(L+CR) Chihayafuru

[Undertaker]

Though his "individualists" are me doing my job and I "trust" you guys to do yours and not me padding my stats and screw the rest of you guys or me a ball hugger.

[Setsuryuu]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

So was Taichi breaking up with his girlfriend in the manga too? You have to wonder why the manga-ka even introduced the character in the 1st place.

And I didn't notice Kana's chest at all before the recap/Omake episode now I see she is um well developed there. It's like until someone points out something to me I am oblivious.

Originally Posted by LKK

I don't know the real reason the girlfriend was introduced and then ignored and then dropped. But it feels to me as if she was an idea that the mangaka &/or editor had in mind at the beginning that eventually didn't fit in as the story evolved through the publications. We mustn't forget that most manga are serialized rather than published as a single whole work. As such, manga stories tend to evolve over time. It's not uncommon for ideas to be changed along the way.

While I can understand why the seemingly irrelevant girlfriend appeared in the manga, what I don't understand is why the animators kept her in the TV series. I assume they knew that she wasn't going to play a real role in the story from the beginning. So why include her at all? Slavery to the story, perhaps?? IMO, leaving her out would have been an improvement to the story that the anime could have made.

To me she was introduced just to add depth to Taichi. And by add depth I mean show he is a jerk cuz he dates/plays with the feelings of girls he doesn't even care enough to brought her name onscreen. xP Well it worked for me! XD Although I don't hate Taichi that much anymore now that he has developed along the way...

And yeah, I haven't noticed Kana's breast before either! I'm glad I wasn't the only one! XD


Btw in the subs I've saw there was a "prostitutes means rich green"... What? Is that translated right? I don't get this at all... M-maybe I'm just that bad at interpreting poetry? XD Well, I'll remind of those words forever anyway...

[Ingram]

Originally Posted by Setsuryuu

Btw in the subs I've saw there was a "prostitutes means rich green"... What? Is that translated right? I don't get this at all... M-maybe I'm just that bad at interpreting poetry? XD Well, I'll remind of those words forever anyway...

What came to my mind when I read that subtitle was how it was mentioned and shown in the first story of Twelve Kingdoms that brothels had green columns outside. I haven't bothered looking anything up, so I just presumed that there might be something in that tied to Japanese/Asian history or culture. Maybe it's just a coincidence. ^_^;

[Master_Yoma]

Wow Tsutomu got Chihaya stats

Can some one tell me what karuta card are made from

[Setsuryuu]

Originally Posted by Ingram

What came to my mind when I read that subtitle was how it was mentioned and shown in the first story of Twelve Kingdoms that brothels had green columns outside. I haven't bothered looking anything up, so I just presumed that there might be something in that tied to Japanese/Asian history or culture. Maybe it's just a coincidence. ^_^;

Wow, nice, Twelve Kingdoms? You mean the actual novels or the manga? Because I kind of don't remember that in the anime...

But yeah it might be related. After all those kind of media takes inspiration over those RL little details all the time. Like keeping a well kept garden of pretty green outside the house to attract costumers? "If we treat our garden well imagine our girls!" Yeah I can see that happening. XD

[GundamZZ]

I think the suggestion is taking the reference out of context. 12 Kingdoms has the different reference. It is reference for "green penthouse", or "green house" in Japanese. It is a building with more than one story, and the building is painted in green. It was used to address a living space of wealthy family. It was also used to address the beauty living in the building, such as poetry. It was the original meaning. The meaning had changed once someone used it to address the girls in "green house". It was an euphomism, but the usage stayed. So, it's kind offensive to call someone's home as "green house". Besides, the kanji in use is actually blue(aoi). In Japanese, the "green house" is actually "blue house"(seiro). Kanade used the word green(midori).

Originally Posted by seiro

せい‐ろう【青楼】
《昔、中国で青漆を塗ったところから》
１ 高貴な人や美女の住む家。
２ 遊女屋。妓楼(ぎろう)。江戸では特に、官許の吉原遊郭をさした。

So, you see. Green in Chinese is actually blue in Kanji.

[hyperborealis]

Originally Posted by Undertaker

I actually think it's natural. The problem here is that unlike other team sport, Karuta is an individual sport, at least in professional level. The only time they can compete together is during the summer. Even then, team competition is basically a mix-match best-of-5. In this case, instead of talking over about team strategy, which basically comes down to match-ups and match-flow, the more important part is individual strength which is exactly what they are doing right now.

You're right of course, but I thought the episode was showing us that Chihaya needs to learn from her teammates (and others) how to improve her game. She can't win playing the way she always has, by relying on just her speed. So she needs to go outside herself, to other people, to develop her capabilities.

You see a little bit of a team approach to self-improvement in the episode, when Kana and Tsutomu critique Chihaya's approach, and when Chihaya suggests to Kana she do exercises to improve her playing posture. But Team Mizusawa is a little mixed here: Tsutomu doesn't want to share with Nishida; Nishida and Taichi don't offer advice the way Kana and Tsutomu do, since they are wrapped up in their own duel; and Nishida's explanation of Harada-sensei's advice when Chihaya takes the Chihayaburu card is off-target.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be good if someone just explained to Chihaya what to do--that would be too easy. The anime seems to be showing that her effort to figure out what to do is itself the growth process she needs in order to improve her play. She makes herself able to sustain her concentration past her habitual ten seconds; she makes herself able to study books about the Ogura hyakunin isshu. So far, Chihaya is figuring out what to do on her own, but with the help of others.

You see this whole theme of self-transformation with others' help repeated with Tsutomu, by the way. He overhears Chihaya's advice to Kana about doing exercises, he engages Kana in a conversation where Kana tells him her strategy to improve her play in the context of her smaller size. These discussions then lead him to affirm to himself his capacity to improve himself in despite of his physical limitations: "I can change. / I know it." So if you want a main idea for the episode, this is probably it.

So far, Chihaya, Kana, and Tsutomu are well engaged in this "self with teammates" approach. Taichi and Nishida, not so much. It is not a criticism, but just an observation, to note that both are working outside Team Mizusawa: Nishida is calling in tips from his old sensei, and Taichi is relying on familiy money to fly him around to tournaments. As the anime puts it, they are both being "sneaky," in that they are acting for themselves as individuals and going behind the team's back to do so. Yes, they ought to take advantage of whatever edge they have--that's fine. All the same, there is a bit of a split in the team on this issue. The fact both guys get their lunches handed to them may be coincidental--but it might also be a comment on their approach. We'll have to wait and see if the anime develops this idea or not.

----

GundamZZ, thank you for your wonderful and brilliant comments on "green house." You and Undertaker are really Kana-chan for this forum. Please post more often.

[Undertaker]

I think that issue lie more on Chihaya that she is too simple minded and this again plays into her "boar charge" mentality. She tries to be quicker based off her natural hearing talent but never thought about using other ways to help herself. Ie, the key of Karuta is not just being faster, but to "out fast" the opponent.

[hyperborealis]

The episode takes its title from the 83rd of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. The Crunchyroll translation "The World Offers No Escape" alludes presumably to the dilemma each of the karuta club members face: if they want to get better, there is no easy way out--they have to engage with the world, have to figure out what to do to improve. No magic, but three years on the tatami, along with a lot of thinking to make sure the time is well spent.

If you look at the poem as a whole, other interpretations offer themselves. Here's Mostow's version:

Within this world
there is, indeed, no path!
Even deep in these mountains
I have entered, heart set,
I seem to hear the deer cry!

The words Mostow focuses on is the Japanese for "heart set." He notes "Omohi-iru is a pivot word: omohi-iru, 'to set one's heart on, be possessed with an idea,' iru, 'to enter' (the mountains). Medieval commentators concerned themselves chiefly with what the poet has his 'heart set on'...." As regards the anime, we can think the poem refers to either Chihaya or Taichi, both of whom have their "heart set" on a goal, but find themselves in this episode without a clear path to take. Mostow later points out that "the cry of the deer was understood to mean the bellowing of a stag for a mate," so in this respect the poem has a particular salience for Taichi, since he has the idea conveyed by the deer cry very much on his mind.

---------

The first use of the cards in the episode comes when Taichi breaks open a box to set up a practice match at the beginning of the episode. If you look, you will see that after he takes out half the cards, two cards are visible on the top of the remainder in the box, 43 on the left, 69 on the right, and in the right hand side of the picture, from the ones he has already taken out, 13.

So here's 43, from the U. Virginia translation:

I have met my love.
When I compare this present
With feelings of the past,
My passion is now as if
I have never loved before.

Remind you of anybody? Say, someone who just broke up with his past girlfriend without even thinking twice? Whatever his initial feelings might have been, Taichi acts toward his ex indeed as if he had "never loved before." This card stands for Taichi.

Here's 69, in Peter McMillan's translation:

Blown by storm winds,
Mt. Mimuro's autumn leaves
have become Tatsuka River's
richly hued brocade!

The "richly hued brocade" of Tatsuta River's "autumn leaves" exactly reprise the Chihayaburu's card's description of "Tatsuta River in scarlet." The echo of Chihaya's own card lets us know that this card stands for Chihaya.

And 13, from the U Virginia translation,

From Tsukuba's peak
Falling waters have become
Mina's still, full flow:
So my love has grown to be
Like the river's quiet deeps.

The card off to the side, that would be the fellow out in Fukui. Now we don't in fact have any inkling of Arata's actual feelings toward Chihaya--but this card suggests he has hidden depths of feeling.

-----------

Oh, let me throw this out there before I go. The one card in the episode that the anime makes a point of laying out in front of the viewer is 33, which Taichi puts down while he is thinking about making Class A. Here's the U. Virginia translation. Anyone want to try to take a stab at this? I'm having trouble figuring out why the animators chose this one for this moment.

In the peaceful light
Of the ever-shining sun
In the days of spring,
Why do the cherry's new-blown blooms
Scatter like restless thoughts?

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

The episode takes its title from the 83rd of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. The Crunchyroll translation "The World Offers No Escape" alludes presumably to the dilemma each of the karuta club members face: if they want to get better, there is no easy way out--they have to engage with the world, have to figure out what to do to improve. No magic, but three years on the tatami, along with a lot of thinking to make sure the time is well spent.

If you look at the poem as a whole, other interpretations offer themselves. Here's Mostow's version:

Within this world
there is, indeed, no path!
Even deep in these mountains
I have entered, heart set,
I seem to hear the deer cry!

The words Mostow focuses on is the Japanese for "heart set." He notes "Omohi-iru is a pivot word: omohi-iru, 'to set one's heart on, be possessed with an idea,' iru, 'to enter' (the mountains). Medieval commentators concerned themselves chiefly with what the poet has his 'heart set on'...." As regards the anime, we can think the poem refers to either Chihaya or Taichi, both of whom have their "heart set" on a goal, but find themselves in this episode without a clear path to take. Mostow later points out that "the cry of the deer was understood to mean the bellowing of a stag for a mate," so in this respect the poem has a particular salience for Taichi, since he has the idea conveyed by the deer cry very much on his mind.

---------

The first use of the cards in the episode comes when Taichi breaks open a box to set up a practice match at the beginning of the episode. If you look, you will see that after he takes out half the cards, two cards are visible on the top of the remainder in the box, 43 on the left, 69 on the right, and in the right hand side of the picture, from the ones he has already taken out, 13.

So here's 43, from the U. Virginia translation:

I have met my love.
When I compare this present
With feelings of the past,
My passion is now as if
I have never loved before.

Remind you of anybody? Say, someone who just broke up with his past girlfriend without even thinking twice? Whatever his initial feelings might have been, Taichi acts toward his ex indeed as if he had "never loved before." This card stands for Taichi.

Here's 69, in Peter McMillan's translation:

Blown by storm winds,
Mt. Mimuro's autumn leaves
have become Tatsuka River's
richly hued brocade!

The "richly hued brocade" of Tatsuta River's "autumn leaves" exactly reprise the Chihayaburu's card's description of "Tatsuta River in scarlet." The echo of Chihaya's own card lets us know that this card stands for Chihaya.

And 13, from the U Virginia translation,

From Tsukuba's peak
Falling waters have become
Mina's still, full flow:
So my love has grown to be
Like the river's quiet deeps.

The card off to the side, that would be the fellow out in Fukui. Now we don't in fact have any inkling of Arata's actual feelings toward Chihaya--but this card suggests he has hidden depths of feeling.

Fascinating stuff as always. Your rep cycle seems to have gone around faster than mine, so I'm unable to reciprocate, but I'd still like to thank you for continuing to bring these poems to us.

On card/poem 13, although it does seem to be differentiated from the other two cards in that scene due to its placement, with the scene's focus on Taichi it occurs to me that there could be an alternative interpretation of that poem which refers to him. The waka's emphasis seems to be on the transition from the raging flow of a waterfall into the "still", "deep" flow of a river. I think that a similar transition in Taichi's love could be read into this moment in the story, as Taichi's tumultuous,
strained attraction to Chihaya (most reflected in his "diversionary" relationship with his former girlfriend, whom he didn't have feelings for) has now transformed into a steady determination to take the long path towards winning the heart of Chihaya by becoming a master of karuta.

Oh, let me throw this out there before I go. The one card in the episode that the anime makes a point of laying out in front of the viewer is 33, which Taichi puts down while he is thinking about making Class A. Here's the U. Virginia translation. Anyone want to try to take a stab at this? I'm having trouble figuring out why the animators chose this one for this moment.

In the peaceful light
Of the ever-shining sun
In the days of spring,
Why do the cherry's new-blown blooms
Scatter like restless thoughts?

I was a bit intrigued by how enigmatic this one was, so looking into the background of this poem a bit, I found out that it is actually one of the most famous poems from the collection. It seems that it is quite an exemplary expression of the Japanese concept of "mono no aware", the classical symbol of which is cherry blossoms in spring, which is literally "the pathos of things"; a literary moniker for a concept which evokes the ephemerality of existence.

Revisiting the episode, the specific context of this card seems to be Taichi's practice during the club meeting while thinking of making A-kyu to participate in the national tournament in October (together with Chihaya and Arata). In the sense of "temporality", I can think of two interpretations: first, the card evokes Taichi's feelings of urgency regarding the impending reunion between Chihaya and Arata, with the potential restoration of Arata as Chihaya's "karuta master" spelling the end of his present closeness to her. Alternatively, the card could perhaps also be an external omen of the temporality of Taichi's emotions at that moment themselves, given what we witnessed later in the episode in terms of Taichi's difficult performance at the B-class tournament.

[hyperborealis]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

On card/poem 13, although it does seem to be differentiated from the other two cards in that scene due to its placement, with the scene's focus on Taichi it occurs to me that there could be an alternative interpretation of that poem which refers to him. The waka's emphasis seems to be on the transition from the raging flow of a waterfall into the "still", "deep" flow of a river. I think that a similar transition in Taichi's love could be read into this moment in the story, as Taichi's tumultuous,
strained attraction to Chihaya (most reflected in his "diversionary" relationship with his former girlfriend, whom he didn't have feelings for) has now transformed into a steady determination to take the long path towards winning the heart of Chihaya by becoming a master of karuta.

I really like this idea. Now that you suggest it, I notice that both poems are about the way love transforms over time. Poem 43 suggests a displacement of the past version of love with a present version that the poet understands to more truly constitute love. As you point out, perhaps the fact that Taichi now is taking concrete steps to win Chihaya is what love truly means: not the infatuation or the idle desire, but rather the determination to realize passion concretely. So I think you can understand 43 in the exact same way you interpret 13. Certainly the anime favors the general concept of working toward a goal, as regards to karuta--perhaps we can extend the athletic value, as you propose, into matters of the heart.

Mostow however suggests less happy interpretations of the 43rd waka. He notes that traditional commentators considered the possibility that the speaker was a lover who was unable to meet his beloved again, or that the lover was "assailed with worries about rumors starting or the woman's affections changing." In his translation, the speaker has reached a stage of love which now includes cares he did not have in the earlier time.

This idea fits too with the interpretation you are offering. If Taichi is finally committing himself, then he is also putting himself in a position where he could lose. The anime raises the issue explicitly: when he brings out the cards, Taichi is wondering if Arata will be competing in the upcoming qualifiers. Arata is there as a rival, both in karuta and in love.

-----

Sol, let me come back to this when I next have time. I'm too tired to think straight at this point. But I want to take the idea of mono no aware that you raise in reference to the 33rd of the hyakunin isshu and bring it back to these earlier poems. The truth is that high school is a short period in one's life, significant, but in retrospect, also transitional. And nothing more so than one's first loves. Plus I definitely want to think through your comments on the 33rd poem.

Thanks for the sustained and serious response--I really appreciate it.

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

Sol, let me come back to this when I next have time. I'm too tired to think straight at this point. But I want to take the idea of mono no aware that you raise in reference to the 33rd of the hyakunin isshu and bring it back to these earlier poems. The truth is that high school is a short period in one's life, significant, but in retrospect, also transitional. And nothing more so than one's first loves. Plus I definitely want to think through your comments on the 33rd poem.

Haha. I will be gladly looking forward to it. Mono-no-aware is the core construction behind Makoto Shinkai's 5cm per second, which I know you also enjoyed very much.

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

I think the suggestion is taking the reference out of context. 12 Kingdoms has the different reference. It is reference for "green penthouse", or "green house" in Japanese. It is a building with more than one story, and the building is painted in green. It was used to address a living space of wealthy family. It was also used to address the beauty living in the building, such as poetry. It was the original meaning. The meaning had changed once someone used it to address the girls in "green house". It was an euphomism, but the usage stayed. So, it's kind offensive to call someone's home as "green house". Besides, the kanji in use is actually blue(aoi). In Japanese, the "green house" is actually "blue house"(seiro). Kanade used the word green(midori).



So, you see. Green in Chinese is actually blue in Kanji.

Actually 青 is cyan color in both languages, a color in between blue and green on the spectrum. Both modern Chinese and Japanese kanji use it to describe both blue and green depend on the context to certain extent.

Though as you said, Chinese tend to lean toward green while Kanji leans toward to the blue as far as primary representation. Though keep in mind that 青 isn't used that often either as there are more common and standard characters that represents both green (緑 [lui/midori]) and blue (藍 [lan/ai]).


As for "cyan tower/mansion" 青樓, it's as you stated, it's original meaning was to describe the house for wealthy, upper class families. But once it reaches to Southern Dynasty, around 4th century, the meaning changes. Because the ancient whore houses in China are usually lavishly built, (cyan mansion) 青樓 become the related to whore house and when use as 青樓女子 or "women from cyan mansion" it means whores.


Again, the Kanade's explanation was a bit too loosely translated. She was saying that at time of the 88th poem Naniwa Bay also has a lot of prostitutes around which gives a more "green" feel to the card. It really has not much directly to do with cyan mansion (青樓). Keep in mind that green 緑, usually symbolizes prosperity and prostitutes are usually related to that prosperity.

Another added phase is that both poem Kanade mentioned seems to be about feeling of woman after a one-night stand or passionate affair, so that might also play a roles in to.


BTW, the Chinese Hyakunin Isshu wiki page has the pictures for all the cards in it in one place with the name of the poet under them, anyone interested in it can take a look Here.

[hyperborealis]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

I was a bit intrigued by how enigmatic this one was, so looking into the background of this poem a bit, I found out that it is actually one of the most famous poems from the collection. It seems that it is quite an exemplary expression of the Japanese concept of "mono no aware", the classical symbol of which is cherry blossoms in spring, which is literally "the pathos of things"; a literary moniker for a concept which evokes the ephemerality of existence.

Revisiting the episode, the specific context of this card seems to be Taichi's practice during the club meeting while thinking of making A-kyu to participate in the national tournament in October (together with Chihaya and Arata). In the sense of "temporality", I can think of two interpretations: first, the card evokes Taichi's feelings of urgency regarding the impending reunion between Chihaya and Arata, with the potential restoration of Arata as Chihaya's "karuta master" spelling the end of his present closeness to her. Alternatively, the card could perhaps also be an external omen of the temporality of Taichi's emotions at that moment themselves, given what we witnessed later in the episode in terms of Taichi's difficult performance at the B-class tournament.

The scene is a very curious one: Taichi has just broken up with his girlfriend, with a coolness so striking all the other team members immediately remark upon it. At that point the animation returns to Taichi's interior monologue, and we find that he is thinking about Arata. The viewer learns that Taichi's cool demeanor belies an interior anxiety about keeping up with his rival.

I think the card speaks to this disjunction of feeling: the tranquil permanence of the sun is undermined by the transitory cherry blossoms, which resemble instead "restless thoughts." Both of your interpretations of Taichi's emotional state seem to me to be valid accounts of his inner disquiet. He feels the pressure of the advancing deadline upon his hopes to level up to A level, and the confidence he expresses in this scene belies the depression he and Nishida share upon their inglorious return from the tournament. As you point out, in both instances Taichi is caught in a transitory condition, of events themselves as they rush toward the Meijin and Queen qualification tournaments, and of his own feelings, which rise and fall with the fortunes of his ambitions.

Like Chihaya, Taichi dedicates himself completely to his dreamed-for future. The present is turned into the instrument of the realization of his hopes. Everything he does is dedicated to changing himself, to accomplish this dream. If his present is transitory, it is since he has made it the purpose of his whole being to make it so. There is an irony here, if you think about it. If he changes himself so much, will he still be the person who had wanted the goal he had set for himself so long ago? When Chihaya becomes queen, will she still be the person he has been in love with?

Here I would go back to the earlier poems, which are about love's transformation in its own progress, to point out how they suggest the negation of love. In the 43rd waka, the older poet no longer recognizes his own earlier feelings of love to be love at all. And in the 13th, the poet describes a process of entropy, as the energy of the waterfall is dissipated into the quietness of deep waters. The changes in phase make the identity of the feeling itself a matter of question. Perhaps the older Taichi will no longer even recognize his own earlier feelings, or will come to find his own deep emotions to be of a different kind than his earlier, wilder passions.

I think the reason Taichi does not finally hold Chihaya's hand on the train is that he knows somewhere deep inside that the love he has for her lives only now, in the present moment of longing in which his wish is yet unrealized. The time of his life that he will always remember will not be the day he finally gets his answer from her, but these brief months themselves, in this time of his yet unrequited love. Taichi already has everything he could want with Chihaya, in closeness, in shared passion, in life together. And the great paradox, and the source of melancholy, were he to think about it, is that everything he is doing to reach the A level and everything she is doing to become queen must have as its end the termination of this special time and connection which they share.

The entire narrative is written in retrospect. According to Wikipedia, the author of the original manga "Yuki Suetsugu belonged to a karuta club in senior high school, and feels that the school years are a period of a person's life where "you can dedicate the most genuine part of yourself to something"." If the manga seeks to recapture this lost time, then it knows that what it describes is something intrinsically transitory, something that is already lost. The anime brings this point out by showing us that Chihaya's deepest motive is her wish to return to the time in elementary school where she, Arata, and Taichi played together. And if you are familiar with the very first panel of the manga, then you will understand that everything we are watching, the entire narrative, has already passed onwards to its future.

So, you see, Sol, I do think that the concept of mono no aware is central to this anime.

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

The entire narrative is written in retrospect. According to Wikipedia, the author of the original manga "Yuki Suetsugu belonged to a karuta club in senior high school, and feels that the school years are a period of a person's life where "you can dedicate the most genuine part of yourself to something"." If the manga seeks to recapture this lost time, then it knows that what it describes is something intrinsically transitory, something that is already lost. The anime brings this point out by showing us that Chihaya's deepest motive is her wish to return to the time in elementary school where she, Arata, and Taichi played together. And if you are familiar with the very first panel of the manga, then you will understand that everything we are watching, the entire narrative, has already passed onwards to its future.

So, you see, Sol, I do think that the concept of mono no aware is central to this anime.

This is something really important, I agree, that we may have been missing in our earlier interpretations of this story. For Arata, we can understand this highschool period as a time of rebirth, for his former passions. For Chihaya and Taichi meanwhile, we can see it as a period of growth and realization. If the author, however, as we can indeed understand, is writing with an awareness of the transience of those brilliant passions which can bring high school days to life, then we are forced to wonder about the temporality of all the dreams that they carry.

Perhaps this moment, of Taichi's, when he has cast away his hesitations and dedicated himself fully and fairly to the long pursuit of his love, is the most beautiful moment of the growth and purity of his character of all. And that is why, at this moment the 33rd card expressing mono no aware is brought to our attention, to bring to mind an aching awareness that all things must pass, through time, as the scattering of a cherry blossom.

Your description of Taichi's reasoning as he declines to sneak the interconnection of his and Chihaya's hands as he realizes that what he has now, after all, is enough, and that what he will come to treasure in the future will not be the realization of their dreams, but the time of gentle yearning of it, is quite powerful.

I don't know yet that Chihaya, Arata, Shinobu, and even Taichi will not be able to share and express their passion through/for karuta long into their futures, within this fictional universe, not encapsulating away these "true selves" of themselves as the author identifies, at the end of highschool. However, the use and allusion to mono no aware as this episode evinces certainly brings up the possibility. Whichever the case, it has added depth to my experience of the story.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Latest episode:

Chihaya: "Kana-Chan, you sure love poetry don't you?"

Still a little slow on the uptake with regards to your friends interests aren't you Chihaya.

[hai_san]

Great 18th ep! Kana is the secret 2nd main heroine xD She stealing the spotlight of Taichi and Arata, the 2 main girl dominate all the guys in the serie :P

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by hai_san

Great 18th ep! Kana is the secret 2nd main heroine xD She stealing the spotlight of Taichi and Arata, the 2 main girl dominate all the guys in the serie :P

I think the current arc is just focusing a little more on her growth now. Everyone else has had their moment in the spotlight, but she hasn't really had an arc devoted to her yet so now it's time. Not really seeing any particular bias towards the female characters and trust me I'm extremely sensitive towards gender bias in anime lately so if it were there I'd be the first person griping about it believe you me.

[Blaat]

Desktop-kun just ask Kana-chan out already. I'm dying to know how the matches will play out especially Taichi vs Pork-kun the way they presented it it feels like it was an epic duel.

Also was Banjou Ginga (Gihren in MSG) the card reader in this episode? He sounded a lot like him.

[ars89]

So Chihaya lost her first match in A-class. At least she was able to learn from it. Like how she tried not not use her speed, but couldn't help it. Oh man not only is it Taichi versus Porky, but Kana versus Desktomu as well. Glad Chihaya is learning from them.