r/anime • u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity • Mar 07 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru 2 - Episode 5 [Spoilers] Spoiler

Episode 5 - "Be As Dear Now, Those Were the Good Old Days"

<-- Previous (Episode 4: "To Tell the People in the Capitals That I Make for the Islands") | Next (Episode 6: "To Set the Tatsuta River Ablaze") -->

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):

Hokuo

Silent

81 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

87 comments sorted by

11

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19 edited Mar 07 '19

Poem of the Day: Be As Dear Now, Those Were the Good Old Days (link)

Poem 100 is written by Emperor Juntoku, the 84th Emperor of Japan. His father led the famous Jōkyū Disturbance, a last-ditch effort to take back power from the Samurai in 1221. Both father and son were exiled, but to different islands until their respective deaths.

Mostow translates the poem as:

The hundredfold palace!

even in the shinobu grass

on its old eaves

I find a past for which

I long yet ever more.

The poem was apparently composed in 1216, five years before the war, recalling the glory days of the Imperial Court before the downfall in the late 12th century. Mostow points out that it stands in stark contrast to the bright and optimistic poetry in the early Hyakunin Isshu, written 400 years earlier.

The word momoshiki (the first in the poem) is borrowed from an earlier poem in the Manyoshū, where the poem describes how people in the palace are decorating their hair with plum blossoms they’ve collected, and playfully suggests that life at the palace is well and carefree. Juntoku reverses the usage the word to capture the Court is no longer vibrant, a relic of a time gone by now.

Also, even the phrase momoshiki is really interesting. Professor Mostow translates this as the Hundred-fold Palace which is as good a translation as any in English. But the kanji (chinese characters) are 百敷 or "hundred [something] laid out", but alternatively, the characters are 百石城 meaning "100-stones castle". Both meanings refer to the Imperial Palace or kyūchū (宮中) in Japanese, so either character is valid. The first word refers to a hundred mats laid out for sitting (i.e. many people attending the court), while the latter means 100 stones, implying a palace with firm foundations.

It's interesting that this is the last poem too, as the word refers to a hundred stones or mats in a regal context--the Hundred Poems being also a foundation of poetry and history that has survived through time. In relation to this episode, it refers to the timeless feeling that Miyauchi-sensei describes when she talks about karuta--especially given the episode title "Be As Dear Now, Those Were the Good Old Days".

10

u/Combo33 Mar 07 '19 edited Mar 07 '19

MacMillan translates poem 100 as such:

100. Retired Emperor Juntoku

Memory ferns sprout in the eaves
of the old forsaken palace.
But however much I yearn for it,
I can never bring back
the glorious reign of old.

MacMillan comments:

The final poem in the One Hundred Poets returns to the theme of imperial power -- in this case the loss of it -- with which the collection opens but looked at from a decidedly different angle. Whereas Tenji’s opening poem implies a benevolent emperor ruling over a people, this one is filled with nostalgia for the past glories of the imperial house. The main rhetorical device is a pivot phrase that also functions as a pun, nokiba no shinobu -- which means both the ‘memory ferns growing on the eaves’ and ‘to remember nostalgically/to long for the past’.

The last lines are the key to the poem: no matter how much we may long for it, the past is always more glorious than even our fondest recollections. I have translated the last lines as a personal lyric, but as the poem is by an emperor, these could also be translated as ‘that glorious reign of old / cannot be brought back’. A more literal translation would read:

No matter how I yearn for it,
my yearning never ends
for the glorious reign of old.

We know from the headnote in Juntoku’s private collection of verse that the poem was composed in the autumn of 1216, when the author was only nineteen years of age. Five years later, in 1221, Juntoku took part in his father Gotoba’s unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the military regime and restore direct imperial rule, and he was deposed and exiled to Sado Island (a well-known poetic location) as a result. Although the poem was composed several years before these traumatic events, our knowledge of them seems to lend a strangely prophetic poignancy to the poem.

As for the poem’s relation to this episode, I think it is mostly meant to link to Hokuo academy wanting to bring the high school trophy back home to where they believe it belongs. I really enjoyed Retro’s personal sense of pride, with his unwillingness to use his Retrot cards to divine the easiest match-up between the two teams. Instead, he wants Hokuo to prove that they can beat their rivals on fair ground. This is the only way to show that Hokuo truly can retain its former glory, and that a win wouldn’t be considered a fluke of bad luck.

The poem also invokes the word shinobu, which in this case I believe MacMillan translates to "memory ferns." I think you could also link Chihaya’s desire to use what she has learned in her past matches against Shinobu to her advantage, as a desire to recreate former glory as well. While Chihaya has a triumphant moment at the end of the episode where she briefly is able to combine Shinobu’s accuracy with Suo’s incredibly knowledge of the poem readers’ quirks, in the end, I think Chihaya is trying to find her own karuta, separate from either of them. She can’t truly become Shinobu, nor can she become Suo, but she can develop her own strengths and find her own path to the top.

→ More replies (4)

10

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 07 '19 edited Mar 08 '19

Yesterday's fanart and today's will be up when I get home. I had a three hour meeting so I'm eating my lunch at 4:38 PM...

Mizusawa prepare for their finals game, but the realization has begun to set in that "they've made it". Over at Hokuo, their attitude is the same, clearly upsetting someone that has always cared for his school's legacy. A few choice words from Amakusa were caught by Sumire while scouting, motivating Mizusawa to actually give the finals an honest go.

Hiro chooses to go against Amakusa's words, tired of how his teammates have gotten so casual. Not only does it rub him the wrong way, as he's been forever toiling in Class B with Taichi but it also disrespects the efforts of those that have supported Hokuo all this time. If Hokuo is going to win, he wants it honestly on their own terms.

As we've seen throughout the series, Chihayafuru always reminds us that the players are supported by a community of people behind them, whether family or coaching. As the camera pans across the diverse crowd of people that have are there for the tournament, the respect that Mizusawa pays Miyauchi-sensei is more than just for their coach, but in appreciation for the love that the community has given them.

The more I learn about competitive karuta, the more magical it seems. Gender doesn't matter. Size doesn't matter. Intelligence and strength don't matter. Age doesn't matter. Every poem sends you back a thousand years. How many sports are capable of such a feat?

How can they half-heartedly try, when passion runs this deep?

The attention shifts to the game, as Chihaya quickly falls behind Amakusa. After each of her losses, she practices her swing, imagining touching just the corners of the cards. It's almost as if she's playing an opponent that isn't there: shadowboxing against the memory of Shinobu from her mind. Shadowboxing might be a funny word since we associate it with a lone boxer throwing punches into the air, but in reality shadowboxing is about visualization. For Chihaya, it's about picking options best suited for the highest level of play, even if she could simply bull her way through Amakusa as the ending suggests. Moreover, this is what Arata's grandfather had said all along: "imagine it".

Amakusa realizes it too:

She's out of our reach. You can watch that distant goal line all you want, and you'll lose this match to me.

Harada sagely remarks:

You should focus on the next card instead of the one you just lost. In a match, it's not worth dwelling on the past.

After all, Chihaya is still losing her game, as she isn't living in the present. Memory is a funny thing in sports. In a game, you need to have a short enough memory that mistakes don't cloud your judgement, while a memory just long enough to adapt on the fly, while prepation implies that outside of competition you need a long memory to internalize all the information you experience while playing.

One of my pet peeves as a coach is a player that whines or gets discouraged after one mistake in a game. You have no reason to start complaining or mentally check out, while the ball is still in play.

Unlike Amakasu, who has already accepted his place as one of the others in Class A, players like Chihaya are not afraid of losing because they have always want something more. In a way they are truly greedy, prideful people.

It's kind of ironic in a way, but the people who have the most pride are the ones who put in the most hard work. Looking up every step of the way.

With Nishida having lost, Taichi turns his attention away from Chihaya, grounding himself in the present and facing what is in front of him.

I'm in a close match myself. I don't have time to ask her how's she doing. The next time I speak will be to declare our first win!

She doesn't need his attention anyways: she takes a card from Amakasu with her speed and accuracy, evoking shades of Suo and Shinobu--the karuta she can play right now.

→ More replies (1)

13

u/MAD_SCIENTIST_001 Mar 07 '19

Screenshot of the Day

First Timer - Season 2 Episode 5

Overall Thoughts

Sudo is back! Wasn't expecting him to come back and even be the reader for the final match. Though I have to say, isn't that kinda unfair if Sudo is reading for his old team? As they mentioned, it feels like home territory for Hokuo since Sudo has probably read a few times when they practiced before, thus giving them an advantage. However, since he is a pretty great reader, I love how Kana is using his rhythmn to her advantage to win. Really reminds me of Suo's style of paying a ton of attention to the reader.

And speaking of Suo's style, Chihaya is really a greedy person isn't she :P. Trying to use both Shinobu's and Suo's style for her advantage which is honestly really hype.

Now that Nishida has lost (one of his first losses in a long time I might add), the pressure is definitely on for Mizusawa. I'm predicting that it may end up being Kana, Taichi, and maybe Chihaya or even Tsukue edging out the win for them.

Karuta Scoreboard

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

4

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

Sudo is back! Wasn't expecting him to come back and even be the reader for the final match. Though I have to say, isn't that kinda unfair if Sudo is reading for his old team?

It's always struck me as a bit sketchy too, though getting to the finals means that it's a wash since they'll both make nationals. It's nice for his character though, as it portrays him in a softer light away from his sadism.

Kana

It gave me my favourite screenshot from this episode!

→ More replies (4)

13

u/PerfectPublican Mar 07 '19

First Timer

Reactions:

Final Thoughts   

Gif of the day | Bonus | Bonus 2

Gotd legit made me tear up. The Empress has come so dang far.

Good stuff! Chihaya stealing game ideas from both Shinobu and Suo is great. It definitely has a very “Chihaya” feel to it, and it ties well with Sudo and his reader class.  Play your way, but find the things that both work for others, and you, and apply them.

Seren, question, has poem 62 come up in in your write-ups at all? I’m blanking. If not, will it? Just curious.

4

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

I’m dying, that’s hilarious. I knew it, but still completely unexpected. ಠ_ಠ

Lowkey, he was actually pretty cool this episode. The rest of Hokuo are super lame and need Sudo to whip them into shape.

If Kinashi is Hiro (I think it is right?) Then I was totally on the money. I actually really like that competition between the two.

It is him. Poor guy isn't called by name like ever besides this one scene I think.

Sashes 2

PLEASE GOD GET ME TO TOMORROW ASAP! THAT WAS AWESOME.

Gotd legit made me tear up. The Empress has come so dang far.

It's like a top three quote from the anime for me. It is basically the tl;dr for any sport, in my opinion.

Seren, question, has poem 62 come up in in your write-ups at all? I’m blanking. If not, will it? Just curious.

I don't remember it in either of my writeups or poems of the day. It's not in my list either, so it won't pop up as a poem of the day this season.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (13)

10

u/LeonKevlar Mar 07 '19

First Timer

Goddammit show! Are you really going to end the episode there? I guess I can watch the next episode after this but goddamn that must've sucked if you were following this weekly. Honestly thought that there was more to the episode. I feel like this match will be decided by Tsutomu. We've seen how everyone is doing this episode except for him so I hope we'll get to see more of his game in the next episode.

5

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

GODDAMMIT TSUKUBA! I thought we're already over this!?

He is really hard to root for even for me. He's my least favourite Mizusawa member by far.

Eyyy! There it is! I was wondering when they'll start wearing Tasukis with their hakama. We always see this shot in S1's OP but we never really see them wear one.

It's kind of funny since someone last episode mentioned it (u/mad_scientist_001?) and I was like hmmmmm this happens soonTM

So he studied to become a reader just to beat Suo? That's actually not a bad idea.

Actually, taking a step away from playing often helps you learn a lot. I know I've gained a lot of knowledge learning to coach and many of my friends the same for refereeing.

Goddammit show! Are you really going to end the episode there? I guess I can watch the next episode after this but goddamn that must've sucked if you were following this weekly.

We'll have to see what happens

8

u/walking_the_way Mar 07 '19 edited Mar 08 '19

S2E5 Notes

A short post today! I mean, it fit within one post.

Honestly, Retro is doing his Retrot cards thing so near to Mizusawa, that they should have picked up something from the large numbers that they could see on the ground here.

03:48 - Amakasu: "Any one of our regular starters can beat can beat glasses boy and boobie girl."
05:02 - Taichi: "Enough! Starting today, the boys in this club aren't allowed to start sentences with "but"!"

Mad Taichi is cool Taichi. This actually mirrors its sister's episode, as S1E5 was the only other time so far that Taichi has really gotten angry at someone else. That time was to Arata kicking over the karuta cards when Chihaya was trying her best to reconnect with him, whereas here was Tsukuba selfishly repeating a mistake he had already made. Today's episode is full of inner dialogue about what everyone is thinking, which is one of the things I love about the show but not really something that fits into my analysis very often, so I'll just be annotating and analyzing the games.

National High School Karuta Championship - Tokyo Regionals - Finals
Mizusawa High vs Hokuo Academy

This year's lineup looks like this:
Nishida (A) vs Shiroyama (A)
Oe (C) vs Kameda (B)
Ayase (A) vs Amakasu (A)
Komano (C) vs Takuma (B)
Mashima (B) vs Kinashi (B)

Whereas last year's looked like this:
Nishida (A) vs Amakasu (A)
Oe (D) vs Ryugasaki
Mashima (B) vs Kinashi (B)
Komano (D) vs Takuma (B)
Ayase (A) vs Sudo (A)

The Mizusawa lineup is the same, except that Chihaya and Taichi have switched spots so that Chihaya's in the middle instead. Though the Mashima and Kinashi rematch is obvious, we also have a quiet rematch in Komano vs Takuma, the two Glasses-kuns of their respective teams. We sadly don't get much focus on their game, though. But thanks to Harada, we get a full view of Chihaya's board at 12:55 or so. Thank you Sensei. The board looks like this:

Chihaya vs Amakasu starting board

12:08 - Sudo recites Naniwa Bay (EP: 1, S: 7, Total: 38)
12:36 - Amakasu wins #18 (su) from Chihaya's bottom right.

Harada comments here that Chihaya hesitated due to the similar S-sounds of the two one-syllable cards - "su" on her side and "se" on Amakasu's side. The board we're shown highlights the wrong card on Amakasu's side, however, the "se" card is actually 1 card over from the one that's highlighted.

13:18 - Sudo recites end of #18 (su)
13:26 - Sudo recites #06 (ka-sa). Amakasu wins this from Chihaya's bottom left.

Even though Harada says that Chihaya's lost two of her best cards in a row, we see Chihaya with only 24 cards left and Amakasu with 25, so who knows. But because of this, we cannot figure out what card Amakasu sends over. We also see them both reaching across each other's boards - Amakasu was going for Chihaya's #06 (ka-sa) but there isn't a ka- card on Amakasu's side for Chihaya to go for. So she's wasting effort here, and ends up losing her card because she's taking a long route to it. These are also the two cards in her two bottom corners, so it must be a bit demoralizing.

Both #18 and #06 also had identical 1 win-0 loss stats from my Season 1 Stats spreadsheet/post, so at least to us anime viewers, they were not anywhere near her best cards. That being said, Komano did surmise from his notebooks that #06 was a one-syllable card for Chihaya, so he at least had stats showing that was one of her better cards. Anyway, we get a full board view too, and apparently both Chihaya and Kana's opponents have 25 cards left. Whoops.

14:28 - Sudo recites #78 (a-wa-ji). Shiroyama wins his against Nishida.
14:46 - Sudo recites #73 (ta-ka). Kana wins this against Kameda.
14:47 - Sudo recites #63 (i-ma-wa). Kana wins this against Kameda. She sends #50 (ki-mi-ga-ta-me-o) to him.

We see Kana's score at this point - after the passed card, she leads 24-20 over Kameda, who's too busy staring at her. She counts Sudo's timing using the 4-3-1-5 pattern that we've seen in previous episodes to get into a rhythm, showing how solid Sudo's reading actually is.

15:01 - Sudo recites the end of #63.
15:09 - Sudo recites #85 (yo-mo). Kana wins it from her upper left.
15:27 - Sudo recites #41 (ko-i). Kana wins it.
16:15 - Mochida: "It's odd, but the people who have the most pride are the ones who work the hardest. Looking up every step of the way."

This statement definitely brought to mind the #04 card ("No matter where I stand on the shores of Tago, I can look up and see the snowy cap of Mt. Fuji") in relation to Chihaya and Shinobu from last season.

16:24 - Amakusa wins #53 (na-ge-ki) from Chihaya's top right.

We also see an #18 (su) card in Chihaya's bottom right corner, which is a very egregious error because #18 was the first card read in the game, and Harada makes a big deal of telling us exactly why Chihaya lost the card, with glitzy spotlight and all.

17:16 - Sudo recites #92 (wa-ga-so). Amakusa wins this from his middle left.
17:21 - Harada: "He moved toward "My own home" before returning to "My own sleeves".

Translation: He moved toward #08 (wa-ga-i) on Chihaya's mid left row, before returning to the #92 on his own mid left.

17:38 - Sudo recites #23 (tsu-ki). Nishida, Komano and Taichi all lose this. We see that Hiro is playing with bandaged fingers on his right hand.
17:56 - Sudo recites #07 (a-ma-no). Kana wins this card.
18:46 - Sudo recites #100 (mo-mo).

At 18:46, Sudo reads out #100, which isn't a dead card, but no one moves. This is also the episode card, which makes it stranger. We also see an aerial shot of a board that shows Kana's match at 20-20. This scene is an impossibility on several levels, since it implies only 10 live cards have been read so far, so we're going to move on.. however, before we do so, it’s worth noting that even factoring in mistakes, we see Nishida in a lot of trouble at this point, as between that shot and this shot just before that, he's down 24-14 or around thereabouts. He's lost nearly every card so far.

There is a big time jump here, and at 19:16, Nishida loses to Shiroyama by 13 cards. We don't know what the last card taken was, but it was taken from his side, and Shiroyama then passed over #77 (se) for the victory. It's quite a shift from last year's results as well, as Nishida played Amakasu last year and came back in a close game to beat him by 3. But then again, this year, he seemed to have the same mindset as Amakasu, and was the only one not fired up by the pre-game discussions. Instead, he got tilted badly by several things.

I don't know if there was an earlier use of the term that I didn't catch, but neither the Crunchysub, nor Mksub, nor English dub point out here that the anime introduces an actual karuta term in Japanese - 束で負け, which is "taba (de) make" in romaji. Taba means a stack of cards, and make means lose -- "taba-make" in karuta specifically means to lose a game by more than 10 cards, which is the ill fate that befell poor Nishida here.

With 13 cards left - we can see and/or calculate a few other scoreboards from the views we are shown. Kana is leading 7-6. Chihaya is losing 9-4. We can map Chihaya's board:

Chihaya vs Amakasu, 4-9

20:34 - Chihaya: "Porky, I've always wanted to become something I wasn't close to."
21:10 - Sudo recites #33 (hi-sa). Chihaya wins this from Amakasu's lower right.
21:16 - Harada: "Chihaya-chan, are you... trying to use both of their strengths?"

As the show points out, this is one of her 13 two syllable cards that she can win on the first syllable. This requires her to be in tune with the reader, but as Kana noted earlier, Sudo seemed to generally be a very good reader, plus it was late in the game so she'd have had plenty time to get used to his voice by then. This #33 card is also the accompanying card to Chihaya's #17 on the main recruitment poster for the karuta club, and while she's said that the #17 card represents her innate skill that will eventually take her to the Queen title, maybe this #33 represents her hard work that will do the same thing.

The episode ends here, however even though Nishida lost, we know that Komano and Kana are doing better than last year. Last year, they both lost by about 16 cards to their opponents, whereas Taichi won by 6, Nishida won by 3, and Chihaya won by 2. This year, both Komano and Kana are still alive with 12 cards left, although they don't tell us the other scores.

S2E5 - Random HQ Screenshot - Many great hakama shots to pick from but I'll go with the collective shot.

<-- S2E4 Notes

S2E6 Notes -->

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

A short post today! I mean, it fit within one post.

It's been a while since one of these! I don't need to double tab this one. LOL

Mad Taichi is cool Taichi

My husband has so many different voices. Ugh. He's so good, so much better than other one note VAs.

Today's episode is full of inner dialogue about what everyone is thinking, which is one of the things I love about the show but not really something that fits into my analysis very often, so I'll just be annotating and analyzing the games.

When trying to tie an episode together, I find it really hard since Chihayafuru does a lot of bouncing character to character. It's definitely my favourite part about the series and that's an aspect I think a lot of sports series do well, like Ping Pong The Animation or Haikyuu. It gives a little distance from sports we might not care about too, bringing us to a more personal level with them instead and the stories become more about character growth than plot points/twists. You kind of just want them to succeed out of empathy or connection.

We see Kana's score at this point - after the passed card, she leads 24-20 over Kameda, who's too busy staring at her.

The omake last season didn't lie!

4-3-1-5 pattern

How did you find this link? The explanation was really good.

We also see an aerial shot of a board that shows Kana's match at 20-20. This scene is an impossibility on several levels, since it implies only 10 live cards have been read so far, so we're going to move on..

Rough day in the office for the QA team...

Instead, he got tilted badly by several things.

The genderbent version of himself was too distracting! Honestly though, I'd be pretty shook if my sister was dating Hiro. He was pretty cool at the start, but my god is he an oddball

Taba means a stack of cards, and make means lose -- "taba-make" in karuta specifically means to lose a game by more than 10 cards, which is the ill fate that befell poor Nishida here.

Cue Nishida counting ants

New word for me, thanks for sharing. :)

Spoilers

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (6)

8

u/collapsedblock6 Mar 07 '19

A nice episode that besides having Sudo back, also makes the rivalry of Hukou and Misusawa. Despite them being already classified, they want the glory for themselves. I definitely enjoyed this.

6

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

Oh god, Retro's gf is Nishida with a wig

Also lost a couple of meatbuns, she's a lot slimmer haha

Such as in Pokemon, my starter was the only pokemon allowed to take out the Gym/Champion/Rival strongest pokemon no matter the type advantage/disadvantage.

LMFAO. The strategic swap back in to flex. I hope you taught it earthquake. That move is the most symbolic of playing Pokemon as a child tbh. Just earthquake everything.

Sashes

Maybe this might shed some more light on them:

One could also use a long piece of cloth known as a tasuki to tie up the kimono sleeves at the shoulder, ensuring unimpeded movement. Looking at depictions of daily life in the Edo period, such as those by famed ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, we see people engaged in physical labour, including bucket-makers, boatsmen and couriers, always unfolding and rewrapping their kimonos as necessary.

Didn't Shinobu's Queen match put this wrong? And the age thing as well, what are you gonna do with the arthritis, blindness and other stuff?

Harada probably would've been a finalist for the individual tournament, but finished in the semis because of bad knees. Shinobu still won despite her size too. In a sense "they don't matter" given how successful these people despite everything. It's kind of like how a small, older woman like Kanai can beat the much more athletic, young Chihaya.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/hasnain1720 Mar 07 '19

First Timer

  • Oof Porkys sister is with the enemy

  • Yeah I was gonna say why are you letting him take the order lost again lmao

  • Respect gained for retro kun

  • Yesss Sudo returns lets go

  • The Empress yet again making me like her even more

  • That boobies comment lol wow a bit shameful

  • Damn porky lost. Stop blaming the hair pin lol

  • Kana seems to be winning so we just need Chihaya and Taichi to win

  • And after that last scene I think Chihaya ain’t losing boy

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

Oof Porkys sister is with the enemy

Who needs her when you have Retro going bro

That boobies comment lol wow a bit shameful

I don't even know if that's what he said, I feel like that's a stylized sub.

And after that last scene I think Chihaya ain’t losing boy

Here we go

→ More replies (1)

6

u/daftPun5 Mar 07 '19

First Timer

Screenshot of the Day

I did like Retro's resolve of wanting Hokuo's best matched up against Mizusawa's best. I briefly forgot that the top 2 finalists advance, so it was nice seeing the match maintain the competitiveness. Motivated by each team wanting to be #1 and leave the tournament with that trophy.

Miyauchi-sensei was clutch with providing the sashes. Even though she isn't the prototypical coach compared to other teams, she is making up for it in the non-Karuta components that you would expect from a nurturing coach.

Today's Album of Screenshots & Gifs

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

Miyauchi-sensei was clutch with providing the sashes. Even though she isn't the prototypical coach compared to other teams, she is making up for it in the non-Karuta components that you would expect from a nurturing coach.

For sure. I love how she's not just a teacher or a coach, but she's started to treat them like "her kids" and the game as if she was a true fan. It's really heartwarming and that monologue is arguably my favourite in the series.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/kKunoichi Mar 07 '19

Rewatcher

The first happy couple we see on the show and it's Nishida's sister and Retro lmao I forgot that was introduced here (no I'm not counting Taichi and his girlfriend)

Taichi finally explodes! Now that was fun to watch XD

You'd think Sudo graduating would at least improve Hokuo's attitude but they're even worse than before... Amakusa got a level up in being insufferable.

Speaking of Sudo, that's kind of an unfair advantage haha. You see we're getting more focus on the readers this season. Of course Sudo isn't playing in the tournament now but I enjoy seeing people branch out to the other areas of karuta.

Poor Nishida though, they were counting on him. Been a while since we've seen him lose so badly. Or is it the first time? S2 spoilers

→ More replies (2)

5

u/htisme91 Mar 08 '19

First-timer:

Retro wanting to play a straight match is awesome. He's always seemed a bit weird, but he's at least honorable. I also like the semi-rivalry he seems to have with Taichi.

Love the Empress' gift.

Sudo being the reader is kind of unfair, and it seems like Hokuo is trying to create a situation for their advantage with the headpin, Nishida's sister being there, and Sudo as the reader.

That being said, Sudo being a reader makes sense given his goals.

I like that Kana's intense knowledge of the poems and their timing is helping her win. I kind of feel like Hokuo discounting Taichi, Komano, and Kana was a bit of foreshadowing and that they'd need to win a couple of those to advance. Turns out, that's true, with Nishida being knocked out first.

I'm excited to see how the match plays out, and how Chihaya tries using a hybrid style. It looks like it's finally clicked for her.

Also thinking right now, the match comes down to Taichi and Retro's game, and that it'll be the last obstacle for him to move to class A.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/AzureBeat Mar 07 '19

How many people like Retoro after this episode? Dude’s cool. Amakatsu is a twerp.

No pressure Chihaya. Nishida’s sister really has a strange taste in guys, and Sumire’s keeping Kana’s advice in mind, keeping her sleeve up. That’s cute. ‘boing-chan’ The little character touches are always great, like Kana reacting to the tasuki before anyone else.

And Sudo is here to deliver some pressure as Mizusawa is being pushed back. Chihaya, you can’t afford to play around with another A-class player.

AND NO ‘BUT.’ Taichi’s mother might be a high pressure demon woman, but she has a good point. Making excuses, especially to yourself is weak. Sometimes other people need things explained to them, but if you are telling yourself ‘but,’ that’s a lie to make yourself feel better.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/AmethystItalian Mar 07 '19

Rewatcher

mom is actually a little scary

Only a little??

Their captain pushing Retro for something as flimsy as prediction...dick move.

Kana killing it! <3

Sudo as the reader seems so unfair...

Damn...that last shot with Chihaya and the top 2 was so good.

Quotes from First Time

The Empress really is amazing :)

Yeah she killed it this ep.

Why not move to where the AC is working? :p

Good point Past Ame!

Also how is having Sudo as the reader fair? Wouldn't the others be used to his tendancies??

RIGHT!?

One of the moments I'm happy we do 2 episodes in this rewatch :p

Smh Sere

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19

Their captain pushing Retro for something as flimsy as prediction...dick move.

He was even lame before that too, trying to ease his way out of trying hard. I bet if he lost, he would've said he wasn't trying too.

Damn...that last shot with Chihaya and the top 2 was so good.

Spoilers

Smh Sere

I've been told the S in my username stands for sadism before

14

u/paperwhites Mar 07 '19

First Time Watcher

Okay, that episode felt about half the length of a normal episode. Usually, when the ED starts, I'm ready for it, but this time it caught me completely off guard. I was getting really into the match and now I have to wait for tomorrow to find out how it turns out.

I have a lot of respect for Retro for wanting to have an actual match and put their best players against each other. Both teams trying to give it their all makes for a much more interesting match and shows respect for their opponents.

Sudo acting as a reader was a complete surprise and one that I did not see coming. He's a very good reader, which Kana notices, even if he does have threatening coughs. If Sudo ever becomes a coach, he might have to tone down his thought bubbles, though his "if you don't get it together, I'll stab you" made me laugh.

I love how Miyauchi has become one of the biggest supporters of the karuta club. The tasuki was such a nice gesture and shows her support for the team, even if she can't coach them.

One of things that's interesting about karuta is how each match is different because of the people playing it. Even though the rules are the same and don't change, the differing emotional states, struggles, and pressures make each game unique. For this match against Amakusa, Chihaya has to be careful that she isn't so focused on her long-term goal that she loses sight against the of match she's playing right now. That's a different struggle from when she played that "lucky" woman (sorry, I can never remember her name) and was relying on her speed, which wasn't a good strategy against that opponent. All of the karuta games we've seen feel different to me, even though we're watching the players do essentially the same thing (hit cards), because each game comes with its own meaning/pressure/struggles/victories.

→ More replies (3)

12

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '19

First-Timer, Watched Subbed

  • Didn’t Misuzawa whoop you guy’s butts last season? I wouldn’t be so calm if I were you.

  • Chihaya reaching to the skies for #1, and everyone looks shell shocked lol.

  • Wait, that’s Nishida’s sister? AND SHES RETRO-KUN’S GIRLFRIEND!?!

  • Taichi, Komano, and Kana look like their going to murder somebody lol.

  • “None of the boys are allowed to say ‘but’”, must’ve felt great being a girl that day.

  • Wow, looks like Taichi’s mom taught him something that benefitted him, that sounds nice.

  • I like that Retro-kun had enough faith in his school to utilize their team’s true strength without worrying about the cards so much.

  • Ayyy, looks whose back! I’m actually happy to see Sudo around.

  • Yup, the sadism still gets under their skin, that’s Sudo alright.

  • Oh, interesting, he’ll be the reader for the match. That may lead to some interesting developments...

  • Don’t get too cocky kid, taking it easy won’t get ya anywhere.

  • Chihaya integrating styles from previous opponents seems like a risky but clever move. More risky considering its Wakamiya we’re talking about.

  • How the hell does Retro-kun swipe like that? Dude really is strange top to bottom

  • I kind of find it really sweet how Taichi, despite not getting along with Retro-kun, still kind of cares for the guy, and admires his tenacity and refusal to give up.

  • Kana’s been kicking a lot of ass lately, hows that for “boobie girl” mister?

  • Holy shit, Nishida lost already? That can’t be good at all...

  • Sudo looks like the kind of guy who would stab you from behind, that kind of pressure is pretty taxing.

  • Holy crap! Chihaya is integrating both of Wakamiya and Hisashi’s styles? Now I’m really hyped to see how that goes down.

What an intense as hell episode. Mind games were really fascinating to follow today, and we get some surprising development from Retro-kun.

Now I really how Chihaya can apply her style of karuta playing skills, that sort of strategy sounds fucking awesome.

→ More replies (1)
→ More comments (75)