Yeah, right. Now, that wouldn't be too believable. I'm sure she could beat a much weaker player with her left hand, but it's utterly unlikely she could do anything in this Class A room. We are talking about decisive milliseconds and millimeters here. It's quite hard indeed to try to do anything fancy with your weaker hand, let alone do it as fast as with your primary hand.Originally Posted by David75
On the other hand, lack of use and less developed muscles would impact on her reaction time and endurance, just as it's shown in this episode where she comments that she hears the sound, but can't react in time.
Taichi can't call Arata a rival because they're unequal, and there's no real way he should be able to beat him. As well, to Taichi Arata isn't a rival because he doesn't really wish to be better than Arata. He just wants Arata to disappear/crush him. It's how you feel once you pretty much accept that you can't top the other guy - only option is to drag them down.
Taichi isn't above hating though, I'll give you that.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
what was the point to have her even start with her left hand?
so that she shows determination by then switching back to her right and goes over the limit like in any other shonen?
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
What indeed? It doesn't really have any point per se, because the point was already that she couldn't bring herself to drop out. Now that she's playing, she just has to try whatever she can. But realistically speaking her left hand is no good at this level. She needs to use her right hand. Perhaps she will acquire a fancy feather touch skill out of this (to avoid the pain).
She will have to use her right hand, and she has to do it so cleanly that no one else has a chance of touching her. It's a set-up for God Mode I reckon.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Ok so it either comes from the left... or she gets the better out of Rion's and the Queen's style? Or mainly Rion's as she is already in the process of taking the best parts of the Queen's technique?
I guess Chihaya needs Rion's spartan style, with movements/force reduced to the extreme when she takes some cards.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
Isn´t that how that "king" did it, back in season one? Maybe i´m mis-remembering, but I thought that guy had this extremely clean, calm style, where he´d seemingly just pick a card as if it took no effort whatsoever.
So, yeah, we´re in for either some bullshit-left hand miracle, or a new power level for her right hand.
I'm not sure if that's his "style", or if he can just leisurely do it because he identifies cards and moves before anyone else, giving all the time in the world to take it.
Did Rion really have a style? I just thought she was like the Master in that she could hear sounds no one else could, and therefore reacted much more quickly.
Shinobu's the only real player who is focused about taking things "cleanly", tapping the closest point of the card and removing no other.
Shinobu, Arata and Master all come off as if they don't make faults as well, which means that Taichi's super-memory is already matched and won't be something that gives him an advantage over any of them. That might not be the case, but it certainly feels like it given that I don't remember any of them committing a fault.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
There are a number of girls with super hearing in this show. Chihaya, (Rion), Ririka, Shinobu and Megumu, probably in that order. Rion is a special case, because she is attuned to her grandmother, and falters with other readers. Shinobu makes up for her marginally reduced aural abilities with speed and perfection of movement.
The Master has all the abilities, but is a lazy jerkwad. I don't think Arata shines in any particular sensory way, but he makes up for it by having perfect technique combined with experience and strategy.
I'd like to think if Taichi stops pretending to be someone he isn't, and starts acting more like Sudou, he could get into A-Class no problem and go far. Taichi has the brains, he just needs to take advantage of them to punish his opponent and keep them unsettled.
I hope we get to see a little more of Sumire down in E-class, she's been off to the sides too much while Tsukuba gets to play. Maybe give her a few wins to boost her confidence and continue showing her enjoying karuta. That storyline kinda fell flat, while Tsukuba's got to keep going.
I hate Taichi even more now, but I am so glad he is still a scheming jerk. It would have pissed me off if they tried to make him more likable.
Peace.
Episode 21 - HS
- -- ----- - -
Arata was bloody fast. Lightning fast. A worthy opponent indeed for Chihaya, should the story actually allow them to ever face each other, which I'm beginning to doubt. While I'm actually, in retrospect, surprisingly satisfied with how Chihaya's problem was solved, I'd think it quite a stretch if she won against Shinobu with her injury, since, after all, Shinobu is in perfect health, not tired, not fat, and full of fight. Unless Shinobu chooses to pull off some strange stunt due to Chihaya's injury. She's so weird you never know.
Nikuman put up a really good fight, considering Arata's first opponent was utterly annihilated. Perhaps Taichi was better off not seeing Arata play, though. It could be this episode simply wanted to make Arata look better than he realistically is, but he looked quite a bit stronger than Taichi's opponent in the last team match, who reminded Taichi of Arata.
I'm happy whatever deity watches over karuta didn't listen to Arata's parents' prayers...
I'm not sure how Arata gets away with what he's doing. It's not like he is swatting at a block of four cards and getting the right one. He is deliberately hitting wrong cards on the opposite edges of the playing field to get all the cards that start with a given syllable. That strikes me as him committing faults.
But what more than made up for that debatably legal practice? Chihaya's god-level blushing throughout her time on screen. She looked absolutely adorable the entire time.
<--- Ryll's face at all the Chihaya blushing scenes.
Methinks that Arata was impressed by Chihaya's playstyle. Perhaps she made his heart flutter a bit?
Looking forward to Shinobu and Chihaya's rematch. Shinobu is already really pissed at her for taking away Arata's focus from individual play, and making her jealous about having close friends to enjoy karuta with. She's vowed to make all of them (any team player) pay for taking karuta too lightly, and though she may want to play Arata more than anything, she's got the ringleader of the "karuta is fun!" brigade right in front of her.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Fri, 05-31-2013 at 06:32 PM. Reason: typos
This episode felt like it had 3 eps worth of comedy in 20 minutes. I'm not complaining about that. If anything, it made this episode one of my favourites this season. For one, Chihaya's dilemma and epiphany was non-forced.
Knowing Chihaya, that "reaching out" comment should be non-romantic, but anybody else (particularly through Taichi's lenses) would see otherwise. Unless you knew of Chihaya's air-headedness and pure love for karuta, it looks exactly like what Taichi does to approach Chihaya.
As for Arata's craziness, it won't be solved unless rules were available in English (or someone translated them for us). Perhaps if it's still "one swing" you're allowed? Or if you can hit as many cards as you want until the correct one goes out of play?
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
As much as I'd like to consider it romantic, I'm sure it wasn't. At least in this episode. She might have bordered something like romantic feelings during the more silent moments, away from the games, when she was thinking of Arata, but not in this episode. Her mind was still so full of karuta and nothing else. Still, Arata praising her after the victory had quite an impact!
Considering we have seen some players sending nearly half a dozen cards flying with their extremely rude technique, anybody calling Arata out for a fault, with his exact movements, would need to quit karuta and plan a career as a yakuza lawyer.
So Chihaya really is a monster, so much that she can even adapt to left hand play and beat your average strong opponent.
Having her fight in Shinobu in that condition, I wonder how I'll feel after what they have in store.
If she beats her, that will be meh, because there's no way Chihaya progressed so much she can overcome her handicap and beat Shinobu.
If she loses, no Arata match and bad luck for not being able to face Shinobu full strength because of her injury. Meh also.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
Chihaya will get massacred.
Arata will probably move on til the finals.
Peace.
omg, fuck Arata! He was such a villain in this episode. Poor Nikuman. When Arata started his shounen-esque super-swings, it felt like watching Orochimaru when he first encountered pre-timeskip Naruto and Sasuke. So unfair. Sooo unfair. Almost teared up watching Nikuman being so desperate. Damn.
What sucks even more ... no matter how much they use such losses to fire him up for the future, he will NEVER beat Arata, except for some invalid special-circumstances match.
With Chihaya being able to win with her left hand, I´m starting to dislike the "chosen one"-mentality that´s going on in this anime. It´d be way more interesting if Chihaya and Arata died, and the other characters got more showlight. That´s not going to happen, of course. Now it´s just the wait for watching Chosen One vs. Chosen One. AKA Chihaya vs Shinobu :/
Edit:
Also, I totally love Chihahya´s first opponent. Tomboy girls ftw!
By calling Chihaya a "Chosen One," you are neglecting the near-decade of hard work she did to get here. Chihaya trained non-stop to catch up to Arata starting right after he left Tokyo. Her only special adaptation is super-hearing, which we've learned over the past two seasons isn't all that rare (see my post above pointing that out). She's not the fastest player, she's not the most precise player, she has no skill in strategy, and her memorization abilities are only so-so. Her drive to improve is what makes her so good.
Shinobu isn't much different, she's the female Arata, someone who has been playing karuta forever. We've also learned this season that the reason she is freakishly skilled is that the karuta societies she belonged to stopped letting her play with people her own age because they thought it would hold her back (though that was very likely true). She is as good as she is because a) she loved karuta in the same unhealthy way Chihaya does, and b) the people around her set her up to play only the strongest opponents, so she has years of experience playing against the best of the best. Drive to face the best (to eventually have fun playing karuta) and experience.
Suou, the current Master, is the only Chosen One in this series. He seemingly only plays to defend his title.
You keep listing reasons why Chihaya isn´t special. And yet she´s beating everyone. That´s the very definition of a "chosen one".
Also, Nikuman has been playing nonstop, too, yet he couldn´t ever come close to Chihaya, Shinobu or Arata. THAT is what I´m criticizing. And, again, what makes it double tragic is that there´s virtually no room for Nikuman to change his "fate". Him beating Arata? Or Chihaya? That would fuck up THEIR plot. At the very least I could see him getting a win against Shinobu, since she´s not the main goal of Chihaya´s development. But even that´s not going to happen.
While I´m at it, the same goes for Taichi. And I hate how much Chihaya is swooning over Arata. Taichi > Arata.
She's the main character. Most of anime, no, most of any fiction have the main character ultimately be victorious, except for tragedies, but this isn't clearly one of those. So, no shit she's a chosen one. But just like in any shounen (though this isn't one), she's really going through a lot. Just remind yourself of all the team matches where she didn't seem to have a single easy victory, which quite contradicts how she now could beat two class A's with her left hand (not that these were easy victories either, I reckon). She might be a chosen one, but she has plenty of mental issues.
He admitted himself he's not trying as much as the others. He even gave up karuta once to play tennis. He was never a person who was maniacally driven to rise as high as humanly possible in karuta, no matter the cost. He's a person who puts up a good fight but also admits his own limits and seeks the easy way out. Like any normal Joe. That's why he can't reach the freaks.
That's up to Chihaya and nobody else. If she ever manages to develop a romantic desire and choose a guy. I'm sure both Taichi (well, that's given) and Arata would be highly receptive.
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