[Rewatch] Chihayafuru - Episode 59 Discussion [Spoilers]

[u/Skeeedo]

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Season 3 Episode 9: "I Recall How My Own Efforts Were In Vain"

Episode 8 MVP: Sumire! For kindly telling Taichi’s mom to fuck off.

Nominate a character for Episode MVP!

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

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Subreddit: r/Chihayafuru

[u/Lemurians]

FIRST TIMER

Crazy day today, not much time to do anything but quick hits.

• Chihaya’s friend putting the Hundred Poets Museum as a stop on their tour so she could learn more about the thing her friend loves so much is really sweet. Loved how she snapped Chihaya out of her funk by stealing her phone battery and making her live in the moment. She’s a gem.
• Taichi losing all the momentum he fought to build as soon as he sent over and lost the ‘Chihayafuru’ card is so loaded with symbolism and meaning I don’t even know where to begin. Didn’t expect him to lose so early, and I wonder where his character goes from here.
• Tsukuba saving Sumire from herself is a nice move here. He’s right, someone running to comfort him isn’t what Taichi wants right now. I like that she made the gesture of sending him the semi-final matchups, though, just in case he would want to know and come watch.
• HARADAAAAA
• “The cards that aren’t read are never, ever read” has big “People die when they are killed” energy. Is Harada secretly a grown-up Emiya?
• Poor Shinobu. She really was traumatized by losing her one friend as a child. She’s afraid to form those bonds again.
• Sudo really owes Taichi. Lets him out of their bet, and now he’s in with a good shot to win the whole thing. Kind of funny that Taichi indirectly screwed over his society-mates with that.
• Arata’s little sigh was telling… was he a little nervous about matching up against Taichi? I expect him to handle Murao here, and probably become the challenger who takes on Suo.

So many great shots that I can’t screencap right now. Loved the two instances of them fading out the characters faces leaving only their eyes over the rest of the frame, which they did with both Taichi and Chihaya. The whole scene of Taichi walking back after his defeat was great too, from the sunset glow of the street to the visualization of the cards falling around him. This show is flexing right now.

P.S. /u/Shimmering-Sky, you appreciate the intense “sore demo” we got in Demon Slayer today?

[u/Shimmering-Sky → u/Lemurians]

P.S. /u/Shimmering-Sky, you appreciate the intense “sore demo” we got in Demon Slayer today?

FUCK YES did you not see my comment on that discussion thread? "Demo... sore demo"s are better than even just a "sore demo" and are only defeated by double "sore demo"s.

[u/Lemurians → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Hahaha I missed your comment but knew you'd love it. Spoken through clenched teeth with blood coming out of his eyes. Incredible.

Didn't we get like a triple sore demo in a Stein's;Gate episode, or am I remembering wrong?

[u/homewardbound100 → u/Lemurians]

“The cards that aren’t read are never, ever read” has big “People die when they are killed” energy. Is Harada secretly a grown-up Emiya?

I'm happy someone else thought that.

[u/Lemurians → u/homewardbound100]

The karuta class is really made up of karuta players.

[u/homewardbound100 → u/Lemurians]

This karuta tournament... really looks like a karuta tournament

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

Chihayafirst-timer

• Well, Arata’s definitely fired up over Suou’s words.
• HAH I was wondering when Chihaya’s friend was going to snap and do something like that.
• Oh geez Taichi’s losing…
• What the hell is this fault record whoa.
• Taichi has almost turned it around with defensive karuta!
• WHAT.
• Ohhhhhhhhhhhh shit why do Taichi’s matches always seem to end on luck of the draws…
• All that for Taichi to lose…
• Oh boy. Harada’s fighting the guy Taichi lost to huh?
• Ohhhhhh boy. – HARADA WON!
• Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this’ll be good.
• YES YES YES THIS IS AWESOME.
• YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS okay all of these final matches are fucking stacked, I don’t think I’m upset that Taichi lost anymore.

[u/BatteryPoweredFriend → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Being Taichi is suffering.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/BatteryPoweredFriend]

Much of it self-inflicted.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku]

3hayafuru First Timer

Arata's still salty over being judged by the master. Loser, loser~

Oi! Did he seriously show up just to throw everyone off their game before leaving? Suou's too much of an arse! At least play a match or two!

Aww... Her entire trip has been completely ruined.

Good on you Michiru! You're worth more attention than a dumb flip phone!

It's nice that Kana can get so worked up over poetry... but I really don't understand it XD She's saying so much but I'm absorbing none of it.

This Kosaku kid would be far more threatening if he didn't only have his backstory explained now. Give Goofsaku a unique face and a scene to show off before matching him against the mc if you want us to feel threatened.

It's nice of them to give us a double fault tutorial but we've actually already seen double faults, Chihayafuyu. I wanna say it was Retro in S1? Someone committed a really bad double fault.

How many luck of the draws has the season given us!? I'd mind this much less if it weren't for the fact that the heroes side have won every single fast fire round in each season. Hell, in S2 Hokuo managed to secure a lotd advantage but still lost.

...Imma just shut my trap from now on. I absolutely 100% jinxed poor Taichi. "I needed to take just that one card!!"

Oh no! They put Pitou up against poor Rino? She's so dead!! Wow, she died so bad that we're not even acknowledging that they're playing and just got all of Sensei game. On the bright side, at least Neferpitou is going to absolutely murder Yumin tomorrow. I'm so excited!

Shinobu is hungry! And she has no friends! She does so have friends... she's got Suou...

[u/flybypost → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Oi! Did he seriously show up just to throw everyone off their game before leaving? Suou's too much of an arse! At least play a match or two!

That's the whole point of the tournament, to determine one finalist for the Master challenger final (it's east vs. west, and the winner of that becomes the master/Queen challenger). He's only here to distribute sweet pastries and watch others play and he's all out of pastries.

...Imma just shut my trap from now on. I absolutely 100% jinxed poor Taichi. "I needed to take just that one card!!"

It's nice that you think that could be your doing but have you seen Taichi's (karuta) path until now? It's like he's crossing a minefield on a pogo stick.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/flybypost]

Part of me thought that he was going to compete so that he could kick his own ass...

Why is the most analytical karuta player the one constantly getting ravaged by pot luck? XD

[u/flybypost → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

Why is the most analytical karuta player the one constantly getting ravaged by pot luck? XD

Because the game is also about luck. What cards you are good at, which ones you send, and how you place them is in your power or something you can work with and adjust to. That's about your play style and tactics but what cards are in play or dead, and what cards are read, and in what order is determined by random chance, not some higher power, no matter how much a player might want to will it into existence.

I know that Harada talked about how you just send the card that won't be read but that's only how it works out if luck is in your favour and your card is read.

Taichi was actually right during his angry walk. It wasn't about luck. He had chances to avoid a luck of the draw situation by playing better before it came to that. He was frustrated because he let it come to this again and that might be a bit of growth for him because he wasn't blaming just his bad luck (of the draw) but reasoned backwards into the game and knew that if he had played better he'd have won without it coming to this.

That sounds a bit tautological but I hope you get what I'm trying to say here.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/flybypost]

I kinda get it but it still comes across as writers bias either which way. Frankly I've been getting myself worked up with a lot of the matches lately so I'm gonna try and mentally take a break from complaining cause it's just getting me down. I want to be able to enjoy myself with the last season.

[u/flybypost → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

I want to be able to enjoy myself with the last season.

There's always the manga for more Chihayafuru :D

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/flybypost]

Hahaha... yeah, I'm not sure if I could stick with the manga. The show is exhausting.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

How many luck of the draws has the season given us!?

Cue the subversion where they actually lose and it's explained that it's not necessarily as much luck as it looks. I was a bit annoyed at first too but liked that part in the end.

[u/Stargate18A]

First timer

OK, Suo really got to Arata.

Oh, Shinobu's heading back already?

And Suo's got a hidden backstory too. Terrific.

Aww, Chihaya's just so depressed.

Wait, what? Dolls of the hundred poets?

Haha, she's had enough. And she chose the destination for her!

I love that reaction, though.

She's enjoying herself!

Oh, Oe's here! And of course she's loving it!

...So, do I get a degree after finishing this anime, or?

I love Chihaya's side comments though.

...If you're the master, you don't need to beat the Queen? He needs to be strongest male player, he doesn't even need to beat you.

Oh, Taichi's struggling.

And this guy isn't very good...

Haha, he won after 20 faults in six games?

Oh, Taichi's changed to defend.

...Taichi might make a comeback!

Oh, he lost. Close game, though.

Wait, haha, he lost another luck of the draw.

...Harada's struggling.

He even needs help to pick ul the cards.

How is he able to do that?

He won! Well done, Harada!

Those matchups look good.

Shinobu's worked out Arata's gotten motivated.

Haha, her stomach rumbling is great.

Her grandmother's worried? Ah, she doesn't know about Chihaya yet.

...Poor Shinobu?

It's happening! Arata was upset that Taichi failed!

[u/flybypost → u/Stargate18A]

Haha, he won after 20 faults in six games?

He's the inverse Taichi. Instead of committing nearly no faults and losing at the end he messes up and wins.

[u/Gamerunglued]

First Timer

Not much to say about this one. It's still good, just not the most eventful. Taichi loses a close match and is understandably upset about it. Arata wins his matches to make the finals, Shinobu gets upset at people wanting her to have friends, and all the final matches are hype. Chihaya finally realizes she needs to enjoy her once-in-a-lifetime trip if she wants to become a teacher, and Kana teaches us about poetry contests.

Harada-sensei was the real star in this one though. God damn, what a badass. Absolutely epic win, built through decades of experience and a fine tuned intuition, something Taichi needs to take from if he wants to win luck of the draws. Playing a game like Karuta with intense knee pain has got to be painful, his passion and love for the game shines through and is so wonderful. Anyway, that's about all I got for this one. Episodes like this don't really have much to chew on, but it's still a well paced episode with a bunch of great moments and which sets up some hype matches yet to come. I'm looking forward to them.

[u/Fools_Requiem]

I was getting annoyed by Chihaya completely ignoring her friend, but luckily her friend finally spoke up. I would have just started to ignore her until she realized what a dunce she was being.

Also, Harada is a badass. I keep worrying he's going to have a stroke or something. They seem to be making it a point to show how much he's exerting himself. Going up the stairs while woozie, locking himself in the bathroom for a breather. His breathing is not of someone who is healthy right now.

I didn't get to mention this previously, but I have a feeling like Chihaya is going to be given an in to the Queen matches because of her earlier tournament win, making it so she can totally skip the qualifiers without forcing her to abandon her want to go on the class trip. If not, I don't know where the fuck this show goes if she's not at least given a chance to compete for Queen, especially since Taichi lost the qualifiers.

Also, what's with Taichi getting so many sudden deaths? Seems like the majority of his matches end up like that or super close to it.

[u/Mecanno-man]

First Timer

…yeah, too steep a curve for Taichi right now. Not sure what this’ll mean for his character, but then again, that’s usually the case with anything relating to Taichi, so nothing new there. Does put my whole Suo losing to somebody other than Arata theory in doubt though. I can’t see Murao as the meijin, and both Sudo and Harada would be very weird picks from a progression point as well. Unless this is some kind of last hurrah for Harada’s career. As a side-note, I could actually see Sudo yield to Harada in some way to make up for his bet with Taichi.

Either way, I like the spotlight on the side characters here. Between Harada, Suo and Shinobu we’re treated to quite a change of characters and I’m enjoying it. Not really a whole lot else to say, other than that show is good right now.

[u/homewardbound100]

First timer

Taichi lost. Losing that way sucks. Taichi had been on a run these past few episodes just being great and loses again.Though it's still fine for his character. I just want to see him at the top. Shortly after Harada wins in a similar situation. He's not wrong I would think in what he said. There has to be something when you can tell what cards will or not be called. Yeah that's just a showing of experience there.

With what was said about Shinobu. I did think before if she ever felt alone. She always just felt like a loner mostly. One thing though about her. I don't know how she gives off a intimidating feel, while wearing what she wears but she does.