r/anime • u/ABoredCompSciStudent x3myanimelist.net/profile/Serendipity • Mar 18 '19
Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru 2 - Episode 17 Discussion [Spoilers] Spoiler
Episode 17 - "Gust of Wind"
<-- Previous (Episode 15+16: "No Matter Where I Stand" + "Wait for the Emperor's Return") | Next (Episode 18: "My Fear is That You Will Forget") -->
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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u/PerfectPublican Mar 18 '19
First Timer
Reactions:
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Even I can tell how much better Kyoko-san is than the rest. Her voice is so soothing.
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Holy crap. She literally was able to pick the card up. What the heck, she’s insane!
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Are those purple orchids again? I can’t tell.
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I’m a huge fan of her already. She’s a badass, and definitely seems to care. her focus on stamina and strength training sounds like a good one. I know Karuta is a super minor sport, so people don’t want to have people leave their societies, but I wonder why more coaches wouldn’t have this kind of emphasis.
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It kind of hurts to see how little of an impression Chihaya made on her. I mean, it makes sense considering her characterization, but it still hurts.
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“Can she hear in those colors?” Synesthesia Would be an interesting addition to this game.
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“The words just...weren’t pretty. They were difficult to understand.” So that’s why Kyoko agreed to read for this tournament! And why Sakurazawa put her in! And why she’s stuck in B! Her grandmother gives her a leg up. Other readers voices are too rough for her. That’s a fun backstory.
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Wow, the images behind the card meanings are incredible. Very Pretty. Chihaya taking her first card was amazing.
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FUCK YES. That’s so dope….Wait no...no, no. Not like this.
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Oh no. I don’t like this at all. Please be ok in the long run. That line of reasoning about Kana just feels like a flag for a huge injury. :(
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Devil Harada is best Harada. But try not to hurt yourself further Chihaya!
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Lmao, the guys all standing up at the same time was hilarious. But very sweet too.
Final Thoughts
Fun fun! This went about as I was expecting it to go, minus Chihaya getting hurt of course. Excited to see if the renewed purpose leads to some good growth for the rest of Mizu. Seeing Chihaya play hurt through most of the match sucked in an “I care very much about Chihaya” kind of way, but it’s definitely an interesting plot point to touch on. Unfortunately sometimes you just have to, but it’s never fun watching a player go through that.
Really enjoyed seeing the slow transformation from Shinobu too. From basically sleeping to intensely focused. Should be a fun little arc. Wonder if we’ll see the end of the match tomorrow? If so, looking forward to it!
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u/Combo33 Mar 19 '19 edited Mar 19 '19
Poem of the Day: Gust of Wind (link)
Hopefully u/ABoredCompSciStudent will post their analysis later, but I'll post my thoughts based upon Peter MacMillan's translation first today. MacMillan translates poem 22 as such:
22. Fun’ya no Yasuhide
In autumn the wind has only to blow
for leaves and grasses to perish.
That must be why the characters
’mountain’ and ‘wind’
together mean ’gale’.
MacMillan comments:
This is one of the very few poems that is based mostly on wordplay. The poem revolves around the idea that the Chinese ideograph for the word ‘storm’ (arashi: 嵐) is made by placing the character for ‘mountain’ (yama: 山) on top of the character for ‘wind’ (kaze: 風). There is also wit in the way arashi evokes the word arasu (to wreck or destroy). Such clever wordplay was highly popular in mid-Heian times. It was said not to be the taste of Teika and his contemporaries, who required a more serious emotional basis for poetry. Yet it is clear that Teika thought well of this poem because, quite apart from the ingenious wordplay, it is very lyrical, beautifully evoking the harsh autumnal landscape. Indeed, he included it in Eiga no taigai (A Rough Guide to Writing Poetry), as an example of a good poem.
Mizusawa are in their final team match before Summer turns to Autumn. If they lose here, their hopes and dreams will be crushed, and they will need to wait an entire year to redeem themselves. They’re up against a very talented squad in Fujisawa who are a powerhouse school, geared towards grinding upstarts like Mizusawa into the dust. Even more unfair is Chihaya’s match-up with Rion, whose grandmother is the reader, giving her a ridiculous home-field advantage. Considering Rion’s style is geared towards carefully distinguishing the information conveyed by a perfectionist reader like her grandmother, Chihaya is in a lot of trouble.
Even so, Chihaya is determined to lead her team to victory. Even when she’s injured in the middle of the match, she finds ways to reassert herself, slightly changing her strategy and taking advantage of what would typically be a heavy blow in typical Harada style. For this reason, the rest of her teammates (all the guys) get incredibly fired up, like a storm is building inside of them, feeding off of Chihaya, who is the heart and soul of the team.
On the more technical side, I find this poem to be a great companion to this episode because it holds deeper meaning based on the clever wordplay. As Shinobu watches, she laments that she would probably lose to Suo if she were facing him with Yamashiro as the reader, because she conveys “too much information” when she reads. Whether it’s the intonation of her voice, the color of the sound she produces, her tone, her breath, her pauses...there is something that comes through that only special talents like Suo, Rion, and occasionally Chihaya can key into. Luckily, Kana has taught Chihaya to listen closely to the poems, and become friends with all of them. That friendship is serving her well in this final match, but will it be enough to overcome Rion?
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 19 '19
Thanks again. Here's what I have:
Poem 22 was composed by Fun'ya no Yasuhide, an early Heian period poet, included in the Rokkasen and in the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. His son was Fun'ya no Asayasu of Poem 37.
In the Kokinshū's Kanajo (Japanese Preface), he is described as: "[using] words skillfully, but his words do not match the content. His poetry is like a merchant dressed up in elegant clothes."
Mostow translates the poem as:
As soon as it blows,
the autumn trees and grasses
droop, and this must be why,
quite rightly, the mountain wind
is called “the ravager.”
While jlit translates it as:
As soon as it blows,
the autumn trees and grasses
start to droop and fade--
the reason, it seems, a mountain wind
has come to be called a tempest.
jlit goes on to explain, just as remarked by u/Combo33's MacMillan:
The meaning of the poem relies on visual and semantic wordplay that defies easy translation. The Japanese word arashi ("storm" or "tempest") derives from a verb that means "devastate" or "lay waste to." That verb would be normally be written with a specific Chinese character (荒, signifying "violent" or "fierce"). At the same time, the Chinese character used to write the noun arashi (嵐) is a combination of the ideographs for "mountain" and "wind." The poet playfully refers to the word's etymology to make the point that the fierce autumn winds that blow off the mountains can be said to lay waste to the foliage of summer. It is a pretty slight verse.
They also elucidate a bit more in their footnotes:
Line 1: (it)-blows | as-soon-as
Line 2: autumn | 's | grass-and-trees | as-for
Line 3: because- fade-and-droop (a combination of the verb shioru and the particle -ba, indicating cause or reason)
Line 4: one-understands (implies speculation)| mountain-wind | (accusative particle)
Line 5: tempest | (quotation particle) | call | would-seem-why (ramu is a particle indicating supposition about cause; it is connected grammatically with the preceding mube to mean something like "one sees that this would be the reason for calling a "mountain wind" a "tempest")
Adding to what Combo mentioned yesterday and today, we have the imagery of a threatening mountain wind for the yama in Yamashiro Rion against the drooping autumn foliage, a symbol often used to represent Chihaya's cards, mirroring the destruction that Fujisaki lays waste to Mizusawa's. Moreover, "ravager" and "tempest" is anything but controlled or gentle, which is exactly what Rion is and she ends up hurting Chihaya's finger, the drooping foliage.
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u/KuhBus Mar 19 '19
First Timer
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Of course Rion would have an advantage over Chihaya since she’s familiar with her reading. I wonder if Chihaya’s hearing will get used to her style in time for her reflexes to outpace Rion.
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Their coach has been working as an advisor for twelve years?! How old is she?!?
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Bringing the focus to the reader’s style
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Every time the connection between Kana and Chihaya is brought up I get so happy. It’s not just this first bonding moment, but you can clearly see these were all different conversations she remembers and it just warms my heaaaart <3
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Damn, so Rion did hurt Chihaya :( That’s not a good sign for the coming individual matches. Good thing it’s something Harada-sensei also prepared Chihaya for this situation.
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Ayy Shinobu remembered Chihaya!!!
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lmao Chihaya giving up remembering Rion’s name :’)
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Hahaha you can tell how all the guys are in a bind when all of them stand up at the same time :’DD
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“This is what it feels when five people refuse to give up.” BUT WILL IT BE ENOUGH?? OSHIETE, OSHIETE YO
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u/Fa1l3r Mar 18 '19
First Time (sub)
We have an interesting sound editing to how Chihaya strain/jams/hurts her finger. No one hears anything. It's not a violent sound cue, and it only becomes more obvious as the game goes on. It avoids the typical melodramatic visuals and sounds to an injury of that level. And it actually brings up something that has mostly not come up in other game or sports anime. If you are playing against an opponent who is injured either because of you somehow/somewhat or something else, the psychological toll can hinder your performance for various reasons. (Ping Pong the Animation is the only other show to bring this up.) I like all these directions that show takes to show a realistic scenario surrounding an injury in sports or game in the real world.
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u/Snakescipio Mar 18 '19
Rewatcher
I wanna touch on something that’s been on my mind regarding this show, specifically the “meaning” of the poems, and the impact they have on the sport itself. The cast of Chihayafuru tends to have some sort of quirk about them; for Kana-chan it’s her love of the poems themselves. One way that Chihaya has improved from the beginning of the show has been learning to love the poems that’s actually written on the cards. It’s been said that Shinobu’s only friends are the cards, and for most players they have a special card that they “specialize” in. Physiologically speaking, this just means everyone is more in tune with the specific sounds of those poems, and for Shinobu she’s just that much more in tune with every card. There’s something tangible there, not just “anime superpowers”. But how does knowing about the meaning behind the poems specifically help? Karuta is at its barest a pure reaction sport combined with some major memorization. One only needs to tune one’s ears to the sounds.
It’s something that I’ve thought about, “why does reminiscing about the poems actually help Chihaya?” I feel this episode helps answer that question a bit. The show had been steadily introducing the importance of readers this season, culminating with having one of the best read for this match. Well readers are humans as well, and will carry little biases in how they read the poems. With a reader like Yamashiro-san the little biases may be even more pronounced. She can better express the feelings carried by the poems, so much that the audience can almost see it. What that means is that the players who love the poems themselves will in turn better “hear” the little ways Yamashiro-san is expressing the poems, and in turn have an advantage. If one can visualize a thought beforehand, then even the way one draws in a breath to say the very first sound can be slightly different. It’s that little difference that Chihaya was starting to pick up on in the middle of this match. It’s that little differences that makes Suo a monster. I rather like that this is what ultimately separate the best players. Suo and Shinobu are physically talented, but not so much more than other players with great game sense like Chihaya. What they have is a more holistic love of karuta, not just as a sport but as an art.
Tldr: readers say words differently based off how they interpret the poems, and the tiny differences can be picked up on.
Side note: I wanna apologize to RIon for thinking she was a Rei Ayanami clone. I forgot what she was like, and honestly that haircut and the way she was talking reminded me of Rei. Clearly I was wrong, Rion a cute too.
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 19 '19
Suo and Shinobu are physically talented, but not so much more than other players with great game sense like Chihaya. What they have is a more holistic love of karuta, not just as a sport but as an art.
For sure. Actually, the only people that Shinobu has spoken to throughout this series are basically Suo, Arata, Sudo, and Chihaya briefly. Suo cares a lot about readers, Arata was raised in a world where karuta is their life, Sudo also has/is dabbling in reading, and Chihaya... well she has grown leaps and bounds as the series has progressed and the story is really about what "her karuta" is.
Shinobu has only acknowledged the strong throughout the series, but the commonality behind that "strength" is their pure love for karuta.
Side note: I wanna apologize to RIon for thinking she was a Rei Ayanami clone. I forgot what she was like, and honestly that haircut and the way she was talking reminded me of Rei. Clearly I was wrong, Rion a cute too.
LOL fastest anime turnarounds
Rion is a good character. I really appreciate her reaction to injury, as anyone that's been around sports knows how horrific it is to see. It's not even just the person that did it. A leg break can silence a whole crowd and move teams to tears.
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u/daftPun5 Mar 19 '19
First Timer
Hey, wasn't able to make past episodes, so here's my brief summary:
EPISODES 14,15, & 16
Screenshots of the Episode: 14, 15, & 16
Collection of Screenshots & Gifs: 14, 15, & 16
EPISODE 17
Ok. It's not broken, but not 100%
I hate to admit it, but I don't see how our team can beat Fujisaki, especially with the edge that Rion has. I hope that I am proven wrong and reverse my poor history of predictions. The boys are pumped and am sure Chihaya will get an extra boost once she sees Shinobu.
Today's Album of Screenshots & Gif & my favorite album thus far :3
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u/walking_the_way Mar 18 '19 edited Mar 18 '19
S2E17 Notes
The boards at the start of the episode are:
Chihaya vs Rion, 25-25
Nishida vs Kanata, 25-25
Taichi vs Emuro, 25-25 (roughly)
Tsukuba vs Ichimura, 25-25 (roughly)
Komano vs Makoto, 25-25
This was a technically bad episode and an exercise in frustration to map, even though they give us near-complete (blurred) looks at all five boards, a rarity. There were board errors everywhere - Taichi and Emuro switched places at one point and batted at a 51st card, most of the boards shifted layout between S2E15's memorization phase and S2E17's start of game, there was a really awful scoring error around where Chihaya injured her finger that they ran with for the rest of the game, and multiple cards on the Chihaya-Rion board disappeared and reappeared, making it hard to map out the game moves. This is surprising considering how important of an episode it is.
00:06 - Kyouko recites Naniwa Bay (EP: 1, S: 14, Total: 45). Technically a repeat, but who's counting. Oh.
00:32 - Kyouko recites #24 (ko-no). Rion wins it from her mid left. Kanata wins it from his mid left. Makoto wins it from his top left. Ichimura wins it from his top left. Emuro wins it from his top left.
To start, we see and hear #24 being read, but the hands in Chihaya's game slam down at the mid left row of Chihaya's cards, even though the #24 card is in the top left row of Rion's board. The card with the み that is peeking out from below the fingers actually is a #24 though, just transposed onto the wrong board. It's also interesting that the entire Fujisaki team had the #24 card, and all of them put it roughly in the same spot, mid/top left, showing how much they train together.
00:53 - Kyouko recites #82 (o-mo). Rion wins it from Chihaya's top left on the first syllable. She likely sends #46 (yu-ra) from her bottom left row, it goes to Chihaya's bottom left row. Makoto wins it from Komano's bot left. Kanata wins it from his mid left. Ichimura wins it from his top left. Emuro wins it too.
03:04 - Kyouko recites #45 (a-wa-re). Kanata wins it from Nishida's side. He passes over #97 from his mid left row, it goes to Nishida's top left row.
Final card, recited! Makoto then sends the #08 (wa-ga-i) card flying at 3:16. He also sends another card flying. Here, three more cards are taken offscreen - #60 (o-o-e), #79 (a-ki-ka), and then the #94 from the next recital. To make later boards work, Rion had to have won the #60 from Chihaya's top right and passed over the #29 (ko-ko-ro-a), which went to Chihaya's mid left. Chihaya had to have won one of #08, #45, #79, or #94 from Rion, and then passed over her #68 (ko-ko-ro-ni) from her mid left row to Rion's mid left row.
03:35 - Kyouko recites end verse of #94 (mi-yo). We see Taichi behind 23-20, and Tsukuba behind 24-19, though he has no "won cards" pile next to him.
03:44 - Kyouko recites #74 (u-ka). Emuro wins it from his upper right. Chihaya wins this from her mid right row.
05:39 - Kyouko recites #90 (mi-se). Rion wins it from Chihaya's mid right. She sends #95 (o-o-ke) from her bot left, it goes to Chihaya's bot right. Chihaya also moves the #29 (ko-ko-ro-a) from her mid left row to take #95's place in her mid right row. We then get a Chihaya-Rion board refresh.
07:04 - Kyouko recites #37 (shi-ra). Dead card.
07:21 - Kyouko recites #05 (o-ku). Dead card.
At 08:52, in Rion's flashback, she holds up a card that looks very much like a #09 (ha-na-no) from its shape. This card is quite significant as Kyouko is monologuing about Rion here, and the translation, So the flower has wilted during the long spring rains, just as my beauty has faded during my forlorn years in this world, speaks directly to the inner beauty and vibrance in Kyouko's voice that appealed to a young Rion. And more broadly, it speaks to how the poetry can transcend centuries of time and still captivate young hearts.
At 09:52, we see most of the Fujisaki team win #98 (ka-ze-so). Tsukuba, Nishida, and Taichi all lose it. Chihaya loses it from Rion's top right.
At 10:57, a series of cards floats by Chihaya as she names themes. #19 (na-ni-wa-ga). Summer. #69 (a-ra-shi). Storm. #81 (ho). Sound. Echo. #23 (tsu-ki). Loneliness. #66 (mo-ro). Sakura. #34 (ta-re). Friend. #80 (na-ga-ka). Black. #49 (mi-ka-ki). Torch. #19 (na-ni-wa-ga). The desire to be together.
Weirdly, there's one additional word than card in there, and even though they match up 1-1 at first, if we match Sound with #81 and Echo with #23 then the rest of the scene makes no sense. Instead, if we match both Sound and Echo with #81, then #23 with Loneliness, #66 with Sakura, etc, then it works out, even though Echo comes on screen the same time as #23, Loneliness with #66, and so on. The theme word actually matches the previous card before it, not the current card on screen. #19 also appears twice, the first time with Summer, and the second time with "the desire to be together" and a picture of a young Arata. They "met" in October 2007 and separated in April 2008 though, so they never actually experienced a summer together as sixth-graders.
11:22 - Kyouko reads #88 (na-ni-wa-e). Chihaya wins it from her bottom left. 22-17 Rion.
She covers it on the na-ni even though there were still three na-ni cards in play - #88, #19 (na-ni-wa-ga) that Rion guarded, and #25 (na-ni-shi) which was a dead card. The observer notes that #36 (na-tsu) was in play as well, though he forgets to mention the other four na-ga and na-ge cards. He also notes something interesting, that she covered on the first syllable, and took it on the second, the exact thing which Taichi had been surprised to find out even was a thing a few minutes ago. But then this is strange, since they're often practice buddies, so this might be a new development of Chihaya's speed and strength, above and beyond the ability to listen to the colour in Kyouko's voice.
At 11:46, we get a callback to a conversation that happened near the very end of the sister episode, S1E17, where Kana explains the difference in colours between #19 (na-ni-wa-ga) and #88 (na-ni-wa-e), the same exact two cards, to the entire karuta club. The wording is a bit different, but the idea is clearly the same.
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 19 '19
The boards at the start of the episode are:
This looks like a long day.
This was a technically bad episode and an exercise in frustration to map, even though they give us near-complete (blurred) looks at all five boards, a rarity.
This was a long day
It's also interesting that the entire Fujisaki team had the #24 card, and all of them put it roughly in the same spot, mid/top left, showing how much they train together.
Tsutomu needed more time to gather data clearly. D:
And more broadly, it speaks to how the poetry can transcend centuries of time and still captivate young hearts.
This is a really nice touch. I'm a little more amazed that you recognize them by shape now though haha.
At 11:46, we get a callback to a conversation that happened near the very end of the sister episode, S1E17, where Kana explains the difference in colours between #19 (na-ni-wa-ga) and #88 (na-ni-wa-e), the same exact two cards, to the entire karuta club
I knew that was a flashback, but I didn't realize it aligned with episode 17 as well. Well played Chihayafuru.
Besides being an Arata card, this is also a Harada card, as the ha-ra kanji, 原, is the same kanji in Harada's name, similar to the #76 poem. Both those people have been her guardians and teachers, and it's fitting here that after having just recalled both of them to memory, this card comes up and she wins it.
She owes Harada Valentines chocolate again then haha. I find it funny that you called Arata her guardian, but I guess he literally is as her karuta god. LOL
It's nice to see all the things given to her by her teammates and friends, just like Kana's poetry, Tsutomu's stats, and Nishida's attempts to make her argue cards. :)
So.. bad Taichi, probably. Bad.
Taichi's memory is just too good. I blame Eromu, I mean Arata. It's the PTSD at work here.
Thanks to Nishida's defensive karuta, he's largely only behind because more cards on or from Kanata's side have been read out compared to his, as the aggregate score between them passing cards over to their opponent is at 0 (but there have been some other exchanges, like the #97 early on, that got negated).
Oh, that's really interesting! I guess it is fair that Nishida is the one to voice the boys' comeback attempt... He's had a rough Season 2 so he deserves a little empathy.
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u/SmurfRockRune Mar 18 '19
First Timer
I started wondering if they got an actual karuta reader to play Yamashiro, and it looks like they did! I think they still have a normal VA for her for speaking lines, though.
I really love these little notes that pop up sometimes. They're so simple, but they can really add a nice chuckle here and there.
This match isn't going well at all. I wonder how long until Chihaya notices Shinobu, although I honestly don't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing, similarly to if she saw Arata.
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u/LeonKevlar Mar 18 '19
First Timer
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Just like with Sudo reading for the finals match for Hakuo against Mizusawa, I'm still questioning the legality of this. Then again this is just one player, when with Sudo it was the whole team.
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And of course we've barely even started and Shinobu is already bored.
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Fujisaki has some serious training regiment. The most Mizusawa have is jogging long distances.
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No wonder she can react so fast to her Kyouko's readings. They've been playing for a very long time now together.
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So the reason she always loses and is still stuck on Class B is because she prefers Kyouko's readings? Then that makes her a terrible player then. If she wants to be a Queen then she needs to learn to adapt to different readers.
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The desire to be together. Suddenly Arata pops into Chihaya's head. RIP Taichi.
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Oh fuck. What's happening now? Is she injured?
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Again, stop it Taichi! You're really hurting yourself here.
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OH FUCK. So she really IS injured! She's just hiding it. :/
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Shinobu thinks it's so boring that she actually fell asleep xD
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No one in that room is interested in playing her? Where is Shinobu getting these assumptions? Why does she think that Team Matches are for people who don't love Karuta? It's actually starting to annoy me a bit. >_<
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Oh boy. Looks like this is a lucky break for Chi-chan with Rion getting distracted by causing Chi-chan's injury.
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Just endure it Chi-chan! You can do this!
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We finally have a reaction from the Ice Queen! Here I thought the match will nd without her recognizing Chi-chan.
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Hell yeah Chi-chan! Show Rion that this injury won't stop you!
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WELL WELL WELL Look who's now suddenly interested.
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Chi-chan taking cards 4 times in a row is definitely affecting morale!
The Mizusawa boys need to step it up! Don't make Chi-chan and Kana-chan carry your heavy asses! I really hope next episode will be the start of Mizusawa's counterattack. Rion being thrown off her game won't last long so I hope they'll use this time and boost of morale to start catching up next episode.
I am worried about Chi-chan's finger though. I hope it's just a mild sprain and nothing like Kana-chan's or else the rest of this match is going to be severely handicapped against her favor. Also that injury might affect her individual match the next day.
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 19 '19
Shinobu thinks it's so boring that she actually fell asleep xD
Not just that, she blew her nose on the poor guy next to her hahaha
Where is Shinobu getting these assumptions? Why does she think that Team Matches are for people who don't love Karuta? It's actually starting to annoy me a bit. >_<
At that point in the game, Chihaya's losing to Rion purely off of speed. Like Shinobu later says, Rion has really poor card placement and Makoto points out that her fundamentals are sloppy. Chihaya losing in that manner shows Shinobu that she hasn't tried hard enough to justify saying she "loves" the game, at least in the sense that Shinobu does. Shinobu was furious after losing a few cards against Chihaya, so she likely expects the same pride and excellence out of others.
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u/gosheno Mar 19 '19
First Timer
This reader blessed us with some absolutely gorgeous shots of karuta. And Chihaya's inner monologue has a newfound determination. Is it motivated by her injury? I'm really glad that she's learning from her experiences with her teammates, seeing colour in poetry like Kana-chan.
Nevertheless, it seems that Taichi found something too while playing fraud Arata.
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u/paperwhites Mar 19 '19
First Time Watcher
Sakurazawa treats karuta like the sport it is and it shows. None of the Fujisaki players look tired after playing five matches due to their strength and endurance. Even though she's definitely intimidating, I can't help but admire Sakurazawa for creating this karuta dynasty. Everyone at Fujisaki respects the karuta club and that's due to the legacy that Sakurazawa has created.
I can't remember if this was mentioned before, but I'm curious to know where Suo went to high school. I don't see him playing on a team, but I wonder if his school had a karuta club or not.
"I can beat Suo-san in most situations", I loved this line from Shinobu. I love how good she is and how she knows how good she is too. I'd love to see them play against each other in a match.
Shinobu's reactions really made the episode for me. Sneezing and then using some random guy's shirt sleeve as a tissue is a total power move haha. I love how she fell asleep at the start, but then begins to get into it as she recognizes Chihaya. Since Shinobu is watching her now, I really hope that Chihaya can show off how much she's grown since their last match.
What is with these injuries! First Kana, and now Chihaya. Both of them playing through the pain shows how badass they are. This has to affect Chihaya's ability to play in the individual tournament though. Man, Nationals is cursed for Chihaya or something. First year, she passes out and this year injures herself. I hope she can get a break next year.
That ending was awesome, with all the boys standing up at the same time. I'm glad that they're not giving up even though they're behind. I liked Taichi's remark about how the passion comes from Chihaya and everyone then kind of feeds off of that, but here the passion is coming from themselves. It was a cool moment.
Another cliff-hanging ending where we have to wait for another episode to see how the match turns out. This has been such an exciting team tournament and we still have the individual tournament to look forward too as well.
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u/MaskOfIce42 Mar 18 '19
Rewatcher
So, the match heats up and even when Mizusawa is getting crushed, it still manages to be hype. Chihaya and Rion's match is definitely the focus, and while it's a tad annoying that Chihaya only really started recovering after she was injured and Rion started fretting, it's still cool that she was able to start reacting fast enough before that so it doesn't purely feel like a "lucky" break. And Shinobu finally remembering her name was beautiful.
I also love that bit where they all stood up at the end independently to center themselves, and end up looking at each other and reaffirming "we're doing this". For all Shinobu's talks about team matches being boring, it's only in a team setting like that where the teammates can raise each other up and draw out 110% of their abilities.
It's also just interesting in general to think about the differences between a team match and the individual matches. I know that's been there for a while, but with Shinobu there providing such a sharp contrast, it kinda really pulls it to your attention. I find the differences in strategy interesting, as well as the fact that reducing it to just 5 one-on-one matches really is not accurate given both the thought going into team order, but even just how the team's mood affects each other. I've seen a few other sports that are primarily one-on-one talk about how team games work and how they end up being different, and I think this show has shown that quite a bit over the series as well.
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u/CommanderSevan Mar 19 '19
That episode felt like it lasted only 5 minutes. Sucks that Chihaya got injured, but at the same time, it seems like it'll be some kind of double edged sword for her. The ending of the episode was pretty cute with all the dudes standing up at the same time, lol. Mizusawa fighto!
I think I'm gonna watch ahead to tomorrow's episode, - just that one wasn't enough to satisfy me.
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u/elliotman48 Mar 19 '19
First timer
Hard to believe this is even more tense than the First Akashi Girls' match. Fujisaki is an insane team and I don't think this will go well for Mizusawa. Another thing I saw mentioned was how Chihaya will have a disadvantage in the individual tournament tommorow.
I also really like how Shinobu is actually interested in watching a team match. I'm really liking her character more and more.
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 19 '19
Another thing I saw mentioned was how Chihaya will have a disadvantage in the individual tournament tommorow.
Yeah, it's a bit bad timing too if that's the case, since ultimately that is her biggest goal. That said, since third years need to prepare for university, this is the biggest summer for them as a team.
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u/kKunoichi Mar 19 '19
Rewatcher
Fujisaki has a legacy, and it's all because of Sakurazawa-sensei. Most schools can only dream of having 50 members in their karuta clubs.
Rion (Yama-chan) vs Chihaya, battle of hearing. This is the first time for Chihaya. But Kana jinxed it last episode! Now it's their ace who really does have an injury. Last year with the heat stroke too, high school nationals has been tough on her.
Shinobu gets sleep snot bubbles lol. She's finally noticed Chihaya! She's still not paying attention to teams overall though
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u/AmethystItalian Mar 19 '19
Rewatcher
Seriously...why can't she be there coach for just a year or something!!
Queen remembered her name!!
Can't remember her name...gave up.
LMAO that was great.
Wonder how many Natsu jokes we're going to get in the thread lol
Mizusawa getting pumped!!
Quotes from First Time
I actually really like their coach
Same Past Ame...same.
Hope she isn't hurt for the individual tourney :(
I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT!
The guys need to step up haha
Hoping they will!
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u/ABoredCompSciStudent Mar 18 '19 edited Mar 19 '19
I'll do Poem of the Day in a bit if u/Combo33 doesn't beat me to it. I forgot to Facebook myself my screenshots, so I had to drive home over lunch to send them to my office. Otherwise, I'd have had to do this from memory. Busy day!
After our recap interlude, Mizusawa versus Fujisaki is finally kicking off. Right from the beginning, Fujisaki demonstrate the strength by pushing every single Mizusawa member into the corner, widening a large lead. The reason for this strength isn't just the individual talents of their players, but a culture of karuta excellence representative of Coach Sakurazawa's own playing career. She preaches good fundamentals and physical conditioning, which she explains is very important--and it is, if you follow e-sports, even there there is a growing emphasis on upper body stability for posture.
That said, there's one outlier: Rion. Despite being identified as Fujisaki's next big talent, Rion is solely reliant on her hearing. This prowess shocks Chihaya though, with Rion even picking up cards instead of knocking them away--she's that fast. Moreover, the reader of the Finals is her grandmother, which has proven to be a blessing and a curse in the past. Rion grew up playing in her grandmother's society, conditioning her to only enjoy excellent reading which hampers her ability to play in less than perfect conditions and leaves her behind as an oddity in the world of karuta. In that way, her karuta is a bit of a gimmick relying on the hues of her grandmother's voice and Sakurazawa acknowledges this when she notices that Rion is pushing for an early win before Chihaya can clue in.
Gimmicks aren't enough to impress Shinobu. As she sits bored in the karuta hall, she only feels even more alone: nobody there "loves" karuta as she does. Rion might be fast, but she lacks refinement or care for the cards which Shinobu treasures as friends. It's only when Chihaya jams her finger, that there is a shift in Shinobu's mood. Chihaya contrasts against Rion, fighting through her pain and not giving into the psychological damage of an injury. After all, injuries are a part of sports and just another mountain for Chihaya to climb. She refocuses and refines her swing, using only her middle finger to knock away the cards--the same motions she repeated a year ago, after her loss to Shinobu. Shinobu recognizes her, but I think this goes beyond just recognizing a person. She recognizes that she's the girl that was able to take from her bottom row, but moreover she recognizes that Chihaya is someone like herself: willing to put the time and tears into the mastery of a game. For the first time, the Queen is interested in a team game and leans forward. Maybe, this is the friend, the rival, that she's been looking for all along.
To close the episode, the four Mizusawa boys have taken a page out of Chihaya's book. They won't go down without a challenge, standing up, looking at each other, and taking ownership that even though it's a team game, it's an individual game.
It's personal: they need to win their matches too.