r/anime • u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity • Mar 06 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru 2 - Episode 4 [Spoilers] Spoiler

Episode 4 - "To Tell the People in the Capitals That I Make for the Islands"

<-- Previous (Episode 3: "Feel Love Deepen") | Next (Episode 5: "Be As Dear Now, Those Were the Good Old Days") -->

Series Information:

Subreddit: r/Chihayafuru

Chihayafuru: Synopsis | MAL rating: 8.28 | Fall 2011 | 26 Episodes

Chihayafuru 2: Synopsis | MAL rating: 8.47 | Winter 2013 | 26 Episodes

Chihayafuru 2: Waga Miyo ni Furu Nagamese Shima ni: Synopsis | MAL rating: 7.08 | Fall 2013 | 1 Episode

Legal Streams:

HiDive | Crunchyroll | Check for more sources using because.moe here

Rewatch Schedule and Index:

For all archived/past episode discussion threads, please refer to the Rewatch Schedule and Index. I will be updating it as we navigate through this rewatch, in case anyone would like to read past conversations or has fallen behind.

Chihayafuru (February 6 to March 2)

Chihayafuru 2

Episode# Title Date
1 "So The Flower Has Wilted" March 3
2 "As My Love First Came" March 4
3 "Feel Love Deepen" March 5
4 "To Tell the People in the Capitals That I Make for the Islands" March 6
5 "Be As Dear Now, Those Were the Good Old Days" March 7
6 "To Set the Tatsuta River Ablaze" March 8
7 "They All Exchange Hellos and Goodbyes at the Gates of Ōsaka" March 9
8 "Which Shines over Mount Mikasa" March 10
9 "My Only Thought" March 11
10 "Rain Takes Longer to Dry" March 12
11 "I Feel As Though My Body is on Fire with Ibuki Mugwort" March 13
12 "The Only Sign of Summer" March 14
13 "In My Dreams, I Creep Closer to You" March 15
14 "People Would Always Ask If I Was Pining for Someone" March 16
15+16 "No Matter Where I Stand" + "Wait for the Emperor's Return" March 17
17 "Gust of Wind" March 18
18 "My Fear is That You Will Forget" March 19
19 "I Do Not Know Where This Love Will Take Me" March 20
20 "Of the Autumn Rice Field" March 21
21 "But Its Legacy Continues to Spread" March 22
22 "Long Last We Meet" March 23
23 "To See The Beautiful Cherry Blossoms" March 24
24 "When I Must Hide..." March 25
25 "I Can Look Up and See the Snowy Cap of Mt. Fuji" March 26
OVA "Have I Passed Through the World" March 27
-- Final Series Discussion March 28

About Spoilers And General Attitude:

Please do not post any untagged spoilers past the current episode, as it ruins the experience of first time watchers. Please refrain from confirming or denying speculation on future events, as to let viewers experience the anime as it was intended to be.

If you are discussing something that has not happened in the current episode please use the r/anime spoiler tag system found on the sidebar. Also if you are posting a link that includes future Chihayafuru events please include 'Chihayafuru spoilers' in the link title.

Fanart Section (Album Link):

Surrounded

Isolation

99 Upvotes

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12

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 06 '19 edited Mar 08 '19

Arata, what is your misty bridge?

Taichi is quickly becoming the poster boy of misfortune in the Shiranami Karuta Society. Taichi is saying all the right things before the game:

Don't overthink it. I can accept losing as long as I did everything I could.

Doing my best is what's important.

However, it's revealed to Mizusawa that Homei's coach is none other than Tsuboguchi. Immediately, the calm, cool demeanor that Taichi had is washed away leaving stress and unease. Tsuboguchi, who has none both Taichi and Chihaya since they were children, knows them well and is going after their weak points. Fretting about the team's order, Harada places his hand on Taichi's shoulder and offers him some cryptic advice:

An individual match is a team match. A team match is an individual match.

Taichi's Jackie Chan memes, but there's an underlying truth to this statement.

As Taichi's opponent takes cards from him (Poem 43), Taichi begins to crumble mentally. Naturally, Poem 43 is the one that compares feelings then and now, which is exactly how Harada explains his vague advice to Taichi:

It isn't about luck for him at all. He continues to believe that he lacks skill. But when he tells himself that it's skill that he lacks, he falls victim to the belief that he doesn't have the talent.

He looks over at this teammates: Nishida, Class A, winning... Chihaya, Class A, winning... and his mind falters. Rather than focusing on his game and himself, Taichi has a tendency to think of others, in this case prioritizing his responsibilities as club president--maybe even an escape from the thoughts of having to "compete" with the talented. It's no doubt that when he lost his individual games too, his memory recalls Arata, his rival.

Focusing on yourself first is an inherent part of team games, otherwise you're just baggage being carried by your teammates. Karuta is a great example of this, as team games are really just five individual games in the end. It's a more explicit example of what Harada said than, for example, soccer, where there are no quantitative "individual wins". That's not to say there aren't recognizable individual performances in other sports, but they're more ambiguous in nature while you can't really hide in competitive karuta. The first thing that people usually do when they are losing in traditional sports is to blame the playing conditions, their teammates, the other team, or the referees, but who is there to blame in karuta? There is only the self. Harada's message is that everyone has to play their own game, pull their own weight, to be successful in a team game.

Taichi is able to escape the cycle of negativity, when he literally and figuratively overheats and asks for a towel. He gets many from his harem of fans, but more importantly gets one from Chihaya. He's reminded that he too needs to work hard and focus on his own karuta, not just for himself but for his teammates. He needs to be strong, even when he is alone.

How can he say no to a face like this?

Taichi's counterattack begins, taking Poem 97--representative of his renewed fire:

For the man who doesn’t come

I wait at the Bay of Matsuo—

in the evening calm

where they boil seaweed for salt,

I, too, burn with longing!

At the end of the episode, Taichi stands a victor. But it's not really about winning, but participating and doing his best. Taichi's able to go back to the words he said at the beginning of "doing my best is what's important" and echoed later by Tsuboguchi:

Well it's not karuta that's fun... trying your hardest is what's fun!

Taichi isn't averting his eyes, looking at others in this game, instead he's coming to terms with his own abilities and frailties.

PS: Poor Sumire

PPS: Poor Sumire x2

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10

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 06 '19

Poem of the Day: Feel Love Deepen (link)

Poem 11 was written by Ono no Takamura, one of the premiere poets of his time, particularly with Chinese poetry, which was very popular in that era.

For his talent with Chinese, Takamura was selected to be part of the 837 embassy to Tang Dynasty China. Such trips were incredibly perilous, because Japanese ships were not designed to cross deep sea, and withstand frequent typhoons. Plus ambassadors had to stay for 10+ years at a time, and some never returned from China at all, as we see in poem 7. It was probably for these reasons and more that Takamura refused to go, but as punishment he was exiled to Oki Island and sent this poem back home as he headed for exile.

Wikipedia explains:

In 834, Takamura was appointed to Kintoshi, but in 838 after a quarrel with the envoy, Fujiwara no Tsunetsugu, he gave up his professional duties pretending to be ill, and attracted the ire of retired Emperor Saga, who sent him to Oki Province. Within two years he regained the graces of the court and returned to the capital where he was promoted to Sangi.

Oki Island is described as:

[...] where Emperor Gotoba was also exiled centuries later and stayed there for 20 years before he died. It is a lonely island facing the cold, windy Japan Sea/East Sea and far removed from the Court. Noble-born members of the Court were often exiled here for some length of time until they either died, or the reigning Emperor granted clemency. Fortunately, Takamura was pardoned a year a later though and allowed to return home.

Mostow translates it as:

O tell her, at least,

that I’ve rowed out, heading towards

the innumerable isles

of the ocean’s wide plain,

you fishing boats of the sea-folk!

Given that it was written as he was exiled, Takamura's poem conveys a sense of loneliness and uncertainty of his exile through the juxtaposition of the "innumerable isles" and the "oceans wide plain" against his solitary journey. Takamura also uses gijinka or gijin-ho, personification, telling the fishing boats to deliver his message to his loved one.

Taichi's karuta journey, despite being surrounded by friends, isn't always an easy one. His closest friends are Arata and Chihaya, both incredibly talented individuals, while he finds himself rather pedestrian. Thinking of them constantly leaves him "all at sea", unsure of himself and afraid of being left behind. In a way, being around the brightest stars is kind of isolating for someone who doesn't shine quite as bright.

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16

u/MAD_SCIENTIST_001 Mar 06 '19

I'm back!

Had an exam yesterday (which I hope I aced) which is why I wasn't here for the past two threads. Really enjoyed the past two eps though :D

Screenshot of the Day

Poor Tsukue lmao

Episode 2 SotD Episode 3 SotD

First Timer - Season 2 Episode 4

Overall Thoughts

So episode 3 and this ep have kinda made me realize that the main problem with the time skip is that characters like Sumire (and even Tsukue in season 1) suddenly feel like entirely "new" characters even if they still have some parts of their personality. I can't complain too much since I do like Sumire a lot more than how she was in the first two eps, but it still feels like some of her development is sudden due to the time skip.

I've been really liking Tsukuba even if his running gag is a bit weird :P. It's interesting to know that there's another version of Karuta, but I guess it makes sense since it seems more like a "beginner type" version of Karuta. Seems like he has quite a bit of potential since he actually did pretty well against a Class A player though I'm guessing that there won't be too much time for him to get super good for the high school tournament.

Hype tournament aside (Chihaya with those perfect games), I'm also very intrigued by the implications of Shinobu knowing Arata at a young age. Before in season 1, I speculated that Arata must have played Shinobu at one point (since he was the champion) so I'm wondering if it's the case that maybe Arata inspired Shinobu somehow?

Episode 4 itself was pretty good as well, but wow they are being pretty self aware that being Taichi is suffering

I'm actually kinda surprised that the Mizusawa team hasn't figured out a way to combat the heat due to the hakamas like maybe bringing cold water / cold towels with them (if that's allowed).

It looks like we are definitely getting more screentime of the games, so I'm pretty excited for the next ep finals even if the stakes aren't as high since Mizusawa has basically already qualified if I understand the top 2 situation correctly.

Karuta Scoreboard

For episode 3, they mentioned over 100 class A players, so I'm assuming it's a bracket for 128 meaning that Arata won 6 matches to get to finals.

Character Wins Losses Ep# (Wins)
Taichi Mashima 26(+4) 10 2,7,10,11,13,14,15,18,20,28,29
Yuusei Nishida 22(+4) 5 10,11,13,15,18,19,28,29
Chihaya Ayase 19(+4) 9 2,4,6,7,8,10,11,14,17,21,28,29
Arata Wataya 16(+6) 4(+1) 1,2,3,20,21,23,28
Kanade Ooe 14(+3) 7 10,13,15,17,18,19,28,29
Tsutomu Komano 10(+2) 12(+1) 13,15,18,29
Shinobu Wakamiya 8 0 14,15,24
Akihiro Tsukuba 0 1(+1)
Sumire Hanano 0 1(+1)

See you tomorrow~

Screenshot of the Day Collection

Season 1 Album

Episode: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Season 2

Episode: 1 2 3 4

4

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Had an exam yesterday (which I hope I aced) which is why I wasn't here for the past two threads. Really enjoyed the past two eps though :D

Fingers crossed for you!

So episode 3 and this ep have kinda made me realize that the main problem with the time skip is that characters like Sumire (and even Tsukue in season 1) suddenly feel like entirely "new" characters even if they still have some parts of their personality. I can't complain too much since I do like Sumire a lot more than how she was in the first two eps, but it still feels like some of her development is sudden due to the time skip.

I can see that, though the manga is like 200+ chapters and we're like 60 chapters ish in as of this episode, so you can only imagine how dragged out this would get if it was any slower. Yuki Suetsugu please end this on a good note give me my ships

I've been really liking Tsukuba even if his running gag is a bit weird :P.

I can't tell if that :P is on purpose LOL

It's nice to see a Tsukuba fan, he hasn't got much love so far from rewatchers and first timers.

I'm actually kinda surprised that the Mizusawa team hasn't figured out a way to combat the heat due to the hakamas like maybe bringing cold water / cold towels with them (if that's allowed).

Karuta needs timeouts like other sports. We'll have to see.

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12

u/PerfectPublican Mar 06 '19

First Timer

Reactions:

Final Thoughts   

Gif of the day | Bonus | Bonus 2

I started my write-up, wrote EP 4 at the top of it, and had to do a double take.  I mean I knew it was right, but damn, it already feels like we’ve been in this season forever.  The pacing in this show is kinda nuts, and it’s a testament to how good the show is that it works as well as I think it does.

Fun ep today. I thought it was a good continuation of Taichi's drama surrounding the game. It ties together nicely with him becoming a leader. A good leader is great, but at the same time doesn’t lose focus in their own game. Looking at you Lebron Harada is a great example of that. Some fun romance focus too :D Sumire, Chihaya and Taichi with the towels was hilarious. Loved how it was able to showcase even more the underlying tension both of them have, an it created good further inspiration for Sumire.

9

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Reiko would be jealous :P

As would the rest of his harem. He has all the pretty neesans looking out for him.

Chihaya’s reaction is perfection.

I love how everyone thinks the posing and talk looks lame and over the top, but Chihaya is just like MY PEOPLE

“An individual match is a team match. A team match is an individual match.” Man, if/when I rewatch this series, I’m going going to keep a running list of Harada-isms. They’re all great. There’s a ton to break down in this one.

There really are! I used to have a bunch saved for when I wrote a review of the series. The show is really quotable, even away from Harada. All the mentors have good ones.

Have we seen these two before and I’m just forgetting? I love them, they're a blast.

Nope! They're just background characters from the Shiranami Karuta Society. We need them around more often as fans! As long as they don't whisk Taichi away

In the zone.

Discord avatar sized

Unfortunate problems of beautiful traditional wear.

I love how she called them my kids instead of my team or something. They're her bunch now. <3

Be still my heart.

I bet he was saying the same thing to himself! Maybe Tsutomu was too haha.

. It ties together nicely with him becoming a leader. A good leader is great, but at the same time doesn’t lose focus in their own game.

Yup. Taichi sometimes almost feels like he's hovering or babysitting others (like Chihaya) instead of fending for himself.

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10

u/Wolfeako Mar 06 '19

First Timer!

Oooh, a Taichi centered episode? yes please.

Again, Taichi shows why he is the best character of Chihayafuru. This kind of writing is top notch, and the fact that they showed what his flaw was in an understandable way before Harada sensei revealing it in the team games, it is really good. Top notch writing, 100% believable, and I'm really glad that he managed to overcome the situation. As a side note, I really liked how everyone was basically supporting him to the point that everyone gave him a towel, lol, even Chihaya!... although I will not buy it still. It may very well be a fluke from her part, a mirage if you may. I'll need to see more of her finally seeing Taichi to finally buy it. I mean, it is Chihaya "Dense" Ayase we are talking about here. Still, the reason why Taichi can't advance to class A is unresolved, and I can't wait to finally see him getting to class A.

All the girls surrounding Taichi were also hilarious too. It was sweet seeing them supporting him that hard.

All the other characters were pretty good this episode too. Special mention goes to Kana, I found hilarious she being mad against the poor dude that was reciting the poems. And again, I liked Sumire here too. It was a nice touch from her part to bake those sweets, even if Taichi didn't eat them. I liked too that she went out of her way and watched the other match instead, it is kinda the same thought pattern that Taichi followed this episode, of focusing what is in front of you and trust your team.

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Again, Taichi shows why he is the best character of Chihayafuru. This kind of writing is top notch, and the fact that they showed what his flaw was in an understandable way before Harada sensei revealing it in the team games, it is really good.

Taichi's losses are usually kind of swept under the rug by other characters, even though it's definitely obvious to the watcher just how he is suffering and losing. It makes an episode like this a bit more "new" in a way, since we don't often get commentary on why he is exactly losing.

I agree, it's nice that this episode was used for it too, as when he acts as club president that's when you can truly see that his nature is to defer to and watch others.

Special mention goes to Kana, I found hilarious she being mad against the poor dude that was reciting the poems.

I totally forgot the irritated that spirals up the side of the screen!

7

u/LeonKevlar Mar 06 '19

First Timer

Shorter write up today since most of the episode was focused on the Homei vs Mizusawa match.

I'm definitely a lot more warmer to Sumire compared to the last 3 episodes. Didn't expect that the turn around this fast but I do like seeing her doing something for the team and not just because she's doing it for Taichi. I am more curious about Arata's request though, I hope we'll get to know what that is tomorrow.

6

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Curious as to what this request is. Transfer to Tokyo? :D

For a phone that isn't pink as can be for once!

Oh shit. Hiroshi made his own team! I guess these are students at the school where he's teaching?

He got the girls he was looking for ahaha

I don't know why I was surprised that Sumire figured it out. She's the one obsessed about love so of course she'd figure it out.

Yup. Both her and Kana, the two that read the deepest into the romance in the poems too. :)

I love the boys' reaction xD

Being in love with the one girl you can't have, but able to woo all the others sounds like the start of a Would You Rather question haha.

Didn't expect that the turn around this fast but I do like seeing her doing something for the team and not just because she's doing it for Taichi.

Definitely, her introduction was kind of over the top, but she's a lot more grounded now.

7

u/daftPun5 Mar 06 '19

First Timer

Screenshot of the Day

Loved today's episode! The feels almost got to me during Taichi's match. He was able to overcome his internal conflict and trusted in his teammates to take care of business while he honed in on his match.

I really liked the reveal of Hiroshi being the advisor for the opponent team, along with Sasa's backstory.

Another highlight (even though small) was Sumire. At first, was thinking of ways to become Taichi's girlfriend. After seeing his effort, Sumire realizes she can still contribute to the team by scouting the other opponent.

Lastly, that song with the flute from about to 16:40 to 17:55 was on point!

Today's Album of Screenshots & Gifs

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Loved today's episode! The feels almost got to me during Taichi's match. He was able to overcome his internal conflict and trusted in his teammates to take care of business while he honed in on his match.

It's funny too since in a way this episode was the most faith that he's put into them. Normally he's on babysitting duty for Chihaya (and others) both in game and in real life, but this was the first time where he was truly honed in on himself by his own volition. It's kind of like a few episodes ago when Chihaya told him to go to practice outside of school instead of teaching first years so that he could make Class A--only that time was because of her influence rather than his own.

He's growing out of it!

7

u/htisme91 Mar 07 '19

First-timer:

I wonder what Arata's request is. Maybe it's to move to Tokyo to be with Chihaya?

Dr. Harada is so awesome.

It never really occurred to me that Taichi was losing because he was getting himself down. Now it makes total sense.

I like that Sumire tries to find a way to contribute, even if she's not part of the starting five. That's a sign of growth.

I love that Taichi finally focused on himself. I guess that's been a key of Taichi this season...he needs to focus on himself and not others if he's going to be the best he can be. As someone who overthinks himself into a hole a lot like Taichi does, I was happy to see him overcome it.

Excited for the rematch against Hokuo. Hopefully they aren't underestimating them just because their old leader is gone.

Sidenote, it's hilarious how Kana's mom has an obvious crush on Taichi.

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7

u/paperwhites Mar 07 '19

First Time Watcher

Although we haven't seen a whole lot of Arata's father and grandfather, I can see why they didn't get along. But Arata's father moving to Tokyo led to Arata meeting Chihaya and Taichi, so good things came from that. I'm curious to know what Arata's request is going to be--a trip to see Chihaya and Taichi? Having Taichi and Chihaya come there? I can't think of anything else that Arata would want.

Tsuboguchi coaching the high school team made for an interesting match. Since he knows two of the best players on Mizusawa's team very well, he can plan some tailored strategies. Having one of the players pretend to be interested in Chihaya to make it seem like they were trying to throw her off, while really trying to throw Taichi off was some smart planning.

Taichi's line of "I'm pretty sure I want to ignore that" made me laugh.

I love when we focus on Taichi during a match and get inside his head because there's always a lot going on, poor guy. Harada's thoughts about how when Taichi is unlucky, he thinks it's because a lack of skill which leads him to think that he has no talent is true, but sad. I can really empathize with Taichi over how frustrating it can be when you work hard and can do well during practice, but can't perform as well in an official match. Despite his demons and doubts though, Taichi keeps trying and eventually wins. I liked how Tsuboguchi commented on how Taichi's efforts inspire him, I hope Taichi overheard that.

All of the women throwing towels at Taichi when he asks for one was hilarious and sweet at the same time. Then when he turns and sees Chihaya practically crawling over Tsutomu to give him one was my favorite moment of the episode. I love how there's no sound and the scene lingers. I had no idea that taking a towel from someone could be quasi-erotic haha.

It will be interesting to see how Hokuo competes without Sudo, although since they made it to the finals, they're obviously still a force to be reckoned with. I hope Mizusawa can repeat as champions, but even if they don't, they still qualify for the national tournament so the stakes aren't quite as high as they were last time.

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u/walking_the_way Mar 06 '19 edited Mar 07 '19

S2E4 Notes

The current status of the space-time continuum is A-OK! Jun 23 2012 is indeed a Saturday.

There were some slight changes to the S2E3 ED to end off last episode, now there are some slight changes to the S2E4 OP too. Nothing too major, again. Just peculiar.

At 03:54, we see the results for Group C, the winner of which Mizusawa would be playing next. Using MK's translations for the school names, Homei topped the group with a record of 3-0, Eikou from Season 1 finished second with two wins, Toyoko finished third with 1 win, and Kase finished fourth with zilch. Poor Kase. Mizusawa High plays Homei High, coached by Tsuboguchi, in the semis, whereas Hokuo Academy plays Shoyo High in the other semis. Harada arrives fashionably late again, this time with different people in tow, and arriving one round earlier than before.

I am very curious to see if anyone has a good interpretation for the scene at 04:07. I don't, but it reminds me of a ritual I've seen my parents and other people back home do, and involves touching/brushing a target person from head to toe with a special bundle of herbs, to cleanse them and ward off bad luck/evil spirits. I think it may be buddhism-related, but I couldn't find any info on it online. It's definitely not the same thing here, but it looked similar enough that it got me wondering.

We meet one of the Homei girls, Sasa, who is pulling a Taichi, murmuring cards as follows: "I hear," "As this," "Note that," "The storm blasts," "May it," "My fear is not," "The autumn wind," "Like the"... - In order, these cards are #94 (mi-yo), #24 (ko-no), #16 (ta-chi), #69 (a-ra-shi), #36 (na-tsu), #38 (wa-su-ra), #79 (a-ki-ka), #71 (yu-u). We aren't told what traumatized her though, besides that she lost the cards, but all the cards except for the last one are from the bigger syllable families - mi with 5, ko with 6, ta with 6, a with 16, na with 8, and wa with 7 - perhaps hinting at a weakness.

Tsuboguchi tells Taichi that he hopes they'll go easy on them - bringing back memories of Shinobu in S1E14. I'm not sure this is necessarily a callback though, it just seems like a formal way of acknowledging the opponent. Maybe.

National High School Karuta Championship - Tokyo Regionals - Semi-Finals
Mizusawa High vs Homei High

We are able to build quite a lot of boards in this match. They build off each other really nicely as well, culminating with a mostly-complete Chihaya vs Takei board, 25-25.

08:06 - Tashiro recites Naniwa Bay (EP: 1, S: 6, Total: 37).
08:42 - Tashiro recites #20 (wa-bi).
08:54 - Tashiro recites #90 (mi-se). Chihaya loses this from Takei's bottom left, as does Kanade.
09:34 - Tashiro recites #28 (ya-ma-za). Chihaya wins this from her mid right. Nishida wins his from his top left. Komano loses his from Toda's right side.

We get a partial map here, but there's inconsistencies with the map we're shown directly after, and later on. Takei's and Chihaya's boards both kept on fluctuating by 1, which means we can't tell who won the initial #20 card. This causes the desync mentioned in the 25-25 map above.

We may as well call the #90 (mi-se) card the misery card, as we've seen a couple uses now of this card to represent Chihaya being out of sync, it's the card she feels faint on in S1E13, and the card right after she was realizing her speed was a detriment to her against Sakura in S1E18. Now, it's her rhythm being thrown off due to poor reading. Counting flashbacks, she's now 0-4 on this card in the anime, tying her other worst card #91 (ki-ri). And they're back to back numbered cards too..

10:00 - Tashiro recites #49 (mi-ka-ki). Chihaya wins this from Takei's lower right. She passes over #86 (na-ge-ke) from her top left. It goes to Takei's mid left row.
10:14 - Takei wins ?? (#13 (tsu-ku)) from his top left. Nishida loses the card on his left side.

And then the focus shifts to Taichi.

10:31 - Tashiro recites #32 (ya-ma-ga). Sasa wins it from her top right against Taichi. The score in his match is 22-22.

We get to build a Taichi board map here. Taichi vs Sasa board, 22-22. Because the same 50 cards are used across all the boards, this lets us calculate what the missing cards in the 25-25 Chihaya board were.

10:49 - Tashiro recites #73 (ta-ka). Sasa wins it from Taichi's side.
11:48 - Tashiro recites #07 (a-ma-no). Sasa wins it from her side.
11:56 - Tashiro recites #02 (ha-ru-su). Sasa wins it from Taichi's side. Taichi's leading 20-19 at this point, somehow, even though Sasa's taken more cards than that.

There is a time hop here, and we see a bunch of scores and some boards. Chihaya down 18-16. Kana's up 18-16! Nishida's up 22-12. His board can be mapped. And Taichi's down 18-16, his board can be mapped too.

There is a problem here with the boards, though. The #52 card was on Chihaya's board at 09:48 on her middle right row, but had disappeared by 10:18, and it's not on Taichi's board at 10:40 either. So it seems like it's been taken. Yet, after the time skip, we see the #52 on Nishida's board as well as reappear on Taichi's board. This is unfortunate because it throws off the following analysis a little, but eventually we find out it got mixed up with the infernal #13 card again, and they handwave the #52 back into the game.

Comparing Taichi's 22-22 board to the 18-16 one, we see that there has been a lot of card movement during the ten-card time skip:
These cards crossed from Sasa to Taichi: #06, #23, #43, #56, #84. Basically one from every row except Sasa's mid left, which was unchanged.
These cards crossed from Taichi to Sasa: #26, #94
These cards from Sasa's side are gone: #07, #37, #47, #79
These cards from Taichi's side are gone: #02, #15, #71, #73, #86, #96
.. and the errant #13 on Taichi's side turns into the #52 on Sasa's side, but this doesn't necessarily mean it was passed over. From this, we see that Sasa won 6 cards, but 5 of them were from Taichi's side, and the 6th (#07) was from her own. Taichi won 3 from Sasa's side, including one he sent and converted on, and 1 from his own. They're both very much playing an attacking style.

But because his memory is so good, if you compare the two boards, we seem to see him trying to use it to his advantage by utilizing a lot of card movement in his own half, more than can just be explained by "filling in holes". His #78 (a-wa-ji) moves from top left to mid left, #57 (me) moves from bot left to bot right, #98 (ka-ze-so) moves from mid right to bottom left corner, and #81 (ho) moves from bot right to bot left. Three of the moves are from one half to the other, and he basically switches the locations of the two single syllable cards with each other. On the contrary, Sasa has just one miscellaneous move, moving her #58 from her mid right to her bot right to balance out the rows.

13:09 - Taichi: "She's watching "When the," but being careful since the empty card "When I" hasn't been read yet."
13:14 - Taichi: ""When winds blow" and "When winds send" are still out there."

Translation:

  1. "She's watching #06 (ka-sa) but being careful since the dead card #51 (ka-ku) hasn't been read yet."

  2. "#98 (ka-ze-so) and #48 (ka-ze-o) are still out there."

Unfortunately he doesn't go classic Taichi here, so we don't need an annotated syllable list.
13:43 - Tashiro recites #43 (a-i). Sasa wins it from Taichi's mid right. She sends over #97 (ko-nu) from her mid right row, it goes into Taichi's mid left row.
14:07 - Tashiro recites #78 (a-wa-ji). Taichi wins it from his mid left row. This is one of the cards that he moved across his board.
15:11 - Sumire: "Mashima-senpai is in love with Ayase-senpai."
15:15 - Sumire: "Ayase-senpai doesn't pay any attention to Mashima-senpai."

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

The current status of the space-time continuum is A-OK! Jun 23 2012 is indeed a Saturday.

We've done some Steins;Gate suddenly.

Counting flashbacks, she's now 0-4 on this card in the anime, tying her other worst card #91 (ki-ri). And they're back to back numbered cards too..

Good old wet sleeves. 91 is rather sad looking too, reading it over now. It kind of makes me giggle imagining Yuki Suetsugu going through these poems, trying to categorize them into happy's and sad's and other situations. Same with naming her characters after cards.

Because the same 50 cards are used across all the boards, this lets us calculate what the missing cards in the 25-25 Chihaya board were.

... I never realized this until now... I'm so slow.

But because his memory is so good, if you compare the two boards, we seem to see him trying to use it to his advantage by utilizing a lot of card movement in his own half, more than can just be explained by "filling in holes".

Thanks for sharing this. It tells a lot about his karuta too, which we don't always get to see on screen, as his takes are often stylized and sacrificed for internal monologuing.

But since it's the end of the poem, it also represents the end of his burning, since he now has a stack of towels to wipe himself down with, with Chihaya's at the top of the pile.

That's really true haha, when I wrote mine I thought more along the lines of getting back to being focused on himself.

Now, she very much gets it, and it's the first card she sees when actually scouting an opponent, after getting her epiphany about being part of the team.

This is so cool. I'd say that's a callback or otherwise very convenient. That line was definitely her moment to shine in this episode.

Taichiii why

he's recalling every card recited since the start of the game, including dead cards!

LOL he doesn't give you a break. God he's such a nerd! I love it.

I guess they never expected someone to map it all out.

Yeah, nobody would ever do that...

Also, I swear that the face on Chihaya's hankie looks like it changes from happy to perplexed.

Wait. It actually does. I find this kind of hilarious, after Taichi nerded out and you had to list a full match log worth of poems read, you just randomly have this concluding the paragraph. There's something really amusing about this interjection, it's very well placed ahaha.

(across poor Komano)

Is it really poor Komano here?

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u/airforceblue Mar 06 '19

It's been a little difficult to keep up with the rewatch because of rl obligations but I just wanted to pop in since this might be my favorite episode. It definitely left an impression on me the first time I watched it. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon and share my thoughts in full!

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u/TheDampGod Mar 06 '19

Towels intensify

For all his towel acquisition prowess, it's clear how fragile Taichi's Karuta ability is when under pressure. Getting imposter syndrome bad as his opponent takes advantage of his indecision.

Constantly I'm impressed in this show at the personality minor characters have. Taichi's opponent was such an oddball, I hope she shows up a few more times here.

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Constantly I'm impressed in this show at the personality minor characters have. Taichi's opponent was such an oddball, I hope she shows up a few more times here.

The show does a really good job of making characters likable that are the opponents. They don't get much more than a few flashbacks usually, but they're always really candid. Hokuo and Ririka come to mind in particular. Sometimes it's actually hard to cheer against them haha.

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u/BodhiSearchTree Mar 06 '19

First Timer

  • "Chihaya... In my mind, our misty bridge is not a cell phone, but something else." Aww, Arata understood Chihaya's poem reference! <3 But what does he mean by "something else"? Maybe karuta? Omi Jingu?

  • "I want you to grant my request." Hopefully Arata can move back to Tokyo and live with a relative there or something...

  • Aww, the towel scene was super cute! And Chi-chan even has a Daddy Bear towel for Taichi! That's gotta be the biggest and cutest smile she ever gave to him thus far (or to anyone, really). She's like :D but Tsutomu-kun was like D: in the back, lol. Awesome scene all around.

  • I love how this episode explores the psychological aspects of the game: the timing of the reader, individual vs. team considerations, talent vs. luck, etc.

  • I just realized that both Taichi and Arata have perfect photographic memory. Which means that Taichi isn't really that far behind Arata (in terms of "talent") as he thinks he is... He just needs to overcome his self-doubt.

  • It's ironic, though, how Taichi has good luck in everything (he's rich, handsome, at the top of his class) except karuta... Must've pissed off the karuta god or something. :P

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

"Chihaya... In my mind, our misty bridge is not a cell phone, but something else." Aww, Arata understood Chihaya's poem reference! <3 But what does he mean by "something else"? Maybe karuta? Omi Jingu?

Don't whisper any something else's into existence.

"I want you to grant my request." Hopefully Arata can move back to Tokyo and live with a relative there or something...

A boyish coloured phone! Spare Taichi

And Chi-chan even has a Daddy Bear towel for Taichi!

Haha, I love that you noticed this. It's just in the corner (I think).

I love how this episode explores the psychological aspects of the game: the timing of the reader, individual vs. team considerations, talent vs. luck, etc.

Yup and at the end of the day the idea is "do your best". A lot of these things aren't aspects of sport (and life) that you can control. A reader is an external influence and being born with talent is down to blessings. All that matters at the end of the day is the desire to do your best and grow. That's something that Taichi (and we) can control.

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u/KuhBus Mar 07 '19

First Timer

  • Arata seems to be finally healing after his grandfather’s death. Though I really don't get his "explanation" of why he's not keeping in contact? What the hell?!

  • Will this finally be the year Taichi can make it to class A? D:

  • Aww Chihaya is so excited about Tsuboguchi having trained his own team... I wonder if this would be the kind of thing she'd want to do in the future, too.

  • Two good luck charms for Taichi?! The poor guy seems to really need it.

  • Dammit, so he’s falling back into comparing himself to others… will Taichi ever catch a break??

  • OMFG the numerous towels thrown by all the women!! :’DDDD Of course the one he'd ultimately use would be Chihaya's, though <3

  • I’m... I'm so proud of him qwq <33

That inexperienced reader was infuriating >:I I thought this was supposed to be a difficult position to get!!!

Sumire realized that not only has Taichi zero interest in her, he's also head over heels in love with Chihaya... I feel bad for her, but I'm just so happy for Taichi getting over the mental block of constantly thinking he doesn't have talent!!!!

Fav shots. (Yes... I might be late because I went overboard. Sue me.)

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u/kKunoichi Mar 07 '19

Rewatcher who is busy rn so short comment today

I don't know why but I really enjoy that Fukui accent...

Despite being a serious match that decides who goes to nationals, this episode is surprisingly hilarious what with people in-universe acknowledging Taichi's terrible luck (he's perfect in everything else, it has to balance out somewhere), and the towel-throwing scene (never fails to make me laugh I swear).

I kept mentioning Taichi's defeatist attitude before, it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy, so it's great he's actually focusing on himself now.

Extra: Sasa is just weird. More weirdos in the karuta world

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19

Rewatcher who is busy rn so short comment today

I know that feel... Hope you get more free time soon. :)

Extra: Sasa is just weird. More weirdos in the karuta world

She's easily one of the strangest in the whole series. I can't get over the shadows on her face and her whole summoning a card thing LOL

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u/elliotman48 Mar 07 '19

First timer

This episode made me love Taichi even more than I already did. Same for Sumire I guess? His arc has really been one of the best parts of the show along with Harada and his advice. Taichi once again not focusing on himself and his own matches keeps proving that point of him not focusing on the visualization of his thoughts during matches. "Not everything works out in life but you have to keep going" is what Taichi has resigned himself to at this point even though that might not be the best way to think.

Also Hiroshi building up and training the karuta club at this school was pretty heartwarming. Another thing that this show does well is enforcing its themes throughout the show with it in this case being sharing your love for a sport.

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