Chihayafuru Ep. 20: The Cresting Waves Almost Look Like Clouds in the Skies
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s a viral theme going around that Tuesday should be called “Taichi Tuesdays” because Chihayafuru airs on Tuesday and many people root for Taichi. So I think I will now call the Weekly Review “Taichi Tuesday” until further notice. Cool?!
Okay so this episode featured a solid amount of content that I will only touch upon briefly. And yeah, it’s because I’m almost a week late with the writing. First and foremost this week’s episode makes it clear that while Karuta is important and all, so is studying! And so Chihaya and Nishida find themselves in the position to possibly fail, and so they must put the card game on hold for a while. Only problem is Chihaya can’t get away from the game completely, exemplified by the fact that she skipped studying to be there for Taichi and his match to make it to Class A. At least she had Tsutomu as her tutor to help teach her the meaning of studying. His message that Taichi’s commitment to his grades being high while also playing Karuta really hit home with Chihaya.
The grand event of the episode was the return of Arata to Karuta… finally! What took so long! But it was Taichi’s acceptance of this fact that was so interesting to watch and dramatic to feel. Taichi lost early in the tournament by the time Chihaya got there to root him on, but Arata was there playing as well. Chihaya was taken by such a strong emotion when seeing him that even Taichi began to tear up. It was a surplus of emotion, and I am very glad for it. I am so fortunate to be able to watch an anime that features such high levels of mastery in drama and storytelling.
The most interesting development occurred between Taichi and Arata, and how Arata gave Taichi the decision to decide whether or not to give Chihaya his phone number and email. This shows Arata is clearly interested, but respectful of the fact that Taichi and Chihaya may actually be going out. Astonishingly enough Taichi says no and plays around with the awkward moment. Come on Taichi! You should have made it clear you were interested in her! Although I have a feeling Arata already knows this.
The next Taichi Tuesday happens… tomorrow! Maybe this time I will get my post up a bit sooner. We’ll see!
-Jared Cyhowski
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