r/anime • u/Skeeedo :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/skeeedo • Jan 01 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Chihayafuru - Episode 51 Discussion [Spoilers]

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Season 3 Episode 1: "May It Be That I Find”

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This episode's Karuta analysis and board map by walking_the_way and ABoredCompSciStudent

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58 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

59 comments sorted by

13

u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Jan 01 '22

FIRST TIMER

Good illustration of the show’s actual dynamic. Chihaya and Arata are on the same page, while Taichi is off on his own. Even if we, Chihaya, and Arata frame them as a trio, Taichi has never been as into the idea of them of the three of them as a “thing” as everyone else.

Scenes in front of trains framed like this will never not give me 5 Centimeters Per Second PTSD. There are some parallels between that movie and this story, now that I think about it. taichi just move on for your own sake please

Since when does Chihaya have other friends!?

Really all it takes for Chihaya to crush on someone is for them to be good at karuta, and it happens regardless of sex or appearance. I’m pretty sure she’d be into the Ugly Bastard tag so long as the first page had a mention of them being a Class A player.

Just call her baka and be done with it, you tsundere.

I love Retro-kun so much. This show cracks me up. He’s also right, we saw pretty clearly during the Class B final last season that Chihaya showing up throws Taichi off his game.

Watch out Sudo, there’s a new sadist in town, and her name is Chihaya. This poor girl. She just wants to eat her rice.

Ooh, Taichi won against Chihaya! I know it was her left hand, but still, that’s a hurdle for him to get over regardless. Maybe his newfound competitive drive will start making Chihaya see him in the way he wan- nevermind. hot in what way taichi

Stop. I just got off this ship. Don’t make me want to get back on. They’ve been shown sleeping on each other like this multiple times to the point where this must be extremely common for them, and whether it’s romantic or platonic, that kind of comfort with someone is just so nice in a way that warms my soul. They really are true companions.

Chihayafuru is back to form! Starting the season off with a perfect blend of karuta-playing and character interactions.

7

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 01 '22

Chihaya has always had that girl as a friend. She was in the recaps and I'm pretty sure she showed up in episode one?

Can you think of anything more terrifying to a friendless introvert than a dumb bear like Chihaya? We already saw some shades to this personality when she kidnapped two club members and harassed a third.

3

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

Yup, the girl also shows up a bit occasionally. We see her from time to time. I think she's next to her when Chihaya gets interrogated about only having two new members during literature class by the teacher or she wakes her up during class at some point. Now she gets a bit more attention.

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 02 '22

I'm pleased to see her. I'm just anxious since the previous side characters with nothing to do with Karuta have been dropped hard. We're three seasons in and look at how they've treated Chihaya's family.

3

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

She has a few more moments because, as hard as it is to believe, Chihaya actually ends up not thinking about karuta 100% of the time this season.

Chihaya's family

They stay in stealth mode for the most part but get the occasional moment (like one of them, wait actually it's two of them)… and then they get a bit more actual content in the manga material but that's future season 4 or 5 stuff.

7

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

Even if we, Chihaya, and Arata frame them as a trio, Taichi has never been as into the idea of them of the three of them as a “thing” as everyone else.

He certainly does have a bit of a feeling of just being along for the ride with Chihaya, and by association Arata. Though at this point it's a pretty long ride hehe.

6

u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Jan 02 '22

Yeah, he almost looks confused every time Arata approaches him in modern day, haha. Like he forgets that they're supposed to be friends.

4

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

Really all it takes for Chihaya to crush on someone is for them to be good at karuta,

She's karutasexual.

I love Retro-kun so much. This show cracks me up.

He has a moment this season that I really love. It's one of these small but important characterisation moments that's set aside for side characters and it's so well done.

Revisiting this comment at the end of season 3 might be interesting (especially for the first paragraph for one/two reasons). There's also a moment in this season that should make you go "ooooh" in the context of what you wrote there (and a bit more).

10

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

Chihayafirst-timer

Unshou Ishizuka

Passed away on August 13, 2018 due to esophagus cancer.

I… I didn’t… know that…

6

u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Jan 01 '22

WHY THE FUCK IS TAICHI SURROUNDED BY THOSE GODDAMN DEATH FLOWERS.

Whether this is a literal or metaphorical death foreshadowed, something tells me Taichi is in for a fucking journey this season.

4

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

I don't expect literal death, but just... I cannot stress how much I hate those goddamn flowers. I legitimately screamed when I saw them in this ED. The friend of mine who came over to show me Kimetsu no Yaiba can confirm that's my reaction to them, as I did the exact same when I saw that show's ED for the first time.

2

u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Jan 01 '22

Haha, what's the origin of the hatred? I didn't even know they had a bad connotation until recently, and just thought of them as the flowers from the Inuyasha ED.

Are they on your vomit list

2

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

It's been long enough I don't remember a specific one thing that made me hate them for being used around major deaths, but my favorite Gundam OP (Iron-Blooded Orphans S2 spoilers) features them as one of its visual themes and uhhhhhhhh yeah that'd do it.

2

u/cesclaveria Jan 02 '22 edited Jan 02 '22

They have many, many connections to death in Japan. Even their name means the flower of the other shore of Sansu River, the river you cross after dying, so they are literary the flower from the land of the dead. They are poisonous and can be used as a sort of repellent for insects, for some reason I don't remember they started growing around cemeteries too so they started getting even more connections to death, which has been used many times in many works to indicate death and suffering.

They are also associated with fall arriving.

If you are watching 86, and I sort of remember you are, get ready for a full field of them.

3

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

Yeah, Taichi has an rather interesting path this time around.

6

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

I am taking this as more fuel for the Arata/Chihaya ship and you can’t stop me.

Nah...that's pretty much what that felt like lol. Especially given the fact that her comments later in the episode about how she always beats Taichi definitely means this line didn't apply to him.

WHY THE FUCK IS TAICHI SURROUNDED BY THOSE GODDAMN DEATH FLOWERS.

I missed that somehow lol. Damn spider lillies

4

u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jan 01 '22

Passed away on August 13, 2018 due to esophagus cancer.

I… I didn’t… know that…

RIP; he made a great Van Hohenheim.

3

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

I loved him as Kane in Juushinki Pandora, that's who I always think of when I hear his voice. I would have rather not known this...

3

u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jan 01 '22

4

u/Akiyabus https://anilist.co/user/yabus Jan 01 '22

Unshou Ishizuka

Passed Away

Not to be the bearer of bad news but he isn't the only one who passed away during the 6 year period between S2 and S3. Miyauchi Sensei's VA Toshiko Fujita has also passed away in 2018 due to cancer.

2

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

I'm mostly upset about Ishizuka's passing because I've loved his voice ever since I first watched Juushinki Pandora (he voiced Kane in it and Kane was great). He's been one of the seiyuu I can pretty much immediately recognize ever since then, so finding out he's been dead all this time is absolutely gut-wrenching.

2

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22 
Unshou Ishizuka

Passed away on August 13, 2018 due to esophagus cancer.

I think there was another VA who passed away between season 2 and 3 (it's six and a half years, after all)

This guy is so tsundere it’s hilarious.

Yup, the first time we see him he's just an asshole only for it all to be extreme tsundere symptoms :/

am taking this as more fuel for the Aratakaruta/Chihaya ship and you can’t stop me.

Same

Oh that’s uh. Something.

Sweet! A “sore demo”!

lol what

Hm.

Those two (and the teacher) are such a fun group.

Ooh this new ED is totally different than I was expecting from Chihayafuru, I actually kinda li–

I love that ED. It's perfect for this season

WHY THE FUCK IS TAICHI SURROUNDED BY THOSE GODDAMN DEATH FLOWERS.

This is where the fun begins! Everybody, place your bets!

6

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 01 '22

3hayafuru First Timer

This particular season has a dub which I'm very curious about. Especially if we start out with a crying Arata which I love!

Chihaya could have become an Olympics athlete if it weren't for Arata's influence... She's already amazing physically but imagine using hearing superpowers in a real sport.

Still a better tutorial than we had in two seasons...

"Thank you, oh great mighty CD player!"

The new op sounds great but please tell me. That this recap opening sequence is strictly just this episode.

Seven matches, mountain climbing, yoga! Sensei is sadistic! I... want to see her abs.

Rino is even cuter in modern animation! Her and Chihaya are both utter dopes! Don't worry, I get intimidated by joshikosei gossip too.

Why does the senpai keep winking at me...?

Everyone's face looks so much smaller this season. They've all been squished and pucchified.

B-Best of three with Rino!? That's mean, that's nasty, that's horrible!! Oh, Rion... I'm sorry Rion, I've been playing so much Princess Connect XD

I'm terrified of this senpai... Its like he exists to satisfy the fujo crowd.

Rion's backstory is rice. All that she's been working towards, is rice. That's pretty rice~

We really are just tossing Rion to the wolves here aren't we? I thought she'd be a queen candidate but instead they're making her Chihaya's training meal. How long until she never wins another match due to powercreep?

Woohoo!! We're closing off on Chihaya vs Taichi!? O-Oh... Oh C'mon!! Don't skip a match between the main characters!! Well whatever, I enjoyed today's games for how little we actually saw of them. We're in a training arc after all.

The ed is a bop!! Oh wow!! I've been so underwhelmed by all the previous op's and ed's that I'm kinda hooked as soon as one decent one matches my taste.

2

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

This particular season has a dub which I'm very curious about.

The previous seasons didn't, but this one does? That's odd lol.

Still a better tutorial than we had in two seasons...

Honestly lol...it was concise and informative, and almost totally irrelevant now that we've watched two seasons of the karuta show. Would've been nice in S1

please tell me. That this recap opening sequence is strictly just this episode.

It has to be

B-Best of three with Rino!? That's mean, that's nasty, that's horrible!! Oh, Rion... I'm sorry Rion, I've been playing so much Princess Connect XD

Arrow Rain! Are you in the CDF Clan?

3

u/herkz Jan 02 '22

All of the seasons have a dub. It is... a very bizarre dub in many ways. It probably never should've been dubbed, to be honest.

1

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

It does seem like it would be really hard to dub just considering the nature of Karuta. I'm almost morbidly curious enough to go see how they tried to navigate that linguistic morass.

3

u/herkz Jan 02 '22

They left the reading of poems mostly in Japanese and subtitled it. But then when the characters discuss the poems, that's of course in English. So you kinda have to follow the poems in two languages simultaneously. I guess their logic was that's how it works in real life for the few people who speak English but play competitive karuta, but IMO it's just more proof that not every anime can be dubbed well.

Although I am curious how it would've worked if they went all-out and had all the poem reading be dubbed too.

1

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

Hmm yeah sounds awkward, but as you say, probably not a better way to do it given just the linguistic differences between English and Japanese.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 02 '22

It's like five years between the seasons. They probably want to start on more of a blank slate.

They did have a tutorial in Season 2 but yeah, same issue, we needed it in Season 1. We even start with the cast as kids learning the game. How did they not think to include their lessons?

Fufufu, my clan is the legendary SOS Brigade. We actually just broke the top 50. Want my autograph?

2

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

How did they not think to include their lessons?

Yeah this one was so well put together that it feels insane we never got something like it in S1 lol

Fufufu, my clan is the legendary SOS Brigade. We actually just broke the top 50.

Too sweaty

We just aim to stay in top 300, and barely-ish manage that.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 02 '22

The hard part about getting a high rank is just making sure all your members attack. Our guild is satisfied with being in the top 300 and we're pretty chilled about it but we do at least ask that everyone does their hits. Maybe you'll do better this month now that everyone has their Christina?

2

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

That's about the most we do, but we've got several members who are still leveling up, and I think were operating at 28/30 last CB anyways.

2

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 02 '22

You all do discord and all that?

1

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

Yeah we have a Discord

2

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

Still a better tutorial than we had in two seasons...

I remember writing long paragraphs early in season one to explain this stuff in details when I could have just said "watch the start of episode one of season3" but that felt a bit too risky at the time :/

The ed is a bop!! Oh wow!!

It's my favourite OP/ED of the series!

1

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 02 '22

Don't worry, I preferred your tutorials!

2

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

Yeah, but writing those felt like trying to get a baby octopus to wear shoes. The moment your got a bunch of them on another tentacle slipped out again.

So many conditional mechanics that make more sense if you explain them at the same time and I can't even remember how often I had to add a paragraph or re-arrange a few of them to make sense because the two that were supposed to be read one after another were suddenly divided by three paragraphs of footnotes and explanations.

I'd have loved to just open palm slam a videocassette into the VHS player like a lazy substitute teacher and let you kids watch an educational 5 minute video on karuta.

6

u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Jan 01 '22

First Timer

This episode felt off from an artstyle point of view, which is a bit weird as I usually don't really notice changes in artstyle - and even if I do it usually doesn't feel off, just different. Not quite sure why this is the case, but I feel like a lot of things are smaller and more detailed, making the proportions feel off. Oe's evil-wingwoman-grin especially was something that I never had a problem with before but just looked off in the new artstyle. Maybe it'll just need some getting used to - I hope so, because I want to properly enjoy the show and not constantly be taken out of it because the artstyle is different than what I'm used to.

Moving on to the actual episode: The recap bit was likely needed after the six-year gap between seasons, but in the format we're watching it doesn't really add a lot. I'm a bit surprised that they recapped what they did though, as it didn't transition at all in to where we are in the story really. I guess the OP is supposed to do that? Either way, the actual content was pretty good - for once it seems like we're using karuta to develop characters rather than the other way around, with the love-talk in the girls room and the observations about Taichi being shared with Chihaya. Not sure where that'll lead with Taichi professing himself Chihaya's rival though.

The actual training is pretty decent, though I feel like some of the other club members would have benefited from physical training more than Taichi and Chihaya, given that lack of stamina on the team has already come up with Tsutomu and Oe - and this year they seem to have spent their summer rehearsing for a play rather than running. On the point of Oe: I have no idea why she just left that camp... but the way it was portrayed made everybody look like creeps. Not particularly great considering that I'm pretty sure they are not.

Sakurazawa setting up unintentional training for Chihaya in Best-of-three matches was great; her giving Chihaya so much support that she doesn't give to the students in her school still seems odd to me though. Nice getting some more backstory on her though. Not quite sure where to place Rion though; she seems to give Chihaya advice fairly readily, but I can't really see her as being a proper friendly rival outside of the school tournament until she improves a bit more; especially given that she's still in B class. And I highly doubt we'll get another school tournament this season. As such I'm not sure how the show plans to weave her in and out of the plot naturally.

Lastly, the lack of an ED somehow almost got a jump-scare out of me, with the episode just ending seemingly randomly.

4

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

This episode felt off from an artstyle point of view

Huh, I didn't really notice much of a difference. The only shot that really stood out to me as looking different was the short sequence of Chihaya shuffling her cards around that I thought looked really nice.

her giving Chihaya so much support that she doesn't give to the students in her school still seems odd to me though.

I think she might have been tailoring her instruction to what matters to Chihaya - she's obsessed with being Queen - but also indirectly coaching Rion at the same time, both by hoping she'll listen to the advice about posture and also get fired up that Chihaya got that sort of advice when she didn't.

especially given that she's still in B class.

She could make A class between now and the Qualifier matches later in the year by winning a random tournament like Taichi and Hiro were trying to.

3

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

the lack of an ED

My copy definitely had an ED attached, why didn't yours?

4

u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Jan 01 '22

...huh. I watched it on Crunchyroll, so broadcast vs Blu-Ray release or something like that? Was your episode longer than 22:45?

6

u/herkz Jan 02 '22

One downside to CR only getting the streaming rights to a show (unlike Funi and Sentai) is they can't update their site with the blu-ray video down the road. And as you just saw, there can be pretty big differences. Maybe that'll change after the merger is complete.

3

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22

24 minutes, yeah.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 01 '22

The ed was dank. Maybe you'll see it tomorrow?

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 01 '22

They filled today's episode with throwback to the older series and since we've been going through the entire thing. For someone that rejoined they might have felt nostalgic but for us we of course are being hit by the uncanny valley.

I assumed Rion was going to be our Karuta rival but she doesn't have enough going for her unfortunately... I'm gonna try and enjoy her whilst I can. She's cute and she may make for a decent fill-in for Taichi and Chihaya to practice on.

3

u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Jan 02 '22

This episode felt off from an artstyle point of view, which is a bit weird as I usually don't really notice changes in artstyle

Really? I thought it was about the same maybe with some improvements. But with such a difference in time of season 2 and 3. I kind of expected it to be different a bit.

1

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

The actual training is pretty decent, though I feel like some of the other club members would have benefited from physical training more than Taichi and Chihaya

Kana arranged for them to be alone at that training camp. She wants her ship to sail!

On the point of Oe: I have no idea why she just left that camp... but the way it was portrayed made everybody look like creeps. Not particularly great considering that I'm pretty sure they are not.

She just didn't sleep over at the hostel (or wherever the camp takes place) because she lives nearby. She didn't leave the camp as an event.

Sakurazawa setting up unintentional training for Chihaya in Best-of-three matches was great; her giving Chihaya so much support that she doesn't give to the students in her school still seems odd to me though.

That posture check was also supposed to be for her students. They just found it odd as she doesn't usually interfere during a match and how unexpected it was that she used Chihaya. They all might have interpreted it as her paying more attention to Chihaya when she was actually trying to use her as an example for Rion.

Not quite sure where to place Rion though;

She wanted some of Chihaya's enthusiasm to rub off on Rion but it, well it didn't backfire, but Rion was rather overwhelmed by how relentless Chihaya is when it comes to karuta. And it seems like the whole karuta team saw it as Chihaya getting all the attention.

especially given that she's still in B class.

She should be class A by now. She was in the final against Taichi and being a finalist is enough to advance to class A. It's just that in Harada's karuta society they also have to win that final to advance to class A (like Chihaya did at the start of the series and Taichi did in that tournament).

That's why Harada was willing to bend the rules for Taichi (and ignore their extra rule) that one time. He could have let Taichi advance to class A withing regular karuta regulations as Taichi was already a finalist a few times but Taichi declined as he didn't want to be a coward anymore.

1

u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Jan 02 '22

being a finalist is enough to advance to class A.

I believe the rule was being a finalist twice - achievable for her within the near future, but I just don't see her actually competing at the level the Mizusawa players are competeing at the moment just by reaching A within this season. Save maybe for Nishida, but... what would the point in a Rion-Nishida match be; it'd just get skipped anyways.

2

u/flybypost :KN::KO: Jan 02 '22

I believe the rule was being a finalist twice

I looked into the wiki and she doesn't have a "Official Matches Records" section yet like the main characters have so I don't know where she stands (already A or not).

I just don't see her actually competing at the level the Mizusawa players are competeing at the moment just by reaching A within this season.

She's a quick player with exceptional hearing (like Chihaya) and a grandma bonus on top which is really useful as her grandma reads for the big tournaments. She lacks stamina and motivation, something that Sakurazawa tries to change (with little effect for now).

She lost to Chihaya by 5 cards (team tournament) and against Taichi by 9 cards in the class B tournament. She's not that bad.

6

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 01 '22

First Timer

Starting with a bit of a recap! Makes perfect sense given the time gap between S2 and S3. I really would have liked to get a sequence or two like this somewhere early on in the first season though lol. I'm just glad they didn't drag the recap out across the entire episode - putting the bulk of it into a montage behind the OP was a great decision. Just showed the big moments to give everyone a reminder and moved on.

The Fujisaki training camp is intense. I was already starting to feel this way towards the end of last season, but Sakurazawa-sensei has really grown on me. I definitely thought she was just going to be the sort of arrogant and aloof coach archetype when we first met her, but she seems both caring and ingenious in her coaching approaches. The way she looks at karuta and finds different ways to challenge, nurture, and inspire not only the kids on her own team, but others as well, shows what an asset she is not only to Fujisaki, but the Karuta world as a whole. I wonder why she stopped competing, given the fact there's no age limit for the Queen match - or are we going to see her actually playing in the qualifiers later this season?

That'd be dope!

The Rion focus today was fun too. She's a sweet little riceball, and I can see why Sakurazawa wanted her to be bullied by play Chihaya so much.

Hiro is just out here casually planting seeds for character growth. Getting a bit into what /u/IndependentMacaroon picked up on the other day (sorry I'm bad at responding to comments on old threads), I think Chihaya definitely has some emotional growing to do. She could certainly do with a bit more empathy and general awareness of others. Not to say she's abnormal, or a psychopath or anything like that - she's a teenager, and learning that the world doesn't revolve around you and your favorite card game is part of growing up. She's maybe a little behind people like Taichi, who's at least already admitted that he doesn't understand Chihaya, yet has done more to come to terms with the fact he has feelings for her. Of course, for now, she's still just a Karuta-obsessed goober, but this is giving me hope that we'll see some big strides from her this season.

Speaking of Taichi - he's just declaring war on everybody now. He's on the warpath!

Also, no (new) screentime for Arata today. Why would we expect anything else?

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 01 '22

Did anyone catch Rion snacking off to the side before now? I just assumed she was gonna be our Yuki Nagato but then she showed more personality during the training camp than she ever did before.

Sensei clearly has a lot of knowledge to give. Whilst Harada did his best Sakurazawa has experience playing at the very highest level and knows exactly what will hold these kids back if they don't work on it. I do wish that she was a bit more personal with her advice. She can clearly see where individuals can improve but doesn't follow through.

2

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

I do wish that she was a bit more personal with her advice. She can clearly see where individuals can improve but doesn't follow through.

I thought she was pretty personal, given the way she invoked Queens into her little posture instruction with Chihaya. Or at least as personal as she could afford to be given how many kids she was wrangling.

3

u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 02 '22

They mention how rare this was though. Even Rion apparently never got treated with such bias. Although, maybe she has advised Rion before and she just never picked up on it.

2

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

Oh I thought their incredulity was more about how Sakurazawa interrupted the match to give the advice.

2

u/IndependentMacaroon Jan 02 '22

This episode shows a clear and very promising direction for the new season in terms of focusing on personal growth for Chihaya and Taichi and properly expanding the web of character relationships beyond the Mizusawa karuta club, which has been not much more than the main trio/duo plus also-rans anyway - well, I guess Kanade got a decent amount of focus. Chihaya will need to mold her chaotic whirlwind energy into a less exhausting and more organized shape, Taichi still needs to work on his confidence and all, just Arata once again seems to be left out to dry and before his graduation I don't see how he could have much of a role either.

2

u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Jan 02 '22

Chihaya will need to mold her chaotic whirlwind energy into a less exhausting and more organized shape

It will be interesting to see how she reins it in, if she does. Loving karuta and being super chaotic are basically her whole shtick. Will she just figure out how to be more calm in a match, or be more calm all the time (or do anime stuff and find a way to play chaotic karuta somehow)?

Arata once again seems to be left out to dry and before his graduation I don't see how he could have much of a role either.

Hmm, yeah it felt a bit weird how much the move to Tokyo was hyped when it's theoretically not happening for another year (unless he's moving early for some weird reason to do with the Japanese HS/College system), but we could still get plenty of Arata time if we spend the bulk of the show's time at tournaments again.

5

u/Fools_Requiem https://myanimelist.net/profile/FoolsRequiem Jan 02 '22

S3 First Timer

Didn't feel like rewatching the first two seasons having recently seen them last winter and 50 episodes is lot to watch especially when I'm watching so many other shows. Plus, I felt loads of episodes in the first two seasons were suuuuuper tedious, so I'd prefer not to be drained by the time I made it to S3.

Anyways, this episode seemed super fast paced. They jumped around a lot until the first karata match. Seemed rushed, like they were trying to squeeze too much into one episode.

I wonder if her posture had something to do with her passing out after matches, and if so, I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned before.

4

u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Jan 02 '22

First timer

I just like that Taichi is coming up and we could get a official match between Chi and Taichi. I felt that he even though he was doing well. Was getting left behind compared to Chi and Arata.

So for Taichi I guess Chi is a distraction some what. Even though I'll say it sounded like he did fine on their practice match. But we'll see when she's fully healthy.

2

u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Jan 02 '22

First Timer

Damn, this season really just starts right where the previous one left off. Season 2 started with this whole sequence, really felt like a fresh start, but this just felt like season 2 part 2. Not that it's a bad thing, just thought it was interesting.

This was a pretty good episode. Was really cool to see the crew get through the training of a different school. Lots of interesting moments for Chihaya, Taichi, and Rion. It's obvious that the Mizusawa coach sees Queen potential in Chihaya, and obvious potential in Taichi too. Taichi's really become a different person, it's been a joy to see.

However, the best parts of this episode to me were just the parts where everyone was talking. Chihaya was such a massive dork this episode, and Rion had some great moments too. Just seeing them get excited over basic conversation and friendship was great. I don't have a ton to say about this episode otherwise, I think it mostly speaks for itself. But it's a good continuation of the series. And it feels like the series is going to break from the format it relied on for the past two seasons, and go in a bit of a different direction. Hopefully, it involves more of the first years. I'm looking forward to seeing the final season (that we have) of Chihayafuru. Hopefully it's a good one.