Chihayafuru

[Xelbair]

I'm with kraco on this one.

[fireheart]

I'm 100% sure Chihaya touched first both the cards that we saw contested. But the bitch simply had seen earlier Chihaya's mood swings and how easily affected she is, to the point of changing her playing style entirely a couple of times during the game. So, she decided to capitalize on that to get free cards simply because she judged, unfortunately correctly, that someone like Chihaya would never argue against the former queen. I'd say that's past the acceptable line of aggressive playing. It's a different thing to suppress the opponent mentally like the sadist guy does and to outright steal cards that the other one already won.

People like that are easily ruining the enjoyment of the game for others. Just think how some kid, like the one Chihaya played with earlier, would feel if her opponent claimed her wins one after another. She would start to hate the game and quit the club. This bitch doesn't give a shit about karuta as a sport anymore, she simply is pissed off she was the queen only for a year and now she wants the title back, no matter how dirty tricks she needs to employ.

Well I'm not so sure about it considering Nishidas inner monologue about her it seems that's her normal playing style before she was the queen and true enough if she did touch it first and Chihaya just pushed the card away then it belongs to her. The only way to settle it is verbally or with a judge. If Chihaya was absolutely certain she should have stood her ground though I don't think Yumi cheated because of the things Nishida said about her and because he wouldn't think so highly of her if she was a cheater. What you described and what Nishida describes is pretty far from each other, so I guess it boils down to if you believe in what he said or more in your interpretation of her playing style.
Also from what we've seen Komano have done the exact same thing before, perhaps a couple more times that we simply didn't get to see. What Chihaya should have done though is ask if someone could keep an eye on the match and be the final judge so that it doesn't end in a verbal word against word argument every time.

The other way could also be said about the situation if Ririka (the kid) touched a card first and someone else blows it away and she can't say anything or question the fact that the opponent took her card then it could be just as devastating. If we imagine the same situation where she overheard people saying she's not all that great but change it to her being a pain in the ass for everyone and holding up/ruining everyone game even though she touched the card first. To me it's probably worse than what you described since that's pretty much everyone against you even though you did the right thing, they talk badly of you and look down on you for it.

Finally I can't believe anyone haven't mention how they don't look forward to Chihaya going bald.

[Kraco]

If touching the card first yet still looking like the other one got the card was so common, it would happen all the time. Yet for some reason only Yumi seems to be famous of "losing" cards that way. Either she has a horrible playing style that results in consistent errors (still would be her own fault) or, I believe, she simply uses that as a ruse to intimidate free cards from the opponent. She has no honour, so she doesn't care how much she bothers everybody else by starting the argument, whereas most of her opponents feel embarrassed when the whole room needs to pause until they are finished - so most would yield the card to escape the humiliation and to stop bothering others.

If she was genuinely able to get the cards first, Yumi would also use enough force to make it clear she touched the card. All the other players do something to the card, not just claim afterwards they touched it first, with no proof whatsoever. Chihaya even learned from Arata the style to really set the card flying, removing all need for additional proof. I hope Chihaya never needs to play against this bitch anymore. Rather, I'd like the sadist guy to play against Yumi. Let's see her try to talk cards out of him!

[shinta|hikari]

I'm with kraco on this one.

[Ryllharu]

Thirded.

Yumi's play style is repellent. She cheats, plain and simple. If there is any doubt in a card, she will keep going until she wins. More importantly, she only had to argue cards that were on her own side, that is, cards that would have allowed Chihaya to turn the game around considerably. Chihaya lost with four still on her side, the exact number of cards the cheating earned Yumi.

It seems to come with the society too. Kitano broke the rules by interrupting the match. True, it helped everyone including Chihaya, but he should have been banned for that immediately. He changed the entire dynamic of the room, ruining part of the advantage any mental players might have had against the "simple-minded" as Yumi put it, as well as the players with superior endurance (heat resistance).

Thankfully, Kana seems to have finally found her place in karuta and will hopefully leave that society before she gets infected with their poor behavior. Becoming a pro-reader fits her well, even if I'd still like to see her play. If there's only a few shy of a dozen readers qualified for Master/Queen matches, then someone in love with the poems as much as Kana is perfect.

Hopefully Deskmoto and Nikuman will see the same. Their karuta society is trash.

[fireheart]

If she was genuinely able to get the cards first, Yumi would also use enough force to make it clear she touched the card. All the other players do something to the card, not just claim afterwards they touched it first, with no proof whatsoever. Chihaya even learned from Arata the style to really set the card flying, removing all need for additional proof. I hope Chihaya never needs to play against this bitch anymore. Rather, I'd like the sadist guy to play against Yumi. Let's see her try to talk cards out of him!

Well I'm not going to argue much about this since I've already said most arguments I got which is all based on Nishida anyway. The only thing I got to add that given what we know about Chihayas speed it's not impossible for Yumi to touch the card first with the intent to send it away and Chihaya being as fast as she is managing to do that in the moment before Yumi manages to do it. If we look at that first card and the second card after that we see that Yumi actually swings her arm with the intent to send it flying.

Also here's a screenshot right before Chihaya touches the first card that Yumi calls her out on. Still think she's a cheating bitch?
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...ihayafuru.jpg/
Moment after
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...ihayafuru.jpg/

[Buffalobiian]

Also here's a screenshot right before Chihaya touches the first card that Yumi calls her out on. Still think she's a cheating bitch?
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...ihayafuru.jpg/
Moment after
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...ihayafuru.jpg/

Same thing for the second shown close-call at 20:12. I'll let you guys have the satisfaction of watching it yourselves.

Good find fireheart.

[Xelbair]

Thirded.

Yumi's play style is repellent. She cheats, plain and simple. If there is any doubt in a card, she will keep going until she wins. More importantly, she only had to argue cards that were on her own side, that is, cards that would have allowed Chihaya to turn the game around considerably. Chihaya lost with four still on her side, the exact number of cards the cheating earned Yumi.

It seems to come with the society too. Kitano broke the rules by interrupting the match. True, it helped everyone including Chihaya, but he should have been banned for that immediately. He changed the entire dynamic of the room, ruining part of the advantage any mental players might have had against the "simple-minded" as Yumi put it, as well as the players with superior endurance (heat resistance).

Thankfully, Kana seems to have finally found her place in karuta and will hopefully leave that society before she gets infected with their poor behavior. Becoming a pro-reader fits her well, even if I'd still like to see her play. If there's only a few shy of a dozen readers qualified for Master/Queen matches, then someone in love with the poems as much as Kana is perfect.

Hopefully Deskmoto and Nikuman will see the same. Their karuta society is trash.

Sir, you are 4th in line, not 3rd :P

Yumi's style looks just like something out of primary school - arguing, and hoping that your opponent is intimidated, not using actual skill.

[Splash!]

I agree with fireheart on this one. Sure, she isn't a likeable character but I also got the feeling from Nishida's monologue that she wasn't cheating (and those screenshots seem to validate this).

She can argue as much as she wants if she is in the right, especially when hanging by a thread in the match and one wrong call could be the end of it. I am sure she played a lot of different A ranked opponents to earn the title of the Queen the first time. There should have been loads of opponents confident enough to call her bluff. If she really was into the habit of cheating, she should have a damaged reputation and zero credibility for contesting calls in the first place.

Yumin's confidence when arguing probably comes from being right most of the time. Sure it is annoying, but it does not make her a cheater.

[Ryllharu]

I'll admit that the screenshots are quite damning to the cheating theory, but if she didn't think what she was doing was wrong, then why did she stop the practice when she was Queen? If she was so sure she actually was right, and used her speed accordingly as she did against Chihaya, she would have contested it anyway. Yet, she herself decided that her tactics are unbecoming of the title holder. There are hints of guilt there.

Such brazen behavior would even be able to throw off Robo-Shinobu. Shinobu got fired up just because Chihaya took a card from her the honorable way. How would she fare against someone like Yumi always rattling her robotic confidence? Perhaps Yumi didn't need to get as fired up about it while she was Queen, but a cold confidence and placid demeanor would have worked just as well. Yet Yumi dropped the strategy entirely.

[Buffalobiian]

Yumin dropped her habit because it was deemed unsightly by other people. Perhaps she even feels annoyed at having to wait during a match because another team was arguing herself. It's the same reason why I (and I imagine some other people too) would not bother arguing about being given the wrong change at a shopping counter if the unsightliness was not worth the monetary amount. I also would not put up a very strong front if I wasn't sure that I was totally right.

So far, Yumin has shown to do what she does now because:

1) The stakes in karuta are high (at least to her)
2) She is sure that she is right. (From the limited evidence, her confidence is not unjustified)

Unsightliness has influenced how Yumin played when she was Queen. Note that while they said she dropped the practice, they didn't specifically say that Yumin lost the title because she stopped contending over close calls. From everything we've been shown so far, my personal conclusion is that Shinobu beat her outright. There were no close calls where Shinobu claimed a card she did not earn.

Another act that would be deemed unsightly would be Deskmoto's sweeps that cleared the entire quadrant of a field based on his calculated odds.

[Kraco]

While I'm not going to rewatch an episode I hated to verify those shots animated (since still shots prove little), it doesn't remove half of Yumi's fault: That she fails to make definite moves. In a speed contest like karuta, you have to make it clear who was first. Otherwise it does open the field wide for corrupt methods, which I still believe Yumi employes. Once she got used to contending cards she believed she got first, it's only a tiny step to give in and start to contend cards she couldn't have been sure of. The stakes were high, after all, and her lousy behavior during the first half of this match clearly demonstrated she's definitely not a person of the best morals and spirits. Not to mention she's shamelessly breaking the unwritten rules of the higher class games by breaking the silence continuously - simply because she purposefully has developed a style not allowing definite moves. No matter how you look at it, she's a scumbag.

[fireheart]

but if she didn't think what she was doing was wrong, then why did she stop the practice when she was Queen? If she was so sure she actually was right, and used her speed accordingly as she did against Chihaya, she would have contested it anyway. Yet, she herself decided that her tactics are unbecoming of the title holder. There are hints of guilt there.

I don't quite agree on your theory on why she dropped it, to me it seemed more like she dropped it because it wasn't refined. It lies in the values behind the game with the poems and tradition like Kana mentions when she joined the karuta club. Since then the sports evolved into a far more competitive one especially if we compare it to how Kana perceived karuta in her imagination to reality. Basically I believe she dropped her way of playing karuta because it was unladylike and as queen she felt she needed to be as refined and ladylike as possible. Consequently during the match against Chihaya she figured why would does it matter if she's not all proper and ladylike.

To be fair it's only my theory but you have to ask yourself is there really any guilt there? Why would there be any guilt involved when she's right and honest? Do you feel guilty when you speak up when you know you're in the right and play fair? Why would it be unfitting for the queen to do it? I'm sorry but I can't see any logical connection between guilt and her dropping her way of playing.

If my theory is right you're basically knocking her for being unladylike yet you've praised Chihaya for being unladylike and honest with herself, it might be worth thinking about it.

While I'm not going to rewatch an episode I hated to verify those shots animated (since still shots prove little), it doesn't remove half of Yumi's fault: That she fails to make definite moves. In a speed contest like karuta, you have to make it clear who was first. Otherwise it does open the field wide for corrupt methods, which I still believe Yumi employes. Once she got used to contending cards she believed she got first, it's only a tiny step to give in and start to contend cards she couldn't have been sure of. The stakes were high, after all, and her lousy behavior during the first half of this match clearly demonstrated she's definitely not a person of the best morals and spirits. Not to mention she's shamelessly breaking the unwritten rules of the higher class games by breaking the silence continuously - simply because she purposefully has developed a style not allowing definite moves. No matter how you look at it, she's a scumbag.

You don't have to rewatch it but buffalobiian gave you a timestamp for the second card she called Chihaya out on and as for the ones I took a screenshot of it was at 17:01 so you only need to check those moments.

Most of the time it is clear who got the card first but there will always be times when it's questionable, Chihaya had a moment like that with Shinobu the difference then was that Chihaya decided on her own that Shinobu should have the card even though Shinobu offered the card to her first. Does that mean it's both Shinobu and Chihayas fault for not making it clear? Is it possible that it could have lead to an argument about who touched it first? Same thing with Sakura in ep 18 if Chihaya sent the card flying instead what would have happened? Is Komano corrupt for the methods he employs? Besides from what we've seen Yumi only did this twice both of which we can confirm/check that she did touch the card first. Also I've stated why it's more possible for close calls with Chihaya considering how fast she is.

So her being in low spirits from as Nishida speculates being unable to live up to all the expectations automatically means she's likely to start cheating? She's hardly done anything wrong. Ok she held up the games for everyone else but if we go back to what I described with Ririka do you really think it's more important for her to not speak up when she truly believes she's in the right? What are you suggesting she should do?

So far it looks more like speculations for why she is a scumbag but nothing definite. Some good points she has, judging from the marks on her hands she practices karuta a lot and gives it a lot of effort, she's shown gratitude to those that guided her and she's honest and speaks up for what she believes in.

[Buffalobiian]

In a speed contest like karuta, you have to make it clear who was first.....

In a speed contest like Karuta, you have to GET there first.

Don't talk like Yumin "purposefully ... developed a style not allowing definitive moves" as if she wants it that way.

She's clearly disheartened that someone as young, beautiful and talented as Shinobu could beat her with flying colours when she had to struggle to get there. If she could knock cards flying, I'm sure she could.

A lot of you guys are saying "She should just be faster" as the alternative to Yumin's current actions. Why don't you try to beat Chihaya then? I'm sure everybody playing would love to be faster if they could.

Or should she focus less on speed and more on power so she can rip the card from under an opponent because that seems satisfy the point of the game?

What do you propose a player should do if their speed matches their opponent to the point where close-calls are made often? Sit back, give up and play them when you're clearly faster (if possible) than them next time? And we called Taichi out for not trying things he wasn't clearly good at...

The stakes were high, after all, and her lousy behavior during the first half of this match clearly demonstrated she's definitely not a person of the best morals and spirits.

Yumin had lower morale, not morals. It's been said that she argues strongly for things that she thinks is right. She got disheartened when someone apparently superior to her (Shinobu) beat her. What's wrong with that?

A person who is not "the best of morals and spirits" doesn't default to scumbag.

All arguments mentioned (besides the guilt thing Ryll suspects Yumin feels) that say Yumin is cheating/scumbag/at-fault-for-not-being-faster are unfounded. The only thing that has any fact behind it is that of the two close-calls animated, Yumin called them out correctly.

One doesn't blame a track runner for not clearly coming first. One asks "where the fuck is the camera?" Why isn't anybody here asking that?

[Kraco]

One doesn't blame a track runner for not clearly coming first. One asks "where the fuck is the camera?" Why isn't anybody here asking that?

Because there's normally no need for it? If only one person out of a hundred has a style that lets her, supposedly, touch cards first yet without disturbing them, creating objectively ambiguous situations, but then as well has a personality paying no heed to the wellbeing of others, it's nothing but bothersome. There's no big money circulating in these tournaments, so they can't have fast cameras recording every match. They can't even have a big hall for them to play in, to prevent the worsening atmosphere during the games.

Fine, I admit half of my accusations are baseless, or rather are based only on Yumi's unpleasant and rude personality and nothing concrete, but I still won't back down. She's not suited for karuta. It's sad a person not suited for karuta made it all the way up to the title of the queen, but perhaps that's exactly how she made it up there, by playing outside of the unwritten rules.

[Buffalobiian]

If only one person out of a hundred has a style that lets her, supposedly, touch cards first yet without disturbing them, creating objectively ambiguous situations, but then as well has a personality paying no heed to the wellbeing of others, it's nothing but bothersome.

Again, I must emphasis that Yumin does not deliberately play in a way that purposefully sets up ambiguous situations or touches cards without disturbing them. The first card that Yumin took in the game against Chihaya at 6:14, she swept it right off the field faster than Chihaya could reach it. Chihaya described it as "compact and measured". The second card after that (7:04), Yumin was clearly faster again with her block.

Yumin argues when she only manages to touch a card first, but where the competition is so closely following her that:

1) she doesn't manage the sweep the card away
2) the opponent doesn't realise they weren't first
3) the opponent continues to sweep away the card from under Yumin's hand without realising #2 (sometimes)

Yumin is perceptive enough to know when and how a card is taken from her even when she got there first. She asked Chihaya if she's sure it was her card. Chihaya answered with "I think".

I also don't see Yumin having a personality that pays no heed to the well-being of others. Sudo doesn't get into shit for what he does, and Chihaya's first thought at the cards this game was "I can attack like crazy!! Lucky!!" and not "Poor girl sitting there, maybe I should tell her these cards aren't organised favourably for her."

The last card Chihaya took in her match against Sudo was an undisturbed tap as well, but since it was so graceful and cool we decided not to get up her about it...

I will be the first to admit that Yumin isn't anywhere as pretty, funny or has as alluring a style as Chihaya - but she isn't doing anything wrong.

[fireheart]

Fine, I admit half of my accusations are baseless, or rather are based only on Yumi's unpleasant and rude personality and nothing concrete, but I still won't back down. She's not suited for karuta.

I'm a bit confused here if one half of your accusations more or less been proven wrong (cheating) and one half of them are baseless... what's left?

I get her breaking the unwritten rule but I don't see the big deal about being honest and saying I touched it first (especially since it's true), yes it sounds like an elementary school argument but that's not really the point. You haven't really given any alternative to the problem, either speak up and get the card that was yours or be quiet and let the opponent get a card they didn't earn. Normally everyone thinks things should be fair and Yumi should speak up. If it had been reversed and Chihaya contested cards that we could see she touched first then most would probably applaud her for speaking her mind and being honest. But in Yumi's case most rage and hate her for it? Anyway the whole thing reminds me a little of Ben-To with "A nail that sticks out to much should be removed" or something like that anyway.



Not directed at Kraco: if Chihaya would have gotten those two cards would that make her a cheater? Or does it not count as cheating since she didn't mean to and didn't know.

[Kraco]

Like I said from the beginning, Yumi shouldn't play so that she only touches the card slightly, giving the other player the impression they got the card first. And even if that happens occasionally, she shouldn't every time start an argument over it, like she apparently did before becoming the queen and now is doing again. If two people roughly equally good play a game like this, they should statistically lose such cards in an equal proportion - unless one of them acts like bitch and contends it every time. If there's much skill difference, situations like that won't even happen in significant numbers. However, like I said before, I have zero doubt Yumi would forcefully make herself "equal" even with a better opponent by contending every fricking card. She wouldn't have a notorious fame like that otherwise.

Keep Chihaya out of this. She yields cards like there's no tomorrow, even if the opponent does nothing but cough. You can hardly claim she would, with a loser attitude like that, purposefully try to rob cards if she noticed she was the second to touch them.

What comes to your confusion, note I used the word "or", not "and".

[Ryllharu]

To be fair it's only my theory but you have to ask yourself is there really any guilt there? Why would there be any guilt involved when she's right and honest? Do you feel guilty when you speak up when you know you're in the right and play fair? Why would it be unfitting for the queen to do it? I'm sorry but I can't see any logical connection between guilt and her dropping her way of playing.

If my theory is right you're basically knocking her for being unladylike yet you've praised Chihaya for being unladylike and honest with herself, it might be worth thinking about it.

Don't conflate "ladylike" behavior with the decision Yumi took to stop her usual play. Nishida said that she stopped because it was unfitting behavior for the Queen. They didn't state either way what that meant. Yumi herself didn't reflect on it any more than saying it's acceptable if you're a challenger. You can connect it to being refined just as easily everyone else connects it to being dishonorable. If Yumi stopped the practice while she held the title, she clearly felt it was wrong. That's guilt.

She's disruptive, and dishonorable about the way she gets her opponents into such verbal challenges, as Kraco stated. She certainly could noticeably move the card away if she got their first, even with just a pinky. Shinobu, Arata, and Sakura all played that way. Except Yumi deliberately does not do so. She intentionally moves all the cards weakly, and that is why without her dishonorable play, she appears so sluggish and half-hearted.

Again, as Kraco stated, leave Chihaya out of it. She has never acted in anything less than a fair way to her opponent. Even when she copied Sudo's technique of standing up to break your opponent's momentum during that one match (which is totally within the rules), she mentioned being uncomfortable doing it. You can't even compare the two. Sudo, yes, with all his sadistic play forcing the opponent to lose momentum, break concentration, or get flustered. Sakura, yes, with calling every win "lucky" as if it was her opponent failed to perform at their optimum, making them doubt themselves. But not Chihaya. Aside from being shocked about being called on those two cards, she will graciously concede contested cards, and always blames herself for losing.

[fireheart]

Like I said from the beginning, Yumi shouldn't play so that she only touches the card slightly, giving the other player the impression they got the card first. And even if that happens occasionally, she shouldn't every time start an argument over it, like she apparently did before becoming the queen and now is doing again. If two people roughly equally good play a game like this, they should statistically lose such cards in an equal proportion - unless one of them acts like bitch and contends it every time. If there's much skill difference, situations like that won't even happen in significant numbers. However, like I said before, I have zero doubt Yumi would forcefully make herself "equal" even with a better opponent by contending every fricking card. She wouldn't have a notorious fame like that otherwise.

Keep Chihaya out of this. She yields cards like there's no tomorrow, even if the opponent does nothing but cough. You can hardly claim she would, with a loser attitude like that, purposefully try to rob cards if she noticed she was the second to touch them.

What comes to your confusion, note I used the word "or", not "and".

Ahh thank you it makes more sense now, the only thing I have to counter it with is that Yumi swung her arm fully just like everyone else did to send cards flying. So she didn't do what you described touching the card slightly, she did it full swing on the first card (17:01) though you can't see if she did on the second card (20:05) but you can see her hand shoving the card to the side so she probably swung. So no she didn't just "poke" the cards she swung at them. I've never tried but I'm not sure I could make it clear that I was first when the opponent is a mere split second behind, also I do not in any way know how far a card would fly when getting hit by a pinkie in the span of that split second but judging by the anime the answer is not far enough to make it clear she was first.

As for her reputation we don't really know if she literally contends every close calls or if every card contends is with absolute confidence, the way they described it kinda left it open for interpretation. And even if she did contend every single card she did still touch those cards first against Chihaya which according to the rules mean she earned those points. Actually a better question is how did Chihaya not notice that Yumi was faster on the second card she contended? If you look at that moment you can see Chihaya put her fingers on top of Yumi's fingers. That should have made it perfectly clear for Chihaya that she wasn't first abut instead she thought she was first and Yumi had to contend for it. I'd post a screenshot of the moment but you don't seem to trust them so 20:05 in horribles release anyway. That means if Chihaya was normal she probably would have noticed the fact that she placed her hand on Yumi's and effectively means Yumi would have only contended one card.

I'm well aware of the fact that Chihaya yields cards I've even mentioned how she's done it, however I still stand by it as it's a hypothetical scenario which the two of you added more things to than what I described. Basically if she at some time while playing 100% fair and touched a card first, sending it away and all that yet the other person tried to get up first and she contended. I seriously can't imagine anyone holding it against her. Again and I can't stress this enough this is only if we knew 100% she was in the right perhaps against someone who was just mistaken or someone who would try to steal cards by running up first and trying to claim it first. I'm not saying she would try to steal cards it might just be a simple "Umm I think I touched the card first". I'm not even implying foul play or even hint at her cheating her way to get a card and for the sake of being clear let's say she only did it once, though the two of you might think so since I said reverse and considering your opinions on Yumi it makes sense that you thought I implied that Chihaya was the same. So please do tell me in that situation would anyone hold it against her if she contended? Though obviously it's a lead in hypothetical situation since no one would hold it against her, given all the facts we've given you that you can easily check out yourselves how would the situation be any different from Yumi's match against Chihaya? Note situation not person.

Don't conflate "ladylike" behavior with the decision Yumi took to stop her usual play. Nishida said that she stopped because it was unfitting behavior for the Queen. They didn't state either way what that meant. Yumi herself didn't reflect on it any more than saying it's acceptable if you're a challenger. You can connect it to being refined just as easily everyone else connects it to being dishonorable. If Yumi stopped the practice while she held the title, she clearly felt it was wrong. That's guilt.

She's disruptive, and dishonorable about the way she gets her opponents into such verbal challenges, as Kraco stated. She certainly could noticeably move the card away if she got their first, even with just a pinky. Shinobu, Arata, and Sakura all played that way. Except Yumi deliberately does not do so. She intentionally moves all the cards weakly, and that is why without her dishonorable play, she appears so sluggish and half-hearted.

Again, as Kraco stated, leave Chihaya out of it. She has never acted in anything less than a fair way to her opponent. Even when she copied Sudo's technique of standing up to break your opponent's momentum during that one match (which is totally within the rules), she mentioned being uncomfortable doing it. You can't even compare the two. Sudo, yes, with all his sadistic play forcing the opponent to lose momentum, break concentration, or get flustered. Sakura, yes, with calling every win "lucky" as if it was her opponent failed to perform at their optimum, making them doubt themselves. But not Chihaya. Aside from being shocked about being called on those two cards, she will graciously concede contested cards, and always blames herself for losing.

That's why I said it's only my theory and gave a reason for why it was unbecoming/unfit for the queen to do so and asked you why would she feel guilty about her actions since from what we've seen in the episode she was in the right both times. Considering what Kana has taught us about karuta I think it's fair to say there's at least a logical connection (though I've been told my logic is... illogical) between my theory and her dropping it, whereas we've seen her contend for cards she did indeed touch first so why should she feel any guilt over it? That question is really the only thing that makes your statement illogical to me, if you can answer that then I'll have no problems saying it's logical and plausible and leave it at that.

As for the rest I think I covered most of them above to kraco. As you once told me go rewatch it and see for yourself (17:01 you might need to go from 17:00 and slow the video down a lot to see everything also 20:05). I'm seriously having trouble understanding all the hate against Yumi considering all the facts we've given you that both of you can check up on in less than a minute (if you still have the episode at least). If you want to disregard those facts then nothing I can do about it.



As for the question if it would make Chihaya a cheater which might or might not have gotten some of you up in arms, it's nothing but a question. I'm not saying she is one merely asking if she would have been considered one because I don't have any clear definition for whether she should be considered a cheater for not knowing. I'd probably lean towards no because of what we know about her and since she wasn't aware of it but it's kinda of a gray area for me as with someone else there's a high chance I'd say they were a cheater.