Chihayafuru

[shinta|hikari]

Everything Taichi does is for Chihaya, which I would normally applaud, except for the fact that Taichi is petty and cheap. The only reason he tries to avoid being himself (cheap and petty) is to appeal to Chihaya, which in itself is petty and cheap. He needs a better raison d'etre to be a better character.

Arata is quite underdeveloped as a character, but even then, he is much more likable.

Also, Chihaya and Arata are hardworking. They practically devote themselves to Karta at this point. There really is no "genius without effort" character in this show, maybe excluding the current king until his inevitable development flashback.

[Ryllharu]

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.

That's because Taichi isn't good enough (at karuta) for her.

[Buffalobiian]

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.

For me, it doesn't matter whether you're trying to be a better person for:

1) the person you like,
2) society, or
3) yourself

If you decide to revert back to your old self after "winning" Chihaya, then that's cheating her. If you decide to fake it forever.. then it makes no difference to me.

[Kraco]

For me, it doesn't matter whether you're trying to be a better person for:

1) the person you like,
2) society, or
3) yourself

If you decide to revert back to your old self after "winning" Chihaya, then that's cheating her. If you decide to fake it forever.. then it makes no difference to me.

That's not the point. The point is that is he really trying to become a better person. You know, the world is full of scumbags who in the public look like decent people, but when the cameras are turned off, they are pure narcistic nazis. Even if he's genuinely trying to change himself, there's the reverting back when he has won danger you mentioned, but if he's only masking his true self by acting well when it suits the needs, there's practically a guarantee he won't be able to pull it off indefinitely, plus the occasional petty moments would never get fewer. We have never seen Chihaya in any manner of a relationship (aside from familial), so it's impossible to say how she would take it, should she end up with Taichi.

[shinta|hikari]

She won't.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - S2 Episode 14

[MFauli]

Bullshit, her losing. I absolutely despise Megumu, and her creepy stalkers/future rapists are only worsening her impression on me. This anime really is in need of a more transparent "power progression". Yes, it´s not a typical shounen, not Dragonball or Naruto, but please give me logical reasons for why Chihaya can lose here, yet win later on. Etc, etc.
Porky losing maybe isn´t illogical as much as it´s just plain frustrating. Can´t they show progress on one character without taking it from another? Sure, we needed dat 2:2 situation, still ...

I also fear that this was the last awesomenes of Desktomu-kun. He´ll probably die in a car crash within the next couple of episodes or so ...

[Kraco]

Damn Arata. Of course I knew he had a streak of formality after he was volunteering to drop out of the whole event after getting caught, but I seem to have overestimated him in general. If he really liked karuta as much as the beginning of the show let us understand, he wouldn't have turned down Shinobu. He's stuck writing essays while his competitors would already be honing their mood and skills for the individual matches. Now he had a chance to play against one of the best to shake off some rust - and he turned her down referring to some total bullshit nonsense, even being so arrogant as to accuse the current best female player to only play to pass time. Arata's stocks really plummeted during that scene. Now I know he doesn't deserve to get anywhere near the master match. A pity, really.

In my opinion Chihaya deserved to lose. I'm beginning to wonder if she's too airheaded to be able to learn from her mistakes, but the cold truth is she's constantly playing below her real level of skills due to her weak mental fortitude and lack of concentration and willpower. Megumu might have been, in fact, a worse player skills wise, I reckon, but her mental state was world's above Chihaya, and that ultimately allowed her to win. Chihaya is like some soldier who can hit the targets every time at a shooting range, but in the real combat situation hesitates, licking her lips.

[Buffalobiian]

Chihaya had to lose. I wouldn't have it any other way. The team could advance (like I thought it would), but she needs a loss so she actually has to improve (rather than improvising an improvement during each match - which only lasts for that single match).

Why didn't they wear hakamas again for this tournament? Because the air-con broke last time? Kana really needs that boob-support, so I wonder if it's really such a good move. You can always wear it first, then take it off later if you decide the heat is more unbearable.

[shinta|hikari]

Arata didn't play with Shinobu because she was insulting team matches. Arata wanted to say that this day was dedicated to something that he respects.

Arata's comment about Shinobu thinking of matches as merely pastimes is actually quite accurate. She cannot be passionate against her current rivals because they are not up to par, which is why she wants to have a match with Arata, who has beaten her before.

[Ryllharu]

They didn't wear hakama's because Chihaya passed out due to the broken air conditioning last year. They realized (and Kana relented) that they can't afford the additional exhaustion a stifling outfit like hakama puts on a person in that environment.

It's one thing for regional tournaments, which take place earlier in the year and involve fewer teams (even the Tokyo qualifier was only a few group round games and then 4 finalists). The Queen/Meister matches are only two games, in a very well maintained studio environment. But the National Team matches and Individual Qualifier, which take place at the height of the summer heat and involve a much larger number of teams, it can be a huge disadvantage. Even with t-shirts, their members are falling asleep, sweating in the matches, or in Kana's case, sad to admit that she can't go on anymore today. There is quite the strategic thinking in Chihaya gaving up on karuta during Middle School and focused on track to build her endurance to extreme levels. She still passes out after a match, but she's not running down to her limits the way the others are.

This is why Fujisaki has a huge advantage over all the other teams, one I would even go to say is unfair. The average team seems to have 5 players and 2 alternates. Fujisaki has what, 40 players with them? They can breeze through the qualifying rounds and only have to bring out their best players once the finals begin. The majority of other teams have every member playing up to 7 or 8 matches in a row, only breaking 15 minutes in between and a bit longer for lunch. Fujisaki's players probably play only 2, maybe 3 games in a row at most.

I suspect the redhead girl is actually Fujisaki's true ace.

[Buffalobiian]

There is quite the strategic thinking in Chihaya gaving up on karuta during Middle School and focused on track to build her endurance to extreme levels.

I remember Chihaya joining track to train her response time to an aural trigger rather than endurance.

It had not occurred to me that timing and weather played a part in the matches though. It makes sense for them to discard the hakama.

[Kraco]

Arata didn't play with Shinobu because she was insulting team matches. Arata wanted to say that this day was dedicated to something that he respects.

Arata's comment about Shinobu thinking of matches as merely pastimes is actually quite accurate. She cannot be passionate against her current rivals because they are not up to par, which is why she wants to have a match with Arata, who has beaten her before.

Sitting in a small room writing essays because he cheated and attended such a team match against the rules places him in a position to look down at Shinobu? Rather, since he considers both team and individual matches equally worthy, he should have seized the opportunity to do what he could for karuta: have a practice match with Shinobu. He even pitied his opponent in the team match because he could put up such a poor fight without his glasses, so he should understand that getting as good as possible is the best way for him to serve the sport.

But not, a high horse is better, even though the sport has no horses.

[MFauli]

Kraco, I agree with you in theory, but you gotta think more simple here: Arata refuses to play Shinobu to honor the punishment he was given. That´s just the guy he is. He´s being punished, so no fun on the side. Even if it´s not really related to the punishment.

Personally, I´m glad they didn´t play. What could we realistically expect from a match at this point? Either Arata wins, which would kinda cheapen a future Chihaya vs Shinobu-match, OR Arata would lose, which wouldn´t be a surprise due to his longer Karuta break. No, I don´t think a match between the two here would have been too fun/interesting. Actually, I don´t see them fighting each other ever at all during the active runtime of the manga/anime. For the above mentioned reason. Them playing is more something for a final episode, where we get closure on all threads, one of them showing the two play.

[Ryllharu]

Chihayafuru S2 - 15




------------------


Hah! Arata intrigued Shinobu-chan enough that she actually decided to come and watch. His repeated discussion about the importance of it being a team match day, that he had really hoped to watch his friends play, and nearly tossing out his chance to play in the individual tournament just to see them caught her attention.

I wonder if Shinobu will be entranced enough to want to form her own team next year...with Arata. Then again, I don't really know if the two of them even go to the same school (doubt it), much less the one that the other three Fukui players did. Either way, I'm hoping that either Chihaya or Rion will catch her eye.

Secondly, how can the staff be that freaking dumb? They still think that Hokuo is the team Arata came to see, despite the stellar performance that Mizusawa put on, drawing everyone's attention.

I hope Chihaya beats Rion. It one thing that Chihaya loses and learns something out of it, but it has started to feel like she is constantly losing at tournaments against people that really shouldn't be better than she is head-to-head. She is one of the few people who has gotten Shinobu pissed off during a match, and didn't lose in a horrible landslide. It's one thing to lose to Megumu (3rd or 4th best in the country). It's another to lose to Hokuo's current ace, and Megumu, and Rion (if that happens).

Lastly, Kana's an H-cup.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought it was totally appropriate that Chihaya lost to Megumu. She was the West's representative, after all. That essentially makes her the 3rd best female player in Japan last year. (though correctly speaking, it's only the strongest player in West, but you can think about it like that).

The staff aren't dumb. They have no idea Arata is attached to two friends from when he was like...7 years old? When people come to cheer you expect the recipient to be someone they know, not someone of stellar performance.

I don't care about Rion (though I agree with the blond, she is pretty cute), but it's interesting that Chihaya can see her emotions behind the face. Or is it that Rion's finally found something/someone to be emotional about?

Taichi vs Arata-look-alike should hopefully break himself from Arata (at least during matches), but part of me is suspecting this to be artificially created to exploit a weakness in Taichi in order for him to come back during the match.

[MFauli]

Lol, is this turning into a ninja-anime now? "So this is the extent of the ears of the best team player", right after silently sneaking past the team.

Probably an old "complaint", but I still have to laugh when I see these characters being so serious about Karuta. Not only the players (lol Oe-chan, orgasming about a reader, wth), but also the trainers. As if they dedicated their life to Karuta ... which makes no sense, since it´s really not that big/popular a game afaik. The presentation is as if I´m watching Hikaru no Go, only that Go is a super-popular game. Oh well.

Favorite new character is now Arata 2.0. Omg, fantasizing about your trainer during the match, love it! Only way to make him better would be if he´d speak out aloud those naughty thoughts, totally confusing/embarrassing those around him. Well, he kinda did this a little bit, when refusing the thought of being in love with Rion.

And stop being so gay, old school-friends of Arata´s. When a girl starts changing in front of you, you DONT complain. This is not 1800. It didn´t matter anyway, since Shinobu was wearing the underwear of an 8-year old girl. Seriously, least sexy underwear ever witnessed in human history

AS FOR THE ACTUAL STORY:
They kind characterized the opponents in this episode, but I still think it´s too obvious that Mizusawa is going to win. The opponent team is set up too strongly as the "strong, but overconfident"-trope, with no sympathetic characters like Mizusawa´s semifinale opponent. Rion will surprise everyone with how strong she is, but Chihaya will shake her robotic emotions. Taichi will overcome the Arata 2.0. And then ... well, the rest is unclear, but I´m sure Mizusawa will win this. Personally, I hope Dekstomu-kun wins his match, because it´d remove his token-player impression a bit. Tsukuba-kun winning seems to far-fetched. Porky... dunno.

[Kraco]

The staff aren't dumb. They have no idea Arata is attached to two friends from when he was like...7 years old? When people come to cheer you expect the recipient to be someone they know, not someone of stellar performance.

Yes, he is dumb. It only makes him all the dumber he didn't actually know for whom Arata was there, but made a guess, which in itself is fine because anybody would, but that he actually acted on the guess and went to the wrong person makes him one big load of dumbness. It would have been fine if he had only thought incorrectly in his mind, but, realising he's lacking information, would have left it at that. But instead he needed to become a know-it-all and failed.

I already voiced my complaints about how the story treats Chihaya's ealier, but I'm still willing to give the author another chance and trust Chihaya will win this match. Maybe she will notice Shinobu and that will be the last straw to break her unlucky streak. It's not like she should need such extra theatrics, but apparently the manga author really loves to make her unstable.

Fujisaki would desperately need to lose for being so arrogant. Losing would be a valuable lesson for them. However, realistically speaking their team should be better than Mizusawa, even if Chihaya should win her match.

I wonder how much Shinobu can get out of this. I can't really imagine her playing in a team in a meaningful manner. She might pull it off if it was a team consisting of only people she finds interesting, like Arata and maybe Chihaya, but otherwise she seems like a person who would discourage even her own teammates.

[Ryllharu]

Shinobu would chastise them in a lovingly harsh manner for their lack of skill and their inadequate love for the cards themselves.

This is a pretty important shift for Shinobu. She's only seen the value in knowing (or even being aware of) the people who can challenge her. Arata, the Master (asshole) Suou, etc. If she gets interested enough in watching Arata's friends play, she may want to make her own team. Then, in playing that first match or two, she might see more value in having friends to celebrate her victories with.

She's been utterly dismissive thus far. We've never seen her observing another match...ever.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - S2 Episode 16