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natsumi-no-hotaru · 2 years

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Chihayafuru #53: What it takes to be the Queen

AKA. In which Chi-chan and Taichi were treated to an overwhelming show of support and older female players bonded over child-raising.

[Previously: Welcome to class A, Taichi]

Welcome back, me, to the world of competitive karuta.

Though I did technically come back to Chihayafuru with my previous post, I was just finishing off the draft that was half-written prior to my disappearance. So this time feels more like my actual return, since every word is fresh out of the press. Keeping up the writing is proving to be quite a challenge (again, lol) but I will do my best and your company is much appreciated, as always, on this lovely journey.

While the matches are the focus of this episode, there is just as much to unpack off-stage: the appearance, or more correctly, the return of an extraordinary female player (not Shi-chan), the strangely nice (until not) chat between Taichi and Arata, and the coaches’ thoughtful exchange about Chi-chan’s potential to be the Queen. These little surprises unfolded rapidly before viewers even get to the halfway point, and while they could do with some more congruence, together they highlight the theme of “pursuit” as central to all players present.

The former Queen

And, tada, this is Haruka Inokuma, 4-time Queen and proud mother of two, one of whom is still at breast-feeding age! She is such an inspiring character, what with returning to karuta after pregnancy to reclaim her title and breastfeeding her littler one during break. She is so cheerful, energetic and filled with that fervent, yet unassuming, tenacity that makes you want to immediately root for her. Truly, I am so grateful for Chihayafuru’s wonderful array of strong female characters who all have their stories to tell, and Haruka is another welcoming addition to the cast. If only there are more mangaka like Suetsugu-san, imagine the kinds of empowering stories and positive role models manga and anime would bring to girls and young women!

A husband who’s supportive of her passion and patiently looks after the young ones during her matches - gosh, she’s so blessed and I am so happy for this heartwarming portrayal of Haruka’s partner. Together they make an enviable real-life power couple and a warm, loving family.

Chihayafuru - Suetsugu-san - truly excels at the little details. It was incredibly endearing to see Haruka’s husband putting on the breastfeeding covering on her. And I love that Coach Sakurazawa came over to enquire after Haruka and ending up being awed by the latter’s dedication as both a mother and a karuta player. You know me (or you would, if you go back to read a couple of old posts, lol), I’m a big sucker for women’s bonding over topics unrelated to any male figure, and Chihayafuru has never disappointed me on that count.

What is my problem?

Fun as it was to get to know Haruka and her connection with Sakurazawa, it’s time to check on the Mizusawa gang.

Chi-chan won against fancy-hair senpai from Fujisaki but still needed some time to get used to the feeling of using her right hand instead of her left. Nishida-kun seemed rightfully worried about Chi-chan’s right hand as not having returned to its full strength.

Interestingly enough but not so surprising that Chi-chan was the one surrounded by her clubmates, and Taichi spent his break by himself - well, not for much longer.

ARATAAAAA!!!

No man is an island, and Taichi is no exception.

His surprised-blushy face is so adorbbb! And it was just like Arata to be the one reaching out, especially given his heartfelt desire to come to Tokyo and reunite with his childhood friends. He found Taichi at the perfect moment for them to have a lovely chat too!

Turned out that Taichi was using his alone time to forget the card layouts of the previous matches by humming his school song (seriously though, the lyricist’s urm... name is Karuta? lol). Though flustered by Arata’s question, Taichi soon got over his initial hesitation and the conversation flowed naturally as the two boys exchanged methods to reset one’s memory post-match and approaches to memorization during matches with unexpected earnestness.

On memorization during matches

Taichi’s excitement was palpable and Arata just gave away his tactics and tips without any reserve. Gosh they are so so precious.

You can hear in Arata’s gentle cadence his wholehearted attention for Taichi. Lol, now that I think about it, Hosoyan and Mamo-kun have quite the voice-acting chemistry, huh. It was with Arata and Taichi, and then with Kunikida and Dazai in BSD. So amazing.

Wide-eyed Taichi ~

A moment of self-awareness dawned on Taichi, who was truly surprised by how easy it was to talk to Arata and how much he wanted to reach out to Arata through karuta. Taichi himself might find it “weird” but it is far from the first time that he found encouragement and support in Arata, even when he did not know of Arata’s presence and despite viewing him as more of an enemy than as a friend at times.

Unfortunately, the good vibes did not last and the conversation soon left the comfort zone for rocky waters. Similar to their last meeting at Omi Jingu, it began with Arata expressing his desire to play as a team, this time not with Chi-chan and Taichi, but as part of his school’s karuta team.

“He wants to play team matches, too?”

Unlike the last time, what irritated Taichi is not just being on the same team with or facing his enemy but more deeply rooted in his perceived inferiority to Arata in terms of karuta. And as typical of Taichi, he downplayed his contribution to the creation of the Mizusawa club, citing Chi-chan as the one who “brought our club together”.

The conversation took a swift turn for the awkward and was cut short by one of Taichi’s rare outbursts.

“I thought you were focusing solely on the Master match.”

It’s ultimately a great shame because confidence or arrogance was far from what motivated Arata. It was his own participation in the school national team tournament, limited as it was, and the bittersweet joy derived from it, that drove him to give team karuta a go. But Taichi, who is still bogged down by insecurities when faced with Arata, read the latter’s desire as an expression of his self-assurance in all things karuta. Mere moments later, after leaving Arata to himself, it seemed that even Taichi did not believe in his words, frustrated as he was by his overreaction (poor kabe-kun had it bad).

“Think of all those ugly matches where I lost to myself!”

As someone who was stuck in a hyper-competitive mindset for a good part of 2020, I truly worry about Taichi. The more he sees Arata as an insurmountable peak that he had to overcome no matter what, and less as a childhood friend whom he could count on, the more he will be fighting a battle he can’t win, not against his rival, but against himself.

Taichi was aware of his own psychological pits, but it didn’t seem like he had fully gotten hold of himself. And that gave the Mizusawa gang and Shiranami Society peeps cause for concern.

The pairings

Chi-chan would face a runner-up Master, aka. a challenger sorely defeated by Master Suo. Setting up the old vs the young, Harada-sensei was paired with Ririka-chan, the talented young girl that Chi-chan once played against.

Another interesting pairing is Sudo-san vs. Yama-chan (Rion). Sudo-san plays a tough game but Yama-chan is not so easy to budge.

Taichi oftens gets paired against uhm... peculiar dudes. Last time, it was Emuro (Ero-senpai) and this was curly-hairpin-kun. Feels like the more hyped up Taichi is for a match, the more likely he will encounter very memorable opponents.

How incredible it is that Chi-chan and Taichi are playing on the same stage! They have come so far, especially Taichi. And this brings us to the question - who’s to watch? Seeing Nishida torn between Yumin, his club senpai, Taichi and Chi-chan, and unable to stop worrying about Chi-chan’s right hand and performance is absolutely precious. Troubled by the same dilemma, Kana-chan stayed true to herself and took the best seat in the house to shadow this round’s reader, whose voice is the textbook audio of karuta.

I love that amid the main action, an amount of screentime is still devoted to exploring Kana-chan’s passion for poetry reading and her ambition to be an accomplished karuta card reader. And the awe-struck expression on her face when the card reader raised his voice and filled the room with the melody of poetry - it was truly visceral.

A dream of silent karuta

The “Naniwa bay” verses recited, the matches began. Takemura took the first two cards with bursts of power and speed; his “tank-like” show of force seemingly overwhelmed Chi-chan.

There was something different about Chi-chan in this match. At the beginning of the episode, she looked like she might be struggling to keep up but Nishida-kun and all of us were in for a pleasant surprise.

It’s not that her swing was too wide or her capture lacked force.

Chi-chan’s time with her left hand did not weaken her right hand like Nishida-kun worried; in fact, it even helped her to be more judicious in the application of force and come a step closer to the silent karuta, the karuta that Shi-chan so excels at and that she ardently aspires to.

While Nishida-kun’s worry for Chi-chan was proven unnecessary, others’ worries might not be so quickly set aside. Just as Chi-chan realized that she forgot to put up her sleeves with the bands given to her by the Empress, the point of view switched to the two karuta club advisors of Mizusawa and Fujisaki.

It was quite a leap of faith that Miyauchi-sensei took, even in desperation, to seek advice about the possibility of Chi-chan becoming a Queen from a newly-acquainted coach of a rival school. Granted that Coach Sakurazawa took an interest in the Mizusawa students, particularly Chi-chan, and could draw from her own experience as a runner-up Queen to provide a reasonable answer, I still found it incredibly moving that the Empress posed the question without any reserve. Such bluntness shows how much she cares for her student and desires to be on their side as much as possible, even if she is not sure of the proper way to proceed.

Perhaps Miyauchi-sensei could sense something from Coach Sakurazawa, a certain willingness to engage with the question through her inquiry about the former’s reasons in asking. Perhaps it was for this reason that she let her guard down and revealed the extent of her worry for Chi-chan’s future in karuta and in life, like a silent plea for empathy from her younger colleague.

All of this once again highlights the care that Chihayafuru devotes to character development, even of minor supporting characters like Miyauchi-sensei. I love that the Mizusawa kids, especially Chi-chan, can count on surrounding adults and teachers for genuine support and encouragement. It’s a truly heartwarming moment to watch and so well-placed amid all the tension of the matches.

Deep in the snow of Yoshino

The game entered its most heated as tensions and fatigue began piling up. Some thrived in it, like Harada-sensei and Sudo-san who sought to overwhelm their opponents and demoralize them, while others struggled to keep a clear head, like Taichi and Yama-chan.

Even though his opponent seemed to be of a lower caliber than himself, Taichi refused to let his guard down and demanded nothing less than perfection from himself in his grabs.

What a misjudgment. Yama-chan is the kind of girl who would get rattled by her opponent’s mid-game injury, not by their taunting about her personal flaws.

And there are those who remained unfazed by their opponents’ antics and steadfastly marched on toward their goal. Arata was paired against Yumin, a tenacious sort of opponent who would contest for every possible card by claiming that she touched it first. It seemed like a very Arata thing to not argue and like Yumin said, “strive to play clean” and not let his mind be swayed by anything but the cards themselves.

Meanwhile, Chi-chan was steadily gaining the upper hand over the runner-up Master. As Nishida-kun came to realize, Chi-chan’s hand-eye coordination improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to her time playing with her left hand, which enabled her to go after her right-handed opponent’s weakness on the left side with surety and ingrained skill.

“There’s no way that she even realizes it. She doesn’t, but practicing with her left hand all that time resulted in mirroring her body and attack positions. Going after her old weak spots, her own left side and the opponent’s right side, broadened her awareness of where her hand is going!”

Fierce collision burgeoned forth at the instant the Chihayafuru card was read. Both Haruka and Chi-chan sent their cards flying so far that they had to literally go around and ask for the right cards from their decks.

What are the chances that Chi-chan would be meeting her next round’s opponent, the former Queen, this way?

It was a powerful set-up for a true moment of serenity, aptly amplified by Coach Sakurazawa’s realization of how their cards collided and her ongoing pondering on the Empress’ question of whether Chi-chan can become the Queen.

For Haruka, tension was just a way to warm her up and get her in the groove.

I love that Chihayafuru did not shy away from such candid revelations! She is a mother in the breastfeeding period, so she would very likely encounter a situation like this one.

And look at how supportive and excited her elder kid was! It’s super encouraging to see depiction of family as not an obstacle to the pursuit of one’s dream.

Haruka, from the flashback of Coach Sakurazawa, is certainly intriguing, not to mention a formidable opponent, whom Sakurazawa challenged 4 times but failed to dethrone. Unassuming and modest, Haruka openly shared the “secret” behind her success with the now Fujisaki karuta advisor - simply the ability to “hear well”. Not only does she have a genius level of hearing the likes of Yama-chan, but she also carries herself through the games with solid technique, rich experience, and a vibrancy and composure befitting of a Queen. It would be super fun to see her playing against the current Queen, especially since they have such opposing vibes: warm vs. detached, agile vs contemplative.

Sakurazawa’s insight proved valuable and enlightening again, as she compared Haruka to someone whose strength we are well aware, aka. Master Suo, the playful trickster that I can’t wait to see again.

For the team

Haha, this is so deja vu, huh. Another match, another struggle with your psyche at stake. Taichi initially dismissed his opponent for his “too heavy” movements and slowness but halfway through the game, he found that a reduced speed enabled curly-hairpin-kun to make grabs without having to slow down, and with considerable precision. Adding this to the pressure of being “perfect” and there you have it, Taichi’s mind was again encumbered by needless stress, even when he was actually in the lead.

At the very instant where things seemed to fall back into that loop of self-doubt and self-destruction for Taichi, he was struck by the realization that his opponent was not fighting merely to win for himself but also to drain as much of Taichi’s stamina as possible, in the likelier event of losing the game.

This quiet awareness gave more meaning to his struggle, in the sense that all is not lost even if he could not bring his A-game to the table. As long as he chipped away his opponent’s strength so as to make things easier for fellow members of the Shiranami Society, he still succeeded in making a productive contribution. And I think that helped him tremendously at this lost-in-his-head moment.

And it’s incredibly moving that both Harada-sensei and his Shiranami-society senpai (Hiroshi-san...?) somehow intuitively gave those lovely pats of encouragement to Taichi with such good timing. It’s like telepathy, I swear. I think it also spoke of how well they understood him and what he needed. Absolutely heartwarming to see that Taichi, in spite of all the things that sought to bog him down, always received the right support from the right peeps at the right time.

Gosh, that adorable face all wowed and awed by that reassurance of affection and care.

Ehehe, isn’t it nice to have someone looking after you right?

Mamo-chan’s exhale here was the very sound of burdens lifted.

Taichi recovered in time to take advantage of his opponent’s lack of speed. What use is a perfect movement when just covering your card or blocking his grab would suffice?

yayyyyyyy go Taichiiii

Contrary to Sudo-san’s expectations, Yama-chan was only more motivated to put up a good fight the more tired she got. She might not be able to come back from the lead that Sudo-san held but still managed to make Sudo-san expend efforts and stamina to maintain his not-that-significant advantage.

I’m sorta rooting for this senpai now, lmao. Hope he’ll get Yama-chan’s attention one of these days? But maybe you’ll need to get a bit better at karuta first....?

Sudo-san, don’t underestimate Yama-chan!!!

I love how energetic and radiant she looked, all sweat-drenched and reddened with exertion. It’s all the more perfect that she didn’t bother responding to Sudo-san’s taunts. Action does speak louder than words, after all.

Senpai so moved by Yama-chan’s shining determination ehehe

Don’t ever change, Yama-chan. Please stay like this always.

Poor Yama-chan finding it hard to keep her priorities straight, thanks to Chi-chan’s enthusiastic meddling from the Fujisaki boot camp.

Lightning speed on her favorite card!

Bad bad Sudo-san, so misogynistic. Can’t wait to see Chi-chan handing you yo ass. Or Taichi, I’m not picky.

I kinda enjoyed seeing Arata perplexed by how tired it was to not rise up to Yumin’s card contest bids. But Yumin’s assertion about throwing off his pace if she was able to argue for 4 more cards is pretty worrisome. I am not a fan of Yumin but mm, wonder if Arata might be meeting someone troublesome in the future. He had a close match with Shi-chan back at Omi Jingu but it did not seem to give him this much fatigue...

Runner-up master beaten by Chi-chan, yayyyyy!!! Poor guy though, being trounced by Master Suo and unable to do karuta for half a year is pretty rough.

Love how everyone is so happy for Chi-chan!!! And it makes sense too, considering she was up against a Runner-up Master no less!

Taichi dashing over, out of breath as usual.

Yayyyyy everyone is here to cheer on the gang!!

Another match done and dusted, good job, Chi-chan!!!

There is no answer in sight yet for the Empress’ question, though Coach Sakurazawa did mention the factors of “fate” and the “times”. Perhaps there is something to be said about them in the coming episode(s)?

It’s time to face Harada-sensei next!

Oh wait, I mean, the former Queen Haruka!!! Onwards, Chi-chan!!!!

#natsumi talks #natsumi watches #Chihayafuru #chihayafuru anime #chihayafuru season 3 #chihayafuru marathon #chihayafuru s3 #ayase chihaya #Chihaya Ayase #Taichi Mashima #Mashima Taichi #Kanade Oe #komano tsutomu #Yusei Nishida #sumire hanano

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natsumi-no-hotaru · 2 years

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Chihayafuru #52: Here comes the Yoshino Tournament

AKA. Kanatomu is back and absolutely here to stay.

[Previously: There’s a kind of confidence only Ayase-san can give him.]

Gosh, picking this up after a hiatus of 1.5 years is not gonna be easy, lol. Can’t believe that this partial post on Chihayafuru season 3 episode 2 has sit in my drafts for that long. I would like to blame Netflix for getting me hooked on The End of the F*cking World and Haikyuu, but to be fair, it was Genshin Impact. Okay, fine, it’s me. But I dare you to be unaffected upon the sight of and acquaintance with the one true Queen (of GI, obviously not karuta), I dare you.

... Jokes and finger-pointing aside, I am truly glad to return to rambling about this wonderous world, despite feeling lost and out of tune like Taichi making his way back to karuta in the beginning of season 1. I must admit that I have forgotten quite a bit of what happened in the past seasons - the matches, the characters’ struggles and dynamics. Before sitting down to finish this post, I have re-read my Chihayafuru collections in the hope of filling up the gaps in my recollection but the fact remains that I am truly worried about my ability to do the rest of Season 3 (which is a lot left ahahaha) and the entire Chihayafuru story justice. It is such an intricately and tightly written work thus far, with so much depth and all the details that all tie together.

Nonetheless, seeing Taichi and hearing Miyano Mamoru have never failed to inspire me to do my best at any given moment. So this is for you, Masuge-kun, and me, for us idiots who ran away and could not help coming back to home.

*deep breath* Now that I got that out of my chest, let us go back to episode 52 because Kanatomu is a thing already. I’m just literally waiting for either of them taking the next step of confession because really, it’s just a matter of time that Kanatomu is canon. So excited for them to be actively turning toward each other and walking the same path hand in hand!!

Before snow falls on Yoshino Village

So many heartstrings were tugged on hearing that sweet bumbling hesitancy in his voice.

There’s so much about the opening scene of this episode to love, from Arata’s cute blushy face, the return of his less-seen shy self, to his gentle and whole-hearted conviction in the need to keep the karuta world growing via school teams, which are often regarded by traditionalists as lesser players. It’s truly heartening to see friends cheering on our resident soft-speaking, socially distant boy and him declaring his intention to enter the next national team tournament.

“Our world of karuta can only grow because of team players who keep the game alive, right?”

It was not until this scene that I truly felt the karuta world’s transformative power on Arata and how much he has opened up since his reunion with Chi-chan and Taichi, and his return to karuta. Had it not been for such experience, Arata might have been much more like Shi-chan, closed off and passionate all on her own. While Arata’s plan to form a school team for the national tournament quickly came to a bust, there’s no denying that Arata’s world has vastly opened up, the moment he wished to spread the word of karuta.

Our fun and peaceful school life rounds continued with Chi-chan and the hardship of figuring out a future path. A certain obstacle will soon be placed in her path but before that, here comes training time.

You’re not the only one lol. The only move Taichi made was to declare war on Chi-chan... so we’ll have to wait and see.

Reality, as it looks, is pretty disheartening, huh?

Taichi’s progress was all noted by Chi-chan, especially how much further his strength in memorization had taken him in the game, making him a very formidable opponent in the later half.

Boy is aiming much higher now, heh? Well, one thing is certain - he definitely had Chi-chan’s attention now. A poor shipper can only hope that he would build something substantial out of it, while Arata is not yet back in the picture permanently.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, Taichi is not the only whose spirits ran high. #everyone_wants_taichi

It’s absolutely hilarious to see these 3 fighting over who got to play Taichi and even better to see the ever gentile and soft-spoken Tsutomu-kun literally snap after an ill-advised argument from Nishida lmao.

Achievement unlocked: one snapped Tsutomu.

There’s a real sense of momentum in Tsutomu’s progress and it would certainly do him good to keep riding on that wind. As Kana-chan so shrewdly observed, going undefeated for an entire day can truly change a person’s mindset.

And Tsutomu is not the only one energized by the team and individual victories of the club. The competitive bug has taken hold of another, one who has found a guiding goal for herself and started to walk firmly towards it.

If Tsutomu’s spirited outburst was already quite unexpected for someone of a quiet disposition, Sumire certainly took the prize in being the greatest surprise of them all. She was asked by Taichi to take a turn playing against Chi-chan, who have started to get comfortable playing with her left hand. Sumire was meant to be an “easy” opponent so that Chi-chan could slowly reacquaint herself with using her right hand. While her level may have not seen a big leap but the same could not be said for her determination and resolve to do exactly what Taichi is trying to do - getting on the radar of her love interest.

That look in her eyes certainly said all. No longer directionless, she now takes tenacious steps with her eyes dead-set on the goal. Her no-nonsense attitude, previously dormant, has taken hold and redefined her character in such a way that completely captivated everyone’s attention.

“I’ll win more in the next tournament. I’m not gonna be class D forever.”

Sumire’s desire to catch Taichi’s eyes being a powerful motivator for her karuta is just in her character. What really strikes me is how enduring such motivation has turned out to be. Seeing this once-flippant and thoughtless girl putting her mind to some real serious pursuit and self-development is truly gratifying.

It feels a little strange to go back to school with these guys after a whole season of mostly tournament matches in Omi Jingu. Suddenly, school trips are a thing, even Chi-chan is hyped over it. These reminders of them having some sort of life outside of karuta will need some getting used to, lol. Unfortunately, seems like school and karuta will come head to head at some point.

Apparently, school trip is not something Chi-chan can easily skip for karuta. Even her literature teacher, after reading her love poems to karuta, took upon himself to forewarn the Empress, aka. the karuta club adviser, on how Chi-chan is a flight risk. Downtrodden by thoughts of not getting to go to the Qualifiers, Chi-chan was shaken out of her funk by Kana-chan, who has always sought to instill feminine grace in our heroine.

I do like the idea of performing small acts of good behavior to accumulate good luck. It is similar to building good karma through acts of kindness and charity, and is a very Kana-thing to believe in.

Then came this somewhat bewildering insert of a Japanese lit. period, which touched upon the age-old debate of creator vs. critic and the role of literature teachers as those who pass on “the words of the many who came before”. Like I do appreciate the insights but I’m not sure of their relevance to the story, now or later. But it did make Chi-chan’s face light up so is this some sort of placeholder for some discussion of future career pathway? *shrug* still weird.

There is finally some good news for Chi-chan: her finger has recovered well after the surgery and her right hand is back! And the Yoshino tournament is literally around the corner, so let’s go!

Team or individual...?

The arrival and clashes of karuta societies made the Yoshino tournament livelier and stand out from previously seen tournaments, where either the schools or the individuals took the center stage. Chi-chan and company were here to play for themselves and to also represent the philosophy of their respective societies.

Here comes the Nagumo society, from Fukui.

And their arch-rival.

I miss Harada-sensei!!!!

Love how the members are so gentile, except for the coach...

There are also some peeps whose schools are akin to karuta societies, me thinks.

Yay, Rion made it to class A too. That should put her in matches against Chi-chan and Taichi at some point!

Lest I forget amidst all the excitement, but this is Taichi’s first-ever tournament as a class-A player!!!

Harada-sensei welcoming Taichi to class A and being a proud papa is all the fluff I need.

Fired up by his own agenda for the Shiranami karuta society as he was, Harada-sensei never forgot to cheer on his Eyelashes-kun, the prodigal child that returned home to karuta.

Meanwhile, Chi-chan had a sweet moment or two with Arata, and then promptly got herself caught up in shenanigans, again.

blushie from Arata. Now that I think about it, when was the last time that Taichi was this blushy around Chi-chan... Though to be fair, he was too busy keeping up with her antics and too jaded by her less-than-feminine comportment to have time for blushies...

She looked so cute here, reminding me of younger Chi-chan - so pleased by praise from Arata.

But above all, they are here for the karuta.

Certainly not before meeting Arata again, right?

And here came Sudo-san, whose “s” stands for shenanigan, sadist and stalker.

... Oh come on, he provides commentary for all of Chi-chan’s matches, whenever he’s not playing himself. If that is not stalker-ish behavior, then it’s secret admirer, mwhahaha.

Taichi = Chi-chan’s tamer.

The stakes just keep getting higher, huh? DON’T TAKE IT, TAICHI!!!

Though I must say I do look forward to a rematch between Sudo-san and Chi-chan, if the mangaka karuta god wills it so. Actually, Sudo-san has yet to play against Taichi thus far, right...?

*fingers cross* my memory please come backkkk

Lmao, bit early for this pairing to be exciting, considering the last round of team tournament at Omi Jingu. But I would like to see this senpai again, for sure. His puppy love for Rion is so hopeless lol.

It sure is the thread of fate lol. Awww, I do like this President Cheers/Yoroshiku.

Poor Nishidaaaa, gambatte ne.

With Chi-chan and Taichi growing by leaps and bounds and having exciting reunions with friends and rivals, it can be easy to forget about the lower-level players like Tsutomu-kun. To think that it only took him about a year (or less?) to reach class B. That, in itself, is quite the feat and his progress deserves all the recognition and spotlight from before and here onwards. While class B proved to be more challenging than he expected, and Tsutomu-kun has a long way to go before becoming a strong player, I do hope that he will have more chances to show his resolve and be more than a supporting character.

“I should have known a class B match wouldn’t be like class C.”

Unfortunately, this is as far as he got in this tournament. I find it such a shame that we won’t get to see more of Tsutomu-kun the karuta player for now, but I understand that the narrative is building up something spectacular for the trio in Yoshino so Tsutomu-kun’s early elimination would help with the story’s focus, which has been a little all over the place in this episode.

Before moving on, some appreciation from the girl who has been walking the same path with him since the beginning.

Kanatomu has always been my comfort ship, especially whenever Taichihaya feels like the most hopeless thing ever. Kana-chan’s openly-expressed affection and care for Tsutomu-kun is truly balm for the soul.

“You said were going to win so I wanted to be there to see it.”

Both Kana-chan and Tsutomu-kun are the quiet strength that supports and holds the team together. They make for an adorable couple-to-be, with all the chemistry that any pairing could ever hope to have.

Back to the class A matches, it is with another untimely elimination that this episode ends on.

Nishida’s tenacity was amazing as always, but I wished that we could have seen more of his match against Sudo-san. At least his Nikuman roll.

Overall, this episode is a bit of a mixed bag. I do get pumped for the upcoming matches of Chi-chan and Taichi, as well as reunion match(es) with Arata but I am not so sure about two eliminations in one go. I don’t enjoy seeing support characters being used so blatantly as plot devices, especially when they barely have any screentime. Nonetheless, this speaks to Chihayafuru’s strength in character writing, in how the series really gets viewers invested in all characters, regardless of how brief their appearance or their importance to the main storyline.

Wow, I am here, at the end of my post on the 2nd episode. I still can’t believe that it took me so long to finish it. All the excuses I could have said I did, so allow me to leave you with these parting words.

Even while in the thick of GI, Chihayafuru still colored my world. There are many reasons as to why one would choose to pull for Kazuha, but for me, it was how he embodies classical Japanese poetry and aesthetics, and manifests it in every aspect of his character design and lore. I literally decided to pull for him because of his maple-themed kimono (which feels so quintessentially Japanese to me) and the name of his Elemental skill - “Chihayaburu”. It doesn’t hurt that his kit (skills) is awesome and totally kicks ass, but truly, I was sold at the moment I saw the leak with his Elemental skill’s name.

And while his “Chihayaburu” does not come from Chihaya’s favorite poem #17, it is still a reference to classical Japanese poetry - the Man’yoshu, or “Ten thousand leaves” collection. And the more you dig into Kazuha’s character, there are more references, like in the voice-overs for his Burst animation (a splendid affair of maple leaves caught in whirlwind) and his musing on maple leaves (in which he recited Ogura Hyakunin Isshu’s poem #5). In a character demo video, Kazuha is also shown to be composing a haiku, while wandering the world.

There is so so much about Kazuha that appeals to me, and it would take much longer than 2 paragraphs to say it all, but all in all, it is the Japanese poetry so richly imbued in his design and character that speaks to me. And I would not have any appreciation of that, had I not been exposed to it in Chihayafuru.

Thanks for reading thus far, lovelies! I’ll be dashing off to watch the 3rd episode now! See you, for sure.

#Chihayafuru #chihayafuru season 3 #chihayafuru anime #chihayafuru marathon #chihayafuru s3 #natsumi talks #natsumi watches #Chihaya Ayase #ayase chihaya #Taichi Mashima #Mashima Taichi #Wataya Arata #Arata Wataya #Kanade Oe #komano tsutomu #sumire hanano #Yusei Nishida #kaedehara kazuha

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