Chihayafuru

[Kraco]

Episode 11 - HS



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Haha. This is why I love series with a good script: All those theories about why Arata didn't answer a single mail, and the truth is that his own computer (or is it his phone) is acting up and he has a huge threshold to use the computer at work to check his private mails...

Now that we saw him again, I have no idea whether he actually started to play again. Of course seeing him at work doesn't really reveal that much, but if he's using his free time to work, when would he train? Or does he go to school at all? I don't remember if it was stated. This story would feel kind of strange is Arata had nothing to do with karuta anymore, and would remain some sort of living fossil, that is, a karuta memory for the rest of the guys that has no role but what they remember from years ago. Yet, as much as I'd like to see him play again, it would also need to be after some effort and hard retraining.

Oh, almost forgot: The battle in this ep was quite nice, but I'm not sure if it's good that they won or not. The other team was supposed to be really strong, after all. Also, Chihaya's psyche seems to be strangely weak in some ways. Of course it brings more tension to the games, but it's not going to be overly realistic if she needs to struggle to get into the mood in every real game. This episode did, though, depict nicely the differences between Chihaya, Taichi and Nikuman as players.

[Ryllharu]

Oh, almost forgot: The battle in this ep was quite nice, but I'm not sure if it's good that they won or not. The other team was supposed to be really strong, after all. Also, Chihaya's psyche seems to be strangely weak in some ways. Of course it brings more tension to the games, but it's not going to be overly realistic if she needs to struggle to get into the mood in every real game. This episode did, though, depict nicely the differences between Chihaya, Taichi and Nikuman as players.

Yes, very much so. I loved the contrast between Chihaya's unthinking instinctual play, so much so that she can actually predict when a card is going to be read by keying into the reader's mannerisms, to Taichi's Calculating King style. He's got a very intellectual approach, which is a great reason why Chihaya forced him into the Center position. That in and of itself was a nice touch as well. Chihaya is a good Captain to Taichi's club President. They all accused her of randomly picking, but she had learned a great deal from her near-failure last round. She incorporated a technique of her opponent's that made an impression on her, and worked it into her own team's dynamic.

I only wished they had spent more time focusing on Nikuman's turnabout. His opponent was supposed to be incredibly strong himself, and after the barrel-roll, Nikuman just somehow won, without the details that we got from Taichi's or Chihaya's matches. I would have liked to see more, but I could understand and am grateful for why they wanted the episode to end in a victory, rather than a cliffhanger.

I also enjoyed that the person who reinvigorated the whole team wasn't Chihaya, wasn't Taichi, it was Deskmoto nabbing his first card against a strong opponent. He and Kana may be somewhat less major players, but they are definitely contributors to the team morale with their newbie enthusiasm.

[Buffalobiian]

I only wished they had spent more time focusing on Nikuman's turnabout. His opponent was supposed to be incredibly strong himself, and after the barrel-roll, Nikuman just somehow won, without the details that we got from Taichi's or Chihaya's matches

Same. But really.. not many different approaches can there be? You've got the instincts department, and you've got the brains one.. Arata and Nishima are both classed as "good" without any real qualifiers (though it may be suggested that Arata has a stronger memory than Taichi, but perhaps with less actual planning).

I also enjoyed that the person who reinvigorated the whole team wasn't Chihaya, wasn't Taichi, it was Deskmoto nabbing his first card against a strong opponent.

My favourite part would have to be Kana's cheer. She was the only one aside from Chihaya who didn't get the card, yet she joined in with "I'll get it next time!!"

Oh, almost forgot: The battle in this ep was quite nice, but I'm not sure if it's good that they won or not.

Haha, well as a general rule in sports anime, you can't lose your first tournament too soon. Your "revenge" match for the next coming year must be against someone strong and worthy - usually the school that has a tradition of winning. 1st round of the Nationals against the previous year's winning team is the sweet spot.

We still haven't heard about who the supervisor for Chihaya's team is. I'm hoping it would be someone like the Dr who could teach both the newer kids AND the more experienced trio. In particular, I'd want to see them explain the difference between Offensive and Defensive karuta, followed by the choices Kana and Desk-kun make after experimenting with them.

Here's hoping it's not as simple as Offensive being suited for reflex types and Defensive being suited for brainy types.

[Ryllharu]

We still haven't heard about who the supervisor for Chihaya's team is. I'm hoping it would be someone like the Dr who could teach both the newer kids AND the more experienced trio. In particular, I'd want to see them explain the difference between Offensive and Defensive karuta, followed by the choices Kana and Desk-kun make after experimenting with them.

I was under the impression that the club advisor is the bitchy old lady who is Chihaya's nemesis at school. The same one who mentors the tennis team.

Chihaya grudgingly made her accept them as a real club when they got five members.

[Buffalobiian]

I was under the impression that the club advisor is the bitchy old lady who is Chihaya's nemesis at school. The same one who mentors the tennis team.

I was expecting her to be their club supervisor, but we haven't seen her actually take on the role. It looked more to me like Chihaya has only submitted the club application to her..

Or are you supposed to submit the form through whichever teacher you want to be your supervisor (instead of having the staff nominate one)? No idea how it works...

[fireheart]

I was under the impression that the club advisor is the bitchy old lady who is Chihaya's nemesis at school. The same one who mentors the tennis team.

Chihaya grudgingly made her accept them as a real club when they got five members.

Why do you have her pegged as a bitchy old lady? I mean she accepted Nikuman leaving the tennis club without any fuss except for the fact that he said he was going home and then did something else giving the impression he was skipping club activities and she accepted the club without arguing, it seems more that she was thinking whether Chihaya should be president or not hence her changing that. So far she's mostly come of as someone who's strict with the rules but still helps and compromises for her students. Also she did give them the room even though they weren't an official club.

I was expecting her to be their club supervisor, but we haven't seen her actually take on the role. It looked more to me like Chihaya has only submitted the club application to her..

Or are you supposed to submit the form through whichever teacher you want to be your supervisor (instead of having the staff nominate one)? No idea how it works...

Well she said she'd be their supervisor for now but likely she took on that role so that the club can officially exist also she's busy with the tennis club so she probably won't do a lot for the karuta club, maybe they'll get another supervisor later that knows more about karuta.

[Buffalobiian]

Ah, you guys are right. She did take on the role of advisor, even if it's only a temporary thing. I had forgotten about that.

[Ryllharu]

Why do you have her pegged as a bitchy old lady?

Because she has been from the beginning? See episode 1 before the opening.

...and she accepted the club without arguing, it seems more that she was thinking whether Chihaya should be president or not hence her changing that. So far she's mostly come of as someone who's strict with the rules but still helps and compromises for her students.

What compromise? She's been against Chihaya every step of the way. She begrudgingly accepted Chihaya's club as an official one because they scrounged up five members and she had no choice but to accept them at that point, yet still made the additional condition that Chihaya couldn't be President. She wouldn't normally have a say in who a club/circle elects as their officers. All of them were surprised, so it was obviously not part of the normal procedure.

Also she did give them the room even though they weren't an official club.

A leftover storage room. That was only given to Chihaya because she wouldn't leave "the Empress" alone until she relented (episode 6, 3:00).

[Kraco]

Come on, she's not a quarter as bad as the usual rotten teachers in anime/manga that not only do their best to try to stop the club from being founded but also afterwards try to undermine it to get it cancelled.

[Ryllharu]

No, she's really just has a strong distaste for Chihaya. That much has been fairly clear.

Of course, it serves to make it funnier, because Chihaya's reactions are golden.

[fireheart]

Because she has been from the beginning? See episode 1 before the opening.

Checked it but it looked like she did her job, she told Chihaya she can't stand on the chair putting up flyers with her skirt on, this seems reasonable as she might flash the guys. She basically told her that wearing the skirt on top of her track pants is unlady like so she shouldn't wear her skirt on top, sure Chihaya is a tomboy but the teacher trying to conform her to the set rules is hardly at fault for trying. Getting angry that she's taking of her track pants in the hallway, this is a school and she shouldn't take of her clothes in public in the first place also there's the flashing thing again. Complaining that she can only put up one flyer on the board like all the other clubs, Chihaya probably didn't intend to but she's at wrong here and if the teacher let her do that it'd mean she was treating her differently than others or playing favorites which is hardly fair and would have been wrong. Complaining that she's sleeping during class, again perfectly clear reason for complaining about her behavior. So which part shows that she's been a bitchy old lady?

From what I can see she's doing her job only difference is that she's strict on the set rules and Chihaya didn't follow them. Just so you know it's not a matter of Chihayas personality, the only thing that matters in this case is whether or not the things the teacher scolds her on are relevant or not and I can't see how they aren't. Maybe you can shed some light on that?

What compromise? She's been against Chihaya every step of the way. She begrudgingly accepted Chihaya's club as an official one because they scrounged up five members and she had no choice but to accept them at that point, yet still made the additional condition that Chihaya couldn't be President. She wouldn't normally have a say in who a club/circle elects as their officers. All of them were surprised, so it was obviously not part of the normal procedure.

Please do show me exactly where she's ever been against Chihaya making a club because making Chihaya follow the proper procedures to create an official club hardly qualifies as being against her. Obviously she's seen how Chihaya acts and know a bit about her so making them change the president was a good move since Chihaya is oblivious to the things around her unlike Taichi. In fact when I looked at that episode again they did zoom in on what I'm expecting to be Chihayas name so to me it looked like she was thinking about whether Chihaya could fulfill the duties as president, obviously she figured Chihaya couldn't and I agree because the club would suffer if she was simply because of how strict they are on the rules.

In simple terms Chihaya would be closer to a student getting an assignment and only doing what she thought was the assignment yet if she read through it properly she'd notice that she missed a lot of details that are crucial to it and that's why she's not fit for the role while Taichi is. Another example would be Ritsu from K-ON but without a forgiving student council that's fine with her handing in the paperwork late etc, in other words they wouldn't be able to do anything because the person in charge doesn't really know what they're doing.

Also she had a choice when she accepted the club as an official one because she could have easily decided that they have to have an advisor before they can be an official club, that would be a clear example of getting in their way but she didn't instead she offered to be their advisor so that they got recognized right away. And as their advisor she could just as easily decided they weren't ready to participate in the tournament and withdrawn their application just by reasoning that it's to early as 2 of the members only played for 2-3 months, that would also be a clear example of being against Chihaya at every chance she gets but she didn't.

A leftover storage room. That was only given to Chihaya because she wouldn't leave "the Empress" alone until she relented (episode 6, 3:00).

As for the compromise if she was really against it then she would have told her no and wouldn't have even bothered listening to her considering they weren't even an official club so the school didn't have any obligations towards this club what so ever. The mere fact that she did give an unofficial club a room no matter which room it was shows she compromised and it was fair giving her the storage room as it'd be unfair if she got a proper one when it wasn't official nor would it have been fair to the existing ones.

Again she's just a strict teacher and it feels appropriate instead of an older teacher letting every rulebreaking student get away with everything all while dotting on them. If you ask me it seemed more like she understood how serious Chihaya was about karuta and therefor gave her a chance to prove it because looking at her personality she wouldn't have any problems showing her the door when she asked for a room no matter how many times she asked. Seriously watch all those scenes again and ask yourself as a teacher does her actions make sense or does she just hate Chihaya, is there any truth in the things she tell her? Because if you don't see that she's doing her job right by not ignoring problems and yet still cuts Chihaya some slack then I'd like to know what you see.

Don't get me wrong though I like Chihaya but looking at it objectively the teacher simple hasn't been against her every step of the way nor tried to sabotage anything and she scolds every student breaking the rules and despite all that she still helped Chihaya far more than required.


Edit: Starting to feel like a troll everytime I post something here...

[Buffalobiian]

You're not a troll, you just use full stops and paragraph breaks really sparingly.. making it somewhat difficult to read

[fireheart]

Episode 12 - HS







Okay I was wrong about the teacher understanding how serious Chihaya was about karuta

[Kraco]

It was made clear the teacher wasn't a scumbag at all deep down, she simply was ignorant and prejudiced, plus blinded by the tennis club. But when she saw for herself how intensive and sporty karuta is, she recognized her own mistakes right away and made the proper 180 degrees turn to support it, without a second thought. So, she might be hardheaded, but that was her only fault.

Another thing that made me really glad was Chihaya's scrapbook. It was so cruel to watch the family ignore her when the sister was present, but when she noticed the missing newspaper article and then the book, it all felt good again. Kind of a result driven family after its own fashion, though vastly different from Taichi's. But I suppose the competitive Japanese society is like that at large.

Arata is funnily yet again kept in shadows, despite getting the sudden exposure in the previous episode. I expect him to make an appearance of some sort at Omi Jingu. Preferably a dramatic one to shake Chihaya's heart.

[Ryllharu]

Another thing that made me really glad was Chihaya's scrapbook. It was so cruel to watch the family ignore her when the sister was present, but when she noticed the missing newspaper article and then the book, it all felt good again. Kind of a result driven family after its own fashion, though vastly different from Taichi's. But I suppose the competitive Japanese society is like that at large.

I was actually really glad we got to see Chitose again, self-centered as she might seem. This too changed 180 when we learned why Chitose is so driven to become a model, and now an actress apparently. She wants to use her money to take the burden off her parents by paying off the mortgage.

Her behavior pushes Chihaya into the background (as it always has), but she does mean well. Also, we learned that her parents definitely aren't ignoring Chihaya's accomplishments, Chitose is just that much needier.

Of course, if Chihaya does become the Queen of karuta, it will be amusing to see which outshines the other. Chitose would be more well known overall, but Chihaya might be more respected. After all, she'd be the best in the world of her own microcosm. Chitose would have a long way to catch up after that.

The bit with Kana was irked me a little though. I don't know why they were so insistent upon forcing her to use a competitive layout. Experienced karuta players would expect a "competitive" layout, and I imagine most of them lay them similarly, as Nikuman was describing. They should have tested her the same way Chihaya had to play upside down. If Kana focuses on the meanings more, her seemingly idiosyncratic layout will throw off her opponents as easily as it would benefit her memorization. She'd would see them arranged by season the same way the chihaya card burns red. Kana's opponents would see a random mishmash arranged at "random" by a beginner. What she loses in reaction time (through reach distance), she would gain defensively. It would be very difficult for her opponents to remember where Kana had placed a card, so they wouldn't be able to pass as many to her.

[Kraco]

The bit with Kana was irked me a little though. I don't know why they were so insistent upon forcing her to use a competitive layout.

Unless it was just the know-it-all attitude of the youth, there might be a strong reason for the competitive layout. They will be playing on the national level next, so it's reasonable to assume reaction times won't vary more than fractions of a second, so any edge could be decisive. It's possible the competitive layout does, despite being uniform, give statistically a tiny benefit for a player. It's a game of luck as well, after all, never knowing which card could be read next and where your attention happens to be focused (which card you'd be expecting/protecting). Hard to say without having played the game extensively.

It's also true that dramatically changing habits so close to the competition could be a big risk.

[Buffalobiian]

The bit with Kana was irked me a little though. I don't know why they were so insistent upon forcing her to use a competitive layout. Experienced karuta players would expect a "competitive" layout, and I imagine most of them lay them similarly, as Nikuman was describing.

That's the part that confused me the most as well. To me it looked like Kana was manipulating the entire field, but i hindsight it must have just been her own. I agree that they should have let her try it out first before saying NO!

It's also true that dramatically changing habits so close to the competition could be a big risk.

You risk losing what you've built up so far.. but frankly Kana isn't exactly top notch, so changing the cards is more about finding what works for her rather than trying to improve but risk any established performance.

[Kraco]

You risk losing what you've built up so far.. but frankly Kana isn't exactly top notch, so changing the cards is more about finding what works for her rather than trying to improve but risk any established performance.

She certainly still lacks experience, but I think neither she nor Desktomu are exactly ordinary players either. They both ought to have a small bonus making them better than simply any joe from the streets that has trained the same time they have. Whether, for Kana, that bonus actually required a new layout of her own, is another question. Now that we saw she developed one, I wouldn't consider it impossible if she suddenly changed to that in the tournament.

[Ryllharu]

Now that we saw she developed one, I wouldn't consider it impossible if she suddenly changed to that in the tournament.

This is my thinking as well. They wouldn't have introduced it if she wasn't going to use it for some reason. They also brought up the contrast between Aggressive (Chihaya) and Defensive playing styles in the previous episode. It may be more fitting for Kana, who lacks Chihaya's speed, to take up Defensive play. Deskmoto as well.

[Buffalobiian]

I have no idea where Deskmoto is heading.. he's kinda a Taichi-wannabe at the moment. Copying him would be boring though, not to mention Taichi having batter talent at learning anyway.