(L+CR) Chihayafuru Season 2

[Akka]

Or maybe a "hello sister", because they certainly look a lot alike

As for me, I'm puzzled by all the "racism" comments about the "foreigners".
What I saw was actually a complete reversal of every "foreigners" clichés we can see in animes, and the jabs were only directed, from my perception, at japanese bias and preconceptions themselves.
The big black guy match was the perfect example : he's seen as huge, threatening and different by his opponent, and when we see through Tsukuba eyes, that's how he's shown. But everything outside Tsukuba perception show him as being just a karuta lover, happy to play and looking incredibly nice and gentle.

So yeah, what I saw mocked here were the japanese typical expectations and related behaviours, and the very opposite of racism.

[frodonk]

hmm, they have different surnames and accents, so shinobu being a sister of arata is a remote possibility.

[Cytrus]

The second season of Chihayafuru will be sold in two box sets priced at 18,900 yen each (14,000 by amazon preorder). That's around half the usual price per episode. Let's hope they do well .

http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-14909.html

[LKK]

^^ Unfortunately (for me anyway), English subtitles won't be included.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by LKK

^^ Unfortunately (for me anyway), English subtitles won't be included.

The first season has been licensed by Siren Visual though and that WILL include subtitles.

I plan to buy it once the second set is released and if it has not been licensed here yet.

I would have considered buying the 2nd season from Japan as well if it included subs.

[Blaat]

"An Arata without the glasses is no Arata" in other words Arata is Shinpachi.

[Yume Hanabi]

Well that was unexpected Oo

[LKK]

I'm not one for trying to guess what the next episode is going to be about based on events in the last episode. So I had no guesses as to what might happen in episode 9 based on episode 8. But if I had guessed, I would never ever ever EVER have guessed that

Spoiler for ep 9:

episode 9 would be about Arata discovering (rediscovering?) the joy of team play. Too bad, that lesson came at such a potentially high cost.

[Kanon]

An episode entirely focused on Arata. I didn't except that, at least not until we got to the individual tournament. He's finally getting back in the game, both figuratively and literally. Sadly, his long awaited return might be postponed to next year... I think he'll be fine though. It's not like his participation changed the end result of the match. What he did was definitely bad, but it could have been worse.

Arata reconnected with his past in this episode. He remembered how much fun playing as a team with Taichi and Chihaya was. He's definitely going to participate in the team tournament next year, one way or another.

We got to learn a bit more about Arata and Shinobu's past relationship as well. He used to beat her every year during the first round, which must have frustrated her quite a bit. I liked how Arata was able to see through her facade (not that her sarcasm was very subtle) and understand right way the kind of woman she is. She definitely doesn't have the nicest of personalities. I love her all the same nonetheless, in fact, it's part of the reason I love her. As expected, she had no interest in the team tournament and only came here to visit the shrine and watch a birdman rally which ended up being canceled by the rain, much to her dismay

Originally Posted by Blaat

"An Arata without the glasses is no Arata" in other words Arata is Shinpachi.

[YourIdeas]

Spoiler:

Feel like they could have used a lot less stock-footage in this episode. It's Arata's first major episode since Season 1 and 25% of it seems to nothing but reusing the same 2 lines from the first part of the episode. (We get it. Murao and Shinobu prefer Individual tournaments. Please stop using the same footage 5 times over to get this point across, even if it's suppose to represent Arata's inner turmoil).
Despite this however, it was still at least a good episode.

I get the feeling they'll let Arata slide (the team still technically lost) and hopefully, he'll get to participate in the coming episodes.

Poor Shinobu. Can't watch her bird rally. :<

[kitten320]

It was a surprise to see a fully Arata focused episode for a change. He finally got a bit of needed development, hopefully they'll let it slide since the group lost anyway so he didn't really affect it much.

Poor Shinobu
I wonder if she'll go to see team tournaments instead now or if she'll head home in depression.

[sikvod00]

It was obvious the second Shinobu said thaT team tournaments were for players who don't love karuta that the episode would focus on discrediting that viewpoint.
How much longer can they go on without Arata finally metting up with Taichi and Chihaya?

[HandofFate]

09

Arata not recognizing Shinobu was hilarious.
Chihaya with Arata on the brain much to Taichi's annoyance.

Change of pace with an episode focused on Arata, who really has had close to no screentime at all other than flashbacks to 1st season..
Didn't really care that much for it actually.

Arata is kind of a dork, and his side kurata is so damn serious and 24/7 dramadrama its suffocating.

Lame that he might be disqualified. Why does the guy have to be such a stickler for the rules, just let it pass.

[Quadratic]

Whoa, Arata teasing Shinobu and him calling her on a first name basis, what a nice episode.
Best episode so far this season (minus the multiple repeat footage), I will be sorely disappointed if that's the end for Arata for this year.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Quadratic

I will be sorely disappointed if that's the end for Arata for this year.

Won't there still be the Meijin tournament? I'm sure he'll play in that even if he gets bounced from the individual high school event.

I was hardly surprised by the outcome. He's too good and too well known to have played and not be recognized by someone. It seemed like he realized he was taking a chance at being disqualified in the first place, so his shock at the end seemed a little overdone.

Shinobu's feelings were clearly quite hurt when he didn't recognize her, then to top it off he mentions her weight gain and loss. That's probably something she would prefer to forget about.

Any speculation on what will transpire when she meets Chihaya in the Queen event? I would expect Shinobu to win once again, but you never know.

[thundrakkon]

Arata needs to play in the individual tournament, so that he can request for his dad to transfer to Chihaya's and Taichi's school. If he can't play, that might mean that they will be on opposing teams the following year, which will be a disappointment.

Also, will Arata be able to watch Chihaya's team play? Chihaya is very perspective of her team members, and it shows again this episode when she calmed Taichi down. Also, what Taichi said to Chihaya about focusing and not looking for Arata is sort of correct (he could have let her look for a minute, it wouldn't hurt), but his motivation for doing so is in question again. Did he say it truly and only because he wanted Chihaya to focus, or did he do that because he was upset at Chihaya being excited to look for Arata? In this case, I think it is a bit of both.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

so that he can request for his dad to transfer to Chihaya's and Taichi's school.

It's not confirmed that's what he wants.

[mistress_kisara]

Episode 9
-Finally an Arata-centric episode, but damn I hope he doesn't get disqualified

[Kirarakim]

It would be a shame if Arata is disqualified. I understand he broke the rules, but he did so to help someone else. I don't know I think a little rule bending is in order here.

I think it is interesting that Taichi thought about Arata more than Chihaya did in the end. I did love Chihaya's line about wanting to show off her team.

And I felt for poor Shinobu having her event rained out. That sucks!

However my favorite moment was when they mentioned LASIK surgery (I work in an eye place).


edit: My only complaint about this episode was way too many flashbacks. Flashbacks are fine but it's like they didn't have enough material for the episode because they kept flashing back to the same scenes over and over again. It seemed a bit lazy.

[Quadratic]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Won't there still be the Meijin tournament? I'm sure he'll play in that even if he gets bounced from the individual high school event.

Ah, that's a good point. Of course, more Arata episode = better

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I was hardly surprised by the outcome. He's too good and too well known to have played and not be recognized by someone.

Agreed, his pride and respect for the players/game were too much to not play the game properly. What a double-edged sword!

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Any speculation on what will transpire when she meets Chihaya in the Queen event? I would expect Shinobu to win once again, but you never know.

It's episode 9 out of 24...I'm banking on Shinobu winning (yeah, I'm cheating by using the episode count )
But seriously, she couldn't beat that Hokuo player (forgot his name...), so the likelyhood of beating Shinobu isn't in her favor.


On a side note, Arata did actually recognize Shinobu, right?
Because he was speaking in a different tone, made a short laugh/smile (ie. ending his teasing), then he started talking in his normal tone.
Meaning Arata does have a funny side, which we never saw during any Taichi-Arata & Chihaya-Arata moments? (if I recall correctly?).