(L+CR) Chihayafuru

[sergel02]

Originally Posted by warita

Which is a damn good thing, trust me!!! I decided to sign up here after leaving a dying forum and I cant seem to get enough of the high level discussions.

lol i agree. I was worried when i got into this show that the forum would be dead because i need good ppl to talk to, but I'm glad its not =)


But question, how many manga chapters does Chihayafuru have?

[Kanon]

Spoiler for episode 15:

Unsurprisingly, Chihaya lost. By quite a wide margin, too. Nonetheless, that was still enough for Shinobu to put her on her kill list (that look on her face was so scary!). I have to concede that even though Shinobu's got a very cute side, she's actually not that nice. She's not really evil, but she's definitely two-faced. I hope we'll see how she behaves outside of competition soon. She might be a totally different person.

I liked how Chihaya reacted after suffering such a crushing defeat, and how it inspired Taichi. He's finally decided to fully pursue his own dream: catching up to Arata. This fired him up more than ever. Sadly, motivation isn't everything, and it wasn't enough to make him win the final. His frustration was almost palpable. Still, he really did good making it this far. I didn't expect him to do better than Nishida.

And so, the tournament ends with Mizusawa's defeat. That was to be expected of course but... KUYASHI!

Shinobu is now Chihaya's number one rival. She even dreams about her... and snowmaru (by the way, I wish we had seen Taichi's face when she said Arata doesn't show up in her dreams, he must have been quite relieved ). I can't wait for their rematch. Although I doubt she'll win, I'm sure Chihaya will give her a run for her money next time.

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by sergel02

lol i agree. I was worried when i got into this show that the forum would be dead because i need good ppl to talk to, but I'm glad its not =)


But question, how many manga chapters does Chihayafuru have?

Chapter 86 is the newest as of 2 weeks ago. Currently at end of episode 14 it's at chapter 26. If you are following manga or doesn't mind spoiler, there is also a manga discussion thread.

[ars89]

Spoiler for ep 15:

Well Chihaya lost badly. Though she did leave an impression on Shinobu, her reaction outside was so funny. Not surprised Sudou was in the final with her. Looks Chihaya is fully committed now or at least going y what Taichi said. Too bad he lost as well. Though everyone's reaction was worse.

Is that the track team? No its the Karuta club!

[Reckoner]

Sometimes Chihayafuru treads the line of melodrama a little much like it did this episode. Wasn't necessary to have the whole team cry over his loss.

Still reasonably decent episode, but a little sloppier than usual. 7/10.

[Undertaker]

Why? it wasn't just that Taichi lost, it also meant that their national campaign as Karuta club also ended for that year.

Even profession athletes cries at the end of campaign all the time especially after losing in the championship games.

That's fairly natural in competitive world, especially they are all just 15.

[Reckoner]

I played in junior tournaments all the time as a tennis player, I am quite aware of how some people act like after they lose in sports. Some people are just pure melodramas, yes. But that's the thing, like in real life, it's something that I believe is thrown out of proportion completely and I never liked. Seeing it in anime form isn't exactly entertaining for me either. I always respect the athletes more who were all about business, while still displaying a love for their sport/hobby.

It's not a flaw in realism I'm trying to point out. It's seeing the characters in the show portrayed in a light I don't really like that much.

[Undertaker]

I play football and baseball myself, I guess it really comes down to how you view things. Some people thinks that being calm/business like all the time means that they don't care about the sport of they don't love the sport. Others thinks being emotional is being disrespect to the sport or showing weakness. Well, to each their own.

[Kirarakim]

I definitely think there is a bit too much crying in this series...that being said I was still emotionally affected at that scene...I think I just love these kids too much.

And Taichi is just gosh such a great character, the best of a fantastic lot. I love that he came to the realization that its sad to lose but he can keep trying and improve himself. It's great that he fighting to be play against Arata. In some ways its his rivalry with Arata that makes me think of Hikaru & Akira from Hikaru no Go a little bit.

Although I guess we also have something similar with Chihaya and the Queen.

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

I definitely think there is a bit too much crying in this series...

Yes I very much agree in some cases it loses impact because Chihaya cries almost every single episode. But I still really do enjoy the show. I like Shinobu, don't know why I think part of it i how she dresses.

[GundamZZ]

I think the interpretation should be this way.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Spoiler for episode 15:

I have to concede that even though Shinobu's got a very cute side, she's actually not that nice. She's not really evil, but she's definitely two-faced. I hope we'll see how she behaves outside of competition soon. She might be a totally different person.

Spoiler:

It happens to some karuta players.
When Arata is in the zone, his face will also shows shade and appears possessed.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Spoiler for episode 15:

I liked how Chihaya reacted after suffering such a crushing defeat, and how it inspired Taichi. He's finally decided to fully pursue his own dream: catching up to Arata. This fired him up more than ever. Sadly, motivation isn't everything, and it wasn't enough to make him win the final. His frustration was almost palpable. Still, he really did good making it this far. I didn't expect him to do better than Nishida.

Spoiler:

His dream is quite unusual. Typical player's dream is to be the challenger of Master or Queen. Also, Taichi is not doing better than Nishida. Due to the withdraw, Nishikda and Arata are falling behind. Their skills are still ahead of Taichi. Taichi works hard to have number one grade in class. I think it's just like Arata's hardwork in karuta practice. Tachi can be the winner of anything, except karuta. Yet, he chooses karuta path. His feeling for the certain girl is apparent. He wants to be on the equal ground as Arata.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Spoiler for episode 15:

Shinobu is now Chihaya's number one rival. She even dreams about her... and snowmaru (by the way, I wish we had seen Taichi's face when she said Arata doesn't show up in her dreams, he must have been quite relieved ). I can't wait for their rematch. Although I doubt she'll win, I'm sure Chihaya will give her a run for her money next time.

Spoiler:

It's the opposite. They did not show Taichi's sad face. I think everyone else notices it, except Chihaya. I think the Taichi's endless struggle in karuta is one of main focal points. They are actually referring to a karuta poetry.
It is something like,
I think about you every day, but you are not in my dream. Do you want to avoid me even in my dream?

The romance is something like this.

(Taichi)->(Chihaya)->(karuta)<-(Arata)


(Shinobu)->karuta

Nevertheless, their feelings are not focal point of the story. It's karuta match.

[Aesthetic Shampoo]

I don't get why Shinobu was so worked up over Chihaya even though Sudou was better than her. But I liked her bipolarness.

[Undertaker]

It's the same reason Arata was shocked when Chihaya first took a card in his area. There are cards that are harder to get than others, ie the cards that are furthermost away from you, if you lose those cards, not a big deal, in fact you usually are expect to lost those cards.

However, due to Chihaya's extraordinary hearing, she was able to react faster then others and launch and took almost any card at any range. That was what set Chihaya apart, her potential of recognizing a card before everyone else.

Basically the cards that Chihaya was getting included a few of those cards that she wasn't supposed to or expected to get.

[Sol Falling]

Shinobu in episode 14: "Soon enough, it's like I'm back to playing karuta by myself again".
Random commentator in ep. 15: "She never joined a karuta society".

We see Shinobu practising alone with tapes like Arata used to near the end. Is the implication that Shinobu got where she is today by mostly just playing by herself?

Sudou came in second, and took 13 cards off Shinobu. I guess when Hakuou's advisor said he could be a future Meijin, they were serious. This also makes Chihaya's win against Sudou back in the team preliminaries more interesting in itself.

Not sure how to interpret Chihaya's "that's why I call her Shinobu-chan". It followed Kana's "she sure is scary", so I suppose logically we could assume that Chihaya's addressing her familiarly/diminutively in order to reduce the sense that she is a powerful obstacle. However, I would rather take it as an extension from Chihaya's earlier statement that she "sees her in [her] dreams" implying that, through meeting Shinobu in her dreams, Chihaya already feels familiar enough with her to address her that way.

I feel that there were probably two key points to this episode. The first is/was that accepting defeat, not matter how painful, is something that people must do--Miyauchi-sensei's line being key here, that despite having struggled, the Mizusawa karuta club members do not comfort each other. The other was properly establishing this show's rivalries, in Chihaya-Shinobu, Taichi-Arata, and Nishida-Taichi. The show was pretty blatant in establishing that Arata's role is not (any longer?) Chihaya's opponent. Beyond reuniting, then, I wonder where that particular relationship is intended to go.

On the "melodrama". Nishida's lines, and Taichi's initial reaction to it, did feel like a bit much to me. One thing that is a bit of an emotional turnoff for me is when a person engages in pity or sympathy based on projection rather than the actual feelings of the subject themselves. The scene sort of reads that way, like Nishida is crying out of exaggerated selfless empathy for Taichi. However, I think the intention might simply be to reinforce Nishida's character as someone who knows the pain of being second place, and his tears can be read not so much as sympathy for Taichi but rather a sublimation of his intense engagement in Taichi's match such that he felt like he was playing himself. That is to say, perhaps Nishida was crying from his own pain, because in comparison to Taichi (who said to himself, "I haven't put in the time") who just became passionate about karuta today, the one who most experienced the bitterness of failure this time might in fact have been Nishida.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Sunnythesun

I don't get why Shinobu was so worked up over Chihaya even though Sudou was better than her. But I liked her bipolarness.

There is a large gap in skill between Sudou and Chihaiya. I'm pretty certain Sudou established himself early on against Shinobou, but when Chiahaiya was playing Shinobu, she was being decimated systematically. With Sudou, Shinobou had an idea about her opponent. Chihaiya was someone who showed all the characteristic of amaeture who would eventually give up as she was being crushed. And then she revolts, tries to fight the inevitable and even rallies to take a few cards, five in all. At one point, she was actually playing to win. Considering the set of skill Shinobou possesses and how she has outplayed Chihaiya up until near the end, it must have been infuriating to see Chihaiya's self belief that she can actually win against Shinobu. How dare she!

Shinobu is extremely cute!

[Anh_Minh]

So did Chihaya really do track and field? How can she be run into exhaustion by Porky of all people?

[Guardian Enzo]

I think way too much focus here is on Taichi's declaration that he was aiming to beat Arata in Karuta. He is, but he was really talking about in something much more important. Fact is, Taichi has always been living under his mother's "don't play if you can't win" admonition, and taken it to the extreme of letting it govern his emotional risk-taking too. As much as he loves Chihaya he knows the odds are against him, so he doesn't put his heart on the line by acting on it. Until now, that is - and I think that's what "today is the day" and all the rest of it were really about. Yes, he cried because he lost, and he'd finally let himself care enough about something to cry - but also because he's about to take the biggest risk he's ever taken.

[Hikari no Clover]

just a warm reminder, the ending theme is out, found it on youtube......

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

I think the interpretation should be this way.

Spoiler:

It happens to some karuta players.
When Arata is in the zone, his face will also shows shade and appears possessed.

That's what I thought until now (I even defended using that same argument last week). However, the look on her face after the match when she was looking up Chihaya's name made me change my mind. That was no "serious business" face anymore, there was anger and hatred on it. You could feel it in her voice too (I'm very impressed with her voice actress by the way). Then when Chihaya showed up, she immediately put on a fake innocent smile to hide it. She did so very naturally, hence why I say she's two-faced.

As for the reason Chihaya infuriated her so much, I agree with Monir's interpretation. I would even go as far as to say she actually enjoys crushing her opponents (and mocking them as we've seen with Sudou). The S in Shinobu stands for Sadist! (and Sexy)

In any case, I'm sure she won't be your average friendly rival.

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

Spoiler:

It's the opposite. They did not show Taichi's sad face. I think everyone else notices it, except Chihaya. I think the Taichi's endless struggle in karuta is one of main focal points. They are actually referring to a karuta poetry.
It is something like,
I think about you every day, but you are not in my dream. Do you want to avoid me even in my dream?

The romance is something like this.

(Taichi)->(Chihaya)->(karuta)<-(Arata)


(Shinobu)->karuta

Nevertheless, their feelings are not focal point of the story. It's karuta match.

Interesting. I thought Taichi would be a bit happy to learn Chihaya doesn't dream about Arata.

I agree romance isn't the focal point. Now that Taichi has a goal of his own and has decided be serious about Karuta, even he might put romance on hold.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

I definitely think there is a bit too much crying in this series...that being said I was still emotionally affected at that scene...I think I just love these kids too much.

I'm a sucker for this type of drama, so i don't have a problem with the amount of tears in this episode. Actually, i found it spot on for Taichi's development/decision he was creating for himself.