(L+CR) Chihayafuru Season 2

[Anh_Minh]

With the reveal that Shinobu was sick it feels a bit like "Sorry, Mario, your ultimate fight is in another castle".

[Quadratic]

What a truly excellent episode. Lots of information and it didn't feel like it was crammed in to fit time constraints. Probably the best this season.
It's nice to finally get some real insight into Arata's play style.

Interesting to see that both Taichi and Arata somewhat trivialized their victory.
For Taichi, it's because he feels he belongs in class A [edit: and because he wanted Chihaya to watch Arata's match], for Arata, Shinobu had a fever.

Also interesting was that Chihaya, despite proudly proclaiming to Arata she "became the best in Japan without becoming Queen", she still feels overwhelmed by Shinobu and Arata's individual strength and tried to run away using her teammates as the excuse.

Despite the manga hints earlier in this thread (*sigh*), here we learn just how hard Arata works at practising karuta (500 swings a day!).
Not that it wasn't obvious before, since we saw that in the childhood flashback in season 1.

[GundamZZ]

The anime adaption did the good job on Arata's superpower.
When Chihaya opens the door, she feels she's drowning in the water.
The flow of water looks like the river flow. To Chihaya, Arata's karuta skill is the living example of Chihayafuru.
The anime seems to skip Taichi's crying part. The crying of overjoy is skipped for the most exciting match of this season. Then, the match ends. Come on! They expands some team match to three episodes. They should expand this match to more episodes as well.

[Mubyoshi]

Another great episode. Only thing I dislike about Chihayafuru is that all the episodes feels like they're only 5 minutes long haha. Shinobu X Arata for life! Also, Mashima's looking pretty good there, blocking that card like a boss.

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by karice67

Perhaps they'll end this season on a cliffhanger then... That way, fans will be clamouring for a sequel, even if it takes two years. Though it can happen even without a cliffhanger - the third season of Natsume Yuujinchou aired more than two years after the second...

That's a good example actually, there's also the DVD coming out with the next manga volume release xxxHolic anime did continue their story via such releases although I didn't like it (it skipped out on a lot of things).

Originally Posted by stassy

Along the brief NTR Taicha face at the end, didn't I spot another one from Chihaya when she saw Arata pat Shinobu's head?

Does that Chihaya x Taichi ship will now be known as the NTR face ship?

[Reckoner]

Sometimes it's the little details in episodes that give me the biggest laughs.

Spoiler:

Arata's parents are seriously the worst LOL.

[articuzwolf]

^ maybe because now they have to cough up 4,000,000 yen

I didn't know that College's fee in Japan (especially Tokyo) is that expensive

[stassy]

Doesn't tournament victory give some sort money prize along with the trophy and the rank upgrade?
It would kinda suck that you just win for fame after all this training (though I didn't see lot of sponsor banner around, at least in sport local tournament you can get some clothes or sponsored equipment)...

[Guardian Enzo]

It's a scholastic tournament, so there's certainly no prize money. We've already seen the team trophy presentation, and while I don't remember if there was an individual one last year it can be safely assumed there are individual trophies as well.

[SeijiSensei]

Another hilarious detail:



Given her personality, don't you think the Fujisaki coach might be a bit offended when the tournament director calls her "Midori-chan?" She's well into her twenties if not older. I realize it is a term of endearment, but it seems pretty demeaning.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

It's a scholastic tournament, so there's certainly no prize money. We've already seen the team trophy presentation, and while I don't remember if there was an individual one last year it can be safely assumed there are individual trophies as well.

I don't think Shinobu received any prize money when she became Queen, either. I suppose she could have declined a prize to preserve her "amateur status", but karuta seems to lack professional competitors. I again searched quickly to see if there is any information on professional karuta in English but could not find any. Midori earns a living coaching high-school teams (any maybe teaching some other classes as well?).

[Cytrus]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Given her personality, don't you think the Fujisaki coach might be a bit offended when the tournament director calls her "Midori-chan?" She's well into her twenties if not older. I realize it is a term of endearment, but it seems pretty demeaning.

If they go way back, as it seems to be the case, he's just using whatever he used years ago. His tone is affectionate rather than patronizing.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I don't think Shinobu received any prize money when she became Queen, either. I suppose she could have declined a prize to preserve her "amateur status", but karuta seems to lack professional competitors. I again searched quickly to see if there is any information on professional karuta in English but could not find any. Midori earns a living coaching high-school teams (any maybe teaching some other classes as well?).

Yumi was working full-time as an office lady even after becoming queen. Not much cash in the karuta world.

[Guardian Enzo]

Yeah, given the age difference and the obvious familiarity between them, I don't think the -chan was demeaning at all. You hear older adults use it towards younger ones all the time here.

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

She's well into her twenties if not older.

She's 39 and she still looks great.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Blaat

She's 39 and she still looks great.

Yes, she does. I find her one of the more intriguing supporting characters. Does the manga give any insight into her personal life? Married? Gay? Just from her portrayal I might conclude she is still single, which, by anime standards, means she is "over-the-hill."

I saw the director's use of "-chan" as affectionate as well. I was thinking about it from her perspective as a successful professional woman heading into middle age.

I get the sense Midori sees something of herself in Chihaya at that age. I don't think she has the same view of Shinobu, though.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Arata's parents are seriously the worst LOL.

I completely missed all of the parents' appearances in this episode. It wasn't until I started reading the web that I discovered they were there. I forgot about them. Silly me. Well, that just gives me the perfect excuse to rewatch the episode. Not that I need an excuse -- perfect or otherwise -- to rewatch it, of course.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

No talent? Seriously? I don't even know where to begin.

I'm talking about a gift that gives you an immediate and clear advantage, like the super hearing from Chihaya and the Meijin. Even Taichi's memory counts somewhat. But Arata doesn't have anything like that.

It's not that he's untalented, of course. He wouldn't have got to this point if he was just another dude that got interested in the game. But he definitely has less inborn talent than Chihaya and Taichi. He got ahead because he worked harder than anyone, trained harder than anyone! He's the better player, I'm not denying that.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I'm talking about a gift that gives you an immediate and clear advantage, like the super hearing from Chihaya and the Meijin. Even Taichi's memory counts somewhat. But Arata doesn't have anything like that.

He's got his arm acceleration. That's a big advantage.

Originally Posted by stassy

Doesn't tournament victory give some sort money prize along with the trophy and the rank upgrade?
It would kinda suck that you just win for fame after all this training (though I didn't see lot of sponsor banner around, at least in sport local tournament you can get some clothes or sponsored equipment)...

There are no pro players, so even if there are cash prizes, they can't be that big.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Given her personality, don't you think the Fujisaki coach might be a bit offended when the tournament director calls her "Midori-chan?" She's well into her twenties if not older. I realize it is a term of endearment, but it seems pretty demeaning.

It probably just means he's known her since it was proper to call her "-chan". For all we know, he taught her karuta. The karuta world doesn't look very big, and even more so at the top.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

He's got his arm acceleration. That's a big advantage.

That's training. All those swings per day he's been doing since he was a child, always trying to imagine the best position for his arm to reach the cards and so on...

Arata once told Taichi that you don't need talent to beat gifted players like the Meijin. You just need to reach the card first. This is what Arata was talking about: acceleration. And it's something Taichi can do as well, if he puts his mind into it and trains seriously for a change. There's no special secret to this technique, just lots and lots of training.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

It probably just means he's known her since it was proper to call her "-chan". For all we know, he taught her karuta. The karuta world doesn't look very big, and even more so at the top.

You're not alone in thinking that. My immediate reaction to "Midori-chan" was that he was her former coach or one of them at least.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That's training. All those swings per day he's been doing since he was a child, always trying to imagine the best position for his arm to reach the cards and so on...

A lot of people are trained. Heck, you could say Taichi trained his memory.

Arata once told Taichi that you don't need talent to beat gifted players like the Meijin. You just need to reach the card first. This is what Arata was talking about: acceleration.

Not just acceleration. It's just one of his "plethora of weapons".

And it's something Taichi can do as well, if he puts his mind into it and trains seriously for a change. There's no special secret to this technique, just lots and lots of training.

You say that like Taichi's a slacker. The worst one can say about him is that he's got other commitments (if he stops being first in school, he has to quit karuta...). He still trains pretty seriously.