[hyperborealis]

At last a good word for Taichi's mom. She teaches him to be strong. And Chihaya appreciates that, too. A nice moment of connection. Taichi's rejoinder, about how we are all made by others, is an important point. As Chihaya played the match, you could see how much Shinobu figures as an influence. But for Harada-sensei, Chihaya was too much revisiting the past. So we get a turning point when Chihaya remembers Tsutomu telling her she has 21 one-syllable cards, and just listens, and takes the card with impossible speed. To learn from others, yet to be yourself, to play on a team, yet as an individual...these are the contradictions that power the greatest players. And Chihaya has not yet opened her heart to her greatest influences: Taichi and most of all Arata, who taught her to play. When she does, she will become unimaginably strong.

Miyauchi-sensei's description of karuta is a key moment in the anime. The central insight, in fact, and spoken by someone who does not know karuta well. Which is why Harada does not say it. Miyauchi has made her own journey, as well.