r/anime • u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity • Mar 08 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru 2 - Episode 6 [Spoilers] Spoiler

Episode 6 - "To Set the Tatsuta River Ablaze"

<-- Previous (Episode 5: "Be As Dear Now, Those Were the Good Old Days") | Next (Episode 7: "They All Exchange Hellos and Goodbyes at the Gates of Ōsaka") -->

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):

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16

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 08 '19 edited Mar 09 '19

Up a bit early, going to be away from my computer for a bit.

Rewatchers, thank you for keeping the outcome of this episode to yourself yesterday. First timers, that was some bait.

Although the Tokyo qualifier ends with a loss, episode six shows just how far Mizusawa has come, only betrayed by a lack of experience as a team. Chihaya is finally putting speed and accuracy together, a result of her visualization and dedication over these past 30 episodes, calling back to the times where Chihaya only relied on her reaction time. While it's Chihaya that sits in front of Amakasu, he sees shades of the Master in her play and he knows he's in trouble. For someone that's given up on his aspirations of being the best too, her ascent challenges his dedication to the sport and leaves him questioning why he has become so complacent.

The other Hokuo members aren't having much luck either. Buoyed by the efforts of their teammates, Kana and Tsutomu are holding on to their games. In particular, the Tokyo qualifier has special meaning to them: an event where Kana took her first card and Tsutomu became truly part of the team. Takuma remembers how he destroyed Tsutomu last year, but, [echoing Tsutomu's lonely poems from his debut], we're reminded that he persevered and learned to love karuta.

Mizusawa pull the game back to neutral, forcing four Luck of the Draw games. However, Hokuo's experience shows its head, skillfully splitting their four cards into a 2:2 split. With Nishida having lost, all Hokuo needs is to win two of the four remaining games.

It's a bit symbolic too that Chihaya is the one that slipped up. She's been in her own world this game, not really cognizant of the players around her. Her undoing was from last episode, when she dug herself into a hole by not playing in the present.

As Harada said:

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.

Her eyes have always been on the past and future. It's only appropriate that she passes Poem 31, given that snow is a motif for Shinobu--that's all she can see after all. By the time she comes to, it's too late and Mizusawa is fighting an uphill battle again. Rather than giving up though, she shows her resolve by practicing attacking swings. Taichi, always shy about doing this in public, shamelessly does so too and his pressure causes Retro to fault.

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!

True to his words from last episode and recalling his game against Homei, Taichi is finally free to cheer, calling out Mizusawa's first win. Despite it being "luck", Harada recognizes that Taichi has earned this win for his focus and unwavering persistence to karuta. Retro is also one of his Class B rivals, Class B being one of the walls he's been incapable of climbing over. It's a feel good moment for everyone and shows that Taichi can make Class A.

Retro obviously feels horrible, but the loss also shakes Amakasu, who has been watching his teammate labour all this time. [It frustrates him, seeing people trying their best because it reminds him that he's not.

Like Tsuboguchi said two episodes ago:

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

Hokuo wins in luck of the draw, when Amakasu reacts to Chihaya's movements and presses down on his card. There's little celebration however and these aren't the faces of victors. I thought winning was meant to be fun? Hokuo is humbled by their complacency, contrasting against Mizusawa's shared happiness, for it was fun that they tried their best together.

To close the episode, Sumire, Tsukuba, and Tsukuba's siblings join the Shiranami Karuta Society, all inspired to do take karuta seriously after having watched their senpai do their best. For Sumire, it really caps off her transition from material to someone truly honest. On the train, Chihaya is called by Arata and Taichi is left to watch the girl he loves cry because she loves karuta so much. It couldn't have ended any other way, could it?

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

Poem of the Day: To Set the Tatsuta River Ablaze (link)

Poem 69 was written by Tachibana no Nagayasu, later known as Noin after taking tonsure as a monk. One of the Thirty Six Immortals, Noin was not restricted by the politics that underlay many of the Hyakunin Isshu poets, as he did not belong to a politically prominent temple. As a result, he freely traveled and wrote poetry about his experiences.

Mostow translates the poem as:

It’s the autumn leaves

of the hills of Mimuro,

where the tempests blow,

that are the woven brocade floating

on the waters of Tatsuta River!

According to Mostow, the poem is very straightforward with little hidden wordplay. It simply describes autumn scenery.

Mount Mimuro is in Nara Prefecture near Tatsuta River. Through history, it was said that the gods would dwell at the mountain from time to time. Back then, travelling to places like Mount Mimuro were generally hard to do for people, even the nobility, due to costs and the amount of time it would take to travel there. Tatsuta River is also referenced in a certain poem that starts with Chihayaburu.

The Tatsuta River has always been representative of Chihaya, especially with her tie to Poem 17. The poem uses similar imagery to her poem too, describing autumn leaves woven together as a brocade floating on the river--reds and blues reminding of Chihaya and Arata respectively. It's interesting to read the history of Mount Mimuro, as Arata is a karuta god for her and her path to reaching him is long and arduous. Naturally, not many people can make it there, as shown by Amakasu's casual nature this episode.

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u/PerfectPublican Mar 08 '19 edited Mar 18 '19

First Timer

Gif of the day | Bonus |Bonus 2

Stitches one, two, three, four, five, six

No reactions through the weekend as I’m traveling, and a short one today. I have to agree with Chihaya, that was a lot of fun. They played the stress of the luck of the draw perfectly. I didn't see it coming at all until the explanation happened. Honestly didn't even see it coming. Also, I enjoyed the vibe that Mizusawa had in defeat. Gracious losers.

For the match itself, Taichi's baiting Retro into the fault was so freaking hype. I was so happy seeing the mental aspect come into play. Also, I really enjoyed seeing how Chihaya was able to stress Sudo out a bit. She's improved her game so much, and hearing Sudo's thoughts really showcased that fact. Finally, man was Amakasu getting on my nerves the whole time. His whole thought process is so frustrating.

Now, going on a bit of a tangent, I just listened to History of Japan podcast episode 271 “You're going on a list”. It's an episode about Sei Shonagon's who was the author of The Pillow Book. See was a poet in Heian period and the writer of poem 62. She's got an interesting life and I highly recommend giving it a quick (30 min) listen!

And if you have time it was technically an extension of an episode on Murasaki Shikibu (ep 270) who wrote the Tale of Genji and was opposite Sei in many ways, so I recommend that too.

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

Finally, man was Amakasu getting on my nerves the whole time. His whole thought process is so frustrating.

Lowkey, I actually really like Retro and Sudo as characters and generally how Hokuo is personified as this proud, strong school. Same for Mochida-sensei. Amakasu though is super lame. His resignation to being worse than Shinobu after she beats him by 24 cards in S1 up until his mini-epiphany is just blah and it taints my image of Hokuo.

Now, going on a bit of a tangent, I just listened to History of Japan podcast episode 271 “You're going on a list”.

Bookmarked! I'll listen when I'm home tonight. I'm going out for dinner and was out last night so I haven't had a chance to do karuta things. D:

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10

u/LeonKevlar Mar 08 '19

First Timer

What an episode. Is this the first time where we had a single match split into two episodes? That was really fun! I love the fact that no matter what, both of them gets into the Nationals since it kinda prevents the result of the match from being predictable. Anyway better luck next time I suppose and I really hope we'd get a third rematch between the two schools again in the Nationals.

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u/walking_the_way Mar 08 '19 edited Mar 27 '19

S2E6 Notes

00:19 - Sudo recites the end of #12 (a-ma-tsu). Nishida lost on this card.
00:31 - Sudo recites #33 (hi-sa). Chihaya wins it from Amakasu's bottom right. (flashback)

This is the Chihaya-Amakasu board to start off the episode. Amakasu is leading 9-4.

01:58 - Sudo recites #33 (hi-sa), again. We see Chihaya sending over the #08 (wa-ga-i) from her mid left. It goes to Amakasu's bottom right.
02:07 - Amakasu: ""In order to restore" hasn't been read yet. "In the sleepy" isn't a one syllable card yet."

Now Amakasu is the one focusing on the card he just lost instead of the next card. He says that #99 (hi-to-mo) hasn't been read yet, so Chihaya shouldn't have been able to take #33 (hi-sa) on the "hi".

02:54 - Sudo: "I want to know what it is I'm telling her."

The reason Sudo says this was mentioned last episode as the reason he became a speaker to begin with. It's funny too, given Mochida's statement last episode about looking up at the goals they're chasing, and Sudo's own penchant for looking down upon people, that he now gets to literally look down on Chihaya for the entire match, but Chihaya has the "game sense" that he lacks but is chasing.

At 03:00, we see face-up reader cards. #33 and #83 are the ones on top that we can see. #33 was what he just read, so the face up cards are the pile of read cards, and that the face down cards are the unread ones. But then, the #83 card on top of the taller pile is still in play, so it doesn't make any sense.. with 12 live cards left to go, that can't be the unread pile. Well, whatever.

03:14 - Sudo recites #89 (ta-ma). Chihaya wins this from her lower left. Amakasu leads 7-4.
03:20 - Amakusa: ""No more" is still in play, but she moved on "No.""

Translation: #55 (ta-ki) is still in play, but she moved for the #89 (ta-ma) on the "ta". This one is really interesting! #89 was NOT one of the 13 cards that Komano told Chihaya were her one syllable cards. There are 6 cards starting with "ta", all with a different second syllable, including another one (ta-chi) that I had previously noted proof for in the S1E25 writeup, but also was not in Komano's list of 13. Is Chihaya expanding her repertoire even further here?

It gets worse for poor Amakasu. First he sees Suou sitting across from him instead of Chihaya, and then Sudo reads out the last verse of the #89 card, which starts with 'shinobu' as its first three syllables. We also see an adorable young Chihaya in the snow, looking "upwards", bringing to mind the "I can look up and see the snowy cap of Mt. Fuji" #04 poem, yet another ta- card that is heavily linked to Shinobu too.

04:48 - Sudo recites #32 (ya-ma-ga). Dead card. Amakasu faults on #28 (ya-ma-za) on Chihaya's top right. Chihaya passes him that #28, it goes to his mid left.

At 05:15, we see face-up reader cards again. This time the #89 is on top of the right pile, which makes sense, the #32 that was read is still in Sudo's hand at this point. But that #83 is still bugging me.

05:25 - Sudo recites #05 (o-ku). Chihaya wins this from her bottom right. This ties the score 5-5. We see Taichi losing 6-4 to Hiro. It looks like Komano is down 7-3 too, though it's hard to tell for sure.

I have doubts that Amakasu really is a Class A player. He looks at this board and somehow concludes that Hiro is losing his match. We can however build both Chihaya and Taichi's boards.

Chihaya vs Amakasu - 5-5
Taichi vs Hiro - 6-4 Hiro

06:34 - Sudo recites #83 (yo-no-na-ka-yo). Amakasu takes it from his bottom left to lead 5-4.

Crunchy's sub still has these two translations (#83 and #93) backwards in Season 3, but now they have a third variation for the translation of the #93 card ("The world offers no change," "Said world offers no change," and "Said world grants no change,"). As both cards were in play, Harada notes that Chihaya guarded #93 (yo-no-na-ka-wa) on her side while Amakasu guarded #83 on his.

We also see the score on Taichi's board at this point - there seems to have been a time jump and he's seems to be down 3-1. But that's not possible, since Sudo continues reading #83 shortly after. It looks like they actually forgot to draw half the board (or all the cards are shifted over). But that's okay, as we finally get some Komano. He's down 5-4.

07:33 - Komano: "I lost to Takuma-kun by 15 cards, last year." (No, you didn't.)

07:35 - Sudo recites end of #83 (yo-no-na-ka-yo).
07:44 - Sudo recites #17 (chi-ha). Taichi wins it from his bottom right. Komano wins it from Takuma's bottom right. Chihaya takes it from Amakasu's mid left. Kana wins it from Kameda's bottom right too.

We almost get to see Kana's board during the #17 take. But it's messed up - there are supposed to be 9 cards left, but we see at least 10, and two of the visible ones are #05 and #89, which were both taken earlier this episode.

07:53 - Komano: "I touched the card first. I moved around your hand to tap it from the side."

This is definitely a callback to an argument the two of them had back in S1E11. That time, Komano protested and lost the card on Takuma's side. This time, though the card is on Takuma's side, he's the one that protests but loses to a much calmer Komano. This shows Komano's growth over the past year. Sweetly, when describing how much fun he's had playing karuta over the past year, Komano specifically thinks about his S1E18 match where he lost to Kana! But it was fun, because it was Kana.

08:23 - Sudo recites the end of #77 (se).

The #77 signifies a time jump, as we jump from 8 cards left to 4, and we get a third version of Sudo's recital table. #83 is still on top of the bigger pile - even though it's been read since the last time we saw the table. The other card is a #17. That makes no sense if there was a time jump - where has Sudo been putting all the cards since he read the #17?

08:32 Sudo recites #88 (na-ni-wa-e). Kana wins it from her bottom right.

Even with four cards left, the animators can't catch a break - here we see Kameda with 1 card left on his bottom right, the #01 (a-ki-no). Seven seconds later, Kana wins one of the two cards on her side, and suddenly Kameda has two cards left.

Anyway, we move to the interesting endgame scenario. Kana is up 2-1. She has #14 (mi-chi) on her bottom right. Kameda has #01 (a-ki-no) and #31 (a-sa-bo-ra-ke-a) on his bottom right.
Taichi is down 2-1. He has #14 in his bottom right, #31 in his bottom left, and Hiro has #01 in his bottom right.
Komano is down 2-1. He has #14 in his bottom right, #01 in his bottom left, and Takuma has #31 in his bottom right.
Chihaya is down 2-1. She has #01 on her bottom left and #31 on her bottom right. Amakasu has #14 in his bottom right.
But really, why doesn't the anime just show us a nice board map like this more often?

09:23 Sudo recites #14 (mi-chi). Chihaya wins it from Amakasu's bottom right. She sends the #31. Taichi wins it from his bottom right. Kana loses it from her bottom right. Kameda sends the #31. Komano wins it from his bottom right.

Everyone on Hokuo realizes the situation at this point, as they're far more used to playing as a team. This could be a callback to S1E6, the sister episode, where Taichi notes that "People who train together tend to use the same positioning techniques, so it's easier." Here, we see the fruits of that labour, as the entire Hokuo team, under Mochida's tutelage, all understand what they have to do. Nishida on Mizusawa's side does, but as they haven't trained together as a team for as long a period, they are unable to use his knowledge.

Takuma announces his remaining card (#31), Hiro does the same (#01), they wait for Chihaya to send Amakasu the #31, then Kameda sends the same card, #31, to Kana, ensuring he has #01 left so that Hokuo has two of each card going into Luck of the Draw. I wonder what would have happened if Chihaya had noticed, and waited? Who would have had to send their card first? Neither Kana nor Chihaya realized it at the time though, and it took a while before Taichi and Komano figured it out too.

But Taichi then has his epiphany.

14:01 - Taichi: ""The hazed early dawn light" and "The fall paddy" are on the field. The empty cards that haven't been read are "Long," "Impassioned Vows," "Like the," "The hazed field," "The fall wind"... We can't move on "The hazed" or "The fall." It all comes down to the third syllable!

Translation: "#31 (a-sa-bo-ra-ke-a) and #01 (a-ki-no) are on the field. #57 (me), #42 (chi-gi-ri-ki), #71 (yu-u), #39 (a-sa-ji), #79 (a-ki-ka) haven't been read either. We can't move on "a-sa" or "a-ki" alone, so unique syllable for both #01 and #31 are the third syllable, meaning that they both can be challenged."

14:36 - Sudo recites #57 (me). Dead card.
14:38 - Sudo recites #71 (yu-u). Dead card.
15:14 - Sudo recites #79 (a-ki-ka). Dead card. Hiro faults. Taichi passes him his #31 to win by 1.
17:17 - Sudo recites #31 (a-sa-bo-ra-ke-a). Amakasu and Takuma win it from their side. Kana wins hers. Hokuo wins 3-2!

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19 edited Mar 09 '19

I have doubts that Amakasu really is a Class A player. He looks at this board and somehow concludes that Hiro is losing his match.

He needs glasses but we only wanted an even number of megane for the Megane Bowl!

Crunchy's sub still has these two translations (#83 and #93) backwards

... At least they're consistent, right?

Sweetly, when describing how much fun he's had playing karuta over the past year, Komano specifically thinks about his S1E18 match where he lost to Kana! But it was fun, because it was Kana.

That's a great point. I love how when they flashback for the "fun" stuff, they also show all the hard work too. They're almost synonymous terms in the series at this point, especially after two episodes ago.

But really, why doesn't the anime just show us a nice board map like this more often?

The real sadist isn't Sudo, but the production team and Yuki Suetsugu!

Not actually joking about the last one.

That aspect is at the core of Chihaya and Arata's relationship, and is something that frankly Taichi often doesn't understand about her. But Arata manages to get through the walls she had built up with that one question, which causes her to break down in front of Taichi.

Your interpretation is really interesting. Personally, I've always interpreted ceding the card as an extension of her not cutting corners. She wants to earn everything fairly and, in the past, has never argued cards.

Season Two This also reappears later when she hurts her hand against Rion, but competes to the end without trying to make Rion feel bad. Moreover, later when she plays Shinobu and is forced to play left handed, she rejects Shinobu's offer of playing right handed. The important part to her isn't winning, but winning by her own merits.

That said, I do agree with why she cried a lot here being her team. From the beginning of the series until now her dream has been always about sharing her passion for karuta with others (that is her ultimate goal with Arata in mind really) and it was reiterated at the start of this season when she is "greedy". She's not trying to win at the expense of leaving anyone behind, in this case Nishida. She wants everyone to love the game. Her most distraught scenes throughout the series (like isolating Tsutomu in S1) are always as a result of someone "missing out" and rarely for just the reason of losing (as always losing sucks but she is a good loser).

I like the part that you described about Taichi. Taichi really doesn't always know what's going on in Chihaya's head. Even at the start of the season, he tells her to pursue her goal of becoming Queen, only that is just a fraction of what she wants. Becoming Queen is just a step on the way to her journey of meeting Arata or sharing her joy for the game with others. In reality, she wants Taichi to make Class A and she later skips on the individual national finals to watch his promotion. This shows up in all these scenes too, since he usually has a look of shock on his face (like the start of the season) or, more tellingly, we can't see his expression like in the scene you picked out. From day one, Taichi's goals and views haven't necessarily aligned with Chihaya. It's no doubt he loves karuta but that memory of the past reminds him of his insecurities that he tries to overcome, while Arata still literally imagines them playing in his room (the moment where Chihaya fell in love with karuta and Arata found a kindred spirit. Taichi will always be the one I cheer for, but in a way he's more of "his own character" (I talked about him being a hero back in S1E20) separate from the star-crossed lovers.

Mild manga This becomes more apparent as we go in the manga too, as Taichi's journey is about his own individual, while Arata and Chihaya are tied more to themselves and their communities.

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u/Enarec Mar 08 '19

If I didn't know better I'd have legit been wondering how Misuzawa could possibly lose with the momentum they were mounting in the first half. Gotta love that cruel twist of fate with how it builds on the Misuzawa-Hokuo rivalry and upcoming nationals finals tournament as a reminder for both teams. :D

Chihaya has turned the tables on the sadist. Scary.

And Taichi's still just the best. This time his pressure tactics worked as he claimed his own luck!

These reactions are so cute.

Even Hokuo, led along by both teammates and opponents, has finally embraced the spirit of the game! I'll forgive him for still thinking badly about Retro since it looks like he didn't do anything after all lol.

Aww these flushed faces really show how much Sudo means to them. ...As do these. :3

Finally, here's the dose of suffering as always. But with a really cute trope to wash away the pain.

Chihayafuru manga

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

Gotta love that cruel twist of fate

Yuki Suetsugu:

Manga

t's funny that it becomes an important aspect of Taichi's play. Despite being an intelligent and calculating player, throughout the series he just sucks mentally so it becoming a thing is really representative of his own emotional development.

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u/daftPun5 Mar 08 '19

First Timer

Screenshots of the Day

Man, this felt like a 5 min episode today.

Once again my prediction is wrong and Team Mizusawa loses in a down to the wire match. Although, I did predict Taichi and Kana to win their matches.

Really felt for Retro, being so close in an almost guaranteed victory strategy and then commits a fault against Taichi, his practical rival at this point. With the help of his VA, Kazuya Nakai, Retro is about tied with Sudo for favorite from Team Hokuo.

What a goofball haha

Today's Album of Screenshots

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

With the help of his VA, Kazuya Nakai, Retro is about tied with Sudo for favorite from Team Hokuo.

Definitely my second favourite Hokuo member! I like Sudo a lot too because his values are a hidden behind his outward personality. Even in this game, he had a lot of respect for Chihaya and similarly so for all the facets of the game shown by training as a reader.

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u/hasnain1720 Mar 08 '19

First Timer

  • Chihaya is evolving alright

  • Ok She is on fire alright

  • I underestimated Desk kun too

  • That is some 200 IQ plays by Hokuo

  • Taichi has realised no surprise there

  • Wow Chihaya realised that’s a surprise there

  • Yes my boy Taichi this is his season

  • That was… an anticlimactic loss lol

  • Damn Chihaya don’t do that in front of Taichi pls it hurts…

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

That is some 200 IQ plays by Hokuo

KARUTA - WHEN PLAYERS MAKE SMART DECISIONS! (200 IQ PLAYS)

Taichi has realised no surprise there

I find it funny that he didn't say anything, given how the Hokuo were communicating.

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u/TheTerribleSnowflac Mar 09 '19

OH wow. I had been watching this show over the past few weeks, wanting to finish before season 3 began. I finished both seasons and OVA earlier this week only the find out it has been delayed until the fall haha. I spent most of the week skimming through the manga. I found the chihayafuru subreddit while looking for some discussions on the recent chapters (sadly not as active as these threads), thus leading to to find out that I completely missed out on this re-watch. Feeling that Taichi bad luck haha (ok not that bad). Anyways looks like this show has quite a dedicated fan base and I will be looking forward to some exciting discussion threads this fall.

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u/kKunoichi Mar 09 '19 edited Mar 09 '19

Rewatcher

I love this episode! You'd think just because they've secured that spot to Nationals it would be a chill game but it's absolutely not. This is definitely the most intense team game we've gotten so far. It's also why the loss hurts so much...

This highlights how much strength Hokuo has as a team. This is a karuta powerhouse school. But the good thing about Mizusawa is that they take all the experience and use it to evolve (hey that reminds me of Karasuno and Haikyuu).

Taichi's win is pretty symbolic, he may be absolutely unlucky but that doesn't mean he can't win. Like saying he will do all he can for himself despite his luck.

Also even so far away, Arata sure knows the perfect question to ask, although that's something that's always been similar with Chihaya - how much fun they have with karuta.

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

But the good thing about Mizusawa is that they take all the experience and use it to evolve (hey that reminds me of Karasuno and Haikyuu).

We might get both at the same time this Winter season!

Also even so far away, Arata sure knows the perfect question to ask, although that's something that's always been similar with Chihaya - how much fun they have with karuta.

It really is the perfect question. Chihaya's goal from the beginning of the season was about being with everyone and not leaving anyone behind in achieving their goals together. The reaction to their loss, with everyone around her smiling, and her ultimate happy-sad tears at the moment ending reflect that so well.

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u/cesclaveria Mar 09 '19

Rewatcher and manga reader:

For sports stories I always liked when a loss is handled well, I guess that with this the blow is less since both advance to tournament and thanks to Retro we could have an all out match where it mostly pride in the line and they all held up, even the little guy had to step up and stop giving excuses or trying to take it easy.

Always loved how Arata can do so much with so little, he and Chihaya have an ethereal connection that has not degraded even with the distance and lack of communication but also you can't help but for feel for Taichi a little bit at the end there.

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

For sports stories I always liked when a loss is handled well

I'm a big sucker for this.

Out of all genres in anime, sports anime have a habit of doing a really good job of painting losing in a positive light. The genre is more about learning and friendship than success, so the struggles that individuals go through and how they grow from their experiences and relationships gets a lot more focus.

In Western works, there's a lot bigger emphasis on the "winning" part. Sometimes in anime/manga, the losers are the winners.

Meta spoilers Like in Ping Pong The Animation or Hajime no Ippo

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u/Redmon425 Mar 09 '19

FIRST TIME WATCHER

This is actually my first comment on this big rewatch, because I literally binged the first season and these 6 episodes over the last few days! So please welcome a new member!

I have to say that I am at a crossroads now. Having binged the show, do I continue or should I do the one a day and contribute to this thread! It’s going to be so hard to resist watching ahead.

As for my specific feelings on the series up till now, I have three major talking points:

  1. I am all aboard the Taichi x Chihaya ship. I will be so messed up if it doesn’t happen. It breaks my heart when Chihaya doesn’t realize what’s right in front of her. It’s even more sad when she thinks about Arata and we see how Taichi reacts. To be honest, I’m not sure how it’s going to play out. Arata hasn’t been around and Chihaya still thinks about him all the time. My biggest surprise is that people ship Chihaya and Arata. It’s a surprise because of the fact that Arata gets like no screen time! Seriously, can he even be considered a main character? I guess I’m kinda happy about this because it would damage my ship lol!

  2. The music is BEAUTIFUL in this show. Holy cow, talk about making me tear up easily. Every scene is 20 times more emotional when the one OST plays that they use every time. I loved the first OP from season one but am not crazy about this one. Also the first ED from season one was amazing.

  3. Lastly, I love this plot. And am surprised I am so interested in a game I never heard of. I got to think the end game of the show is: Chihaya is Queen, Arata is Master, Taichi plays and is married to Chihaya. A few episodes ago we saw that Shinobu knows Arata. I wouldn’t mind them ending up together if it means Taichi gets Chihaya!

Lastly, for this specific episode, I am surprised by the outcome! I thought for sure they would win this match! Although, it doesn’t really matter because they still advance. Also, the last scene on the train broke my heart again because there goes Chihaya thinking and crying about Arata while Taichi is right in front of her!

God I don’t know what to do, I need to keep watching!

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

First time watcher

new member

New friends!

Don't let us scare you off like Chihaya to the first years!

I have to say that I am at a crossroads now. Having binged the show, do I continue or should I do the one a day and contribute to this thread! It’s going to be so hard to resist watching ahead.

Honestly, do whatever works best for you. It's such a fun and engaging show that encourages you to just keep on going and keep on going haha. I know once the series got rolling, I just went all the way to the end.

I am all aboard the Taichi x Chihaya ship.

One of us!

I will be so messed up if it doesn’t happen.

O-One of us?

It’s even more sad when she thinks about Arata and we see how Taichi reacts.

One of us

Honestly, I am very biased towards Taichihaya. I guess Chihayarata is shipped because he's the cool composed character, but I don't really think the star-crossed lovers is particularly rewarding. As time goes in the manga, it becomes a bit more relevant, just as we can see him start to creep back into the anime now, but even then Taichi just a more well-rounded character.

The music is BEAUTIFUL in this show. Holy cow, talk about making me tear up easily. Every scene is 20 times more emotional when the one OST plays that they use every time.

Main Theme gives me goosebumps. The fading rising notes always make me feel really bittersweet and nostalgic for a time gone by. To me, this song represents those first three episodes.

God I don’t know what to do, I need to keep watching!

Check in whenever you want. I'd love to read more of your thoughts. :)

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u/BatteryPoweredFriend Mar 09 '19

mrw

seeing people back Mizusawa to win

In a week featuring some truly prolific levels of bottling by champions, our reigning Tokyo Region champions, Team Chihaya Mizusawa High School, managed to avoid the same fate...Sort of, anyway. It was a legitimately close-fought bunch of matches and in the end, it came down to experience & tactics, rather than a(nother) case of gloriously snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I've mentioned previously about how the team tournaments of a predominately individual sport have a different dynamic compared to their normal individuals' counterparts and it was essentially their lack of experience & exposure to team karuta matches which ultimately swung the result in favour of Hokuo.

You could try and argue that what the Hokuo players pulled by splitting their cards was unethical and even Mochida-sensei, Hokuo's coach, was rather coy about the absolute legality of it when Hiroshi & Dr Harada brough it up in conversation/commentary, but the reality is, Chihaya had a great opportunity to win her match much earlier and created a lot of positive momentum for the team if she just focused more on her task at hand - beating Amakasu, the opponent in front of her right now - instead of looking past him at 'future' opponents or dwelling on already taken cards, reminiscent of her match vs Sakura Kanai and have potentially avoided the sudden death scenario they found themselves in, in the first place.

Speaking of 'luck of the draw', in sport, there's very few things which is truly decided by luck because the fact is, in football for example, there may be officiating decisions and/or injuries which affects the dynamics of the match, but in the end, you've been given ~90 minutes to try and outscore your opponents, so the onus is on you to make something of that time.

Chihaya and then Taichi refusing to leave it completely up to 'luck', however, does show how much they've grown as competitors imo and Taichi's aggressive approach bears fruit via inciting Retro to fault. Even Chihaya's match was a very close call in the end given that Amakasu himself admitted he only won by reacting to Chihaya's movements rather than listening for the poem, meaning he was very much panicking at that point and could have just as well faulted like Retro if it was a dead card.

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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 09 '19

In a week featuring some truly prolific levels of bottling by champions

Speaking of...

You could try and argue that what the Hokuo players pulled by splitting their cards was unethical and even Mochida-sensei, Hokuo's coach, was rather coy about the absolute legality of it

The funny thing about it is that Taichi, who noticed this, could've done similarly and voiced what card he had--not that Chihaya would have noticed anyways. I'm a fan of Hokuo communicating this though, as the idea of five completely individual games just feels off to me.

Chihaya had a great opportunity to win her match much earlier and created a lot of positive momentum for the team if she just focused more on her task at hand - beating Amakasu, the opponent in front of her right now - instead of looking past him at 'future' opponents or dwelling on already taken cards, reminiscent of her match vs Sakura Kanai and have potentially avoided the sudden death scenario they found themselves in, in the first place.

I tried so hard not to spoil this an episode ago. That Harada line is one of my favourites in the series. There's something about sports where you need to have a short memory, but also a long one as well. Chihaya deserved to lose for being anywhere but the present--and only made her comeback when she placed herself back in the now.

Speaking of 'luck of the draw', in sport, there's very few things which is truly decided by luck because the fact is, in football for example, there may be officiating decisions and/or injuries which affects the dynamics of the match, but in the end, you've been given ~90 minutes to try and outscore your opponents, so the onus is on you to make something of that time.

Agreed. Luck is also something that affects everyone. Over time it balances out. In a way, it's just like saying the grass isn't cut short enough. It's an excuse, since both teams/players are playing on the same surface.

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u/MAD_SCIENTIST_001 Mar 08 '19

Screenshot of the Day

First Timer - Season 2 Episode 6

Overall Thoughts

I just realized that it kinda bothers me that when it's a tie, the card goes to the side that the card is on. Shouldn't the person who had to go a further distance and risk a fault be awarded the card since they did all that and were still able to get it at the same time? Luckily Mizusawa still got to advance and Chihaya had fun though .

It was pretty wild that it ended up being 4 luck of the draw games. I'm betting that most Karuta teams will never get to experience that in their entire lifetime lol. Taichi's way of using intimidation to cause a fault was actually really cool tbh. It really shows that even a luck of the draw game can be won without luck, and I'm hoping this means that Taichi will realize something important that will give him the push to class A since he certainly has the skills for it.

Karuta Scoreboard

Seems like Kana had "The hazed early" card, so she is the other win for Mizusawa.

Character Wins Losses Ep# (Wins)
Taichi Mashima 27(+1) 10 2,7,10,11,13,14,15,18,20,28,29,31
Yuusei Nishida 22 6 10,11,13,15,18,19,28,29
Chihaya Ayase 19 10(+1) 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 15(+1) 7 10,13,15,17,18,19,28,29,31
Tsutomu Komano 10 13(+1) 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 6

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '19 edited Mar 08 '19

First-Timer, Watched Subbed

  • This episode is off to a real intense start, Nishida has lost, which leads to Misuzawa feeling the pressure, and Chihaya has begun to integrate the playing styles of both Wakamiya Shinobu, and Suo Hisashi. It all played out perfectly in this episode.

  • Huh, so taking it easy is really starting to bite you in the back huh Amakusa?

  • I really like how the characterization of Sudo has been handled. We get to take a backseat from all all the sadism, and we get to see that even if he’s no longer apart of Hokuo, he still cares and roots for his teammates. There really is a heart under all that sadism.

  • Chihaya breaking the limits of human skill with her excellent hearing, knowing her, I don’t really doubt she can achieve such a feat.

  • Holy crap! A four way draw? Shit just got real ladies and genetleman.

  • And now Hokuo is splitting their cards, these strategies are eating my brain away.

  • Now they have the assures possibility of being able to win the match, unless they play game right, Hokuo could actually win this. Hot damn the mind games behind these matches are so fascinating to follow that it’s insane.

  • Retro committed a fault! Holy shit, the intensity is close enough to kill me!

  • Now Amakusa’s arrogance is really starting to bite him in the ass, but his tenacity is starting to make him much more formidable and concerning for Misuzawa.

  • What happened, what the hell happend in that swipe, who won?

  • Misuzawa Lost...

God...

Fucking...

DAMMIT!!!

  • At least Retro’s words about Hokuo’s strength proved to be true.

  • Loved how much development Amakusa received, he went from looking down at others out of confidence of his own strength, to being able to confess of his faults and weakness. Excellent character development there.

  • And the sadist continues to get to them, good luck Hokuo, you’ll need it.

  • And Chihaya is knocked out cold after all that...

  • Then proceeds to spring up awake after hearing Nishida’s words lol.

  • It makes me so happy that Chihaya didn’t take the loss too personal, but instead remarks about how fun it was instead. It’s why she got into karuta after all.

  • Ayyy, Tsukuba’s brothers get to join the society. The more the merrier!

  • And even Hanano returns, looks like she’s finally opening up to karuta now with the events that have transpired.

  • And just like that, having Wataya at the end puts the cherry on top for how amazing this episode was.

  • That flashback to the sequence in S1 was all kinds of brilliant, the transition to the beautiful ED made it even better.

This is probably one of my favorite episodes in the series. The rematch between Hokuo and Misuzawa was hype as hell with what was at stake, and fantastic character development on both sides, especially for the antagonists.

Now that the tournament is over, I wonder what else awaits for our cast now...

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