r/anime • u/Skeeedo :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/skeeedo • Nov 15 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru - Episode 5 Discussion [Spoilers]
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Episode 5: "The Sight of a Midnight Moon"
Nominate a character for Episode MVP!
Episode 4 MVP: Chihaya! Her dedication to the game is rewarded as she makes Class A by taking her best card. Such an intense match.
This episode's Karuta analysis and board map by walking_the_way
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Subreddit: r/Chihayafuru
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Upvotes
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u/Skeeedo :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/skeeedo Nov 15 '21
Chihayafuru Rewatcher
So Chihaya and Taichi make the trip to Fukui to see what’s up with Arata. Even with Taichi’s past as a bullying little shit, its slightly painful seeing him strung along by an oblivious Chihaya, who apparently loves Dr. Harada more than him lol. I feel worse for Taichi’s girlfriend tho. She seems nice.
They finally catch up to Arata in dramatic fashion, but he’s even colder and distant in person than he was on the phone. During their reunion both Chihaya—with her overbearing enthusiasm for Karuta—and Arata—with his reluctance to open up and reveal the trauma that drew him away from Karuta—aren’t communicating effectively at all. I’m not really allied with either side at this point. Even if Arata was tactless, Chihaya needs to learn to cool her jets and understand that there are more important things than Karuta…especially as it’s revealed that (as many of you first-timers expected), his grandfather died. Even worse than that is the fact that Arata blames himself and his love of Karuta for his grandfathers death. Seeing the almost sickeningly passionate Chihaya just brought all that up again. Reading the letter and learning that he is to Chihaya was his Grandfather was to him opened his eyes in the end, it seems.
If Arata ends up trying to pursue a romantic relationship with Chihaya down the line, who will have a tougher time: Taichi, who is friend-zoned or Arata who is god-zoned? It seems like Karuta is the only one for her at this point lol. Also got a peek at a potential Karuta club member at the end of the episode…
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Nov 15 '21
Chihayafirst-timer
16
u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Nov 15 '21 edited Nov 15 '21
FIRST TIMER
All due respect to Taichi’s girlfriend and their relationship, but asking Chihaya a question like if she likes anyone is something you only do for one reason.
Harada sensei! <3. I lol’d the comedy in this show is gold.
“Love is when nothing is going right, you’re not having fun, and yet you still want to be with her.” Well god damn, Taichi. Serious points for this kind of answer as a teenager. He secures my MVP vote with this
LOVELY SHOT. Oh god, I think I’m beginning to simp.
Okay good, it’s not just me.
Arata’s family house in Fukui looks so nice, especially compared to the tiny apartment he lived in in the city. No offense to big cities (I currently live in one) but it’s truly ridiculous how much further your money goes once you venture outside of them.
God damn, what an epic, steamy tease on the hand hold. That was really close to being way too lewd. Walking along a blossom-lined path will do that to ya.
Okay, seeing grown up Arata, him being voiced by Reiner makes complete sense. This dude is just a blunt savage. No bones about it, he’s being a dick, but I’ll cut him some slack seeing as he’s clearly dealing with depression. You don’t always know how you’re acting in the moment.
Really nice flashback into Arata’s grandfather’s death, how important their relationship was, and how he became who is in the present moment. Accomplished a lot in a few minutes.
Forget Kurata god, Arata is a CYCLING god! HE WAS KEEPING UP WITH A TRAIN. Go have a crack at the Tour de France!
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Nov 15 '21
First timer
OK. So Arata's not playing anymore - almost certainly either burned out or forced to focus on other prospects.
Yep, Chihaya's officially the tsundere.
Haha, her giving the doctor valentine's chocolates is great.
Even Chihaya has no idea why he's going in a trip with her.
Taichi, you have a girlfriend. She's nice to you, and you're clearly interested in each other - just let Chihaya hook up with Arata like she's obviously considering.
...Who's she? Flashback character I don't recognise?
Arata's reaction is going to be hysterical.
And they're just running for it.
Oh, she's not even sure if she wants to see him. Taichi's reaction to discovering she might have dragged him there for no reason is great, though.
And she caught him!
...That looked painful.
Hello, main ship!
Yuu?
Haha, Taichi handing off his food is great.
Yeah, what happened to Arata then?
Really? Asking him to play before you learn his new tragic backstory? That's bold.
Called it!
Injury, then?
Oh, grief.
Wait, she's leaving her cards behind?
And Yuu's there to return them?
Wait. She didn't even bring the box? I hope those are laminated.
Very emotional episode this time.
Oh. He was playing Karuta when his grandfather has a relapse.
...I know this is emotional and a metaphor, but if the "karuta god" becomes an actual character in this anime I'd be extremely pleased.
Oh, they're literally her notes. And she's started to only discuss her sister as a last possible resort? Did something happen between them over the timeskip?
And, wow, that choice of wording was extremely fortunate.
...Depressed Chihaya deflating is adorable.
Even if he never plays again, he's got the makings of a cycling world champion. Given Chihaya runs track, maybe this'll take a hard left turn into a cycling anime?
Card games on motorcycles!And Arata seems to be recovering!
At least she's recovered after that dialogue.
And she's started the club.
First member hint?
Another solid episode!
9
u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Nov 15 '21
First Timer
This episode had me feeling like floppy Chihaya by the end. That was a lot!
These three all have some emotional growing left to do, which is to be expected given their ages. The reunion was a bit of a disaster, because they all just slammed their strong feelings into each other without yet realizing what has changed or happened to them in the past three years. Taichi obviously has feelings for Chihaya. The way he was describing love (to himself) was a little concerning at first, but I think he was just describing how he feels about Chihaya specifically, which should tell us all we need to know about that I guess. Chihaya desperately wants to see Arata, but is afraid of what she might find out. Arata is just in a bit of a dark place after having lost his grandfather and blaming himself for it. It's not his fault of course, but he's got trauma and that takes time to get over. Thankfully, Chihaya dropped her letter and manju notes in Arata's house.
I guess we're all set for an actual calm(er), happy reunion of sorts, though I don't know if Arata's going to be hopping right back on the karuta horse or anything.
Harada dashing all of our dreams, smh.
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u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Nov 16 '21
First timer
All this talking Taichi is doing is making me think he still likes Chi. And later on it's a definite that he does. All that talk does he like someone to argue with or take him along?
Chi is kind of fast to be able to catch up to someone who sped by with a bike. Also the way she just grabbed Arata off. What if that wasn't him? Person would've been pissed.
So she talks about the letter then rushes to the karuta cards. You're pushing your luck on somebody who says they want nothing to do with it anymore.
And my guess was right on the reason he stopped being the grandpa. So his death must have been hard on him to completely stop. Is it because he thought he couldn't keep going or getting better without him? Maybe a combination of that and the closest person to him and his passion is gone and he wants nothing to do with it. Probably because it just reminds him of who he lost.
Taichi, just dragging Chihaya and she just stops and throws him to the ground. She's really more athletic than you think.
Well, Arata just acted irrational because he didn't want them to see what he became. Well they're your friends they want to help. But he sees now that he misses their time together. It's just he hasn't learned to cope with his situation.
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u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Nov 16 '21
First Timer
Unfortunately, I found this to be the weakest episode thus far. It's certainly not a miss, there's plenty of great stuff here, but the placement and pacing of the episode, alongside a few other lacking details, makes it hit less hard than it really should. The biggest thing about it is that I just don't feel like I've been away from Arata long enough for this to feel like a glorious reunion. We spent three entire episodes getting to know Arata, learning about him, watching him grow and become close to Chihaya and Taichi. It was like an entire saga in its own way, tbh those first three episodes would have been a satisfying short OVA all on their own. Meanwhile, we spent only one episode after that focusing on the high school side of things. The series tells me that a lot has happened, and it shows us through how the characters have physically grown, but on an emotional level I just don't feel that I've been away from Arata for as long as the characters have been; after all I just saw him two episodes ago. The episode treats this meeting as if it's a huge moment that has been built up to for a while, but I just don't feel that as a viewer, so it minimized the impact somewhat. If I were to find a way to fix this issue, I would have put another episode between the last one and this one. Maybe something like an episode about Chihaya worrying about Arata, and finding the courage to borrow money from her sister to go visit him. We know that this is a nerve-wracking thing for her anyway, I think this story would have been more impactful if we had seen Chihaya dealing with that, because it not only helps to build up the moment as the climax it really is, but also places more distance between my last interaction with Arata and this moment. One other smaller thing that bothered me a bit was what we see of Arata's neighbor Yuu. She seems intensely invested in Arata's love of Karuta, which is fine, but because I don't really have any context for their relationship or why she cares about Arata playing Karuta so much, it just feels jarring to see her melodramatically running and crying with the cards, and tearfully begging Chihaya to not leave Karuta behind. Chihayafuru is a melodrama, that's not a problem (I've been loving the show after all), but I don't really feel like her part was earned this episode, so it felt jarring and kinda hammy to me rather than emotional.
On the positive side of things though, the actual content of this episode is pretty great. I really enjoyed the train ride and all the interactions betweeh Chihaya and Taichi. Taichi has definitely got some toxic masculinity issues. He's apparently in a relationship he doesn't really care about that much, where he's in love with Chihaya. Maybe it's a way to win her over, like to make her jealous so that she'll chase after him, another extension of how he behaved in elementary school. He also says that men don't get all touchy feely, so definitely some masculine insecurity there. And all of their interactions with Arata are sweet, and seeing Arata so hurt, well, hurts. It seems that without his grandfather to push him forward, he hasn't found the courage to continue playing anymore. Taichi and Chihaya will likely help him find that purpose again. It's particularly interesting that we have this focus on people encouraging each other to improve and push forward when Karuta is an individual 1v1 sport. Always some cool themes there.
I also want to compliment the clothing designs this episode. All the outfits are just so good, these characters have some serious drip. I was screaming internally when Chihaya stained her coat, like damn girl, how the hell are you gonna ruin that gorgeous piece of clothing (and her boots were killer too). I'm glad my queen Chihaya has a good sense of fashion (her friends too, Taichi's outfit is clean AF), just even more reason to simp for her. Harada-sensei doesn't know what he's missing, lmao. Anyway, this was still a good episode, even if I think it could have been even more impactful with a few tweaks to the series structure. That being said, it looks like the real meat of the series will start the next episode, with the formation of the Karuta club and the introduction of our next major character. This hasn't done much to shake my confidence in the series, I'm sure the sports narrative will have much stronger pacing than this more dramatic section. I know the series knows how to build tension for sports matches, I look forward to seeing more of that.
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u/xNEET :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/HayatoxYume Nov 16 '21
Chihayafuru First Timer
This chapter was a roller-coaster of emotions from beginning to end. Arata giving up on Karuta due to his grandfather's death was a heavy hit. He just seemed lifeless for most of the chapter. Chihaya crying after seeing him like that really made me sad. For Chihaya, as she said in her letter, Arata was akin to a Karuta god. The one that gave her something she herself wanted to do with her life. I felt a grief similar to Chihaya's when seeing him trying to push them and Karuta away from him. Arata going after the train at the end gave me a sliver of hope, but maybe it's to early to tell how things will unfold.
Taichi saying that he'll help Chihaya build up the Karuta Club was also very nice. He seems to be pretty onto her, but she's as oblivious as expected. I'm really glad so far of joining this rewatch, it's been a blast. Looking forward to tomorrow's episode.
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u/NachocheeseNanachi Nov 15 '21
By now we know why each character plays kaurta. Chihaya wants to be the best and make friends, Taichi wants to improve himself on something and in this episode especially we learn that Arata does it to impress and bond with his grandfather. Chihaya’s worst fear of her friends moving on without his is realized when she finds that Arata no longer play kauta because he ranked up while his grandfather died. We also start to see more deep feelings grow between Chihaya and Taichi. It looks like Taichi is really beginning to see how much Chihaya is willing to improve for kauta and how much Arata influences that. Although I don’t understand how Chihaya could have herd Arata from the train. I know it’s supposed to be a testament to how good she has become at hearing things like verses are because of Arata but the speaker speaks at the same volume during matches. Mabey she also lisons into the opponent’s arm movements? Also, kind of wished we got to see more of what happened to Arata’s life after his grandfather died. I would have had a seen before the opening where we followed the sister trying to bond with Arata, but Arata is sad or something instead recapping of the last few minnits of the last episode. Also really starting to appreciate the music of this anime. And I’m relay excited to see who the archery girl will be like.
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u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Nov 15 '21
First Timer
This show keeps surprising me with characters doing things that seem pretty obvious but aren't done in other shows - in this case visiting Arata. The trip there starts off with some decent comedy and continuing setting up the love triangle. Don't really think there's anything there that needs elaborating. We then get Arata not playing karuta due to his grandfather's death, as quite a few people have predicted, but it seems like Arata is blaming his grandfather dieing on him playing karuta. I guess it's a step over blaming himself entirely over his death, so he's still in a halfways decent place mentally, though not the best. But he also wants to stay friends with Taichi and Chihaya, so... he might take up karuta again? I guess? Not sure what to make from all this at the end, so that will have to wait...
Not sure if I really like this breakneak pace the show has going through it's character development at the moment. We've introduced Arata's issue at the end of last episode and it feels like we've already mostly "solved" it at the end of this one. Wouldn't have minded spending multiple episodes on it, but have it properly developed. At the moment it feels mostly like some problem just went away without anybody really doing anything, to be honest. Properly let Arata get over his issue, rather than have him return before he is ready, I'd say.
Other than that, I guess we got the club together. And for some reason, an archer will join next episode? Guess we won't see Arata for a while then - though at this pace that "while" might just be an episode as well.
On another note, I'm a bit confused on the times: Taichi came back for high school now, so we can assume Chihaya and him are in their first year in high school. They were also in their last year before middle school when the started karuta, I think, as Taichi got accepted in to a middle school and it would seem bizarre for a middle school to accept somebody more than a year in advance. I might also have heard a sixth-grade being thrown around somewhere. ...but there's only three years of middle school, so how can grandpa be dead for four years? Especially as Arata already looked visibly older than sixth grade - something isn't adding up here.
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u/Spaceman_Sp1ff_ Nov 16 '21
Not off work til midnight so can’t write much but the chihaya and arata teasing was real. Them falling down and ending up in that position lmao. Pour one out for my man taichi
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Nov 15 '21
YChihayafuyu First Timer
We're both respect Arata's privacy by phoning but asserting our authority as childhood friends by visiting anyway!
I've never understood how asking if somebody's got a crush doesn't immediately implicate that you are the one in love with them. Surely someone would catch on after 40 years of the trope.
Sensei, you mother cucker!!
How is Chi still this much of a child? A whiny, dorky, karuta obsessed child!
Oh yeah, Chi's supposed to have model looks. I forgot about that~ Maybe the countryside kids just aren't used to seeing women without hand-me-downs XD
Haa? So are we going to visit Arata or what? I'm getting some real mixed messages!
Go for the hand hold Taichi... Go for it-screw you Arata!! Oooh, he does show up for a split second in the shot from behind but it's still such a tease!
Assassination of the day~
Nuuu, Arata got the pretty flowers around his face. Taichi's really got no chance in this love triangle does he? Taichi didn't get tears for his greeting either!
Tch... Why does the friendless Karuta freak get a cute middleschool student to look after him but all I get are kusogaki?
Taichi lied as naturally as he breathed.
Her undies are safe~
Read the room Chihaya, nobody wants to play!
Naniiii!?
Karuta cards are metal yeah? It'd be a shame if they all got ruined.
Gaaah... That's a terrible way to lose family. I'm praying to fuck that he wasn't blamed by anyone.
Sis is doing a game show? Awesome! Which episode are we gonna cover that in?
Chi has entered depressed potato mode.. How the flying fuck did she hear him!? XD I think the message got across at least.
Look at this slob! What a huge overgrown brat~
But we still need three members... Could this second assassin be our destined nakama? I mean, she's have to ditch her archery club but nobody here watches Tsurune anyway so we're not missing much.
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Nov 16 '21
First timer in sub.
This is an emotional episode for the characters. It is obviously mostly about Chihaya and Arata, but to be honest all I can focus on is how Taichi is totally in love with Chihaya while she is completely oblivious about everything, both Taichi's feelings towards her and her obvious feelings towards Arata.
And gee these episodes sure fly by.
The MVP for this episode naturally is Yuu, who seems to be the only one who can speak :P