Sudo came back!!!!! Who cares about the rest of the episodes, Sudo was there!!! …Er, I guess I should still probably care about the rest of the episodes. So yeah, the Hokou match turned out just as I expected since two teams go on to the nationals here and now Chihaya and team have something to aim for there. I can see it being a possibility too since the problem with this match seemed to be mostly based on the fact that Mizusawa is just not as used to team matches as Hokuo is. I mean, between the card splitting thing (which was Chihaya’s fault too for playing into their hands) and the pressure from the close match, if they just work on team strategies, I’m sure they can win when the two schools inevitably have a match again.

Which isn’t to say that Mizusawa lost only because they were unprepared. Hokuo was named the best contender for a reason and when it came down to it, Retro’s strategizing and matching Hokuo in order to beat Mizusawa at their best definitely made an impact. …Plus the pressure from having Sudo there probably helped them preform better too. Oh well, even with that, there was definitely something more satisfactory there (for them at least, I’m cheering for Mizusawa all the way) that they can say that they paired the team up with Mizusawa to be as equally matched as possible and still managed to come out on top. There was some skill there for sure. I look forward to seeing how things go if/when they have a rematch.

// Mizusawa’s close-call

If anything, the match between Mizusawa and Hokuo proves that Karuta is a cutthroat game. And since the time it was revealed that the last two standing from regionals would reach finals, I knew the game would be a close-call. Though, nothing prepared me for how close it was. What would you do when the most dependable three (Nikuman, Taichi and Chihaya), would face so many difficulties from the get-go? Of course, those hairpins were distracting and damn his over enthusiastic sister! (Poor nikuman-kun!) The first loss was the heaviest and though the team played really well, it was all about the draw of cards and being attuned to a team match compared to individual match.

Highlights for me has to be the fiery play of Kana-chan and Desk-kun who improved so much from before. Boin-chan and megane-kun typecast be damned, I’m so proud of these two. But of course not more than for Chihaya’s precision, which was a sight for sore eyes. I know she has been working really hard but learning from the best (Suo and Shinobu), was not a bad idea at all. There will be people who would call this obsession but I dub it ambition. She does anything and everything that would make her win under moral grounds and I’m fine with that. It’s chibby-chan’s fault for being a lazy-bum and not taking Chihaya’s practice attacks seriously. I’m sure even at the end, she could have debated the fact that she touched the read card first but of course, she has more class than that. Also, it always impresses me that Taichi keeps track of what has been read throughout the game; if Desk-kun is a database, Taichi’s a goddamn library! Though, in the end, it was an awesome game and made me look forward to nationals even more.

// Chihaya’s Fighto!

Even when seventh episode was just a breather between regionals and nationals, it set the pace for even more development with some inspiration thrown in. I personally have been spending more time with family past few months and as I was spoiled by my mother this weekend with shopping (You cannot have enough purses and shoes!). So, I utterly identified with how Chihaya felt. Of course, I’m not going gung-ho over a card game but like her sister Chitose, I can’t help but be inspired by Chihaya’s resilience. Sometimes the thing that you most need to clear your head is to spend time with the girls in your life, be it your mom, sister or even BFFs. Like Chihaya, I was shocked to find the food transaction between Mrs. Ooe and Ayase but it’s all good intentions and motherhood power.

I remember one of our previous commentors saying, how they hated Chihaya’s moping about but see, she has improved even on that. Sure, she looked dreadful as hell in the beginning but snapped out of it quickly with a stroll outside and playing her favourite game for the umpteenth time. It was also a sight to see her all considerate towards the concert band as the Empress so surprisingly pointed out. Sure, it’s going to get noisy but their musical send-off was long yet exhilarating. Not at par with Sakamichi no Apollon in any way but gesture is what matters, isn’t it? With the experience gained from their previous plays, I’m confident that this is the strongest Mizusawa Karuta-bu has gotten to-date and I hope they ace ’em all! I can hope, now can’t I?!

// Chihayafuru and love angle

Ah, so much support this episode~. The sendoff from the band class was a nice thank you. It looks like Chihaya did get something out of doing a favour for the band after all. Between the band and the conversation about the meaning behind ‘Chihayafuru’, hopefully these things will boost Chihaya in the future. ….Though I wouldn’t exactly translate the 千早 as ‘impassionate’ in the first place (at least I can tell that my Japanese level has gone up since a year ago), but whatever. The poem sounds better translated like that anyways. The bottom line is that we now have a better understanding of Chihaya’s name/ the name of the show and how she should direct her passion with control as opposed to being a frenzy.

Now for the relationship part of the episode… Sumire seems awfully tsundere towards Karuta. Can we add Sumire x Karuta next to Chihaya x Kurata on the list of ships? “I-it’s not like she’s interested in the actual game or anything!“ She claims that she’s only doing it to get closer to Taichi and yet, she’s obviously there for the cards too. She just doesn’t want to admit it. Though the Taichi obsession is obviously still there. She even asked Chihaya what if she liked anyone. I’m… not going to comment on her first choice, but it certainly sucks for Taichi that the second person she thought of immediately was Arata. TAICHI!!! FIGHT!!! щ(ºДº щ) Argh, just watching him watch Chihaya watch Arata is painful. Taichi is definitely in a tough position since he’s so damn self sacrificial and even though Arata isn’t even there, he’s still in a constant struggle with him. Plus even without that, Taichi still needs to get to A Class before he can challenge Arata. At least with the A Class thing though, he’s set his mind to completing it. Now he just needs to man up and get his feelings through to Chihaya (minus the fact that he and Arata mentioned last season that Chihaya doesn’t belong to either of them).

Fun with Chi

The many faces of Chihaya~ ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ

S = Sudo-senpai… ఠ_ఠ

Harada sensei, “Hello, little girl. I heard you wanted to play karuta~?” ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

The power of motherhood! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

Proper send off by concert band~┌(・。・)┘♪└(・。・)┐

FIGHTO ON! ESPECIALLY YOU, TAICHI! щ(ºДºщ)

…This show’s feel good vibe is going to kill me one of these days. Even when the characters lose, there’s always something better that comes from it. Like that part with Chihaya and her mother. That had an absolute overdose of feel good vibes, so that I was close to tears (despite nothing even remotely dramatic going on) since it showed that she actually cared for both daughters even though Chihaya seems to have been shafted all of those years. …Yep. Oh, but all of the episodes were amazing overall. The highlight for me of course, being the reappearance of Sudo, but overall, the first big Karuta match (…not including the other big one that happened in the episodes before this) was pretty great despite it being… not so great for Chihaya. Well, hopefully they learned something here that will aid them in a future match instead of having them make the mistake there and the important thing is that they had fun. …Or at least Chihaya had fun. I’m not so sure about Nishida. xD

Chihayafuru never has a dull moment and I thoroughly enjoyed the last few episodes. The match ones particularly had me over the edge with anticipation for who will win. Seeing Sudo as a reader was pretty surprising. I could never dub him to have a steady personality to read but here you go as he did a great job while reading and pressuring the Hokuo boys at the same time. There’s a long way for Kana-chan to reach A-class and her reading ambition but I’ll be cheering her on throughout.

Now coming to the love angle… It killed me. I love Arata’s character but the last episode literally made me go, “Damn you, man. Why are you teasing so bad?” Poor Taichi; he has it so bad! The moment we see some development between him and Chihaya, there’s a call/text/visit by Arata to burn up all development. Though the current scenario has given me a budding theory that Chihaya may not be in love with Arata, rather she sees him as a friend/rival/karuta-god combo. We have to remember that he was the one who started it all so whatever happens, that position can’t be taken by anyone. Their first frisson would be team play against individual play because Chihaya has mostly played in a group setting and even when she doesn’t excel at it, Karuta-bu to her is very important along with winning of course. Her admirable crushy staring of Tsuboguchi is a proof that karuta turns her on (for a lack of better wording), so rather than dreaming about someone she loves dearly, she dreams about Shinobu, Suo, Arata and play tactics. Our adorable megane-kun doesn’t care much about team play and he’s more akin to Shinobu, so maybe there’s a hint there? Anyways, I still feel Taichi has more than a chance, he just has to stick around and persevere.

Now, let’s get on with the nationals and I’m rooting for Mizusawa team. Readers, what are your thoughts?

Preview:

The young guns of Mizusawa Karuta-bu are going up in blaze of glory!

Tags: Chihayafuru S2, fighto!, friend zoned, karuta is srs bsns yo, rabu troubles

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