Taichi Tuesday: 3/27/12

 Chihayafuru Ep. 25: Moonlight, Clear and Bright


So this week we have been given the finale for Chihayafuru. So sad! ;_; But indeed we have the conclusion to a fantastic series that was never afraid to just be itself. With a cast of characters each unique to themselves and a strong story premise, Chihayafuru delivered like no other series that I viewed from the Fall season.

The episode opens with the championship match between Master Suo and a rather unknown opponent from last week. And quite thankfully it ended rather quickly, but not with a little more character progression with Suo himself. We learn that Suo is also passionate for the Japanese language and what each card evokes for an image and the feelings behind it. This is why he has a supposed 28 one-syllable cards to play with. Before the end of this scene, Yumin’s sensei takes a moment to think on how both Suo and Shinobu do not have teachers, thus leading to them never really being instructors themselves. It’s a strange but important thought that comes forth in an understandable way. It seems he is probably correct. 

After the match the entire gang seems to be a bit depressed in how excellent Shinobu and Suo are at karuta. They think, “How will we ever get to that level?” and walk home in a sullen slumber. Yet Tsutomu comes through for Chihaya once again after studying all of his notes, concluding that Chihaya herself has 20 one-syllable cards to play with. This revelation brings Chihaya to an emotional moment that she may be able to really use this as something to grow with.

Some of the final moments we have with Taichi and Arata happen to be a phone conversation between the two. They discuss the happenings of the championship match and the ways in which they can improve. But as Arata is talking his old mentor (the one who previously gave up karuta) walks in and offers a match. This is huge because now Arata has someone to play with that is on his level, someone to improve with. He was floored when his mentor entered the room.

I would say that the most beautiful scene of the final episode would be when Chihaya is standing there in the hallway and reciting her 20 one-syllable cards. She says the cards out loud in a passionate sort of way that scares away some until Kanade appears. Chihaya is passionate to learn more about the cards and she is now studying them more than ever. At the same time Kanade reveals to Chihaya that she wants to become a professional karuta card reader. Although… Kanade’s passion quickly turns sour when Chihaya reveals that she must become a Class A karuta player to become a reader. I don’t believe this is what Kanade had in mind!

The series takes its final ending in a way that softly closes the cover of a book. The club members practice in their club room. Taichi practices his swinging arm (something he was too embarrassed to do before) and Kanade takes a stab at reading the cards. A scene with the Empress and fellow school board members reveals that the karuta club’s room is in danger of being taken over by the much more popular school band. It’s decided that the karuta club must gather at least five more members or the room goes to band. And we all remember how difficult it was before for the club to gain even three members! The next semester begins with Chihaya putting up posters around the school, just as she did roughly 19 or 20 episodes ago. And, well, that is all.

The conclusion of the episode leaves the possibility for anything to happen with a new season. If we will ever see another seasons remains to be seen. It’s hard to tell just how popular Chihayafuru as an anime series really is, but from my understanding manga sales have seen a noticeable increase in sales because of the series. The following for Chihayafuru suggests the notion that this series truly deserves a sequel, hands down, and I agree with them. There is enough material in the manga series as of right now to support a full second season and then some. Why not give the sleeper hit of the season a proper sequel? There’s enough room to flesh out our characters even more.

And while speaking of the characters a bit, let’s take a look at them in general growth. Chihaya is likely the person who grew the least but it’s warranted for everything her character is. We know about her bubbly personality and sometimes-immature way of looking at things, but she did grow in learning about herself and karuta. She now has a passion for the cards and what they mean, and she completely appreciates Tsutomu’s efforts in studying the game itself. And from Nishida she has learned to study different player’s styles so that she can grow her own. But I’m not sure if she has really learned from Taichi in any specific way that improves her karuta or character, thus leading to Taichi’s realization that he can’t always be concerned with Chihaya as an individual. He very much seems to have strong feelings for Chihaya but he has shifted his efforts to himself more. Take for example the scene from a handful of episodes ago when Taichi lost the level-A qualifying match. He told Harada-sensei that he wanted to work for himself to get to class A and not have it handed to him. He is stronger than that. Kanade and Tsutomu have each grown in their own respective ways but we saw more of this earlier in the season. Kanade grew passionate with karuta because of her love for the poems and their meanings, and Tsutomu showed his passion in studying everyone’s play style to the max. In their rank match Kanade ultimately won but Tsutomu was there for her. They have grown a lot in such a short time it feels! And as for Nishida, I’m not really sure how much he’s changed. Change may not be the word to describe Nishida. Maybe instead it was self-realization that giving up on your passionate hobby isn’t the way to avoid it. In this he uses his skills to advance further beyond even Taichi, even if the match was a fluke.

Chihayafuru could have been handled differently but I don’t think it would have been as enjoyable. The series could have been more centered on the love triangle but thankfully it wasn’t. I do wish there was some closure to that but instead it was sort of phased out by the final episode. I’m sure Arata still has a thing for Chihaya and Taichi still loves Chihaya, but Chihaya is still so oblivious to it all. Maybe another season could fix this up a bit? Regardless we have an anime series that took each of its characters and gave them all the proper respect they deserved. No one was a throwaway, and to that we can applaud. A strong story, strong characters, excellent music and an ever-consistent quality in animation round out Chihayafuru to be one of my most favorite anime in a long while.

Thank you for traveling through this series with me!

-Jared Cyhowski

Taichi Tuesdays: 3/20/12

Chihayafuru Ep. 24: Nobody Wishes to See the Beautiful Cherry Blossoms

Next week is the final episode of Chihayafuru and it seems we have some sort of ending locked in place. The group is now together and watching the national karuta finals for the Queen and Master positions. Shinobu is playing against Yumi for the title of Queen and the current Master is playing against someone else. We really haven’t received much attention to the current Master so it’s a bit awkward that Chihayafuru is making a big deal out of him. Nonetheless this is a great moment for the guys, and ladies, to study both matches and to learn from them.

The episode starts similarly to an episode that aired weeks and weeks ago. Do you remember when Taichi had Chihaya over and he wouldn’t let her in his room? Well this time Chihaya comes over but Taichi’s mom is also there, and boy is she ever intimidating for Chihaya!


To escape the awkward tension Taichi invites Chihaya up to his room, but this time it’s Chihaya who feels weird about it. On another note, what’s up with Taichi’s mother telling Taichi that karuta isn’t worth it? I know she wants him to be the best he can at so many different things but if he loves karuta, why not go for it? Actually that brings up the idea that Taichi may not exactly love karuta, as it’s his love for Chihaya that seems to have kept him going all this time. If it weren’t for her, Taichi likely wouldn’t have started playing again.

Tsutomu, Kanade, and Nishida arrive at Taichi’s house to watch the final matches, and we learn that Shinobu has… gained a lot of weight?! Apparently! It’s kind of ridiculous and I’m not sure why this even happens in the story, but Shinobu ate a ton of ice cream to win a special collectible and themed item: the snowman mascot that Chihaya knows about as well. All the ice cream made her fat and so she’s been struggling throughout the match. It’s a bit random but I can live with it.


We learn from Shinobu’s flashback that she got into karuta because her high-expectations Grandmother needed Shinobu to find something worth doing as a child. It’s a bit weird but it makes sense to a degree. And so Shinobu eventually put her talents into karuta and that’s where she is today. Finding strength from within, Shinobu eventually defeats Yumi. This match could have gone either way if you ask me, as we have seen the rise of both players in recent episodes. It’s just interesting that things could have turned out differently altogether. Chihaya could have defeated Yumi for a chance to play against Shinobu, and there was all that story built up around Shinobu and Chihaya being rivals. Whatever happened to that? It’s likely only explored in the manga’s storyline.

The episode finishes with the current Master Suo Hisashi starting his third match with his opponent, who is someone we have never seen before. Apparently Hisashi has the ability to move so fast and with such grace that he barely touches the cards in front of him. He’s been the Master of karuta for a few years now so it’s awesome to see him in a match. The only thing is, his match started at the end of the episode. I only hope that the next and final episode of Chihayafuru doesn’t take most of the episode to go through his match. We need a resolution to the story and we need to see what happens between Chihaya and Taichi. I know that Arata obviously has a lot to do with that relationship, but he’s barely a part of the story at the end that it barely even matters. There may not be any definitive relationship status created between any of the characters, but I would enjoy seeing some form of well-done conclusion nonetheless. Only next week will tell!

-Jared Cyhowski

Taichi Tuesdays: 3/13/12

Chihayafuru Ep. 23: The Night is Nearly Past

Episode 23 of Chihyafuru finally takes the series back to its roots of being a young love title. I enjoy this format more because I like the whole teenage romance anime scene. But when I think about it, I don’t think Chihayafuru would have been as good if it was centered around the romance and emotional elements. The karuta episodes helped to spread the story apart, although I would have preferred if the series had a few more teenage romance episodes to develop Arata’s character a bit more.

Taichi was there to comfort Chihaya after she lost her match with Yumi, and he reveals to himself that he truly loves her. Such is the expression on his face in the image above. A bit later in the episode we return to the school setting and learn that Chihaya has a boy who likes her and is trying to get her attention. Taichi takes the initiative to block the boy on her cell phone and Kanade finally realizes that he has feelings for Chihaya. It’s comical for her to point out the rest of the karuta club are just a bunch of nincompoops.


Arata also lost his qualifying match to play against the current Master, and he’s now trying to get his former mentor to play at the karuta society again. I believe Arata is learning that some people lose interest in hobbies and passions, and karuta is no different. Arata will likely eventually find someone worth playing in his karuta society, and if not, maybe he will turn to Taichi or Nishida?


Going into the end of the episode provides a look on the different Christmas parties that are happening for Chihaya, Taichi, Tsutomo, Kanade, and Nishida. Chihaya is gawked at because of her natural beauty, Taichi is tricked into being the only boy invited to a karaoke party, Nishida goes bowling, Kanade goes to a restaurant, and Tsutomu attends the same event Chihaya does. The ending is special because Chihaya wants to be with the rest of the group that night instead of at the party with her class. When Tsutomu points out that he feelings resemble an acknowledgement of family, she calls Arata. It’s difficult to tell whether she called him because she has true feelings for him or if she called because she is so close to him as a friend. It’s kind of tough to tell, but the very last moments signify that she has confidence in the result of her phone call. You can tell by her facial expression and the stride in her walk. At the same time she may be thinking of Taichi, finally realizing how much he loves her. Who knows, I mean it is Chihaya we are talking about!

I believe there are only two more episodes of this wonderful series left to air. I wish there was more, but all good things must come to an end. Hey, that’s two more episodes where you never know what could happen! In seven days we’ll know more!

-Jared Cyhowski

Taichi Tuesdays: 3/6/12

Chihayafuru Ep. 22: Just As My Beauty Has Faded

The most recent episodes of Chihayafuru were fun and exciting, but they don’t necessarily show a lead in to the final episodes and that is where we are now. Actually, taking a step back and looking at the series as a whole details a unique structure for the series. Near the beginning we were given a large amount of karuta based around the characters while now it’s characters based around karuta. This is fine because of the high quality in storytelling, but I do ultimately miss the relationship building and casual slice of life feel to the series. What this means, as pointed out by someone on RandomC.net, is that the series can basically only go two ways from here. The first being a more karuta-based ending with the characters rooting for Arata in the finals and the second being a story that concludes with relationships examined and set for the finale. That means we learn if Chihaya has feelings for any of the two guys and if Tsutomo and Kanade learn of their feelings for one another. Somewhere in the backdrop would be Arata playing karuta and learning his own feelings, while in parallel dealing more with his past. I would like to see the latter but I feel like we will get a combination of these elements in the next final episodes.

Episode 22 takes a look at Chihaya’s match against the former Queen of karuta, a Yamamoto Yumi. We learn that Yumi isn’t very passionate anymore for karuta due to the fact that she lost her title to Wakamiya Shinobu. Thus her attitude is dry and boring for a high-level karuta player, as compared to Chihaya’s bursting confidence in the match.


But that’s what becomes Chihaya’s ultimate downfall. Her confidence in that Yumi has “given up” gives her a slight advantage in the match, grabbing a lead in the number of cards she has taken. Not only is the tension high because of the match, but the heat in the room they are playing in is so hot that it’s uncomfortable to even watch. Taichi, Tsutomu, Kanade, and Nishida are all watching outside where it’s warm, but not as hot as inside the room. Because Nishida, Tsutomu, and Kanade each became members of the karuta society that Yumi is from, they feel conflicted for who to root for. In my opinion it’s clear that deep down they are rooting for Chihaya.

Chihaya is ahead until her karuta coach opens a window and tells her to find her own style of karuta. This pushes her to play with a new and annoying style of questioning every single card that Chihaya tries to take. Say if Yumi’s finger touches the card first but Chihaya swipes it away, it’s still Yumi’s card and she would argue for it. This really took Chihaya off guard and it seems she didn’t know what to do about it.


Yumi’s stubbornness distracted Chihaya until she cracked, and Yumi eventually became the underdog winner of the match. At the end of each karuta match the players usually thank one another for playing, but Chihaya was silent in her loss. I think she was shocked that she lost so easily after losing her own confidence. She may have realized during the match that she should have been more sensible to the fact she was playing against a former Queen, but it didn’t save her from losing.

Now that Chihaya is out of the qualifiers for playing with Shinobu there’s no telling what the meaning behind her character will be in the final episodes. Taichi didn’t make it either so he can’t face Arata. It goes to show the story in Chihayafuru could have really taken a different direction with what we would expect, but because it didn’t do those things we are left guessing what will happen. It’s a commendable effort on the series’ writers, and it’s so rare to constantly be off guard with what to expect next. Either way it’s been a fun ride.

-Jared Cyhowski

Taichi Tuesdays: 2/28/12

It’s been a busy week and I wasn’t able to get my response from last week’s episode up in time, and so I will just briefly touch on it. Afterwards I will cover the newest episode of Chihayafuru. Enjoy!

Chihayafuru Ep. 21: As My Sleeves Are Wet With Dew

It’s been a week since I saw ep. 21, but there are a few elements of the episode that I remember quite well. First it’s the fact that Chihaya passed her exams, meaning she doesn’t need to stay back in school. It also means that Chihaya was able to balance the importance of schoolwork with her passion for Karuta. The image above is the expression on her face when she learned she had passed, and just how thankful she was for Tsutomu’s help as a tutor.


Then we have the small 6^th grader Ririka who was Chihaya’s opponent in a qualifying match to play against the Queen of karuta. Chihaya sat back in the match and played the game at a pace where Ririka was able to stay in the game. Eventually Chihaya’s sensei pointed out that she could attack the cards with speed, thus putting her at an advantage. Throughout the match Ririka’s mother was watching as her daughter became upset and frustrated with the fact that Chihaya was winning. There was a true element of magic to this, as we learn that Ririka plays karuta because she doesn’t fit in with her classmates. They pick on her because of her large ears and whatever other reasons there may be, but it’s mentioned that her ears give her an advantage in hearing the cards before they are even called. It was heartbreaking, and heartwarming, to encourage her daughter to do whatever she wanted to do just so she could be happy. As her mother points out, she is supportive for “something that will help you like yourself”, and it’s just great that Ririka has actually found that something.

The rest of the episode focused on Chihaya sticking up for Ririka’s loss and Taichi challenging Arata to winning his qualifying match. Arata also had to deal with the fact that his mentor wasn’t into karuta as much as he used to be, which shows that people can lose interest in the sport. I believe Taichi’s text will encourage Arata into placing well in the tournament.

-Jared Cyhowski