[Arya]

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

This is really thoughtful and perceptive. Each of the secondary characters seems to have particular functions tied to their character traits: Tsutomu, to bring in the statistics, as befits his studious side; Kana, to bring in the meaning of the poetry, or to insist on proper etiquette, as befits her traditionalist side; and Nishida, to bring in the tatami-rat perspective of karuta as a sport, as befits his life-long background in competitive karuta. So Sumire would have a function too, one tied to her character, and since her character is, as you say, to be outspoken, then her role could follow just as you describe. Given her obsession with romance, she would definitely be in a position to bring up things about Taichi and Chihaya Taichi keeps to himself and Chihaya never thinks about. We've already seen her do that in this episode, where she prompted Taichi to explain his philosophy of dating.

You depicted each character perfectly, pointing out how each of them basically added a layer, that was missing to the club; layer that helped the club growing. But at the same time helped them in their personal growth. Or, in their personal restart. I haven't commented on the #9 poem you posted before, because I hadn't clear what I wanted to say, but thanks to your post now I focused a bit better on it. What I wanted to say was that the poem fits better the entire show instead of this particular episode. Because each "main" character was "gazing at the falling rains" before joining the club, each in his own way, Kana gazing at the archery, Tsutomu at his classmates, Nishida at tennis (more or less) and so on. Karuta give them the chance to start over, or just start (in case of Taichi or Chihaya). That's something that I can't concede to Sumire yet. I mean, probably it's befitting as a more strict analogy, but not factually, yet.
On a side note I'm wondering if Taichi is gazing at the falling rains or not, speaking strictly of the romance. But I know that it's a bit paradoxical given that if you take out his love for Chihaya he wouldn't be who is now.
And even your last remark is really interesting -- how easily Taichi spoke about something personal to Sumire -- because I don't think to remember any character, but probably Chihaya, confiding himself on whatever matter to someone else. That's clearly on of the causes of how they ended up having such different views as you said below.

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

I really liked your point about how the club has reached an equilibrium that has stopped the members from growing--this is exactly what Chihaya is obsessing over in the episode, when she worries that everyone "cares about different things." As in the first season, where the five club members had to learn to come together as a team, the episode is setting up divisions that will have to be overcome for the team to go forward to the next level of karuta achievement. Sumire might be, as you suggest, the necessary catalyst to bring the team forward. Really really nice point.

One of the things that happened in the first season is that all of the characters were drawn into the club and into the world of karuta. In so doing, to some degree they left the ordinary prosaic world behind. Of course, this is the world of the anime viewer and manga reader--so I wonder if one of Sumire's functions might not be to bring back into the rarefied world of karuta the point of view of the modern, ordinary person who knows little about, and cares little about, the game.

I agree, if in the first season we saw the world of Karuta now could be very interesting seeing the same world facing the modern, and real, world.

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

But you make a good point--how far and how long can Sumire remain an outsider? The tendency of the show is to draw everyone into karuta, into the love of karuta, and I agree with you that she also will be assimilated But she will likely always be an outsider to the Taichi and Chihaya relationship, even while she gets drawn into the karuta world, so I think she can still retain the function you have in mind even as she becomes more invested in the game.

That would be a nice compromise for her character, and fits perfectly the idea I had in mind. Because even if I'm trying to keep the shipping thing away, I can't deny that the Taichi / Chihaya relationship appeals me

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

Arya, I really appreciated your post. It helps us see how the minor characters work within the story, and gives us a systematic way of thinking about Sumire, and how she fits in with the other characters and the overall narrative. Posrep+++

And I appreciated yours. It opens up a lot of interesting cues that sadly I had to narrow down as far I was writing, due to lack of time (in organizing my thoughts mostly ).
Anyways I'm also interested in the class thing, because so far I didn't get it as something relevant if not as something flatten out (or inverted?) by the Karuta game.