Chihaya Ayase is obsessed with developing her school's competitive karuta club, nursing daunting ambitions like winning the national team championship at the Omi Jingu and becoming the Queen, the best female karuta player in Japan—and in extension, the world. As their second year of high school rolls around, Chihaya and her fellow teammates must recruit new members, train their minds and bodies alike, and battle the formidable opponents that stand in their way to the championship title. Meanwhile, Chihaya's childhood friend, Arata Wataya, the prodigy who introduced her to karuta, rediscovers his lost love for the old card game.

Accumulating an impressive series of victories with his AE86, Takumi Fujiwara has imposed himself as street racing's newest rising star. However, his newly found confidence of winning at his home turf of Mount Akina has been put in jeopardy by a new Emperor team exclusively using a car model favored by most professional racing pilots: the Mitsubishi four-wheel drive Lancer Evolutions—also known as Lan Evos. The Emperor team leader, Kyouichi Sudou, looks down on Takumi and regards him as an inferior pilot for driving an antique car that lacks the makings of a true modern race car. Kyouichi's elitist philosophy is also the reason why his team is only made of Lan Evo drivers. Will Takumi be able to keep his perfect track record intact against the highly skilled and mechanically superior Emperor team, or does his hot streak end here? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

In Universal Century 0079, forces of the Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon engage in a battle within the Thunderbolt Sector during the One Year War. This section of space—known for its constant strikes of electricity—proves to be a deadly battlefield, as Federation pilot Io Fleming leads a charge against Zeon's ace Daryl Lorenz and his squad of snipers. With the fighters on both sides proving to be formidable soldiers, neither side is willing to back down, fighting strategically amongst the remnants of colonies. But when Io gets a hold of a prototype Gundam, Daryl will have to make a sacrifice in order to obtain enough power to crush his enemy and ensure that Zeon is victorious, or watch as his comrades are slaughtered by a single man.

The Yamadas and Chi move to a new apartment house, where keeping a pet is allowed.