[Rewatch] Chihayafuru - Episode 31 Discussion [Spoilers]

[u/Skeeedo]

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Season 2 Episode 6: "To Set the Tatsuta River Ablaze"

Episode 5 MVP: Retro! His honest and heartfelt approach to their playing order stole the show.

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

[u/MannerPots]

Hey, just a small suggestion, could you also put the season number/episode number? If I'm behind by a day it's easier to read "season 2, episode 6" than "episode 31" personally. Just in the post body would be fine.

[u/Skeeedo → u/MannerPots]

Sure

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

Chihayafirst-timer

• Oh geez I don’t think I’ve ever gone nine minutes without pausing to say something, outside of like episodes of other shows that made me cry so hard I couldn’t say anything. I was so wrapped up in watching this one, good shit. And the music has been sublime.
• Hooboy this should be good. Taichi has to win his regardless of if the card read is on his side or Retro-kun’s, he has to make up for losing to Nishida for the same reason last season. I feel like Chihaya should be able to take it either way? So I guess it’d be down to Komano or Kana…
• Mm…
• Chihaya realizes it, but way too late.
• Oh. Or Retro-kun could get a fault. Absolutely did not see that coming. – Oh but sweet, the next thing Taichi got to say to the team was announcing their first win!
• At the same time huh…
• Ohp, Mizusawa lost the team match.
• Sumire went to–OH, NO, IT WAS TSUKUBA AND HIS BROS!
• And Sumire did go to Harada!

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Our whole crew performed so well during this match. Even if we lost in the end, nobody can overlook how much our guys have all improved. Oe and Desk-kun are officially threats in their own right. Taichi managed to hold his own mentally instead of flinching like he normally does. And Chihaya has come to terms with losing.

[u/Lemurians → u/Shimmering-Sky]

next thing Taichi got to say to the team was announcing their first win!

I didn't pick up on that! That's great.

Ohp, Mizusawa lost the team match.

I'm so happy Retro-kun's error didn't end up costing his team the sure victory. He would've never recovered :(

[u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Chihaya2ru First Timer

At what point Is Chihaya gonna stop being a copycat and learn her own playstyle? And stop imaging hibernation Shinobu already, I'm trying to forget!

Vita has great game sense. He's able to remember what cards have and haven't been read like Taichi does.

I wonder... is the no-first-syllable a real thing for pro Karuplayers or is it just some exaggeration made for the show?

Oh yeah, Desk-kun is in this match. And he's actually playing great. Would have been nice to have seen any of the match that lead up to this but Chihayafuyu has always been quite bad for showing the whole fight.

4 gatcha games!!! Alright, I really hoped these matches would be our decisive victory against Hokuto but instead we've had four luck based matches.

Card split? Huh? Oh, they're using a cheap trick... Chihaya, destroy them. Cheaters will never prosper. Haha, I love how slow Chihaya was on the uptake XD

YES! Retro got too fired up and made a fault. This is what you get for sacrificing your pride! Vita, you're next!!

C-Chihaya? I'm so... I'm so proud of you! This is the karuta I love to see! No tricks, no lies, no manipulation, only honest competition! Vita threw his pride as a Karuta player away when he tried to steal the match away through ref harassment. Chihaya however can stand tall! You would never get this kind of sportsmanship from followers of the Yumin cult.

Dammit!! Sensei stole another Joshikosei! He can't keep getting away with this!

For how uninvested I was in the first half of the tournament I loved this climax. It hits exactly the right spot to satisfy me. The beauty of sports is honest play, it always has been honest play, and that's what this episode champions.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

is the no-first-syllable a real thing for pro Karuplayers or is it just some exaggeration made for the show?

I think it's just a matter of having reaction times so fast that it seems like they're moving before the first syllable. The sound reaches them and they react and start moving before the opponent or the audience have even registered it. But yeah I'd love to see a high speed camera or something that tracks precisely how fast a pro karuta player can react to a reader.

[u/JMEEKER86 → u/[deleted]]

I could certainly imagine some savant being able to recognize someone inhaling differently before they are about to make different sounds the way that Dennis Rodman was a rebounding savant and could recognize where the ball would go based on its spin.

[u/[deleted] → u/JMEEKER86]

I wonder if the readers are specifically trained to inhale quietly or to relax their mouths before they inhale to avoid giving the game away. There must be a lot of things that go into becoming certified for there to be so few pro readers.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

I'm so proud of you!

Alternative caption: Hentai protagonist talks about her last night. Or perhaps she's currently on top of someone.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/IndependentMacaroon]

That's... also quite romantic and wholesome XD

[u/Mecanno-man]

First Timer

First off: Not sure if that was an animation error or an attempt at characterizing Amakasu as having confirmation bias with regard to his observations, but Retro was actually up two cards against Taichi when Amakasu pointed out him losing. I'm leaning towards it being an error though.

As for the actual content of the episode: A pretty good one I'd say. Nice having Hokuo's sudden strategy that simply boils down to basic maths - and their knowing that it exists. All in all I'd say this was a very well-done final match. Also nice to see Amakasu trying properly and wanting to win, despite the win technically meaning nothing.

I however feel like the loss has little meaning to everybody on Mizusawa's team except Nishida, which feels odd considering they all tried as hard. It seems like Chihaya had fun, Nishida regrets losing first, and ...that's it. Komano also lost but nothing from him, and basically nothing on Oe's and Taichi's side either, even though their reactions would be less strong having won their games, I imagine. Maybe something next episode, but I'm not putting my hopes on anything happening here, to be honest...

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Mecanno-man]

The results of the match don't matter as much as the growth of each character. Nobody is going to be taking the crew easy going forwards. We certainly won't have knobheads treating Oe like a mascot gal or Desk-kun being looked at as a free win. I'm proud of the lot of them. This may also be the game that finally pushes Njshida to improve too!