Chihayafuru

[Splash!]

Having both the offending school (and Arata I suppose) banned from the next team event? Keeping individual and team realms separate is to my liking. It means you have to be punished for going against the rules, but you can still play individually so it won't put out your passion for playing karuta.

Hmmm. What if there are others like Arata who don't actually care much for participating in team events but are enticed by another team for whatever reason (a bribe maybe). The only side that stands to lose anything from getting caught is the team, not the colluding player. That doesn't seem just. It's like a smart student letting others willingly cheat off him, and never having to worry about being penalized for academic dishonesty. Of course the scenario is hypothetical, but it could happen after the precedent is set.

[Buffalobiian]

Hmmm. What if there are others like Arata who don't actually care much for participating in team events but are enticed by another team for whatever reason (a bribe maybe). The only side that stands to lose anything from getting caught is the team, not the colluding player. That doesn't seem just. It's like a smart student letting others willingly cheat off him, and never having to worry about being penalized for academic dishonesty. Of course the scenario is hypothetical, but it could happen after the precedent is set.

I thought of that too.. but then ignored it, heh. It does leave a hole to be exploited, but at the same time laws escalate punishment to groups (schools, individuals) in proportion to the rewards they have to gain from such a violation. Hopefully those who have the most to gain from hiring top guns (schools, in this case) are dissuaded enough by the punishment that they won't approach players in the first place.

Maybe shaming them for more than just the next tournament?

That rule punishes the school (and the upcoming karuta players) more than the current members though (especially the graduating 3rd years), but hopefully the school themselves make sure the team receives a large enough reprimand to make up for the school's shame.

[shinta|hikari]

They lost the match. Had they won, Arata should be disqualified not only in the individual matches but even in next year's matches. Since his "cheating" had no real effect aside from letting people experience something they deserve but almost didn't due to sheer bad luck (and he knew this because he only tried to win when the team was guaranteed to lose anyway), I think he deserves a medal, and a kiss from Shinobu.

[Kraco]

Episode 11 - HS







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As hilarious, in a saddening or infuriating way, as it's starting to be, I'll actually have to commend this episode for coming up with a plausible way of both allowing Arata to continue and keep him away from Chihaya & Taichi. After all, it's like the trademark of this bloody story that those three cannot meet more than once a year, and very briefly at that, despite how much they think about each other. Having to write an essay was quite a funny detail. At the first glance it seems kind of childish to have such a school like punishment when it's a sports tournament, not a school, but if you think about it more carefully, it's objectively speaking an annoying and onerous nuisance, so surely it works as a good punishment.

Quite a fine episode also otherwise. Nikuman's lecture to Desktomu wasn't misplaced, even if it was kind of blunt. If you want to observe keenly and see the right things, you need to maintain your own edge as well, I think. You won't otherwise be able to judge the players perfectly anymore, or the whole game. Besides, he's not even a bad player. It also keeps up the comradeship among their own team to have them all play.

[Ryllharu]

Shinobu is still cuter than ever, and Kana is going to be scary in the future. She obviously gets it from her cougar mother, but with the added bonus of a loli body with big boobs.

I appreciate the fact that they mentioned close analysis of five matches at once is harder than playing a single match. Especially so considering that the cards are all taken nearly simultaneously, so it is hard to see individual actions. I was impressed that Sumire's personality-notes turned out to be quite useful after all. It was to her benefit that she was observing a bunch of girls, she was likely to key in on their traits that annoy her, rather than getting distracted by a hot guy or simply not paying attention to an ugly one.

I don't think there is really that much to add otherwise. I will say that the reader this episode was by far the worst ever. Nasally and dull.

[Kraco]

Episode 12 - HS




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I'm starting to feel the story is investing too much into every single match. I guess it's kind of realistic that at that level no match is a breeze, even if some are more difficult than others, but looking at it from the individual point of view and how the anime is depicting them, it seems like they need to overcome a hurdle every time. How long can they keep that up, considering there's still some way to go, counting the individual tournament as well? If they really are aiming for the top, they ought to have enough skill so that they could have won at least one match with no enlightements or other special conditions. Just walking in and playing hard like they always do should be enough sometimes. It's giving too big an underdog feeling they can't have a single "routine" victory. Not every game needs to be a roller coaster.

But I guess we will soon arrive at the real deal, no matter how meticulously the whole trip has been covered. The old dude seemed to guess wrong the team Arata was cheering for. I hope that doesn't lead to any strange misunderstandings... Like Hokuo losing and the man reporting back to Arata that "his friends lost" and Arata despairing.

[Ryllharu]

Wah! Cameo from Hayashibara Megumi as Fujisaki's coach! I love the Great VAs of Yesteryear cameos in this series, there are so many of them.

@kraco: I don't think it depicted that way really. It's not like Chihaya is overcoming that massive hurdle every time. There are five main members of the club, and they each have their own mental blocks or emotional hurdles to get over during a given tournament. Chihaya gets more of a focus each time, sure, but each of her epiphanies are growing her into a better candidate for the eventual showdown with either Arata or Shinobu.

Regarding Arata, I imagine that they'll come out with a surprise win (hopefully Chihaya will slide forward or back a few centimeters next episode), and Chihaya will proudly exclaim that they need to message Arata that they're in the finals right away, clearing up any misunderstandings there.

I really dislike Megumu. She does not come off as "bittersweet" like her photo fan club thinks, but just as a self-centered, often dismissive, bitch. She's either an outright bitch, or looks down on everyone around her, making her appear as an airhead. There was nothing ditzy about her sitting in front of Fujisaki. She made that clear with her line right after that she wanted to just play the final and get it over with, skipping Mizusawa as if them losing was a foregone conclusion. Kana's four card lead proves that otherwise, considering she is usually one of their losing players. She obviously not taking Chihaya seriously, which is a mistake we've already seen a lot. Then they even provided more examples of her being a bitch in the flashback, making sure she got attention, but then forcibly deleting every photo.

She's not a likable bitch the way Suo is a loveable asshole. The only thing nice about her is her plump thighs.

[Buffalobiian]

Agreeing with Kraco about how the matches seem to look. The way they seem to be tripping over themselves every match when they're this strong feels weird. It'd be better portrayed if they instead focused on analysing the opponents' weakness and tried to exploit that, instead of having to deal with their own weakness.

Trying to exploit an opponent's weakness would built up more tension for me since a self-weakness is more within your power to fix (anime logic). If you're losing because of your own inability (especially a psychological one), I'm pretty much expecting you to enlighten yourself and win by the end - no questions asked.

[MFauli]

Seems Im not the only one who´s growing tired of the way each and every match progresses.

Match starts -> opponent is overwhelming -> Chihaya becomes insecure about herself -> random event of motivation -> moment of "now I remember ..." -> serious-mode is activated -> Chihaya wins.

sigh

This would have been the perfect match to show everyone how strong Chihaya is ... by having her dominate Megumu from start to beginning. And it´d have made total sense, too, since the anime had hyped Megumu for several episodes now. Guess we shouldnt expect too much surprise.

Btw. is next week the final episode, or will we get the third season without break this time?

[Buffalobiian]

Seems Im not the only one who´s growing tired of the way each and every match progresses.

Match starts -> opponent is overwhelming -> Chihaya becomes insecure about herself -> random event of motivation -> moment of "now I remember ..." -> serious-mode is activated -> Chihaya wins.

sigh

This would have been the perfect match to show everyone how strong Chihaya is ... by having her dominate Megumu from start to beginning. And it´d have made total sense, too, since the anime had hyped Megumu for several episodes now. Guess we shouldnt expect too much surprise.

Btw. is next week the final episode, or will we get the third season without break this time?

Pretty sure Chihaya's 2-cour like the first run was.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - S2 Episode 13


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Zzzzzz. Granted, I was tired too, but the episode had more to do with it than anything else.

[Kraco]

I can't believe the match is still not over. It's not like I wouldn't have been enjoying this episode, like any other Chihayafuru episode, but no matter how I look at it, this is getting ridiculous. I'm starting to wonder if this season can reach the master & queen matches at all if it goes on like this. If Chihaya shows performance like this, she doesn't even have any business being in the queen match. She's been fervently playing the game since she was a little kid, yet her concentration and emotions are still all over the place, as if she was some beginner who started six months ago and was all nervous, excited, and amazed by her opponent. Considering how single-minded her basic nature is, she's thinking about nothing at all but karuta from morning till evening, one would think her focus would be superior to most people.

Somehow I think, if Taichi wasn't such a petty bastard and had allowed Chihaya to meet Arata, things could be different. Now Chihaya's memories of Arata must be distant, but if they had chatted for a while, Chihaya might have recalled better Arata's steady playing style and focus and could draw inspiration from that, keeping her own head cooler.

[Ryllharu]

Chihaya has finally hit her stride in this tournament and her playstyle is finally starting to match the current Queen, so everyone has finally realized it. What they assumed would be a boring match with a foregone conclusion (the Girl's School winning handily) has turned into something else. But, this match hasn't really been about Chihaya at all. Chihaya's always sort of herself. I did find myself wishing one of her teammates (Taichi likely), would just ask her if she was having fun playing against the West Candidate. Then Chihaya would probably beam with happiness and play like a monster...or that might backfire.

Still, all the character development has been about the stuck-up bitch Megumu. She's been so blasé about everything, and even her friends in the club dislike that about her. They know she's good, and they want to see her take the crown, but she simply was never engaged in a match, she had no passion. Chihaya caught wind of some of it, noting that Megumu is who she would be if no one helped her refine her skills while still keeping her passionate about the game. Megumu resented having to be the cheerleader for the team. Megumu resented that they were encouraging her to be Queen, she even seemed to resent the fact that she was here (why are you playing karuta at all if you don't enjoy it?). Chihaya's level of skill has begun to piss her off though, so she's finally starting to enjoy herself...by getting angry that she's not winning without effort. Bitch to the end, but at least she's not a dismissive bitch anymore.


As an aside, it seems like Chihaya has a new devoted admirer, one who has given her a stellar nickname, referring to the Amazon star.

[MFauli]

OMGWTF

Had written a lenghty text, then my browers screwed up :/

Well, then I´ll just write this: Tomboy-girl on Megumu´s team is kinda cute-hot. :>

[Buffalobiian]

What they assumed would be a boring match with a foregone conclusion (the Girl's School winning handily) has turned into something else.

Up until the end of this episode, I had always expected the outcome of the match to be:

Chihaya - loss
Everyone else - wins.

There was all that talk at the beginning of the previous episode about the All Girl School being confident that their ace would win, and because Megumu is such a bitch I wanted it to backfire on them. It's a team match. It doesn't matter if the ace wins. What matters is the team.

This episode showed that their team works together in their hierarchical way though, so that's a sweet revenge shattered for me.

[shinta|hikari]

@Kraco - Taichi might have all the best qualities in the world (he surely does not), but he will always be petty. That is his defining characteristic and what makes Arata (aside from everything else about Arata) infinitely better than him.

Still, Shinobu X Arata FTW. All those scenes with them together just fits, even if they don't even talk at all.

EDIT: I am actually really annoyed by all the self reflection scenes every match. It is simply unrealistic, and reeks of over dramatization.

EDIT2: I just wanted to ask, what do you guys think of Taichi? I find that no matter what kind of development he gets, I can never grow to like him just because of what he did when he was a child. Add to that his recent pettiness, I just can't seem to like him, which sucks because he is always onscreen. If you are fine with him, how did you manage to get past his childhood transgressions?

[Kraco]

EDIT2: I just wanted to ask, what do you guys think of Taichi? I find that no matter what kind of development he gets, I can never grow to like him just because of what he did when he was a child. Add to that his recent pettiness, I just can't seem to like him, which sucks because he is always onscreen. If you are fine with him, how did you manage to get past his childhood transgressions?

I'm fine with him being there. The main cast needs all kinds of characters, and Taichi's one distinct type. Arata is actually really gray compared to him. Arata has the karuta obsession like Chihaya, but since he's otherwise normal and regular, he doesn't look like a karuta lunatic. He looks like a normal guy with a deep interest in a hobby.

So, I have no problems with Taichi, but I'd rather see Chihaya get together with Arata. Yet if they still grow Shinobu some more and make her more interesting and human, I might not eventually care even if Arata ended up with her instead. Though I kind of fail to see any bidirectional spark between Chihaya and Taichi. It seems like Taichi's whole reason for being with these people is to be close to Chihaya, but all the scenes that have shown Chihaya have any hints of interest in a person otherwise than as a good opponent is with Arata.

[Buffalobiian]

I like Taichi for a few vain reasons:

1) he's got an awesome memory
2) he's good looking

But looking deeper, he's striving to be a better person while knowing he's darker deep down. That struggle to remain good while battling your inner desire intrigues me (I can also relate to it). Taking a page from Nisemonogatari, perhaps a fake who strives to be as good as the original is more valuable than the original itself. Taichi is striving to be someone who he is not, but who he (and we) sees as being desirable. I commend that.

I get disappointed and annoyed when he becomes a dick, but I also like exploring his psychology - like when he overheard Chihaya on the phone but managed to swallow his sadness/frustration.

Also - where he keeps telling Chihaya to forget about Arata so she can concentrate on the match when he's actually telling himself that. Is he consciously lying, or is he just projecting his own distracted state of mind onto Chihaya? Perhaps at first, but I think he realises the truth afterwards - how does he cope with it?

When I think about it that way, Taichi could even be likeable currently because he was an ass in the past.

[MFauli]

Taichi is suffering from the same bs that keeps happening to Chihaya. Sometimes, he shows progress, the will to get better. Then in the next game, he´s falling back into the "I need focus. I need to realize that I´m strong. Otherwise I´ll never become an A-player", all while giving advice to his team members. It´s frustrating.

I like him a lot, though, since he´s not a Karuta-prodigy like Chihaya and Arata. Even though he may be gifted (being a good Karuta-player as well as being a school genius. And surely he does well in whatever else he does), he´s a hardworker. A "gifted hardworker", if that makes any sense. Like, Desktomu is a hardworker, too, but just not as gifted. Meanwhile, Taichi bears the potential to become a Karuta-player equal to the strongest, if only he puts in enough effort.

What I don´t like about him is chasing after Chihaya. Two good-looking characters pairing up, that´s just boring. Any of the other girls would be better imo. How about him and Shinobu, now that would be interesting!

[Kraco]

But looking deeper, he's striving to be a better person while knowing he's darker deep down. That struggle to remain good while battling your inner desire intrigues me (I can also relate to it).

Is he? Or is he only striving to appear a better person because the club needs a good person as a captain? And he needs the club to be able to share time with Chihaya. There's quite a fundamental difference between those two, even though under random circumstances there might not be any externally visible difference in his behavior.