[Kanon]

Here's a little piece of fanart I liked (there's a serious lack of Chihaya fanarts).

Spoiler for S-Snowmaru!? (don't open at work):

So cute. Shinobu can't come back soon enough.

Originally Posted by ThereminVox

This episode had some phenomenal reaction shots.

Spoiler for Worst. Barbershop Quartet. Ever.:

Chihaya looks all kinds of DERP here.

Originally Posted by Blaat

Honestly it was worth it for the over 9000 "Where's Taichi's girlfriend?" comments in this thread and, I think it was Kazu-kun raging about it. Quality entertainment right there.

So true

Originally Posted by warita

I thought the whole point of this girlfriend was to show, that Taichi has unfullfilld crush on Chihaya, to which she is oblivious and Taichi doesnt feel enough courage to act upon it. Also, he thinks Chihaya is more interested in Arata and just like Taichi said in the past: "whats the point of pursuing something, if cant be number one in it".
So my guess is, that Taichi feels inferior to Arata and thinks, that given the choice, Chihaya would choose Arata and hence he doesnt even try.

I think both you and LKK are onto something. The author intended the girlfriend to become an important plot device later on, but eventually decided to drop it entirely after the series started focusing more and more on Karuta and less on romance. Even so, the fact Taichi took a girlfriend was relevant to his character so the kept her in the anime.