Chihayafuru 2 – 22

The match you had been waiting for…

This episode as well, not only kept up its pace but managed to give us hope with enough twist to make us shift on our seats. The match between Shinobu and Chihaya was definitely promising. I enjoyed whatever details were given and thankful for it not being dragged to another episode. Though, now with the big guns taken care of, I would love to see how things go with Arata and Taichi’s upcoming matches.

ARGH this match both went as expected and as unexpected, but WHOA was it great to watch!!! It’s been a long time since we last saw Shinobu and Chihaya have a match and it’s great to see how both of them have grown. Or at least, Chihaya’s growth over the course of a season is definitely apparent, which is wonderful to see~.

// Shinobu Vs Chihaya – Like Kara said, Chihaya’s growth was a sight to see but let me remind you again that this is not your average shounen show so even if the main character developed brilliant ambidextrous abilities an episode ago, you can’t expect her to win a match against the Queen with the same vigour. Chihaya after all doesn’t have any super saiyan powers… Let’s not put an image to go with that… Anyways! I wished Chihaya had played with both her hands rather than stressing her right arm, which began to pain with just a few minutes of use. If I was her doctor, I would be giving her an earful about not taking care of herself. She has to become a future queen, damn it! She can’t jeopardize all of that just because of a match, however important it was. Whatever happened though, those two cards still were very important after all as taking your opponent’s favourite card is the biggest stinger there is.

Till now, if not pro-level, I have acquired rudimentary level of Karuta gameplay understanding so I applaud Chihaya for hanging in there and trying her best. It was again expected of the fired-up Shinobu to not lose but it was still hilarious to see how big of a deal she made her loss of two cards. Figures, because she did win quite flawlessly in the beginning without any card loss. In light of Shinobu’s childhood history, it’s apparent how she’s jealous of Arata’s connection to his friends. Even if she pretends not to understand it, deep down she wants the same. I hope by the time these two face each other again, and Chihaya finally beats her (hey, third time should be the charm!), they end up being friends and shipped in the fujoshi world.

// The Bonds of Karuta – Shinobu was always isolated due to Karuta, but with this new episode, it looks like it’s gaining her friends as well~. …Or at least, she’s found someone who won’t be afraid of facing her and losing in Chihaya. She may have lost with only taking 2 cards, but we all know by now that something like that isn’t going to make Chihaya back down. Thus, making her pretty much the perfect person to break Shinobu’s walls. The back story about Shinobu growing in isolation made her the strong player that she is, but I highly doubt that playing against Chihaya again in the future would be a hindrance. We know from the Megumu match that Chihaya can inspire the best in her opponents, so if anything, I’m sure her playing against Shinobu would only bring out the best in both of them. Shinobu’s switch from wondering how many cards she should have given Chihaya to brooding over the fact that she let an injured player take any cards was just amazing. She wasn’t all that aware of Chihaya before, but I’m sure that now she’ll be keeping an eye out for the girl who thanked her for not being easy on her (arch, I want to see more of their interactions, but there are only a few episodes left). I’d love to see the two of them be rivals and best friends, so PLEASE MADHOUSE! GIVE US A SEASON THREE!!!!! OTL

*cough* Anyways, the rest of Mizusawa has been shafted again, but we definitely saw more of them this episode. Sumire still isn’t 100% on board with Karuta, but she discovered this episode that she’s not as bad as she thought (and everyone else around her is just insane). She might have lost, but it looks like she’s far from given up on the game and I’m sure she can only get better. Sumire’s information gathering from a few episodes back was really useful, so maybe she could do that in the future. As for Tsukuba, he’s doing great! Yay!! …Too bad he’s being ignored so we don’t exactly know his playing style or anything still. And I don’t think we’re going to see much of his final match, considering that it looks like it’s finally Taichi’s turn to shine. From the looks of how the match was going, Taichi had maybe 2 cards left and Retro was losing pretty badly, so I really, really hope that Taichi finally makes A Class. Kick his ass, Taichi!

// Fun with Chi~ 

Inner otaku is more powerful than showoffs… ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ)

(>^_^)><(^o^<)

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE.jpg o (◡‿◡✿)

Dedicated to the Taichi fanclub yo~  (★^O^★)

Ah, this was such a good episode despite Chihaya’s loss. You could just see how much more maturely Chihaya handled the pressure compared to last year, and while she did worse with the end card count (as far as I remember), I think she preformed even better. Yay character growth! As for Shinobu, the ending with her being a little less lonely was just the perfect wrap up for a great match. Both characters grew a little here. Despite them growing in different ways, I really like how the plot had both of them come to some sort of realization. Of course, I’m still rooting for Chihaya to win whenever their inevitable third match comes along. The next episode looks like it will be another one between rivals as well! …I’d count Retro and Taichi as rivals. I’m okay with Tsukuba being ignored as long as Taichi takes the stage and beats the crap out of Retro in Karuta~. …Though considering that there are a few episodes left, I hope they can squeeze Tsukuba’s match in there. I don’t know if suddenly changing the focus to a character who’s had a pitiful amount of screen time is a good choice to end a season, but I’d like to see it. I imagine we’ll be seeing Arata instead though.

Shinobu’s past made me remember the first time she showed up on screen and came across Chihaya on the steps of Omi Jingu shrine. From their first meeting, they were destined to play amazing karuta. Of course, it’s taking Chihaya time to grow to the super karuta player that Shinobu is but we have to keep in mind that their training have been completely opposite. Though, I don’t really agree with the fact that Shinobu’s karuta is only individual matches because she had fun playing with the twin-tails even when her evil teacher isolated her later to increase accuracy of her play. The resultant made her a loner along with deadening her emotions but I’m sure she aspires to make friends and actually have fun while playing karuta. Overall, she has come out as an amazing character, a true and vivacious rival for Chihaya rather than some baddie who will be discarded after Chihaya’s level-up. I hope later on in season three (I can’t stress this point enough, Madhouse!), we get to see all of them interact more and play some more cutthroat matches!

Coming to others, glad to see everyone doing well and I hope Kana-chan and Komano-kun level up on their class-level. Though, right now I want nothing more than Taichi making class-A. He deserves it! So, for the next episode,

I’m betting on him kicking Retro-kun’s ass to kingdom come!  ψ(｀∇´)ψ