(L) Chihayafuru [Manga]

[karice67]

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

Don't know what you mean.

Spoiler:

I don't know your source. As far as I know, Chihaya writes several lyric(poet)? Kana realizes that Chihaya is in love with someone, but Kana doesn't know the person. She thinks the "love idiot" such as Chihaya is finally awakened. Then, Chihaya proes Kana wrong. Kana worries about Ta-ichi. So, she encourages Ta-ichi to use camp as the opportunity to date Chihaya. It makes sense for Tai-ichi.

Spoiler for response:

No, I've just read the chapter myself too, and I'm pretty certain Kana-chan has guessed that the feelings that Chihaya's has written into her poem are about Arata. It's pretty obvious from the look on her face when she talks to Taichi afterwards.

My comment about not liking what Kana-chan did, is her 'scheming' to get have only Taichi and Chihaya going to the camp. Though I understand that she wants to support Taichi, whom she's seen suffering for so long, I find it rather...saddening that she seems to be showing little consideration/respect for Chihaya's own feelings.

Sakurazawa-sensei's commentary about the match is not all that straightforward. The blogger I read explained what some of the karuta-related descriptions meant, but I don't have the time to translate it properly at present.

Er...as for the rest of what you wrote, I think you need to read the chapter. You got the bit about Taichi being a strong player when Chihaya's not around right, but otherwise...

If you want to doubt my sources, that's fine with me. I only ever post things from sources I trust - and one of them is a pretty extensive blog about competitive karuta - but I never link them because some Japanese people don't like it. At any rate, you'll see when you read the chapter for yourself.

------

and some corrections to what I originally posted:

Spoiler for chapter #93:

Chihaya's surgery is successful.

When Taichi and Kana-chan visit her again, they look at some of Chihaya's summer homework, one that involved writing some tanka poems (i.e. poems like those in the hyakunin isshu). Chihaya wrote 4 poems, two of which are based on poems from the hyakunin isshu, and two of which 7 poems, the first five of them earlier in the summer. One was about eating ice-cream, another about Shinobu. But the two that she wrote in hospital allude to her feelings for Arata. Kana-chan seems to realise this, and does her best to encourage Taichi not to give up, for Chihaya won't be a nincompoop forever.

Chihaya then calls Sakurazawa-sensei to thank her for the video of Arata and Shinobu's match, and also asks for her opinion about them. Sakurazawa-sensei says that Arata's way of playing shows a balance in the way he uses both left and right hemispheres of his brain. He doesn't have Chihaya or Suou's level of hearing (感じ), but he can hear the 'half-tones'. i.e. take "ura" and "uka" - Arata doesn't have to hear both syllables to distinguish between them, he is able to react merely from hearing the consonants (k or r) at the start of the second syllable. As for his memory...the way its described seems to suggest that he has a photographic memory... Moving on to Shinobu: Sakurazawa-sensei seems to suggest that one of the reasons Shinobu seems like she's so well connected to the cards is because she has great confidence in the way she plays.

Sakurazawa-sensei then invites the Mizusawa club to a camp with Fujisaki (and several other schools) - hosted by Fujisaki. Chihaya is excited about going with everyone...but the Suihoku Karuta group's camp is on at the same time, and Kana-chan tells Taichi that she will "do something about the first years, so please go to Shizuoka with Chihaya-chan, just the two of you".

The camp is quite intense, filled not only with matches, but also running and stretching exercises. Sakurazawa-sensei also tells all the participants to find their greatest contradiction in karuta (which is a sport of contradictions - e.g. if one tries speed up, faults tend to increase and one falls behind the opponent instead).

Sakurazawa-sensei never became Queen, but she was the challenger five times - 'the strongest challenger'.

Er...'love stories' also form a significant part of the chapter in terms of the number of 'couples' focused on...but I'll leave that for now. Earlier in the chapter - the scene where Chihaya calls Sakurazawa-sensei - Eromu offers to walk Sakurazawa-sensei home because it's dark, but she turns him down... The Fujisaki third years (incl. Eromu and Makoto) have all retired from the club. However, Makoto comes to the camp, and asks Rion whether she wants to go to the beach - a typical tsundere (= Makoto) + 'oblivious idiot' (Rion) scene ensues, with the other girls rejoicing that they get to go to the beach "with Makoto-sempai!" too as a result. That night, the girls gossip about their love lives when they're preparing their futons. Of course, they pester Chihaya about her love life because they think she has to be popular...only to find out that the rumours about her being a 'karuta idiot' are true. In answer to the question about whether she has a boyfriend, Chihaya answers that she does not (other girls: what do you mean? what about the Mizusawa captain?), but adds that "if I don't become stronger at karuta, then I can't even sit in front of (that person)." <= the implication here being 'sit across from (that person) in a match'.

At this point, the other girls start talking about confessing to the guys they like after e.g. achieving an important milestone in competitive karuta, or after an important match (one of them says that she wishes she'd confessed to Eromu after the interhigh finals). Chihaya muses that she "never knew they were all lined up there with those feelings!" and on the next page, "what about Arata? What were his feelings? I have absolutely no idea...but I want to know... Just as Kana-chan said, I still don't know anything at all."

Taichi goes off to learn some stretching exercises from the new Fujisaki club captain - a guy who joined the club in order to become popular. Coming back from the bath, some of the girls - Chihaya included - spot them, and seeing that, Hyoro-kun (Retro) tells her that she'd better watch out for Taichi too (as a rival). Chihaya responds with "what are you talking about - I always beat Taichi". But Hyoro notes that that's only during practice matches, and that he thinks that Taichi is stronger when she's not around. (Note also that Taichi won all seven of his matches on the first day - an impressive feat even though there aren't many A class players around since the third years have all retired.)

The chapter finishes with Chihaya narrating that "It looks like I still don't know anything at all, not even about Taichi".

[tun]

Any updates?

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by tun

Any updates?

Here's a summary of chapter 94 (by Creiz from TDX scanlation):

Spoiler for ch94:

While Chihaya and Taichi participate in Fujisaki training camp, Nikuman-kun, Tsukue-kun and Kana-chan all take part in the training camp held by Kitano-sensei of Suihoku-kai at his personal residence. Kana-chan decided not to sleepover at his place, heading home instead, which upset Nikuman-kun for some reason. He even says that he wishes he'd gone to Fujisaki camp.

Meanwhile, it's the second day of Fujisaki training camp, and it sees Taichi, Chihaya and the rest of the participants put through some gruesome physical training. They're supposed to mountain climb and play 4 matches on that day. The mountain climb that Sakurazawa-sensei mentioned turned out more than just climb - it's literaly running up the mountains! Chihaya is happy with the training, but her body doesn't exactly agree with her as she's rather tired.

The matchups for Chihaya and Rion surprise them both because for 3 matches out of 4 they get unchangingly pitted against one another. That makes Chihaya rejoice while Rion doesn't like that kind of matchup. Sakurazawa-sensei is fully responsible for deciding matchups, so she apparently had some kind of goal in mind.

Sakurazawa-sensei sees that Rion is not happy, but thinks, "Ah, that won't do. Rion is already losing any kind of fighting spirit. So be it, but I will make her play those 3 matches anyway. What Rion seriously lacks is stamina and passion for karuta".

Rion wins the first match by a landslide (let's not forget Chihaya can only play with her left hand for now). After the first match there's a break for lunch, and Chihaya and Rion eat it together. Rion's reason for playing karuta is her wish to have rice?... (wtf... don't ask me, I'll need a bit more context to decifer that...)

The second match is also won by Rion by 9 cards.

By the start of their 3rd game Chihaya notices something. When you play against the same opponent more than 2 times in a row, your memories become confused because the card placement both in your own and in the enemy formation is similar, and you start commiting a lot of faults because of overlaying memories from the past games, and also, by the 3rd match fatigue starts to take its toll.

While the two of them play, Sakurazawa-sensei approaches to give them advice. "I don't usually give advice in the middle of a match, but just this once I'll do. Watch your posture. All the Queen and Meijin title holders had a good posture. They all looked beautiful. They didn't so much aim to take cards fast as they were mindful to take cards while keeping a beautiful natural form. No matter how tired you are, you need to be able to do that."

Rion wins the third match as well, this time by 7 cards. After the match, Rion elaborates a bit on her extraordinary hearing, "It's different when I listen to my grandmother's reading... But when it's other people doing the reading, I think I can hear whether the tone is going to be highpitched or lowpitched... I can hear the modulation of the sound right before the decisive syllable is read..."

So, Chihaya is finally through her 3 matches against Rion. And her opponent for the final match is Taichi. We're not shown what went on in that match as the scene cuts to the moment when Chihaya and Taichi are going back home by train after the camp is over. But from their conversation it's clear that Taichi won. Chihaya felt that the atmosphere during that match was very different from her usual matches against Taichi. And Taichi confirms that by proclaiming, "This fall, I'm gonna win against you even when you play with your right hand". Which opens up a possibility of their direct confrontation soon as they're now both Class A players.

Rion is puzzled why Sakurazawa-sensei pitted Chihaya against Taichi knowing full well they're clubmates. She gets the following answer, "Because when he was not suffering from the lack of self-confidence, he turned into a monster. And I'm sure there's a level of confidence which only [winning against] Ayase-san can give him."

Sakurazawa-sensei's final assessment on Taichi was interesting. This is getting good!

[GundamZZ]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Here's a summary of chapter 94 (by Creiz from TDX scanlation):

Spoiler for ch94:

While Chihaya and Taichi participate in Fujisaki training camp, Nikuman-kun, Tsukue-kun and Kana-chan all take part in the training camp held by Kitano-sensei of Suihoku-kai at his personal residence. Kana-chan decided not to sleepover at his place, heading home instead, which upset Nikuman-kun for some reason. He even says that he wishes he'd gone to Fujisaki camp.

Meanwhile, it's the second day of Fujisaki training camp, and it sees Taichi, Chihaya and the rest of the participants put through some gruesome physical training. They're supposed to mountain climb and play 4 matches on that day. The mountain climb that Sakurazawa-sensei mentioned turned out more than just climb - it's literaly running up the mountains! Chihaya is happy with the training, but her body doesn't exactly agree with her as she's rather tired.

The matchups for Chihaya and Rion surprise them both because for 3 matches out of 4 they get unchangingly pitted against one another. That makes Chihaya rejoice while Rion doesn't like that kind of matchup. Sakurazawa-sensei is fully responsible for deciding matchups, so she apparently had some kind of goal in mind.

Sakurazawa-sensei sees that Rion is not happy, but thinks, "Ah, that won't do. Rion is already losing any kind of fighting spirit. So be it, but I will make her play those 3 matches anyway. What Rion seriously lacks is stamina and passion for karuta".

Rion wins the first match by a landslide (let's not forget Chihaya can only play with her left hand for now). After the first match there's a break for lunch, and Chihaya and Rion eat it together. Rion's reason for playing karuta is her wish to have rice?... (wtf... don't ask me, I'll need a bit more context to decifer that...)

The second match is also won by Rion by 9 cards.

By the start of their 3rd game Chihaya notices something. When you play against the same opponent more than 2 times in a row, your memories become confused because the card placement both in your own and in the enemy formation is similar, and you start commiting a lot of faults because of overlaying memories from the past games, and also, by the 3rd match fatigue starts to take its toll.

While the two of them play, Sakurazawa-sensei approaches to give them advice. "I don't usually give advice in the middle of a match, but just this once I'll do. Watch your posture. All the Queen and Meijin title holders had a good posture. They all looked beautiful. They didn't so much aim to take cards fast as they were mindful to take cards while keeping a beautiful natural form. No matter how tired you are, you need to be able to do that."

Rion wins the third match as well, this time by 7 cards. After the match, Rion elaborates a bit on her extraordinary hearing, "It's different when I listen to my grandmother's reading... But when it's other people doing the reading, I think I can hear whether the tone is going to be highpitched or lowpitched... I can hear the modulation of the sound right before the decisive syllable is read..."

So, Chihaya is finally through her 3 matches against Rion. And her opponent for the final match is Taichi. We're not shown what went on in that match as the scene cuts to the moment when Chihaya and Taichi are going back home by train after the camp is over. But from their conversation it's clear that Taichi won. Chihaya felt that the atmosphere during that match was very different from her usual matches against Taichi. And Taichi confirms that by proclaiming, "This fall, I'm gonna win against you even when you play with your right hand". Which opens up a possibility of their direct confrontation soon as they're now both Class A players.

Rion is puzzled why Sakurazawa-sensei pitted Chihaya against Taichi knowing full well they're clubmates. She gets the following answer, "Because when he was not suffering from the lack of self-confidence, he turned into a monster. And I'm sure there's a level of confidence which only [winning against] Ayase-san can give him."

Sakurazawa-sensei's final assessment on Taichi was interesting. This is getting good!

In case someone wants the different translation

Spoiler for different version:

Nishida complains that Kanade does not stay at their training camp. He says she should stay, because the meaning of training camp should have night events such as bravery challenge, firework, etc.

In another training camp, Chihaya and groups are running during mountain climbing. Both Chihaya and Rion are exhausted. Taichi is still in the good condition. Chihaya is assigned to play Rion for the first 3 rounds. After the defeat, Chihaya naturally falls asleep. Rion wakes up Chihaya to eat lunch. She also shares her riceballs with Chihaya. Chihaya finds Rion's lunch box is full of rice. She is surpised that Rion can eat that much, especially she is tiny and she doesn't like exercise. Rion tells Chihaya food supply is always the problem in her household. Because her grandmother wants her to play karuta, so the grandmother delivers the rice to her family. As the result, Rion-chan continues to play karuta for rice, not for the Queen.

In the fourth round, Chihaya is assigned to play with Taichi. (Time skips) On the train, Chihaya expressed that Taichi played like a stranger(implied he won). Taichi told Chihaya he will win Chihaya when Chihaya can use right hand. The sensei explained that the reason is there's no other strong player in the training camp. She thinks Taichi's skill is equivalent to his confidence, but he loses his confidence while playing Chihaya.

[Kirarakim]

Speaking of Chihayafuru there is a really cute 2012 calendar that came with one of the magazine volumes. I mainly liked it for the artwork. Closest thing I will get to Chihayafuru merchandise I guess.

I ended up finding it on EBAY & thought it was worth it.

Here is a link to someone's scans of the calendar

http://littleduckie.tumblr.com/post/...-2013-calender

[smokeesid]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Speaking of Chihayafuru there is a really cute 2012 calendar that came with one of the magazine volumes. I mainly liked it for the artwork. Closest thing I will get to Chihayafuru merchandise I guess.

I ended up finding it on EBAY & thought it was worth it.

Here is a link to someone's scans of the calendar

http://littleduckie.tumblr.com/post/...-2013-calender

Yeah pretty good artwork, more than from their design but from their body language they seem like 16 year olds

[karice67]

I'm all about the second season being announced.

But seriously, just thinking about how they'd have to compose the series (whether it's one cour or two) has my head in a spin. Going by the number of chapters they adapted the first time (49 - though the last few were rushed), it seems like where the manga is now (end of summer, chapter #94) might be the best place if we get another ~25 episodes after all. I certainly can't think of another point where they can stop - it'd leave too much hanging!

[GundamZZ]

I have speculation about Chihaya. Chihaya is going to be a teacher. She may be awkward in humanities, but she would be fine in P.E.

[Blaat]

The Kanade/Tsutomu moment in the latest chapter (96) was just hnnh. ;x

[GundamZZ]

Rion-chan is so darn cute!!! Her cuteness makes that girly guy goes head over heels before her.

Images

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by karice67

I'm all about the second season being announced.

But seriously, just thinking about how they'd have to compose the series (whether it's one cour or two) has my head in a spin. Going by the number of chapters they adapted the first time (49 - though the last few were rushed), it seems like where the manga is now (end of summer, chapter #94) might be the best place if we get another ~25 episodes after all. I certainly can't think of another point where they can stop - it'd leave too much hanging!

Agree, there is basically no stopping between where anime ends to the end of summer in ch94. Another 25 is reasonable, although, I do think with 25 episodes, the material might not be quite enough considering that there are quite a few chapters with draw out battle that won't take as much time in animated state.



As for Kanade/Tsutomu, they should just get together already, the mangaka has been setting flags for those two for the logest time, even more so then the main trio. But I do feel a tad bad for Meat bun-kun.

[HandofFate]

Question about the kurata game.

Its the same 100 poems right? So is it a rule that they have to wait for the words that are on the card to be said before taking it?

If they know the whole poem, couldn't they take a card on hearing the first word or line right away? They always seem to wait a line or two till it gets to the word that's on the card.

[hyperborealis]

Players do take the card as soon as they can identify it. But some poems start with the same first few syllables, so players wait until the first identifying syllable is read.

Also, the reader always completes the concluding lines of the previous poem before going on to the next, so that may be the "line or two" you are hearing

Here's a link to more links about how to play competitive karuta.

http://ogoola.se/eng_links.html

[Blaat]

So...

Spoiler for Chapter 98:

There is a good chance that Taichi will face Arata in the quarter-finals. :x

[Johnny]

Spoiler for ch 98:

I hope Arata smokes his ass, because I don't particular care for his attitude when dealing with Arata. He comes off as a jealous prick when Arata just wants to be pals again. However, I think this chapter was sort of foretelling that whoever Arata's going to face he's going to lose. Could be wrong though...

[GundamZZ]

Three comments

Spoiler:

Yama-chan is fired up.

Spoiler:

Inokuma Haruka, four times Queen title holders, is back from the pregnancy leave.

Spoiler for response to Johnny:

From the interview, the manaka already stated that she aimed to achieve the ending with the "regretful" feeling. Chihaya and Arata are both idiot when it comes to love. Taichi is the one who's making the move. One wrong move will change everything.

So, we can assume that their relationship is like those tragic poetry.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

Spoiler for response to Johnny:

From the interview, the manaka already stated that she aimed to achieve the ending with the "regretful" feeling. Chihaya and Arata are both idiot when it comes to love. Taichi is the one who's making the move. One wrong move will change everything.

So, we can assume that their relationship is like those tragic poetry.

Which interview is that?

[GundamZZ]

Originally Posted by karice67

Which interview is that?

Originally Posted by The "romance" that cannot be taken back.

「取り返しのつかない恋」を描けたらいいなと思います。

http://jumpsq.shueisha.co.jp/content...ugu/index.html

[Undertaker]

Speaking of Inokuma Haruka,

Spoiler for Ch. 98:

she is matching up to Chihaya in semi, should be interesting considering that the chapter is hinting that she is exactly the same type of player as Chihaya. (or at least have the same hearing advantage)

But timeline-wise, it's possible she was the queen that Yumi beat. But that would really mess up the level balance here with Yumi losing to Arata by 7-cards. Granted Arata was mentally drained after the match and Yumi did comment that if she get to argue 4 more cards in her favor it' would mess up Arata entirely and the match would be hers. But really don't mean much since 4 card is pretty big split to begin with.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Undertaker

Speaking of Inokuma Haruka,

Spoiler for Ch. 98:

timeline-wise, it's possible she was the queen that Yumi beat.

I don't think so. They said she retired due to maternity so she probably wasn't defeated when she had the title.