Quote:
Originally Posted by Sol Falling
I think the differences in Chihaya's and Sudou's performances comes down not so much to a difference in skill, but in playing styles. Shinobu's stronger reaction to Chihaya is due, probably, not so much to the number of cards Chihaya took, but rather the cards which Chihaya was taking.
Remember that Shinobu plays defensive karuta. That means the foremost element of her playing style is maintaining control of her own side. Offensive karuta is the style whereby one aggressively focuses on taking cards from the opponent's space; thus the difference "by the numbers" between Chihaya and Sudou's performances can be inferred to be due to the mismatch of Chihaya's style against Shinobu's greatest strength; but at the same time that Chihaya managed to take that many cards from inside Shinobu's territory at all explains her terrible reaction.
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Yes. Thus Harada-sensei's remark to Chihaya: "Chihaya-chan, think about it. / if you can take a card from the far row of a player / who's big on defense, / you'll give them a big shock." And the first card Chihaya takes is not only in back row, but in the far left corner, the safest place for a left-handed player like Shinobu, the area Taichi names to himself "the Queen's favored side." That had to be a shot to the heart. Then she does it again with the Chihayafuru card, which is once more on Shinobu's left side. Double shot to the heart.
And even after Shinobu gets fired up in response, Chihaya is still able to take cards from her. Shinobu takes two cards, and smirks, thinking she is back in control, and then Chihaya takes still another card from her. At this point the animation stops showing us the actual sequence of play, but we know from the card count that Chihaya will take two more cards and Shinobu will take 5 to close out the match.
As you point out, Sol, Shinobu's style of play is predicated on a logic of control. Chihaya's capacity to take cards--even when Shinobu is playing all out--means Shinobu is not in control, and that is psychologically shattering to her. Shinobu's behavior after the match is quite telling: the standing in thought at the door, her hands in fists; the fast walk to the scorer's table; ignoring the official; leaning over the table with her face inches from the surface; her manic repetition of Chihaya's name; and especially the mad look on her face, which stuns the official--all of this tells us that Shinobu is either on the verge of or at the very point of a psychological break.
All of this is just to add illustration to Sol's point, but I consider that a privilege.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sol Falling
We can infer from Sudou's performance against Shinobu that he is indeed more skilled than Chihaya defensively. All 13 of the cards he took, I suspect, he obtained by successfully defending them on his own side. However, all that this makes Sudou is perhaps a weaker version of Shinobu; that Chihaya's offensive prowess managed to defeat Sudou, but not Shinobu, reinforces the difference in skill revealed by Shinobu's win over Sudou by 12 cards.
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Brilliant, but I think it's more complicated than this. I rewatched Sudou's match against Chihaya in the regionals, and there Harada-sensei says explicitly that "his [ie Sudou's] style is also offensive." But perhaps Shinobu's defensive prowess forces other players to play defensively willy-nilly, and so if Sudou plays like a weaker version of Shinobu, that is because she forces him to do so. We see that happen a little anyway in his match with Chihaya, where by the end he switches from offensive to defensive tactics, beset by her aggressive play.
Again, we come back to the question of control. Number of cards taken or given don't measure this. Even if Sudou scores better against Shinobu that Chihaya does, we know from their conversation after the match, where Shinobu toys with his feelings, that she was completely in control all the way through. That is why I think you are probably right to think he does play defensively against her, but only because she compels him to, as a measure of her control, of her ability to force him to play her game, rather than his own.
So this is the key difference between the two matches: right through the end, Chihaya is still playing her game of offensive karuta, notwithstanding Shinobu's best efforts otherwise. Unlike Sudou, who can only envisage winning if Shinobu lets him, Chihaya is still, as the spectator remarks, "playing to win." I don't think it's accidental that Chihaya starts thinking at this point how she can become more "free:" the freedom of movement she envisages for herself, and which she equates with playing strength, is also that which allows her to set at naught other players' efforts to control her.