I honestly don't know how this show is going to wrap itself up.
This episode felt like the start of a new story arc, with Chihaya gradually getting over the fact that she lost her chance to face the Queen this year. It was heartbreaking to see her working through it ("If I hadn't messed up, would that be me up there?") but it was great to see her turn the pain of losing into the drive to go all the way next year. However...we only have two episodes left. Where are we going to go from here? What are we going to focus on? I went into this show knowing that there wouldn't be a definitive ending (the manga is still ongoing) but it's disappointing to see that all that build-up towards Chihaya's rematch with the Queen mean nothing this time around. I'm still looking forward to seeing that cheat get what's coming to her, though. Anyway, my main concern is that Chihayafuru will just stop rather than attempt some kind of closure. An open ending is fine, but from where we're at in the storyline, I just don't know. This show has proven me wrong before though, and I hope that it'll happen again. I would love to see this show go out on a high note.
Concerns about episode limits aside, this was a pretty emotional episode. On top of Chihaya dealing with losing the tournament, Tachi once again did a pretty good job of acting as the emotional support for the team, despite his own feelings. I particularly liked the way that he handled the news that some guy had asked Chihaya out as well ("You need to realize that you can't date a guy who hasn't seen you play karuta"). The Christmas party scene, where we actually see the group apart and with their classmates for once, put a nice cap on how far they've come and how much more is ahead of them. On the other side of things, I'm getting a bit worried about Arata. When Chihaya called him, he wasn't hanging out with his class, he was with the karuta society. Not that there's anything wrong with that in and of itself, but after seeing him make a kid cry by taking a match too seriously and tracking down a guy who wasn't interested in the competitive side of it anymore makes me feel that maybe he got back into it too quickly and that he's forgetting about the fun side of it. Maybe the final two episodes will focus on that. With the competetive part out of the way, I wouldn't mind a human-relationship driven ending.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
I want to see Shinobu deliver a humiliating defeat to the "previous Queen".
ReplyDeleteThat's the main thing I'm looking forward to at this point. XD
ReplyDeleteOoooo, previous-queen hate! I kind of liked her. And she didn't cheat, she was just aggressive, like Sado-kun but without cool hair.
ReplyDeleteI can only see one appropriate ending to this. It's called 'season two'.
Obligatory Taichi shout-out. Was that not the greatest scene at the lockers? And I am so glad that Kana knows his secret now.
"I can only see one appropriate ending to this. It's called 'season two'."
ReplyDeleteI agree, but with the sales of the show so far it doesn't look good. ):
And yes, that was a great scene. And then later, even I was thinking, "Just take the jacket!" XD The longer this show goes on, the more I think that maybe I shouldn't have picked a side at all; I really like both of the boys.
Wow:D that's totally sweet - now I won't keep coming here only to cheerlead for Taichi. Though why a middle-aged straight guy would do so is peculiar - I suppose in defense of my misspent youth (some of it misspent in being a doormat like Taichi).
ReplyDeleteAnd you're totally right - the boys are both great. They're not the typical nice guy/angry guy pair of shoujo manga tropes, and they don't rant, accuse, challenge, or do the usual male histrionics (Taichi did it when they were kids, which is age-appropriate at least). They like each other (and I'm sure the doujinshi makers are taking it further than that...)
It never occured to me till this episode how alike Arata and Chihaya are. They're both singlemindedly fixated, they seem oblivious to social cues, activities and expectations. Taichi is more the 'normal' one - he knows he loves Chihaya, and that his chances are poor, and that he has other responsibilities to the people around him. I think Arata and Chihaya are only dimly aware of thoughts like that - they have an athlete's fixation on their goal and not much awareness of the feelings or motivations of people around them. We've seen a little opening up on Chihaya's part recently - she's even trying to call people by their real names, wow!
And like Taichi, we can cling to our shaky hopes - this time, hope of another season. True that sales of the show aren't great, but the manga's popularity is really gathering momentum -