Chihayafuru 2 – 03

Time for the team’s first tournament~!

Everyone needs to give some more love to Chihayafuru. It pains me how this series is still less loved than it truly deserves. Anyways, this episode had lots of FEELS. It’s amazing how fast the progress has been this season and as less melodrama as possible. What do you think Kara?

THE FEELS, KYO. THE FEELS. I don’t know how Chihayafuru manages to keep up it’s constant heartwarming vibes, but it does and it’s killing me (in a good way). So yeah, a great episode this week full of teamwork. I don’t even know how to put it’s heartwarmingness into words. OTL

Giving new meaning to trying hard

// Kouhai Stepping Up – The first official match for Sumire and Tsukuba went really well. We seemed to have skipped all of the practice they went through to get there, but it was a somewhat uneventful first match there. Which is great because it means that the kouhai didn’t freak out too bad and there wasn’t any internal strife in the team. Everyone did really well! For Sumire, there was the fact that the guy went easy one her, but there was also the fact that she got sick of that and wanted to take cards on her own. If she continues on with that mindset, I’m sure she’ll be fine in the future. As for Tsukuba, we had a better look into what he wants to accomplish in the club and why. Seeing how he felt the need to impress his little brothers, of course he felt a bit bad about being set against an A class player. On the other hand though, he didn’t let that get him down and in the end, all he really wanted was to see if he could manage to take cards off of his opponent. If both new players continue on like this, it looks like there are bright things ahead for the club~.

KARUTA PASSSSION!

// Original Trio – Aaah, how far they have gotten. Even being just a viewer of this series, whenever Chihaya, Taichi and Arata take even a step forward, I brim with joy as if I personally know them. I think it’s one of the wonders of this series that we have ended up liking the characters so much. This episode, I whooped with joy on Chihaya’s perfect wins and Arata’s second placement. Taichi is always dependable and trying his best (his going to others regions for participation was pretty competitive and kinda adorable). But what was most impressive this time is how Chihaya gave her all and said the right things (well, even while pouting over the fact that she didn’t get to play another A-class), inspiring the young’uns. Even far apart, these three are at it with a burning passion and damn, it seems just right.

The official two females of Mizusawa Karutabu because Chihaya supposedly doesn’t count

//Senpai Supporting Kouhai – The amount of teamwork in this episode was glorious. Not only did Desk-kun have an excellent callback to the episode where he truly joined the Mizusawa Karuta club, but he also managed to support Tsukuba in there as well. That speech he had about giving Tsukuba a chance because he was given a chance was just so heartwarming~. I guess this episode really showed how much the team has grown since they first all came together. Even Nishida was there to support the kouhai (or I guess he had more to do with Tsukuba then Sumire) and he was the one most against spending time on them because he was busy with his own goals. Of course, Kana was there with her hakama (it’s nice to know that she and Sumire are getting along well) and even Chihaya helped them with her composure and overall amazingness. The club is really acting like a team and they got their act together really quickly within the first few episodes. I guess the team is working well because the senpai are all so well put together and (mostly) professional? Maybe if they had supportive senpai last year, the team might have been able to skip the drama with the tournament. Oh well, what’s important is that the team work that was displayed here was excellent. Even though not everybody won their match this episode, I’m still really proud of them

At least, Shinobu got back her figure… 

// The Upcoming Matches – I always love the Mizusawa Karutabu in their hakama and what a sight they were this time as well. Mrs. Ooe sure outdones herself every time with special attention towards Taichi. Though, the most hilarious was Kana thinking Chihaya as a male member than female. OTL. Like Kara has already explained, the team played well and supported each other brilliantly. This team effect will be the key in winning following matches. I was very happy to see Arata finally doing well. Of course, he’s not the first but his burning passion is still there and that’s all I wanted to see. Though, the Shinobu angle was completely unexpected and has sent me reeling to new theories between what transpired between Arata and Shinobu? Both belong to the same area (well, Kyoto and Fukui are supposedly part of Kansai region), and as Arata’s grandfather was such a famous Meijin, I’m sure their paths did cross while Arata was training/playing matches. I would love the fact if Shinobu was somewhat afraid of Arata because he was so GOOD when he was a kid (well, he still is but just needs continued practice). Arata is looking forward to the High School competition but as there are more regional ones left, I can only hope that he not only gets to play his Mizusawa friends but even Shinobu (and smacks her ass in the process :3).

// Fun with Chi~

Mrs. Ooe, go back to your husband please! D:

Have you abused your Retro-kun today?

Tsukuba brothers. A force to reckon with!

Sumire got a first-hand experience of a to-be stalker

Chihaya the Opportunist!

…I had forgotten that Sudo graduated. Argh, well hopefully he shows up in the Master class matches or something because I’m going to miss his character a lot if he never shows up again OTL. Oh well, at least we have Shinobu (who’s lost weight, yaaay) and Arata’s returns to keep the story going. I’m really curious as to how/why the two know each other, but that’s undoubtedly going to come up later in the series, if not the next episode. As for Mizusawa, I hope they can continue on with this strong streak of teamwork. Chihaya is certainly showing her experience by blowing the new members away with her show of concentration and everybody else is working towards helping the newbies improve. Like Kyo mentioned way at the beginning too, there’s also next to no melodrama to be found. This can’t last forever of course, but it’s impressive for the team that they can work so well together in a short amount of time considering how they started off.

I’m loving the pacing and development. I still hate the fact that we never get to see the preview but damn, even without a preview I’m always curious to know what is going to happen next. This time, they sure left at a tantalizing point of Shinobu thinking about Arata. Seeing the full story next week would be awesome. As you can see above, I already have some theories working over their mechanics but bottom line: Arata > Shinobu in Karuta. IT HAS TO BE. On another note, loving the two new additions to Karuta-bu, both Sumire and weird-eyes (damn, his expression is so hilarious!). The addition of three little brothers was adorable and Desk-kun was just boss sharing his wisdom with the rest. You can say, I can’t wait for next week! And for the other Chihayafuru watchers what was your favourite moment of this episode? Let’s share some Chi-love people!