Chihayafuru 2 – 02

Don’t be fooled by flowers. Girls in love are dangerous creatures!

 Another week, another week of Karuta. I’m still waiting for all of the members to quit and leave Chihaya devastated, but I’m really curious about slit eyes and how Sumire is going to turn out. I can bear her getting between Taichi and Chihaya if she turns into a great character. …And if not, at least we’ll always have tournament drama to help me forget the romantic drama. I wonder how this will all turn out once Arata joins the plot again. Anyways, those are my thoughts, let’s hear what Kyo has to say about all of this.

Like Kara, I’m looking forward to some drama too. If we compare the pacing of this season with last, you’ll be pretty surprised on how fast things are happening. Personally, I’m glad that they are not lingering on small problems rather moving on towards team effect and how they should be concentrating like crazy on the next tournament preparation.

Taichi’s obligatory broody (Karuta) shot of the week

// Taichi’s Progress – Taichi has become a hell of a character. Who would have thought that the bratty kid who cheated in the first couple childhood friend arc episodes would have become such a dedicated guy. He’s seriously serious about making it to A class and taking on Arata and he’s doing all he can to make it happen. At the meantime too, he’s still worried about Chihaya trying to do absolutely everything and you can really tell that he felt bad about Chihaya crying over the cards not making friends. Coming from her, the cards being sentient just doesn’t seem as delusional as say, someone from Phi Brain attempting life threatening stunts because the puzzle wants to be solved. …Anyways, Taichi is just a really good guy all around and knows where and where not to focus his attentions when it comes to achieving what he wants (provided he doesn’t put Chihaya’s needs before his own). I don’t know if he knows about Sumire’s feelings or how he’ll react to them, but hopefully the situation works itself out without damaging the whole team.

Oh no! That’s her Karuta playing knee!

// Chihaya’s Stubbornness – As I said last time, our main heroine is quite a character. She tries too hard sometimes and gets more than a painful jab at her foot for looking up at impossible. Yes, being optimistic is amazing but it has its limits. Though, I don’t see any harm in visualizing a winning Karuta team (how can you motivate without it?). I would agree with the team for optimally utilizing their every minute rather than doing a lot and stretching themselves thin. I wasn’t surprised that all those chatty girls moved on from Karuta training to other clubs because well, Karuta is not a walk in the park. Still, I’m glad they spent time in establishing the reason why Chihaya was over-enthusiastic (crying tears of joy and later sorrow), for new recruits. She blames herself for their previous disqualification because of her fainting spell. She has come a long way from the blundering fool we saw in season one to a very hard working player (with too many dreams, I must add). I hope she not only has learned from her experience of dealing with different players and customizing her game accordingly but will soon be able to challenge the current queen at nationals.

Eyelashes are srs bsns

// All for Love – Okay, they’re making quick improvements to Sumire’s character. She’s still Taichi crazy (and who wouldn’t be, since he’s become a great character), but she definitely has something else to hold her to Karuta. Even if she doesn’t quite know what that is yet. I’m not entirely sure what it is yet either to be honest though. She feels connections with the poems since they have to do with love (or at least that one poem about spring fading away) and she’s willing to work hard for love. Though even with all of her attention to how she looks, she’s still willing to cut her nails to play. Sumire also seems to be less hostile to Chihaya, (though she has yet to learn about Taichi’s feelings for her) which is a good thing, because I really want to see the team work well together like they did the last season. I can foresee some more drama from her character coming on later, but for now, it looks like the newly rebuilt club will actually be able to work out for the first time. Now as for Tsukuba, the other club member… Ahahaha he seems like an interesting new addition. Of course, he’s just as much of a piece of work as Sumire is (only likes attractive people, ahahaha), but he too has some sort of interest in the game. The second verse Karuta sounds interesting and his history with that might become valuable later. We still have no idea why he’s even into Karuta in the first place, but since the focus seems to be on Sumire at the moment, I’m sure that information will come out eventually.

The original team needs some love too!

// The Reliable Support – What would this club be without the very awesome supporting cast? I still remember Kana-chan’s introduction and not liking her instantly but with time, her admonishments became almost adorable. That whole lecture of cleaning the tatami mats was quite enlightening. Not to mention, how she put Sumire back in her place. She’s the mother figure in the group, who keeps everything tight and everyone in check. Also, Nikuman and Desk-kun are no way behind in providing the much needed push for not only for the main cast but for trainee newbies as well. Even if they hate the guts of first-years, they have willingly accepted them as a part of their group. This was a very quick yet good development.

// Fun with Chi~

Taichi. What are you doing. You’re getting her hopes up.

We can’t decide if Akihiro’s evil face needs more screentime or less…

Chihaya finally realizes that she’s only been in one other screencap the entire post

Well, I’m glad the drama with the team getting new members worked itself out quickly. Like I said before, this is the first time it looks like the new group will work out ever since they introduced the idea. It’s also great that the current team is willing to be a bit flexible with the newer members too. Nishida actually sitting down to help Tsukuba was a great moment for the team since he seem to have had absolutely no intentions of having anything to do with them before. Another moment I really liked was Kana and Sumire when they came to an understanding. They always seemed like such opposites since Kana is usually pretty rational and it’s easy to tell that Sumire does things based on emotions. They balance each other out, and yet it works as a different kind of relation from the same kind of balance that Chihaya and Kana have. The new members seem motivated enough in their own ways too, so I’m really looking forward to seeing their reactions to seeing how the older cast plays. …And of course, I want to watch Madhouse’s animation of the tournaments again. Now that the new team is established, let’s move on to some Karuta matches!

My prediction became half-true. Even if Sumire didn’t confess to Taichi the day she stalked him; she eventually did later and in front of the entire Karuta club. Talk about awkward development and weird glances! Still, this is another development that has put things in perspective because even if Sumire knows that Taichi won’t accept her; she’ll try to become a good Karuta player and eventually realize that she not only did it for love but because of the game, which she discovered through love. Seeing the character development of Taichi, I have a feeling that I’ll end up liking her in the end even when I don’t now. On the other hand, Akihiro looks pretty evil with that slit-eye and tongue action, but he’s just an ambitious player. And I say, more the merrier because Mizusawa Karuta club definitely needs a boost in their next playoffs. I look forward to the matches now and hopefully, newbies work hard in becoming at least D-class players soon! Also, I need some Arata soon PUHLEEZE (You should listen to Robono talk to know why I’m so over-enthusiastic). So, how did you find this episode and what you are looking forward to the most on next?

Preview: As there’s none like always, let’s see how the problem children newbies progress in the next episodes.

About Tag Team

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.