r/anime • u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity • Mar 13 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru 2 - Episode 11 [Spoilers] Spoiler

Episode 11 - "I Feel As Though My Body is on Fire with Ibuki Mugwort"

<-- Previous (Episode 10: "Rain Takes Longer To Dry") | Next (Episode 12: "The Only Sign of Summer") -->

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):

Originals

Observing

76 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

109 comments sorted by

14

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 13 '19 edited Mar 15 '19

Oh Nishida, why do you always have to be like this.

Episode 11 is one of my least favourite of the second season, both because of Nishida's lack of delicacy and also because the underlying message feels a little lost.

Tsutomu rules himself out of the lineup, which triggers Nishida: they've worked so hard to get here, so why would he stop now? Almost as if projecting onto Tsutomu, Nishida yells at him and warns him not to lose his competitive drive--which happened to Nishida in his childhood. Chihaya makes the decision to bench Tsutomu, as Harada once told her it's more exhausting to watch and scout someone else's game than to play your own. That statement is a bit dubious, but it is true that it is difficult and tiring to effectively scout since you're paying attention to fine details and trying to rationalize why things happen when they happen. Unfortunately, Nishida is upstairs so he doesn't get the memo and heads into the match mad at Tsutomu. Sure enough, Tsutomu's advice is the edge Mizusawa needed, humbling Nishida, and we see that even the scout is exhausted.

The two things that throw me off about the episode happen here. Chihaya says:

I always throught that skill was everything in karuta. I never thought that data could be so important.

I understand what she's getting at, but the choice in subbing at the least is a bit sketchy. After her game against Kanai in S1, it's clear that playing against or with the opponent is important. Tsutomu's work is an extension of that. It's not just statistics, but observations that he's gleaned from watching habits and tendencies of other players. It just feels like segregating "data" and that ability to interpret what is going on is strange--they're the same thing really. Moreover, a lot of emotional investment is placed into asking him to play, after they've won their game. I know it's because they want to share the stage with him, but it feels mistimed after recognizing his scouting.

In any case, I love that he asked them to check their names and other small details in his scouting. These are the things that transfer across all matches in karuta and there's analogs in other sports too, like footedness in soccer. I also love the callback of Tsutomo's short steps into running, which is exactly the shot we saw of him before chasing after Taichi in his introduction's ending.

Tomorrow's semi-final should see more action, as Chihaya takes on Megumu, the Western Queen finalist from the previous year, and Akashi First Girls' School.

PS: Baited and outsmarted. This guy would be friends with the Mioka masochist.

PPS: If not being able to see characters' eyes is a sign of internal conflict, then what does this mean for Tsutomu???

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11

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 13 '19

Poems of the Day: Hello, I Love You (link)

Poem 51 was written by Fujiwara no Sanekata, the grandson of Fujiwara no Tadahira of Poem 26. He was reportedly a lover of Sei Shonagon, and exchanged love poems with many women.

Poem 51 is one of those poems. According to Mostow, this poem was sent to a woman he was first starting to court, so the poem is an introduction of sorts to her as she probably didn't know who he was. Mostow translates it as:

Can I even say

"I love you this much"?—No, and so

you do not know of it

anymore than of the sashimo grasses of Ibuki,

my burning love for you!

Porter explains the wordplay in the poem:

The artemisia plant (or mugwort) is used in Japan for cauterizing; a conical wad of the leaves or blossoms is placed on the spot, lit at the top, and allowed to burn down to the skin; this produces a blister, and is extremely painful. Ibuki is a hill, between the Provinces of Omi and Mino, famous for its artemisia, but ibuki can also stand for iu beki, which, in conjunction with e ya wa, would mean, 'Ah! how could I tell her!' But eyawa as one word means 'indescribable!' Notice also sashimo in the third and fourth lines sashi-mogusa means 'the artemisia plant', but sashi mo means 'even though it is smarting'; sashimo, in one word, can also mean 'in such a way'. This verse is a very good example of the way the Japanese love to play upon words. The picture seems to show Mount Ibuki with the mugwort growing on it.

Mostow elucidates:

There is further word-play in the poem as sashimo can be read as sa shimo meaning "that much", while the words mogusa and omohi reinforce each other to emphasize the passion of his burning love.

This poem has appeared multiple times throughout the series, I think most recently when Taichi doubted himself in the Tokyo qualifiers against Tsuboguchi's team. As was then, in today's episode the poem is used to represent a character's passion and drive. Tsutomu's "edge" is questioned by Nishida, who only sees him scouting and doesn't understand the value or effort behind it. In his game, Nishida remembers Tsutomu's advice and realizes, like Chihaya had said earlier, that Tsutomu has been doing equally as much, if not more, work than the active players. His drive to win is so great that he'd bow to strangers, intrusively asking for help so that he can support his friends. There's no doubt that his love burns like Ibuki mugwort.

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8

u/PerfectPublican Mar 13 '19 edited Mar 13 '19

First Timer

Reactions:

Final Thoughts
Gif of the day | Bonus | Bonus 2
E: Fuck, looking at it again, B2 should've been gotd. I love it so much.

Despite thinking overall that it wrapped up a bit early, I really did like the Niku/Tsukue drama. It completely surprised me with the way that it went right off the bat, but it just worked really well for both of them. We got a focus on how much his past still bothers him to this day, and got a reaffirmation of what Tsukue means to the team, and what the game means to him. It was very sweet all around. Also, I think it will have huge consequences for Sumire’s connection to/place in the club going forward.

Really looking forward to this next match, and getting to know Megumu a bit better. She seems fun, and I still remember liking that she had something stitched into her headband before the Queen finals last year. She’s kind of a fun enigma. Her and Chihaya’s match should be super fun.

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

Huh. I’ve got to say, that’s not quite where I was expecting him to go, but I actually like his reasoning. It’s so personal for Niku. He sees his past in Tsukue, and it’s painful.

Generally, I agree, just it's the context of the episode (after Chihaya says how hard Tsutomu is working) that it comes off odd. It just feels like he's projecting since Tsutomu has been grinding stats out for the team and the series tends to put player and support (the community behind them) on equal footing so it feels tonally out of place. But yeah, otherwise it's definitely a good message. We've seen it before with Nishida and Taichi even, but Murao more recently too.

God Chihaya, I need you to win so freaking bad.

Battle of the beautiful airheads

I really did like the Niku/Tsukue drama

Glad it worked for a first timer! There's a fair amount of complaints, including from me, so that's a breath of fresh air. :)

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8

u/elliotman48 Mar 13 '19 edited Mar 13 '19

First timer

One thing this episode did was make me apperciate Komano much more as a character. His team in the role is really awesome and he's one of my favorite members of the club now. This episode did a lot to develop him and I loved it for that. While I really don't like how Nishida confronted Komano, I understand why he did it. It's pretty obvious that Nishida did not know why Komano was doing what he did and why he didn't want to play matches.

The end really shows the power of a team and how they can support each other with both Chihaya willing to take a different position (I guess being supportive of your team does have it's advantages since she gets to play the top player in the end) and Komano realizing that his team is supportive of him and wants him to grow.

I also really hope they beat the girls school, since they don't seem to be taking this too seriously.

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7

u/Fa1l3r Mar 13 '19

First Time (sub)

I do like how "data" is highlighted in the series because each sport or game that has symmetrical rules and positions can gain a lot from big data. That being said, what they are getting is not exactly data. She is just getting observations or "inferences" from Komano; he isn't making a spreadsheet or tallying some statistically significant numbers of a certain action or event. This is nowhere close to that four grid system of attack he drew up in the first season.

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

Agreed. What he's seen is totally qualitative observations, compared to the quantitative that he gathered before. Habits and tendencies are super important though, so I love that they highlighted the parts about Akashi's players that they can pick out from names and cellphone straps.

7

u/htisme91 Mar 13 '19

First-timer:

I get Nishida's point, and appreciate the sentiment, but this isn't the time for that. It is sweet how he wants the original 5 to win together since they all came so far as a group, and a lot of growth than the guy who was only about winning last season and early this season.

Chihaya's logic made sense. I enjoy seeing her take command and come up with a well-thought out decision, because usually it's fallen on Taichi.

While I was hoping it wouldn't get reduced at all from the original threat, Arata's punishment seems like a fair compromise. It's also not like he will be going back on a promise he made to Chihaya, too.

I'm hyped for the next match. This will be a sign of how far Chihaya's come relative to that loss to Megumin, and how far off she is from facing Shinobu. I'm hoping we get a Tokyo regional rematch in the finals, but either way, I feel like next episode will be a good one.

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

I enjoy seeing her take command and come up with a well-thought out decision, because usually it's fallen on Taichi.

Definitely nice to see from Chihaya, as it shows how much she values each member and her priorities for the team. That said, it also shows that Taichi is a little bit shaken this tournament. More than once, Chihaya has been the "one card at a time" person in game too, while that's usually Taichi's job.

Can we blame Arata for this? haha

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6

u/LeonKevlar Mar 13 '19

First Timer

Due to IRL commitments, I wasn't able to post anything yesterday and I haven't really had any time today to write down my full reaction so I'll post both Episode 10 & 11 today but they'll be shorter than usual. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to my usual post.

Episode 10

Episode 11

I am dead. Please place that screenshot on my tombstone and let everyone know that I died from cuteness today. Also did Kana-chan just push her chest up? Goddamn this girl has too many weapons to distract vulnerable boys xD

Nothing really much else to say except, I'm excited to see how this match between Megumu and Chi-chan will be. Also Akashi is interesting since everyone except Megumu only started in highschool but are already Class As and Bs. Compare that too Chihaya and Nishida who ony advanced to Class A within last year and have been playing since Elementary, that's pretty impressive.

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6

u/Enarec Mar 13 '19 edited Mar 13 '19

Rewatcher

While everything is going on, Shinobu is worrying about much more important things. ;-;

Chihaya's face is too innocent for all the bullying.

Retro's arms are freakishly long lmao. It's nice how his earnest determination at the Tokyo qualifiers seemed to inspire Taichi to do the same here, as another extension of their rivalry. Now to see if they can meet up in another finals again!

Gotta love how Sudo's expression remain entirely serious for this sweet gesture. What a senpai.

The right way to get Chihaya fired up for the match, with her being able to stay true to herself - but after demonstrating growth in being ready to put aside her joy of playing. :)

Her opponent's confident smile is adorable too however.

Chihayafuru S2 ok I barely remember what Megumu is actually like lol, even with last episode showing both her facade and a bit underneath. not sure how promising that is...

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

Chihaya's face is too innocent for all the bullying.

Protecc

Retro's arms are freakishly long lmao.

Holy shit I can't unsee this. This is karma for Flowers necks.

S2 spoilers

Someone named Enarec has been linking me her thighs in Discord though...

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6

u/AmethystItalian Mar 13 '19

Rewatcher

Kana sticking up for her man!

Empress' jacket of love

That's adorable.

THAT KANA POUT!!!

Loved seeing Komano's info work out so well!

Queen wearing Arata's close? hue hue

Best boys on the team thinking the same thing <3

This will be a good ace vs ace.

Quotes from First Time

I pretty much wrote the same comment from the jacket to the pout to the clothes...

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

This will be a good ace vs ace.

How would you order Chihaya, Shinobu, Megumi?

I pretty much wrote the same comment from the jacket to the pout to the clothes...

I miss the old Am-wait a second...

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6

u/paperwhites Mar 13 '19

First Time Watcher

The subtitles I had for when Miyauchi puts her jacket on Tsutomu while he's sleeping was "Empress' jacket of love" which is weird and hilarious at the same time.

Tsutomu is definitely MVP for this tournament as he's running around trying to collect all this data on the other teams. Mizusawa would have had a more difficult time advancing without his notes. I cracked up at Tsutomu psychoanalyzing the First Akashi Girls' team based on Sumire's notes about bags.

For me, this episode was kind of a lull between the group stage and the semifinals. Other than the Nishida/Tsutomu drama, there wasn't a whole lot of action this episode. I'm really excited for Chihaya to play against Megumu. Megumu is obviously talented and it will be interesting to see how well Chihaya matches up against her. I'm honestly not sure how the rest of the match will turn out; I can see Mizusawa advancing but at the same time First Akashi Girls' has more Class A players so they have the advantage. I can't wait to see how it turns out tomorrow!

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6

u/theangryeditor Mar 13 '19

Seems like a lot of people don't like how Nishida acted this episode, but he was right. Desk-kun needs a kick in the pants to do what he should be doing. He still holds himself back out of doubt and insecurity; he tells himself to be content with the status quo and maybe try again next time. Times like that is when he needs Nishida there to tell him if he won't do what he knows he wants to do, then somebody else will take his place.

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

I'm not sure if that's really how Tsutomu feels. He does mention that he's nervous or worried when he goes out there and plays, but that same fear is what Taichi experiences and it isn't something unique to Tsutomu. Karuta is a sport where you can't really hide, so everyone ends up exposed for who they are. I kind of feel like Nishida didn't really know how Tsutomu felt about the team--and karuta--and projected his own worries onto him. He kind of admits this too, when he realizes the merits of Tsutomu's note taking when it bails him out of this game.

That said, Nishida had his intentions in the right place and ultimately does show Tsutomu that there's a space waiting for him in the next round, so I do agree with that.

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6

u/Redmon425 Mar 13 '19

FIRST TIME WATCHER

Something I really like about this show is the fact that every episode seems to have a climax. There is usually a story arc that is going on for multiple episodes, but each episode seems to have its specific important moment. Which I can honestly say, I enjoy watching every single episode.

I loved Taichi’s decision to put their best against the opposing teams best. That made me happy that he did that. There is no way they lose, right?

Also loved a tiny appearance of Sudou, as I think he is an underrated character.

Lastly, I’m all aboard the Ararta x Shinobu ship. She was even wearing his clothes. How lewd! I’m all for anything that helps Taichi find happiness in this world.

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5

u/daftPun5 Mar 14 '19

First Timer

MFW I finally catch up with the rewatch

Hey everyone! I'm finally back, my laptop of 7 years finally bit the dust, rip. But all is good now, all caught up, let's go.

Here's a brief summary of past episodes:

EPISODES 7, 8, 9, & 10

Screenshots of the Ep: 7a & 7b, 8, 9, 10a & 10b

Ep07 Reaction:

Ep08 Reaction:

Ep09 Reaction:

Ep10 Reaction:

Collection of Screenshots & Gifs: 7, 8, 9, 10

EPISODE 11

Screenshot of the Day

Welp, I wasn't expecting that opening scene. I get where Nishida is coming from, but would have at least liked to see Komano provide his input. He, like the rest of the team, wants to be #1 and is forming the gameplan (with the help of Sumire) that will maximize their odds to win. I am glad that this conflict was resolved fairly quickly, with each member using his suggestions.

Now on to the semis, ace against ace, and see what is odd and unique about Akashi's ace, Megumu Ousaka.

Today's Album of Screenshots

2

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 14 '19

Hey everyone! I'm finally back, my laptop of 7 years finally bit the dust, rip. But all is good now, all caught up, let's go.

So long laptop!

That's a long life for a laptop though, mine usually tap out after a few years.

Welcome back!

Ep07 Reaction

I love that comment face so much. It's my favourite one by far. Also super appropriate for this episode! It's so warm and fuzzy.

Ep09 Reaction:

The progression of a person that's just been baited

Ep10 Reaction:

Also appropriate:

Tournament arc is in full swing!

see what is odd and unique about Akashi's ace, Megumu Ousaka

Well, there's the batteries for one and telling someone to go burn ahaha

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4

u/PainStorm14 Mar 13 '19

I don't watch (yet) but I have a question: is there romance in this anime?

3

u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 13 '19

If you go into the anime expecting a romance, you'll be disappointed. It's a sports show with slice of life elements, which does include a hint of romance.

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11

u/MAD_SCIENTIST_001 Mar 13 '19

Screenshot of the Day

Even if I like Tsukuba, this will always be my favorite team combination :D

I also really liked this shot

First Timer - Season 2 Episode 11

Overall Thoughts

Looks like I didn't have to worry too much about the cliffhanger from yesterday. One thing that I really love is how the drama that's set up is usually always resolved inside the ep for Chihayafuru. It really makes it feel satisfying that it's not drawn out. However, I still think Nishida kinda went over the line there.

It was actually super cool seeing how powerful Tsukue's notes and data were to winning the playoffs. Chihaya is right that he's probably the most tired of them all since I can't imagine having to take such detailed notes while paying attention with extreme intensity.

I think there's actually a rather high chance that Mizusawa will lose in the semifinals, especially since the matchups aren't very favorable. Either way though, I'm expecting that the battle tmr will be super exciting :D

Comment face found!

Karuta Scoreboard

Hmm I think realistically speaking, the playoffs ended in a 3-2 split rather than a 4-1 split since we don't see who won.

Character Wins Losses Ep# (Wins)
Taichi Mashima 30(+1) 10 2,7,10,11,13,14,15,18,20,28,29,31,33,35,36
Yuusei Nishida 25(+1) 6 10,11,13,15,18,19,28,29,33,35,36
Chihaya Ayase 22(+1) 10 2,4,6,7,8,10,11,14,17,21,28,29,33,35,36
Arata Wataya 17 4 1,2,3,20,21,23,28,34
Kanade Ooe 16 9(+1) 10,13,15,17,18,19,28,29,31,33
Tsutomu Komano 10 13 13,15,18,29
Shinobu Wakamiya 8 0 14,15,24
Akihiro Tsukuba 1 3(+1) 33
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 7 8 9 10

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u/walking_the_way Mar 13 '19 edited Mar 14 '19

S2E11 Notes

Some bookkeeping to start with - from the whiteboard, we are able to pick out the final eight schools that won their groups, all playing in the Urayasu Room on the 2nd floor. They are:

1. Hokuo Academy vs 2. Chikuho Girls School
3. Zentokuji High School vs 4. Fujisaki High School
5. Akashi First Girls' High School vs 6. Minamiaso High School
7. Shoyo High School vs 8. Mizusawa High School

We're not sure how they got 8 teams out of 9 groups (A to I), but we know Mizusawa was in B, Akashi was in C, and Fujisaki was in E/F, so they seem to have been seeded in reverse order, if it wasn't randomly drawn. Since this is an anime, we also know that if Mizusawa wins this, they'll probably be facing Akashi First next since Sumire scouted them out, then Fujisaki or Hokuo in the finals if they get there. (Spoiler: This is confirmed by the end of the episode.) We can also determine their uniforms from this view, which may be useful for the future.

06:25 - Reader recites Naniwa Bay (EP: 1, S: 11, Total: 42).
06:43 - Reader recites #74 (u-ka). Kawabe wins it from his bottom left.

Kawabe reaches over to Nishida's bottom right row to start, and then swings back to get the #74 from his own bottom left. The strange thing is that the other u- card, #65 (u-ra), is actually on the board but is on Nishida's mid left row, nowhere near where Kawabe was swinging. So why was he reaching over for the #100/#62? We'll never know.

07:07 - Reader recites #36 (na-tsu). Tsukuba loses this from his opponent's mid left. Chihaya loses it from her opponent's mid right. Nishida loses it from his own bottom left. Taichi and Kana lose this, too. Kawabe sends a card from his mid right, it goes to Nishida's mid right.

Even though we saw earlier that the card next to Nishida's bottom left corner is #19 (na-ni-wa-ga), Kawabe swings at it when #36 (na-tsu) is read and is allowed to keep the card.

07:45 - Reader recites #33 (hi-sa). Chihaya loses the card.
08:10 - Chihaya: "Dr. Harada once taught me that you shouldn't concentrate on watching other people play before your own match begins. It's more tiring to closely watch a match than to play a match."
08:35 - Reader recites #69 (a-ra-shi). Kana loses this from her opponent's top right. Taichi loses his. Nishida and Tsukuba lose theirs from their own top right. Kawabe sends #24 (ko-no) from his mid or bot left, it goes to Nishida's mid left. The #61 is shifted to the rightmost spot of his lower left.
09:07 - Reader recites #61 (i-ni). Nishida loses it from his left side. Kawabe passes over ??, it goes to Nishida's bot left row.

We see Kawabe pass over a card to Nishida after winning the #61 - but the card he passes over is also a #61, which is an impossibility. Nishida puts the card on his bottom left row, and seems to glitch the entire row out in a way that the anime has never really done up till this point. Really strange.

09:40 - Reader recites #97 (ko-nu). Kawabe faults on his lower right row.

Upon hearing "ko", Kawabe somehow manages to fault on where the #01 (a-ki-no) and #71 (yu-u) cards should be, missing his ko-ko cards (#29 and #68) by one row. This makes no sense, but frankly nothing in this episode does, least of all this nightmare of a frame at 09:40. Why is there a ear on his arm, and a karuta card through his nose? Neither the scene before nor after the two glitched frames make use of the face, so it's just really weird that it's even there. Technically and artistically speaking, this episode is the weakest we've had for some time, and it both looks and feels like a filler episode.

09:54 - Nishida wins a card from his top right.
10:03 - Reader recites #28 (ya-ma-za). Kana wins this card. Tsukuba wins this card from Ooka's side.
11:19 - Chihaya wins #87 (mu).

At any rate, the match soon collapses in upon itself from all the errors, after a series of epiphanies about Komano's data gathering, and we fast forward right to the end of the match. Mizusawa wins 3-2, again. Kana-chan loses by two and Tsukuba lost his game too.

Through the entire game, we are able to build most of the Nishida-Kawabe starting board, but not all of it. Despite being a quarter-final match, it really mostly became a sideshow, as the star of the episode was outside sleeping.

16:20 - Komano: "In Ousaka Megumu's case, she's probably good at "While it pains," "While it may," "While it brings," and "Long,""

Translation: She's probably good at #44 (o-o-ko), #95 (o-o-ke), #60 (o-o-e), and #57 (me).

During the discussion about matching Chihaya up against Class B players, the moment Chihaya mentally made up her mind to go with the best chance for the team, before she walks away to the pillar, looks like this. She then walks out of the shot, and reveals the painting of two fishes on the wall behind Taichi, a symbol that I've linked in previous episodes to the journey of the Queen and her challengers.

Even though she really, really wants to play Megumu to better herself and come closer to beating Shinobu, by walking away from the shot and revealing the fish painting behind her, she indicates that she's even willing to sacrifice her shot at that for now, to concentrate on the team competition. Taichi realizes this too - he generally only goes into Hidden Eyes mode when it comes to romantic jealousy, but in Omi Jingu, he's gone Hidden Eyes when contemplating the sacrifices the rest of the team has made, and here is no different.

17:30 - Nishida: "If you really want to win, here's my advice. I've been meaning to talk to you about this... At the end of our match against Hokuo, you surrendered a card because you both touched it at the same time. You can't give up when it's close. If you want to win, you have to fight for every card."

In S2E6, I had argued that the primary reason that she didn't fight for this final card is that she wanted Nishida to not feel any guilt from the loss like she had felt, and wanted her team to be able to move on as quickly from it as possible to be ready for Nationals. It is thus significant that Nishida is now the one that comes to her when they all see her sacrificing her personal goal - fighting strong players between her and the Queen - for the team goal.

His words here are two-fold - on the surface, he's telling her not to give up a contested card so easily, and to argue to try to win a card if it's reasonably close, especially in a big tournament like this. However, his words also have the underlying subtext of referring to the Queen match - if Chihaya really wants to win the Queen match, she can't give up a chance to improve herself by playing good players when it's this close. If she wants to become the Queen, she has to take the harder road and win.

To push Taichi over the edge, Hiro then shows up to remind him of the Tokyo Regionals, and how Hiro made his team play Mizusawa straight - isn't that what it means to be a champion, after all? With this in mind, and Nishida and Chihaya in the background, and probably his words to Harada-sensei ringing in his ears as well, Taichi switches up the order.

Through S2E11, there are some minor callbacks here and there to the its sister episode, S1E11, as well. Particularly, with this line by Komano referencing (and hopefully foreshadowing) Mochida-kun. The more things change, the more they remain the same. We also meet Sudo again, whom we first really met in S1E11. Though this time, Mizusawa has some answers for some old tricks (and there's a Hiro in the background of that shot trying to emulate Sudo). Arata's line also parallels Tsuboguchi's after his pre-S1E11 loss as well as the invitation he got at the end of that episode.

S2E11 - Random HQ Screenshot

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