(L+CR) Chihayafuru Season 2

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by karice67

Training is an interesting topic to ponder, especially if anyone wants to consider another reason for Arata being able to challenge Shinobu despite having lost one and a half years. Putting aside the fact that she was sick, of course...though it's suggested that it didn't affect her all that much, really, given how she walked over everyone else in her path to the final.

I wouldn't say that. She's just usually so overwhelming it didn't show. It's like Chihaya beating people with her left hand.

Besides, the effect would get more pronounced as the day went on and her stamina got depleted.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

We don't know what transpired in that game, except that Taichi was much, much stronger than usual. Retro may well have been perfectly able to bring his A-game, and still got owned.

I doubt it. His narration shows he's pretty damn perturbed by Taichi's detached behavior. If he can really bring his best game in that condition, the guy has nerves of steel. Even Rion got all nervous when she saw Taichi at that moment (before Chihaya entered the room, which made Taichi's attitude change intermediately). Though, Taichi didn't really know what was happening around him at that moment. He wasn't really thinking about disruptive his opponents' game or anything. That's true.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I think it's more down to Rion's weakness than Taichi's sadism. Besides, him being so calm is not usual for him.

It still exploits her weakness. Everything that happened during that tournament was knew to him anyway.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

He just changed to an anti-Chihaya formation. It's not something he does regularly against all kinds of opponents.

Actually, he does things like that pretty often.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I think it's just too early to say they've got similar styles. It's possible Taichi will get closer to Arata (the way Chihaya's getting closer to Shinobu), but we haven't really seen it yet.

I never said that their styles are really alike. I just said they have similarities. Things in common. I do think Taichi's style gets more similar to Arata's as he gets more experienced and skilled. But it doesn't mean his style's going to be the same or anything. I don't want Taichi to become an Arata clone (karuta-wise) anyway. Not that I think it's going to happen, mind you.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I doubt it. His narration shows he's pretty damn perturbed by Taichi's detached behavior. If he can really bring his best game in that condition, the guy has nerves of steel.

He mistakenly thought Taichi was burnt out from the team tournament, so he probably started pretty confident and only broke down after things started going really badly for him.

[Leo_Otaku]

Wow that was a crazy match indeed! I was hoping for Shinobu, but for the circumstances in the plot it was obvious Arata would win. The part where he put his hand on her forehead was truly adorable I also would like a third seaon. someone was mentioning a lack of source material though. Too bad.

Originally Posted by bastek66

Recent characters popularity poll.

Very interesting indeed! I like Shinobu much better than Chihaya myself, actually . Her crying drives me up the wall. But what manga poll doesn't have the main protagonist 1st place? Interesting to see Taichi 2nd too, I do like him better than Arata.

[BBOvenGuy]

One thing I hope we get to see in the final episode is what happens when the Misuzawa team comes home not just with the team trophy (or medal or banner or whatever the award is), but with perhaps as many as three of the four individual championships.

[SeijiSensei]

Maybe it will lead to demands from the Misuzawa and Fujisaki teams for a playoff between Miyauchi-sensei and Sakurazawa-sensei. They would have to play both a karuta and a tennis match. If the score is tied, they can arm wrestle in the finals.

[hyperborealis]

Just loved this episode, from Shinobu's marvelous "I am the Queen!" to Sumire's reflection on Kana's handing out poems as if they were candies or medicines...

The title poem is #51. Here is Mostow's translation:

Can I even say
"I love you this much"?--No, and so
you do not know of it
anymore than of the sashimo grasses of Ibuki,
my burning love for you!

This is a curious choice for a title poem. It comes up immediately in the episode, when Kana notices Sumire's distress at Taichi's evident feelings for Chihaya. The poem is so apropos to Sumire's feelimgs Kana mentions it to her, to soften her pain by quietly underlining how very beautiful her feelings are. Lovely, but why should the title point to a minor moment in the episode?

The thing to notice is that the poem can also refer to most of the other characters in the episode. #51 is a poem the series associates with Taichi, for obvious reasons; Kana may even have that partly in mind, to point out to Sumire how she and Taichi alike. The poem may refer to Shinobu, who is burning up with a fever, and who we know from past episodes has a strong desire to play and to beat Arata. The poem may even refer to Chihaya, who is mesmerized by the match, and who Taichi has to restrain from leaning too far forward.

The one person the poem doesn't describe is Arata, who alone throughout the episode is preternaturally relaxed and calm. Chihaya is amazed by it; Shinobu is annoyed by it. So the title poem is really an ironic reference to Arata's remarkable serenity.

[SeijiSensei]

In Shinobu's case the poem might be referring to her love of the cards themselves which has been emphasized in each of the past two episodes. She talks to the cards as if they are her children. As you say, her fever adds the "burning" aspect of the poem.

[Bern-san]

I rewatched episode 25 of the first season to see Master Suo and I just realized that the reader was Rion's grandmother, with Suo blushing while saying he loves her during the match

And I wonder why 9 and 10 in the popularity poll rank higher than Retro, Nikuman Suo and most of the characters in general

[Kirarakim]

So just wondering what is everyone's favorite 100 poem?

Mine was only featured in a small scene in Chihayafuru (as far as I can recall), I first heard it in Uta Koi . It was Taichi's opponents card during the end of the team match. I hope it will be used again in the series:

Though the waterfall
Ceased its flowing long ago,
And its sound is stilled,Yet, in name it ever flows,
And in fame may yet be heard.

I think this poem is for one a lovely reflection of all the poets in the Hyakunin Isshu who have died so long ago but through the words of their poems they are still with us.

And as a big fan of classic film/television and many of my favorite actors & actresses long gone I also think of this poem and how although they are dead just watching old films and television series they have left a mark on this world. The same with many classic authors and so forth.

[LKK]

Kana-chan would be so disappointed in me, but I barely notice the poems. (However, I always enjoy reading hyperborealis' title poem analysis.)

[hyperborealis]

#66

Let us think of each
other fondly,
O mountain cherries!
for, outside of your blossoms,
there's no one who knows my feelings.

I love the mixture of feelings here, the lonely companionableness with the mountain cherries. Then there are so many incidental details included, that shade the poem with endless allusion.

I'll check and see where it came up in S1. OK, now I remember! It's the title poem for episode 14, where Chihaya plays Shinobu for the first time. The poem describes Shinibu's loneliness at the heights of karuta, and alludes to her secret wish for a friend. The poet's friendship with mountain cherries exactly mirrors Shinobu's friendship with the karuta cards. Very beautiful! I am looking forward to Chihaya and Shinobu becoming friends at last...

Ps. Thank you LKK!

[inisipis]

# 73

On that far mountain
On the slope below the peak
Cherries are in flower.
Oh, let the mountain mists
Not arise to hide the scene.

It tells a lot about beauty and its many interpretations and definitions in a compact poem.

[LKK]

OT: I don't suppose most of you watch the Adult Swim weekly broadcast of Bleach. Saturday's episode was a filler (surprise, surprise) in which the soul reapers played a game of karuta on New Year's Day. (Genuine surprise!) About their game, let's just say it was not a game that would ever be sanctioned by the tournament's governing body, shall we?

[inisipis]

Originally Posted by LKK

OT: I don't suppose most of you watch the Adult Swim weekly broadcast of Bleach. Saturday's episode was a filler (surprise, surprise) in which the soul reapers played a game of karuta on New Year's Day. (Genuine surprise!) About their game, let's just say it was not a game that would ever be sanctioned by the tournament's governing body, shall we?

I remember that episode. The Girls team vs the Boys team right. The game is really to die for.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I wouldn't say that. She's just usually so overwhelming it didn't show. It's like Chihaya beating people with her left hand.

Besides, the effect would get more pronounced as the day went on and her stamina got depleted.

Perhaps. It seemed to have a somewhat similar effect to her weight gain in the previous season.

But I would argue that training (and playing with others) still matters to a certain extent.

At the very least, both the anime and manga have clearly been making a statement about playing alone vs. playing with friends.

---

To be honest, I actually like the Naniwa poem, that's not part of the Hyakunin Isshu itself, but is used to start the matches. It's simple, and perhaps repetitive, but I just love the imagery conveyed in it's meaning:

In Naniwa Bay, now the flowers are blossoming. After lying dormant all winter, now the spring has come and those flowers are blossoming. (from the Chihayafuru wikia)

That, and it sounds really nice whenever it is read...

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by karice67

Perhaps. It seemed to have a somewhat similar effect to her weight gain in the previous season.

But I would argue that training (and playing with others) still matters to a certain extent.

At the very least, both the anime and manga have clearly been making a statement about playing alone vs. playing with friends.

---

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.

[karice67]

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.

Is that what the story is saying though? As Arata told Taichi last season, there are ways to take cards faster than someone with better 'hearing' than yourself. And as Harada-sensei and Nishida's teacher point out, there are ways to shape the match in your own favour. In other words, there are other ways to win.

And the Queen has now been defeated. Even if she was slightly ill, the repeat of her defeat to Arata and the way he managed to dominate her early in the match shows that there is something that she has not realised about how he was playing her.

Lastly, so far we've only really considered talent and hard work/training. But is that all that there is to winning at karuta?

I really don't think the story is going to leave the debate about what makes someone strong as it being 'all about talent', though it's up in the air just when and what the next piece of evidence presented in the debate is.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by karice67

Is that what the story is saying though? As Arata told Taichi last season, there are ways to take cards faster than someone with better 'hearing' than yourself. And as Harada-sensei and Nishida's teacher point out, there are ways to shape the match in your own favour. In other words, there are other ways to win.

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.

[karice67]

^
My point is more that we haven't gotten far enough in the story to know where the author stands on that debate. And to me, the style of presentation strongly suggests that whilst everyone assumes that talent trumps everything, that is not the be-all-and-end-all.

But YMMV, and I can accept that.