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I liked this episode. Content was strong. Actually, while Kanade might serve as our (the audience's) key into the traditional merits of Karuta, I would say that Tsutomu in this episode was even more relatable.
We know that Taichi pretty much got dragged into taking Karuta seriously by Chihaya and Arata. But Tsutomu here is a stranger by any angle. Despite being factually wrong when he loudly assumed there were no professionals in Karuta, truthfully the question he asked, "What merit does Karuta have for me?", still stands in general. A person would not really pick up the game just for supposedly "improving" their memory.
The theme of this episode is self-actualization. What draws Tsutomu to the club this time is not the game itself, but the people who will challenge him to strive towards it. The heart which comes to drive both Tsutomu and Taichi, as self-aware "losers", in contrast to Chihaya and Arata, is desire rather than passion. If, through Karuta, Chihaya's story will be to discover herself, then Tsutomu and Taichi's story will be to be reborn in it.
Regarding character backgrounds, although I'd agree with "ostracized", I would not really categorize Tsutomu's circumstances as "bullying". Socially, out of the rest of the cast, the character I would say Tsutomu was most similar to would be, indeed after all, Kanade, as people who lacked modes of self-expression whereby they could be able to communicate their values to others.
Heh. Between each of the "main characters" introduced thus far (though, again, Chihaya/Taichi/Arata's physical beauty reflects their status as the "main" main characters), there are already many points of comparison and contrast.
Anyway, one character aspect I liked which this episode highlighted is that intelligent people often tend to naturally be very self-limiting. Because they are so focused on the world around them, paradoxically they have a strong tendency to fixate on what they can't do rather than what they actually can. Both Tsutomu and Taichi are like this. In fact, the capacity to avoid failure can engender an overpowering fear of ever experiencing it. One of the things I will look forward to in this series is how throwing themselves into the real life realm of triumph and loss will turn them into genuine human beings.
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