[Arya]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Let me just say that I find these walls of text about events long past tiresome and unhelpful. Perhaps the few of you who want to fight about which characters deserve more hatred for things they did last season should continue on in PMs. As far as I can see, none of you is going be swayed by the others' arguments. How about calling a truce and concentrating more on the current events starting with today's episode three?

I thought that was relevant underlining Chiahaya's previous behavior to better get that she is changing now. And to say that each character in some ways has his own flaws. That's one of the strong points of this show. But I get your tiresomeness

Originally Posted by hyperborealis

A couple points. Taichi is already alone when Chihaya comes into the lobby. His solitude marks his depression, not simply at losing, but at the private meaning the loss signifies: the dashing of his plans to make Class A and to compete in the same space as Chihaya. Compounding his depression may be the new prospect of Arata as a romantic rival. Later he will berate himself for not having stayed on the floor to watch and learn from the other players. So we know from his own mouth that his solitude is a mistake, a personal failure. When we recall his words to Harada-sensei, that he wants to become someone who doesn't run away, we recognize that in the lobby, he has precisely run away into himself.

My point is that it doesn't matter who Chihaya was supposed to comfort nor how she should have comfort who. You are focusing on Taichi path that in this case (of discussion) is not relevant. The show luckily is so good that it develops different threads in the same episode. We are talking about Chihaya and her own path. So the fact that Taichi was actually the object of her first concern it doesn't matter. It doesn't say anything about her. And it doesn't because the episode didn't showed in any way Chihaya understanding Taichi situation (as you has described, his situation). That means she didn't make a choice at that very moment (for instance that Taichi needed to man-up so it was right to leave him alone). The episode made clear that for her Taichi stopped to be there the moment she heard of Arata. She could have done a thousand of other things (drag him along, sitting silent by his side) but she ignored him.
And as I said she did something similar in another episode, because that's how she was when Karuta takes over her. Nothing really wrong here, simply as Kirarakim said

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

The bottom line is this isn't who is the better character Taichi or Chihaya, both Taichi and Chihaya have flaws they need to overcome. The story is not telling us that Taichi or Chihaya (or any other character) are ultimately more wrong than the other.