Birthday: February 28th (Pisces) Height: 167 cm Weight: 60 kg  School: Municipal Mizusawa High School - Year 1 Class 10 - Karuta Club member Karuta Society: Shiranami Society - C Class - - - -  A boy who joins the Karuta Club at the start of Chihaya's second year. He is originally from Hokkaido and is a master at playing second verse karuta using two hands. He joins the club to learn how to play first verse karuta.(Source: Wikipedia) - - - - Tsukuba played the Hokkaido-style Karuta until his last year in middle school, therefore he came to the Karuta club very confident. Even though the rules are different than what he’s used to, he has a drive to become strong and becomes a Karuta club member.  Personality: An annoying-creepy-character that you just cant hate. Even though he sometimes says things that a kohai would never say, he understands and respects the kindness of his senpais. He is an older brother who is always showered with respect from his three little brothers, that he has a habit of acting like a hero in front of them. Their family motto is “Always just bump into pretty people”, and so he looks up to both Chihaya and Taichi. His specialty is to stick his tongue out like Peko-chan and take photos of himself on his phone.  Favourite Song: Poem #13 From Tsukuba's peak Falling waters have become Mina's still, full flow: So my love has grown to be Like the river's quiet deeps. 

Chihaya is a girl in the sixth grade, still not old enough to even know the meaning of the word zeal. But one day, she meets Arata, a transfer student from rural Fukui prefecture. Though docile and quiet, he has an unexpected skill: his ability to play competitive karuta, a traditional Japanese card game.
 
Chihaya is struck by his obsession with the game, along with his ability to pick out the right card and swipe it away before any of his opponents. However, Arata is transfixed by her as well, all because of her unbelievable natural talent for the game. Don't miss this story of adolescent lives and emotions playing out in the most dramatic of ways!
 
(Source: Kodansha USA)
 
Notes: 
- It won the 2nd Manga Taisho Award and the 35th annual Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shoujo. 
- It was nominated for the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2016.

They may have just won their most coveted karuta tournament, but members of the Mizusawa karuta team still have a long way to go. Each member chases their dreams, and with a win under their collective belt, those dreams are closer in reach than ever. Chihaya Ayase is determined to challenge Wakamiya Shinobu and win the title of Queen, and Taichi Mashima is ready to take on Arata Wataya now that he’s made it into the most elite of karuta players — but an unexpected revelation will deal these karuta players a hand none of them saw coming. (Source: Sentai Filmworks)

[Agency Profile](https://junction99.com/?page_id=1134)

He joined a theater troupe when he was 4 years old, and two years later made his acting debut in the historical drama Korczak. He remained with the theater troupe until March 2006, when he moved to Junction.

Made his voice acting debut in 1996 on [Taiho Shichauzo](https://anilist.co/anime/1577/). He auditioned and got the role of [Haku](https://anilist.co/character/385/) in the 2001 film [Spirited Away](https://anilist.co/anime/199/). The same year, he voiced the eponymous main character in [PaRappa The Rapper](https://anilist.co/anime/3736/), and the following year he started voicing Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, a character who he still voices to this day.

He released his debut mini-album Soleil on June 26, 2009 and his first single album, Faith, on November 25, 2009. Since May 2010, he and [Hiroshi Kamiya](https://anilist.co/staff/95118/) formed a music duo called [KAmiYU](https://anilist.co/staff/116031/). Their first mini-album "link-up" was released on August 3, 2011.

Announced his marriage with an unspecified woman on September 3, 2021.

__Non-anime voice roles:__
- Sora - *Kingdom Hearts* series (VG)
- Cyno - *Genshin Impact* (VG) 

Now in their second year of high school, Chihaya and her friends share all the fun and worries that come with welcoming underclassmen to the team as they face tough rival schools. The passion of the Mizusawa Karuta Club burns hotter than ever, but with the same refreshing, youthful mood carrying over from the first season. 
(Source: Crunchyroll)

Original episode bundled with the 22nd manga volume.

Akihiro Tsukuba