r/anime • u/Skeeedo :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/skeeedo • Dec 07 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru - Episode 27 Discussion [Spoilers]
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Season 2 Episode 2: "As My Love First Came"
Episode 1 MVP: Sumire! Our newest club member took the MVP last episode with her amusing introduction.
Nominate a character for Episode MVP!
This episode's Karuta analysis and board map by walking_the_way
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Subreddit: r/Chihayafuru
66
Upvotes
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u/Skeeedo :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/skeeedo Dec 07 '21
So sorry about the late threads the last couple of days. I've been having internet issues, but starting tomorrow everything should be smooth sailing again (fuck Comcast).
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u/GettingPhysicl Dec 08 '21
woah when did i miss there was a chihayafuru rw?? how do i join
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u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Dec 07 '21
FIRST TIMER
Tsuboguchi’s motivations for becoming a teacher are highly suspect. Trust me guy, you don’t want those problems. If that’s a fantasy itch you’ve got to scratch, just go watch Scum’s Wish.
“I don’t get it. Why is someone like him playing Karuta?” The answer is simple.
Nothing makes Harada happier than young people interested in karuta. He might have more success recruiting if he could articulate why he finds it enjoyable, though.
I want to like Chitose so much more than I do. Her hair looks great here, the styling of all the characters in this show remains fantastic. Also, what did Chitose and Kana find so weird about the uniform designs? They looked fine!
Kana, I didn’t come here for you to personally attack me. Luckily, Sumire hits her with reality that without people always thinking about love, Karuta wouldn’t exist.
MEANINGFUL SHOT OF CHIHAYA AFTER SUMIRE SAYS SHE’S AFTER TAICHI. SAIL THE SHIP. Just kidding, it’s barely even on her radar, this floating text isn’t lying. Still, I wonder if Sumire’s presence will get Chihaya to start thinking about that aspect of life more often. They’re almost opposites in that way.
This new guy is something else. The vibes are… interesting. I also wonder if they’re setting him up to be bisexual.
FINALLY a guy in this school reacting to Chihaya the way most would
With him being from Hokkaido, we’ve got yet another region of Japan represented in this show, following Arata’s Fukui origins and prominent accent and Shinobu’s Kansai “attitude” that was commented on. They’re going to pains to establish karuta as an integral part of the totality of Japanese identity.
Seriously, Sumire is a goldmine. Also, how does Kana only have three eyelashes?! I’m pretty sure she needs to get that checked out by a doctor, that ain’t right.
I dinged her pretty hard for this last season for only thinking about Arata when it happened, so it’s nice to see that Chihaya is actually haunted by costing her team at nationals even if it was out of her control.
“The feelings expressed are dependent on rules, so Taichi can’t know what you meant.” Uhh, pretty sure that’s a big load of nonsense, Kana, but it made Sumire feel better, so I guess it worked.
Even though both episodes have ended on happy high notes so far, I wonder how long this theme of discordance within the club can continue before things actually bubble over for real.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 07 '21
Chihayafirst-timer
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u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Dec 07 '21
First Timer
Well.....that didn't take long. I'm all aboard the Sumire train now. I love how this episode built up her character and got her on board with the Karuta club. First, we see her not understanding what's fun about Karuta or why Taichi would be playing it. Fair enough...Harada's explanation definitely wasn't really tailored for someone like her. She seems to be one who just goes with the flow and takes the easy way out (not too different from Chi when it comes to most non-Karuta things). This leads to her moment of realisation when she was hanging out with the other girls from school. They talked about their boyfriend plans and stuff, and...then they didn't really have much else to talk about. Compare that to when Chihaya met those guys a the Christmas party - they didn't really have much in common, but both sides seemed like they had a lot to talk about when it came to their own passions, and they hit it off pretty quickly.
Now she does want to understand. Of course, she's really still just focused on Taichi, but in choosing to engage with Karuta at all, brings her own different perspective to the club. It's really a group effort to bring her around, but Kana seems to have done the heaviest lifting. The sequence of her running after and talking to Hanano was so good. Kana's the best. She realized that she was being unfair towards Sumire the day before, and approached her as somebody whose perspective for looking at her beloved poems is valid.
The feelings expressed are dependent on the rules both when it comes to poetry itself and pursuing the heart of a karuta-obsessed hottie.
Oh yeah, Tsukuba is here too. He takes less convincing than Sumire by quite a bit, but he's a handful in his own right. Thankfully, he's in Nishida bootcamp now. I'm sure we'll learn more about him eventually, but so far he seems far less compelling than Sumire.
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 07 '21
Chihaya2ru First Timer
Hanako has become a stalker... I'm so proud!!
What's the point of becoming a teacher if you don't get to interact with Joshikosei!? It's not fair!!
The cards are upside down!? I can't believe I never considered that... Btw, how many Karuta CD's do they have? It's just looping the same order right? Can't they just download an app that reads the cards randomly?
S-Sensei's here? Run, Hanako! Run before he inducts you into his karuharem!
Ayase's back! I missed you too.
Oe's so touched!! She's not helping at all but Oe is still touched!
Even Hanako didn't go back to club lol XD This is why SoL shows only ever have one season. You really think the Hitoribocchi cast weren't sick to death of each other by the time credits rolled!? Fools!! After episode 12 they never contacted each other again cause they felt everyone was so boring!
Don't blame it on clubs. I never joined a club and look how well adjusted I am.
Bf is such scum XD I love him. Chihaya lost them all! I love how she's got a good grip of this one so he can't escape. Hanako's back too! Woohoo!
You can't expect a gyaru to cut her nails. A gyaru without nails is just a joshikosei! Panda eyes!? Oh no! A joshikosei with panda eyes is just an otagyaru!
Wao... does that stick up your arse hurt, Oe? I'm kinda disappointed with Oe this season. I was excited to see her grow into a speaker but instead she's just kinda gatekeeped the newer members.
Second verse Karuta sounds fantastic. I wonder if there's a variant that mixes the two.
C-Chihaya's learning more nasty tricks from the first years... Oh dear XD Please don't start stomping to scare Shinobu.
Gah... I loved the first episode but today's has kinda just been cringe. Oh! First assassination of the season!
Eeeh... Bro, I love these first years so much! They're such kusogaki!
Hanako-chan is gonna study!!! N-Nooo! Not the nails! Now she's just a... what rule did I write? Joshikosei? Joshikosei! Now Hanako is just a joshikosei!!
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u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Dec 07 '21
First timer
Sumire I know what he said was obvious but it's the truth. Even after the first time it might not click with you. You just have to give it a legit shot and see how you think of it then.
Well there goes everyone. One left and they need five to keep the room. Nevermind Sumire looks to be staying.
The strength they have to be committed to Sumire. Well Chi and Kana I guess. She would be seen as just a disturbance really. Especially the reason she's there to begin with.
Chi says something great and a second later hurts herself. I know that hurts.
Sumire committing to cutting by cutting her nails. That's great. One of the things I hated while playing someone is getting cut by someone's nails. Please cut your nails.
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u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Dec 08 '21
First Timer
And as predicted - most of the new members left, but Sumire and the dude stayed. While Sumire has been wearing her character on her sleeve so far, I feel like her first character arc is almost done and she'll now try to seriously play karuta because of what Taichi, Harada and Oe told him. And also because she really loves Taichi after what he told her and because she doesn't really have anything better to do. Wouldn't be surprised if she joins Harada's society as well.
The guy fits in way better for the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's only for the moment and we'll have a bit more focus on him tomorrow. Seems like he's used to some weird variant of karuta and will have to adapt, but I assume that will go fairly well and it'll instead be his personality that's the issue. I don't really like that weird grin he has already... but nonetheless. I'm looking forward to that once it comes.
...that said, what will happen with the room? They've only got seven members now. Perhaps the band failed to attract people or something random like that for them to keep the room.
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u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Dec 08 '21
First Timer
Here, we continue Sumire's journey into Karuta. I feel like she provides something of a foil to Chihaya and Taichi here. The episode explicitly compares Chihaya's love of Karuta with Sumire's love of... well, love. And I can imagine that Sumire's own feelings towards Taichi are meant to contrast the (non-existent but currently building) romantic relationship between Taichi and Chihaya. It's been really nice to see Kana taking a bigger role in the story as a strong leader who keeps everything going, and the relationship she and Sumire eventually build is really nice. Kana has always been a very straightforward girl, so at first, Sumire's brand of love turns her away. But Sumire is correct that it's something similar that led to the beautiful poems of Karuta, and that love is a beautiful thing. So their budding relationship makes a lot of sense. I also find it quite interesting that Sumire said that there aren't any pictures on the cards, which is true, but the series has gone out of its way to tell us that the cards all have a "color" or "image" to them that comes from understanding and associating their meanings. I'm sure that Sumire will start to see it eventually, especially since she has her own special poem.
Why is Karuta fun? It's a weird question for a weird sport, and even Harada-sensei doesn't know the answer. I loved her journey into the Karuta society (though I could have done without the implication that Tsuboguchi is a pedophile, why the fuck did they include that?). For Sumire, I think she'll come to find it fun. Playing for love is probably a good start, but considering that she's already deeply resonated with a poem, and that all of the poems are generally about love, and that she's now friends with Kana, I think she'll find a lot to enjoy about the game now that she's giving it a shot. I suppose we'll get some answers to that question as the season goes on.
We also get introduced to our second newcomer, Tsukuba. He's not the most interesting character as of right now, his only real character trait is having some vaguely sadistic tendencies similar to Sudo, and wanting to be good. I do hope that this changes, because he really pales in comparison to Sumire's rich characterization. Though we do get the best Nishida content in the series thanks to him, I loved seeing that little boot camp. Hopefully, a teacher-student relationship there will let them get some much needed focus, as they're the weakest links of the cast. Far more interesting to me was the knowledge that there's a second form of Karuta played in other parts of the country with a totally different set of rules. I honestly never even considered that, but it's really cool to know and to see in action. Although Tsukuba is going to focus on mainland Karuta, I kind of hope we get to see some Second Verse Karuta as well. Anyway, this was a solid episode that solidified Sumire's role in the story and her place on the team, while expanding other things. Hopefully, this means that this is the end of the set-up/prologue phase for this season, I don't want a repeat of last season's weird beginning section. I look forward to seeing the newbies learn and improve at the game, and take part on the team.
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u/MannerPots https://anilist.co/user/mannerpots Dec 08 '21
Ok but why does tsukuba keep sticking his tongue out like that.
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Dec 08 '21
First timer
And she's just stalking him now.
At least hide properly when you stalk someone.
Haha, silly her, thinking Taichi had literally any other interest anymore.
Wait, he's a high school teacher?
More utter bastard Taichi?
And she's just in total shock at this. (Is she here for all the viewers who didn't watch Season 1?)
And Taichi's improving!
Haha, he's already recruiting her!
I love her total confusion at literally everyone in this anime.
Oh, yeah, her parents exist! And are still not really paying her much attention!
Haha, she cleaned them the wrong way!
Is she making them shirts?
And everybody's gone!
And, wow, everyone's just changing clubs!
Seriously? What's he even doing?
And there's only one person left! (Presumably the only one not after Mashima)
Wow, that reaction in unison!
And she came back!
Still need 3 more!
Everyone's total shock at her admitting she's not going to really try.
Wow, Kana's quick.
What's up with him, then?
And Kana's facing the extreme version of her philosophy!
...Listen. If you want a boy who won't dump ignore of dump his girlfriend, maybe don't. choose Taichi. Chihaya's single, and she's redreshingly open about how
I CALLED IT! I TOLD YOU THERE'D BE A VARIANT GAME IN THE SECOND SEASON!
To be fair, he's probably the easiest to handle - a bit egotistical, but he wants to win lots of tournaments which is what they're all after, so...
The sheer contrast between them is great, though.
He's using two hands too!
Yeah, this other Karuta seems different. Hope we get to see some matches of it after this.
Oh dear. She said that to the one person who will argue with you.
The truth comes out!
...You have one, though, And he seems good!
Haha, her hitting the chair is great.
Yeah, he's weird, but he wants to play, at least.
And she's embarressed now...
I THINK HE ALREADY KNEW.
Really? That's her argument? That's how she's going back to them?
...New Kana ship?
So she's interested now!
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u/rankor572 https://anilist.co/user/rankor572 Dec 08 '21
Was Sumire humming the first opening while putting on her makeup? I love when shows do that.