AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Licensed + Crunchyroll Chihayafuru Season 2

hyperborealis · 2013-03-03, 11:41

The title poem is #7, which Mostow translates as follows:

As I gaze out, far
across the plains of heaven
ah, at Kasuga,
from behind Mount Mikasa,
it’s the same moon that came out then!

The poem was written by Abe no Nakamaro, a member of an ambassadorial mission to the Chinese imperial court. Apparently he wrote the poem in China, on the night before he commenced his return journey to Japan.

The idea of "the same moon" brings out the shared humanity between the Mizusawa and Chiba teams: they may live in different places, but the same moon shines on all alike. The connection between the moon of the present and of the past connects to Chihaya's recognition that her Chiba opponent is putting down cards the way she did when she started: the Chiba team is in the same place Mizusawa was, and so both teams are connected along a shared path of improvement, but are just at different points of time upon that path.

Finally, the fact that this waka was written outside of Japan, by a Japanese who is himself a foreigner among the Chinese, reminds us that "foreignness" is a matter of context. Any Japanese person, however he or she divides him or herself from strangers, can also be a foreigner as well, as Abe no Nakamaro himself illustrates.

It's worth remembering that Chihayafuru got its start with young Chihaya's resisting Taichi's efforts to ostracize Arata for being an outsider. Suetsugu's disgust with nativism has been consistent across the series.

A related point: I was struck by how Chihaya's opponent found himself shunned by his classmates for pursuing karuta. Suetsugu is pointing out how the pursuit of Japanese tradition itself makes any Japanese an outsider in the modern culture that has no interest in that tradition. Paradoxically the person who wishes to be a true Japanese in the cultural sense becomes in fact another gaijin.

As I have said before, Suetsugu's sympathy is always with the outsider, and never more so than in this episode.

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Favorite moment in the episode: Miyauchi-sensei's thinking "Finish them!" with that satisfied, cold-blooded smile! I love that lady...

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Like Quadratic, I was struck with Chihaya's reflection about Tsutomu's willingness to sacrifice his own chance to play for the sake of the team. It was a little curious that the animators showed Taichi in profile, with something like (not the same as) his NTR face, as she thought this. Translating what she said to the romance angle, I wonder if he will be called on to make that same sacrifice, and to accept "that someone who started later/ had caught up to me?"

------------------------

Curious that the animators are playing up the horror angle in depicting Shinobu. That lone, crooked hand reaching out to claw Arata was grotesque. Every time we see her, she is in a new incarnation. What is that all about?

2013-03-03, 11:41	Link #618
hyperborealis Lost at Sea Join Date: Mar 2010	The title poem is #7, which Mostow translates as follows: As I gaze out, far across the plains of heaven ah, at Kasuga, from behind Mount Mikasa, it’s the same moon that came out then! The poem was written by Abe no Nakamaro, a member of an ambassadorial mission to the Chinese imperial court. Apparently he wrote the poem in China, on the night before he commenced his return journey to Japan. The idea of "the same moon" brings out the shared humanity between the Mizusawa and Chiba teams: they may live in different places, but the same moon shines on all alike. The connection between the moon of the present and of the past connects to Chihaya's recognition that her Chiba opponent is putting down cards the way she did when she started: the Chiba team is in the same place Mizusawa was, and so both teams are connected along a shared path of improvement, but are just at different points of time upon that path. Finally, the fact that this waka was written outside of Japan, by a Japanese who is himself a foreigner among the Chinese, reminds us that "foreignness" is a matter of context. Any Japanese person, however he or she divides him or herself from strangers, can also be a foreigner as well, as Abe no Nakamaro himself illustrates. It's worth remembering that Chihayafuru got its start with young Chihaya's resisting Taichi's efforts to ostracize Arata for being an outsider. Suetsugu's disgust with nativism has been consistent across the series. A related point: I was struck by how Chihaya's opponent found himself shunned by his classmates for pursuing karuta. Suetsugu is pointing out how the pursuit of Japanese tradition itself makes any Japanese an outsider in the modern culture that has no interest in that tradition. Paradoxically the person who wishes to be a true Japanese in the cultural sense becomes in fact another gaijin. As I have said before, Suetsugu's sympathy is always with the outsider, and never more so than in this episode. ------------------------ Favorite moment in the episode: Miyauchi-sensei's thinking "Finish them!" with that satisfied, cold-blooded smile! I love that lady... ------------------------ Like Quadratic, I was struck with Chihaya's reflection about Tsutomu's willingness to sacrifice his own chance to play for the sake of the team. It was a little curious that the animators showed Taichi in profile, with something like (not the same as) his NTR face, as she thought this. Translating what she said to the romance angle, I wonder if he will be called on to make that same sacrifice, and to accept "that someone who started later/ had caught up to me?" ------------------------ Curious that the animators are playing up the horror angle in depicting Shinobu. That lone, crooked hand reaching out to claw Arata was grotesque. Every time we see her, she is in a new incarnation. What is that all about? __________________ . A Blossoming Flower in the Snowy Winter