#Yume no Kayoiji

[yangbojian]

Yuri (1980s)

[double-lariat]

6 & 12 for the ask 😊💗

6: damashi e no machi by saeki kayono! it’s such a beautiful tale of romantic friendship 

[from now on we’ll always be together… i’ll choose everything for you, your clothes, your accessories, even your work. that’s right, you won’t have to waver anymore ]

i think i posted about this one before when i read it but like goddd they’re so <3

12: yume no kayoiji's original publication has some incredibly gorgeous art that i would love to share here but apparently the site it was hosted on was taken down. fuck my baka life here’s the only panel i have saved

[natsumi-no-hotaru]

Chihayafuru #38: Pining for you in my dreams 

AKA. In which Chi-chan held her own against the silent and steady waves that were Ousaka Megumu.

[Previously: The Kanachi sailed home on winds of the last summer day.]

"In my dreams, I creep closer to you” or “ Yume no Kayoiji Hitomeyo kuran” is certainly one of those quintessential episodes that encapsulate the best of Chihayafuru:  intense, high-stakes-in-all-ways-that-matter matches, challenging opponents, underdogs that refuse to step down, beautiful displays of team spirit, engaging commentators, and last but not least, off-the-roof tension. I can’t recall the last time, or if ever, a karuta team match lasted for more than 2 episodes - not even the super close, luck-of-the-draw match against Hokuo at the regional tournament. By the end of Chihayafuru #38, the match was still far from decided, with Chi-chan leveling Ousaka’s card lead in a tug-of-war battle and Ousaka, jerked awake by Chi-chan’s intensity, finally finding some real personal motivation for playing that goes beyond making her teammates happy. 

On catching and losing momentum: take 1

“The opponent’s lower right one-syllable cards are always special. You’re taking a card from under their nose. It’s so fun! Ayase’s got the momentum now.”

Love Sudo-san!! Lmao, poor senpai alumni. 

Picking up from last episode, Chi-chan tenaciously held on to her offensive karuta and succeeded in taking two consecutive cards to the amazement of our avid commentators. 

Astroboy is such a sweetheart - and there was way more people watching Chi-chan’s match than expected, including the foreigner students (who spoke Japanese better than English) from Mizusawa’s first prelim match!

It was a clean win for Chi-chan, whose incredible hearing allowed her to dismiss the “Swift” card on Ousaka’s left and go straight for the “Silent” card on her opponent’s right without any hesitation. She successfully emulated Shi-chan’s swipe to hit the card on its corner, too, which was really new and exciting. But things would not go so easy, especially when she was facing such a calm and unflappable opponent like Ousaka. Immediately after she turned to celebrate her momentary victory with Kana-chan, she lost her focus and was not able to keep up her winning streak.  

One of the funniest moments of the episode came when both Chi-chan and Ousaka touched a card at the same time and Nishida and Kana-chan pushed her to contest the card. The advice Nishida gave is certainly sound - the point of contesting is not always to get the card itself but to shake up your opponent, put them in hot water and all. 

But since she was already so uncomfortable with the idea from the start, then wouldn’t this backfire somehow?

*face palm* 

I even thought that she might give the card back instead... 

Instead of Ousaka, Chi-chan was the one who was thrown off the game and the team learnt a valuable lesson, lmao.

Luckily, the team took to rallying themselves to ease off the pressure on Chi-chan and none with greater enthusiasm than Tsutomu-kun. He always had a good mind for strategy, amply demonstrated in his decision to go after the cards that his opponent would likely to have strong attachment to. In this case, after noticing his opponent using a towel with the name of an idol known for sad love songs, Tsutomu promptly doubled down on cards on broken hearts and struck right where it hurt the most. 

“I’m gonna find my momentum in the first match.”

Tsutomu so KAKKOIIIII!!!

It was no easy task for Tsutomu to jump into the game at such a critical juncture, not to mention the self-doubt, anxiety and mental exhaustion he went through earlier. But he was still the one with the most energy left and this was the perfect moment for him to prove that he had as much capacity for leadership and competition as for support.

Heeding Tsutomu’s call to action, the entire team brought home the card with Kana-chan’s surname - Oe, in a display of synchronicity not seen since their match against the foreign students team from Chiba.

Struggling with maintaining the said momentum, Chi-chan came to view the elusive momentum as “when you take consecutive cards”. Perhaps it is a little simple-minded but nonetheless a very concrete and measurable goal, which is precisely what she needed. 

On catching and losing momentum: take 2

It is one thing to define your goal and quite another to achieve it. Right after the team effort to all grab the “While it brings” cards, Chi-chan could not sustain the winning streak. Her opponent remained unperturbed by the cards lost to Chi-chan, all the more so when the gap in terms of cards won was still in her favour.

But Chi-chan had another card up her sleeve - she slipped beneath Ousaka’s hand and grabbed a multi-syllable card starting with “The”, literally the first of its kind that she got. Her never-seen-before move completely threw Ousaka and the viewers for a loop - where has she been hiding this awesome move?! This happened immediately after an empty was read, at which Chi-chan remained still while Ousaka moved but stopped herself in time. Perhaps she did figure something out after this empty card moment, just like Sudo-san suspected, but regardless of what might have occurred with Chi-chan, it was clear that her hearing was superior to Ousaka’s. 

Amazingly, Chi-chan got not only 1 multi-syllable card with this trick but two! It was such a wondrous turn of event because multi-syllable cards were supposed to be Chi-chan’s weakness. She was full of surprises, which made for an incredibly exciting episode - there’s absolutely no telling what’d happen next. 

It was around this point that the viewers got to hear directly from Ousaka and know her without the filter of her coach, her teammates or her obsessive fans. As suggested by her teammate’s musing on whether Ousaka truly wanted to aim for Queen in the previous episode, the First Akashi Girls ace flat out denied any interest in becoming Queen and seemed to enjoy playing karuta for the sake of her team more than for her own gain. She had a strong team spirit, as proven by the headbands she made for her teammates to match with hers, and sought a reassurance of companionship when she was pushed back by Chi-chan’s attacks. These brief glimpses of her fragile side made ripples in the placid waters of her calm demeanour, giving her an unexpectedly child-like aura.

“This is a team match so why am I the only one saying anything?”

In contrast, Chi-chan was gradually rendered in a more mature light, particularly in light of the growth in her karuta, which was given due recognition by Sudo-san himself. 

“To win, you have to overcome your weaknesses instead of relying on your strengths. How much time has she spent practicing?”

Picking up from Chi-chan’s recollection of times spent with Kana-chan on poetry appreciation, our sweet girl’s skill boost was further revealed to be the work of the entire team, with Nishida coaching her to better cover her cards and Tsutomu-kun advising her to listen carefully before moving. Surely she still had a long way to go as she still struggled with grabbing 3 consecutive cards and defending her cards against such a composed opponent, but she had outgrown being intimidated by strong players and gained a healthy level of self-assurance in her abilities. Ousaka may have found ways to prevent Chi-chan from breaking her cover for the 3rd time, yet Chi-chan was far from being defeated.

While calmly noting Ousaka’s good game sense and broad field of vision as well as the need to better her multi-syllable card game, Chi-chan unfailingly kept to Harada-sensei’s teaching, to the karuta that she believed in, undaunted by the challenges posed by Ousaka. 

“Stop taking cards with your speed.”

I love how shocked Sudo-san was by Chi-chan’s precision strike “one milimeter, one spot, the green border”, its accuracy and speed reminding him of the Queen’s very own swing. Somehow he knows and appreciates Chi-chan’s karuta so deeply, even though he is but an acquaintance and that makes perfect sense, lmao. Amazing writing *tips hat off to Suetsugu-san*

“She’s who I’d be if someone hadn’t taught me better.”

The animation is done so beautifully crisp and on point here, it was such a joy to see the swing that Chi-chan worked so hard to get it right. 

And three consecutive cards.

“There’s nothing flashy about her swing, but it’s accurate.”

Chi-chan’s sudden power-up took Ousaka out of her comfort zone of playing to make her teammates happy and awoke her personal drive to secure the victory for her own satisfaction. It started as a momentary lapse in doing her captain’s duty of telling everyone to focus on one card at a time and a celebration of her individual card win. She may not desire the position of Queen the way Chi-chan did but she was now fired to win, all the more so for her own pride.

I still don’t quite enjoy Ousaka as a character but I must say that once again, Chihayafuru and Suetsugu-san had a way with making the initially-not-so-palatable, even uninteresting Ousaka into a character one can tolerate and find some merit. Ousaka is made more human and accessible through her response to the determination and ambition expressed in Chi-chan’s karuta.

“To be honest, we want to see you succumb to your own desires.”

“The leader of the team is me. The person who can make everyone happy is me. The one to challenge the queen is me.”

It stands true for both teams that much has been devoted to the growth and improvement of their aces. Against a Ousaka who’s not just going through the motions anymore, it’s gonna be another tough challenge for Chi-chan to overcome, now that she’s got her opponent riled up. 

Lmao, why did you even bother?

The episode ended with Chi-chan giving up on the contested card but not with much discomfort. As long as she keeps her chin up and not give in to nerves in the next episode, I’m not too worried. 

I really want to see Taichi stepping up in the next episode, as well as Tsutomu and Kana-chan getting a win for a change. *crosses fingers*

Happy International Women’s Day and until the next time then, folks! 

OMAKE

Truly, sexist much, Nishida? 

[double-lariat]

8 & 11 for the manga ask game ^_^

8: between hikaru ga shinda natsu, aono-kun, yume no kayoiji and ani datta mono there’s definitely been a strong paranormal romance theme this year

11: patalliro. no one’s doing it like maya mineo