him how to message someone in that old phone, and asks him to become friends with him…
Then we see Tsukuba at the Class B tournament searching for Ritsu who isn't there.
Ritsu’s at Akino’s house to recruit Akino for the karuta club, he’s here to talk to his mother. Ritsu says that he asked Akino to join the club but he said no, so he’s here to ask his parents. Ritsu gets Akino’s mother interested by saying that he has an old phone too and that he thinks this outdated phone is enough for a high schooler.
Ritsu lies through his teeth telling her that Karuta is hard and boring and there’s nothing fun about it, but it is really good for college applications and that he’s in the club for that reason too. (He has Rika with him and Rika’s been asked to keep her mouth shut.) He explains the history and the rules of competitive karuta and mentions a million times about how it is not fun at all. Akino's mother asks Akino if he would like to join the club. Akino shouts that he's not interested in karuta and that this guy(Ritsu) wouldn't take no for an answer. His mother says that he should join the club since his friend came all this way to invite him.
Next, we see Akino, Rika and Ritsu outside now, talking about how it went exactly the way Akino told him, that his mother would accept something if he is against it. Akino thanks Rika for keeping quiet. Rika shouts and cries ‘how nice, having a mother. how nice!’ (how nice here means good for you or I'm jealous) Ritsu and Akino are shocked at her reaction. Ritsu hugs her tightly…
Akino bursts into tears and they rush to the Class B tournament. Ritsu thinks that this is the last Class B tournament before nationals and that he wanted to enter it. They see Tsukuba playing and Ritsu notices that he is in the semi-finals. Tsukuba wins the semi-finals and scolds Ritsu for not showing up. Tsukuba texts his brother that won the semi-finals and if he wins another match he’d be Class A. Tsukuba can't believe that he might become a Class A player.
He tells Ritsu that “Because you’re serious (about winning the Nationals), Nagara-kun, I wanted to increase the number of Class A players in our club. If someone’s got to work hard, then that someone can be me. Watch me, I'm gonna win”. Ritsu looks on in admiration. Tsukuba’s finals opponent is a girl in a Fujisaki karuta club t-shirt.
Rika, holding Ritsu's hand, watches Tsukuba intensely and says that she wants to take extra lessons. She says she wants to play karuta. (loudly) Everyone around her hears this. The referee tells her to be quiet, but the people around her quietly cheer her on. They wonder if there’s a karuta society near where she lives and they hope she doesn't get scared when she watches the match.
The game starts. Ritsu, carrying Rika who's sleeping on his shoulder, finds Akino reading the rule book. He asks what Class beginners start in and if you can play in a match if you memorize all the poems. Ritsu explains that it's not that simple. Ritsu thinks that there's something wrong with himself. He thinks it's important to focus on levelling up individually before the nationals and that a beginner would just be in the way when his goal is for Mizuzawa to become the National champions once again. But still, he feels excited.
Ritsu asks Akino what his first name is, to which he replies ‘Chihaya. It's Akino Chihaya.’
Tsukuba comes running saying he lost big time with a 16 card difference. Harada-sensei appears and he says they changed the rules in Shiranamikai and now players who get second place in two Class B tournaments can advance to Class A Harada-sensei adds that his opponent was really good and that Fujisaki has a new Class A player now.
The page shows three Fujisaki players, a girl and two boys with Sakurazawa-sensei. The next panels shows a picture of Ritsu's mother with Sakurazawa-sensei and the guy she married, when they were members of the Fujisaki karuta club. Ritsu thinks that “competitive karuta is much harder than baseball or tennis or basketball, time and money are not yours, but your heart is, and my heart is telling me to go ahead on this path.”
Ch.01 ends here.
This is my first time summarizes a chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one! I'll be back with ch.02 summary soon. Please look forward to it!