(L+CR) Chihayafuru Season 2

[Quadratic]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Show, don't tell. And in the "show" category... The one with the most talent tends to win. Overwhelmingly, in the case of monsters like Shinobu or Suo. And the teachers' message is all very good, but doesn't come true in the end.

Even Shinobu's defeat: she lost as a kid, so maybe she had less talent than Arata. And she loses now, while she never took a one year break from karuta. In those aspects, she's no better than Nishida.

It's not a nice message. I don't think it's the message the author is trying to convey. Maybe, at the very end, it'll be invalidated. But so far, being born a genius trumps working very hard.

Shinobu didn't lose because she has less talent. She lost because she lost to herself, and that is effectively the message the author is trying to present in many of these cases.
This was the main method of Arata's attack against Shinobu, to turn her against herself. She started sacrificing cards, nor could she couldn't shake off Arata's calm demeanor.
The thing is that most players haven't worked out strategies to beat "talent". Trying to go toe-to-toe against someone's talent is a fruitless battle as Arata commented during the Meijin match in season 1.

Also, it has been shown how losing can be a, um..., beautiful experience:
The whole "did you have fun?" text (can't remember which episode that was...)
Arata's "team"
Shinobu's loss to Arata (yes, this very episode!)

[Arya]

I agree on losing as satisfactory at times, that what I felt about Shinobu's defeat in this episode. I'm really liking Shinobu's character (sorry Chihaya ), even if honestly I'm missing Kana-chan charm.
What I started to lose is the focus on the so called shounen aspects of the show. Despite the episode and the many aspects of Karuta explored, I really can't see Arata as the one "untalented", who thanks to his hard work overcame Shinobu's talent. Instead to me it's that Arata is the most talented of everyone exactly because he overcame Shinobu's talent without any special gift.

[Eclipze]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

It may make you a better person, but when it comes to karuta, whatever good the story has to say about playing with people and working hard is undermined by thee fact that both the Queen and the Meijin are loners. In fact, the Meijin is a slacker who doesn't even bother with tournaments aside from defending his title.

If anything, the story so far is skewed toward talent rather than hard work. Even Arata - he doesn't have a flashy gift like Suo, but his talent has been recognized from early on. And his talent is so great - his one year blank didn't ruin him. Though he does work hard now.

Arata lost the tournament (regional?) right after he decided to go back to playing Karuta (same year that Chihaya and gang lost the team nationals), so its not like his stoppable had zero effect on him.

Plus there was the thing with Shinobu developing a fever from being drenched the previous day, so you can't exactly say Shinobu lost at her 100%.

[hyperborealis]

Players have their own personal styles of play that correspond to their characters. You can see this very simply with the minor characters: Kana groups her cards according to poetic themes, Sudo plays as a "sadist," etc. Shinobu has a special connection with the cards, where she talks to them, and envisages them as little dioramas; this sense of personal connection, realized by a lifetime of solitary practice, enables her to play her silent karuta where she takes cards by touching a precise point on the edge. We can categorize styles in various abstract ways, but I think for Suetsugu matches are always personal, character against character.

If there is anything that trumps everything else in Suetsugu's universe, I would say it is connection with karuta. Suoh, Shinobu, Arata, and Chihaya are most themselves when they are playing karuta. Their efforts to grow as players is the effort to become themselves, which is to be be even more deeply connected with karuta. When they are playing, they are most alive, happiest, and having fun. All the other things--talent, hard work, memorization, strategy and tactics, experience, teaching--are simply different means to realize this deep identification with the game. So the person most deeply connected with the game, and most authentically him or herself, will always win.

So Quadratic is spot on with why Arata was able to beat Shinobu. She understood the match as the issue as to which of them was most closely connected with the cards. He broke her connection by forcing her to divide them into those she could win and those she could afford to lose. And he was able to do that since he was the calmest person in the match, the one most in his element (Chihaya feels the water as she enters the room), the one most having fun. As Chihaya realizes, envisaging Arata as the embodiment of the perfectly spinning top, "chihayaburu," Arata was closest to the heart of karuta--that is why he won.

[hamazura]

So, no suo meijin match until season 3?

[sikvod00]

Kana is a great wing man for Taichi, LOL.

[articuzwolf]

less impactful than 1st season finale but definitely more emotional
Chihaya finally admitted/realised her feeling for Arata
and Taichi will have an uphill task just to grab her attention
hey at least he has Kana-chan rooting for him

now, let's wait and pray together for season 3

[Blaat]

Really refreshing to see a slow paced episode (they only covered 1.5 chapter instead of the usual 2) but I find the cutting off point of the series very questionable right before training camp I assumed they would save it for the third season. But then I decided to reread announcement of the anime DVD bundled with the volume 22 release of Chihayafuru:

The tagline on the announcement notes that the bundled DVD will contain a new episode "of the bittersweet school drama that can only be seen here!"

Ahh the ending makes sense now, the story will continue in September.

I also leave the following image for a certain ship:

Images

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[Kanon]

The ship teasing in the final episode of the season was off the charts lol. It seems like Arata is ahead of Taichi at the moment. Kana is right: Taichi needs to work hard and stop waiting. He's lucky he has her. She's a great wingman. Thanks to her he's going to spend two days alone with Chihaya... but she will probably be too absorbed by Karuta to think about anything else
My favorite moment of the episode was Arata and Chihaya's phone conversation, with Arata basically revealing the happiest time of his life was when he was playing with Chihaya. Damn, son. That's a pretty grand declaration.

And thus, the anime of the year ends. I'm really really really going to miss my weekly Chihayafuru and the discussions here. I'm very tempted to read the manga but I'm afraid it will dull my enjoyment of the anime. I wish we at least knew whether a third season will be made.

[DragoonKain3]

And here I thought Taichi would've been the runaway winner, considering all that has happened in this season. I guess they needed more Arata clues otherwise there would've been no love triangle at all. XD


As for Arata vs Shinobu, it seems like Arata knows how to defeat Shinobu and still can execute it. He obviously threw her off her game, and in a best of one series, that's easily enough to secure a win. I really don't think the message was that Arata had bigger talent than Shinobu, but that karuta is more than just about talent.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Thanks to her he's going to spend two days alone with Chihaya... but she will probably be too absorbed by Karuta to think about anything else

I wondered whether Sakurazawa-sensei also issued invitations to Arata and Shinobu. Now that would generate some real tension and not just on the tatami!

I don't quite understand how Chihaya would be able to play at the camp. It doesn't seem like enough time has passed since the operation. Maybe she'll develop her left hand?

It's such a shame we didn't get to see more of Kanade this season. She's just such a lovely young woman. I'm glad she got a chance to shine in the end. Thank goodness she didn't let Taichi read any more poems!

I kept waiting for Arata to casually mention that he happens to know Chitose's sister when he was in the store. That other guy would be calling Arata night and day trying to arrange a chance to meet an idol. Arata probably realizes that as well. I shudder to think about an encounter between shopmate and Boobie-chan though. She's way too good for him!

So, I'm ready for another season. How about next week? And, please, next time around let them wear kimono again.

[YourIdeas]

Bit of a strange way to end the episode, but it seems that MADHOUSE is pretty confident that they're going for a 3rd season, which I have no complaints with. Much like Haganai's 2nd season however, they chose not to end it on a conclusive point, which will make the wait that much more torturous.

It's interesting to see that the group has grown a lot competitively since their first year and how the group is very close knit, even after this point. Chihaya however, seems to be getting denser and denser as more people root or battle for Taichi's and/or Chihaya's affection. Even then, I appreciate how they handled Chihaya in this final episode, which should be a good bridge into the 3rd season.

Until next time!

[taichi-kun]

hey do you know which manga chapter was adapted in ep25 ?

I think fujisaki is weaker now because emuro and other guys graduated.

Great episode, I want my season 3 T.T

[Quadratic]

So this season ends focusing on probably the greatest male character I've seen in anime.
Really touching how he closed the distance Chihaya thought they had.

This is definitely one of those shows you can watch again and again (and also want more of!).

[Eclipze]

Declaration of love by Chihaya...oh boy Taichi, you have a LOT of work to do there.

[GundamZZ]

After the competition, they practice karuta as usual. Playing karuta also deals with the development of their relationship.

It's funny that Arata starts reading the magazine with Chitose on the cover. It may suggest he's thinking about Chihaya. Taichi becomes less enthusiastic after the match. He probably will never figure out how to deal with Chihaya. Kanade is giving him the push. In the mean time, Chihaya is only thinking about Arata and Shinobu's karuta.

The ending is finished during summer vacation. The last ending is finished during winter. Maybe they will cover spring and autumn.

[Guardian Enzo]

Once again, we see Crunchyroll make a curious translation choice, which has been a theme with Chihayafuru. They translate Chihaya’s thought as "I’ll always love Karuta, and I’ll always love Arata." In fact, Chihaya uses the word "suki" – which translates more correctly as "like" – but can also mean "love" in certain contexts.

I don’t want to make too much of this, but I think it’s a fascinating illustration of why Japanese doesn’t always translate well into English – and also a crucial one in the context of the moment. In Japanese, many times translation boils down to context – the same word can mean different things in different situations, and even then it isn’t always clear (as witness Taichi’s use of "teki" earlier, which could mean "enemy" but probably meant "rival" as he intended it). In terms of "suki", it generally means like – the only time it would normally be used to express love would be in directly addressing someone ("Chihaya, suki."). In referring to someone in the third person "daisuki" or "ai" would usually be used to express love.

Of course, it’s clear Chihaya loves Karuta, and she’s certainly expressing her love for Arata here. It’s also clear in this moment that she has romantic feelings for him. But I think the reason Suetsugu used "suki" here is to express the fact that Chihaya still cannot separate her feelings for Arata and her feelings for Karuta – which I think is a vital theme going forward. It isn’t so much that the CR translation was wrong, but that it doesn’t convey the full meaning of what the author probably intended. While her wording seems intended to convey ambiguity (which she's been doing for the entire series) the translation seems intended to convey an unambiguous meaning which doesn't exist.

For me, the most memorable scenes of the episode involved Kanade's reaction to reading Chihaya's poems. It's a great construct, starting with the beautiful notion that verbally clumsy and inarticulate Chihaya finds her true voice in poetry. Then there's Kana-chan's beautiful, sensitive, kind soul - she's known the truth of Taichi's feelings for Chihaya forever and suspected his time was running out, and no one wants to see the two of them together more than she does. I choked up a bit when she stopped dead on the sidewalk and pounded him on the back, over and over, than exhorted him to act before it was too late. What a profound act of love and friendship on her part.

This, then, is Taichi's ultimate hurdle in becoming a person who doesn't run away. He's made much progress but this hurdle remains - to make his feelings for Chihaya known, even if there's great risk of being rejected. That conversation with Kana-chan has been a long time coming - I only wish it had come with about 5 episodes left in the season.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by taichi-kun

hey do you know which manga chapter was adapted in ep25 ?

Middle of chapter 93.

Damn, I knew the end was coming, but there's still so much to look forward to.

[articuzwolf]

Probably 1-2 years before we have enough materials for (another 2 cour) 3rd season

[hamazura]

Originally Posted by articuzwolf

Probably 1-2 years before we have enough materials for (another 2 cour) 3rd season

Never thought will met you here wkwkwk

Need moar sakurazawa sensei, milf