#for the trio that’s karuta

[sailorfuncomics]

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon SuperS Karuta (2/2)

な Ring out! Crystal Carillon に The unparalleled Super Sailor Moon ぬ Put your shoes away neatly

ね The Kaleidomoon Scope deals the final blow to its target の Take a peek at the beautiful dream shown in the mirror

は Usagi hates the dentist ひ I fight with chains of light ふ Let's both use Moon Crisis Make Up!!

へ The weird people of the Amazon Trio ほ Compliments instantly go to his head

ま There goes Ami, studying again み Rei Hino in her miko robes む The invincible power of Moon Gorgeous Meditation

め See how I attack with dazzling fire も Hey, guys, wanna come over and play?

や Neo Queen Serenity is a kind mama ゆ Pegasus lives in the land of dreams よ Diana the kitten does a nice big stretch

ら Mama Ikuko doesn't let me doodle り Makoto is great at peeling apples る Luna and Artemis are really good friends

れ The Lemures are born from bad dreams ろ Roller skating in the street is dangerous

わ I'll punish you for being selfish を Let's eat some of Mama's homemade treats

[dreamspring]

people who boil the romance of chihayafuru down to a typical love triangle in which one of chihaya’s love interests must ‘win’ or ‘lose’ her at the end, thereby turning her into an object rather than the subject of love (which is a narrative that the text itself explicitly rejects! btw!) frustrate me so deeply... ‘love’ in chihayafuru is not about ownership. love becomes transformative. love is metamorphosis. love in the story is about growth, self actualisation, selflessness AND selfishness… it’s about who you become when you love and how it changes you.

chihayafuru’s depiction of love also clearly extends beyond romance (not only in the canonical non-romantic relationships) but ALSO in the love triangle itself. the relationships chihaya, taichi and arata have to each other are deeply informed by romance but are in no way defined by it. frankly their relationships as a trio are much more interesting when you talk about all the ways they affect and love each other beyond solely the romantic aspect. also! it is love for karuta that literally lies at the core of the story and it is the medium through which all the characters undergo their transformations. so. anyway

[demonslayedher]

I still have so much paperwork to do, and more social commitments than was smart. On that note, if anyone is going to the Hakken fan meeting this weekend, I'm emceeing/interpreting at that event, so say hi?

Well, anyway, I've officially moved from Kyoto to Osaka. I'm not in the city, but the area has welcomed me with a small and gimicky KnY event on the subway system, which I'll need to find a day to try.

Speaking of small and gimmicky, Lotteria is doing a small tie-in with their kids meals, but I was too shy to shamelessly order a kid's meal. And trust me, I know shameless with KnY merch. I didn't need the karuta set, really. Or the spinning top or the sumo board. Or the greasy hamburgers.

That said, I came across more of the wafer sticker series I collect and I completed the trio of special shiny Kamaboko stickers! I have not completed the set of moonlit Pillars though, bummer. (If it was just Giyuu missing I could make jokes at his expense.)

But speaking of things I put too much energy into collecting, I'm sad that it's gotten harder to find these regional keychains, and I've decided that instead of just getting one per place I've visited, I just want one of each design series, and I can get away with multiple ones for places I've lived as long as it's different designs. So even though I've had the Shinsengumi Rengoku for ages, I finally got two more Kyoto ones I've eyed for years. Yatsuhashi is delicious and I don’t often see Kanao on these keychains anyway, and Shinobu looks too good as a Maiko.

Like I said, you don’t see these so often anymore. I really should had gotten the Dotonbori clown thing Himejima when I had the chance, and I'm also still missing Uzui and Muichiro. Maybe someday they'll add Genya??

Speaking of the Butterfly Mansion girls, the apartment I left was a place I really didn’t like at first and I worked hard to make it more appealing. That included flowery wallpaper, including on a pillar in the room, so once I got into KnY I joked to myself that I lived with a Flower Pillar. Later on my mom sent me some paper butterflies (not knowing KnY, just long having been a motif I've often used in art and jewelry and such), and it felt even more like my own little Butterfly Mansion.

But now my closest shopping area is covered with giant gourds, so I guess that makes me feel at home too.

Anyway, new job starts next week, wish me luck, I've still got things to do around the new place~

[taisorato]

why the hell have i been comparing challengers to haikyuu when chihayafuru is right there, wtf

anyways if you liked challengers (or was disappointed by it), you should read/watch chihayafuru for more 'sports is the raison d'être for the trio and what drives the romance but also gets in the way of the romance'

chihaya is more insane about karuta than tashi is about tennis imo and arata and taichi's karuta match is superior to art and patrick's tennis match. like it's not even close. that kind of psychological warfare while playing was so sorely missing from the movie.

it is significantly less horny and less toxic though so i guess if that's all you're here for then just watch 3 will be free lol

[mesaprotector]

I decided to pick up the Chihayafuru manga, for two reasons - one, my rewatch was really freaking fun, and I'm no longer worried that I'm ruining my experience by not waiting for S4 - and two, I just can't bear not knowing what happens any longer. Some predictions for the last quarter of Chihayafuru, some sillier than others.

Taichi and Chihaya don't rejoin the club immediately, and the club goes to regionals without them. They win anyway.

Retro wins the individual Class B tournament at regionals to finally become Class A.

Taichi's mom turns out to not be a horrible person and is part of convincing him to go back to the club. So is Suou. He rejoins before Chihaya does.

Taichi and Chihaya are back for nationals and Mizusawa are favorites, but unexpectedly lose before reaching the finals due to drama and teamwork issues. The finals are between Fujisaki and Nagumo East. I don't know who wins.

I'm not sure who wins the individual tournament, but I think Arata loses in the finals, and somewhere during the tournament Chihaya turns down his confession, resulting in an arc of Arata Angst (after Taichi has been the resident edgelord for two and a half seasons).

Chihaya makes it all the way to the Queen match - no predictions on how that ends up. Rion beats Megumu in the Western qualifiers to be her opponent. By this point Shinobu and her are pretty good friends.

Taichi, not Arata, is the one who gets Suou to stop being the master. Though I'm not sure that'll be in the Master match - I could easily see Suou losing in a practice match and deciding to give up. Or Taichi's incipient friendship with him makes him realize something else he'd rather spend his life on than karuta.

Taichi wins the Eastern qualifiers for master, and plays Arata in a match which involves heavy symbolism about them fighting for Chihaya's heart - again.

Chihaya ends up with Taichi, somehow. Arata ends up with Yuu from his hometown, probably, but I could see him with Shinobu too. I could see Chihaya easily ending up with Arata too, honestly, but I have to make a prediction. Hanano needs to step up her game to be seen as a plausible love interest.

Komano and Kana get together long before Chihaya figures any of that out.

Presumably there's some romantic drama with the first-years too. I bet Midori is either a rival for Kana, or she somehow decides Tsukuba is attractive.

Other than the main trio, Kana is the only main character to seriously stick with karuta after graduation. Suou gives it up entirely as his eyes deteriorate; Shinobu retires after the queen match whether she wins or loses, and only later in adulthood comes back to playing competitively, but she often plays matches for fun with her friend Chihaya.

Hanano is the next club president.

Chitose finally says something that isn't egotistical.

Nishida and Arata have a heart-to-heart about something.

Shinobu's grandmother finally shows something resembling warmth.

Harada embraces his status as a brown bear and makes an appearance in Golden Kamuy S4. There are no survivors.

[formashimataichi]

As someone who follows your blog and admires your meta to the bone and also advocates the tchyrt nobody-gets-left-behind trio friendship together together agenda til my dying day, i honestly am looking forward to reading your reaction once the full final chapter is released 🥲🥲🥲🥲😭😭😭

It’s going to be a while before proper translations are out, but I think my main mindset with regards to the trio is this: I believe what Suetsugu has endeavored to do throughout the entire narrative is build a friendship between three people that can stand the tests of time, or distance, or rivalry, or whatever else obstacle can possibly come their way. In that sense, the ending is unexpected for me in the way it’s executed, but ultimately I believe it’s emblematic of the themes I always felt were most important for Suetsugu to espouse. From the beginning, she’s repeatedly emphasized, As long as we have karuta we'll see each other again, won't we? As long as we keep playing, we'll see each other again. To me, what’s being perceived by some readers as a devaluation of the trio’s friendship is in fact a testament to it. They’re by this point in time so completely secure in their relationships with each other that nothing can cow them or break them apart. The distance is no longer an intimidating obstacle to overcome—it’s a fact of life, but a bearable one, because karuta ultimately acts as their lifeline to each other. Regardless of whatever they’re doing in their individual lives, they will always come back to each other because karuta will bring them back together. That prior experience of urgency and desperation and dread is no longer there; they’re completely at peace with each other because they’re at peace with themselves. Solo matches are team matches, team matches are solo matches. You have to be able to trust the people around you to fight their own battles so you can fight your own battles, and vice versa. Suetsugu has done a really masterful job of building up this self-sufficiency and endurance in each of her characters while nonetheless maintaining a message that people need people in order to survive. It’s clear that she values community, but she also understands that it’s important to be sure of ourselves because that’s when we can be most appreciative of the community that exists around us and supports us. The fact that there’s still physical distance between the trio in the conclusion doesn’t at all feel like a source of concern to me. I was initially in the camp of readers who wanted for all three characters to go to college in Tokyo and be best friends forever who hung out every other day, utterly inseparable, but in retrospect, I think this ending is far more realistic and cathartic because it acknowledges the presence of distance but doesn’t bow down to it as an overseer. You can continue to maintain deep, important relationships with people even while you’re each leading your own lives that contain an entire world within them separate of those relationships. The relationships aren’t less important for that fact nor are they suddenly fragile.

Even the final conversation between the trio with regards to the romantic conclusion feels emblematic of that to me. The trio of old may have been threatened to break apart because of those warring emotions, but the trio of present is secure and liberated of antagonism so that they may fully, wholeheartedly enjoy the present. I don’t think it’s supposed to be a bad thing that Arata expresses he wants to be with Chihaya when he’s older. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that Taichi is with Chihaya after having come to terms with his own demons. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that this is how Chihaya feels now, but how she feels could also change. Youth comes many times. You can experience it many, many times, so make sure you work hard each of those times, okay? This is where each of them are at now. They’re comfortable with that. They’re young adults moving into a new world of trials and tribulations. They don’t have to dread the future the way they may have in years past. They can look to it with hope and comfort that the present shifts and changes, but so long as we put our best foot forward, it’s worth it to experience it to the fullest. Our experiences are not lesser for when we experience them—what’s important is how we experience them. Youth is impermanent, but it’s also beautiful, and we can value that. That’s what makes the ending really special to me.

[beldaroot]

august 1, 2022 is both too soon and too far away :/

[topfavefollowedongoingmanga]

Chihayafuru manga - Chapter 205 and Chapter 207 screenshots.

My feelings on this current state of this manga are realism happening; like the first image Taichi and Arata hugging it out! that’s total bromance right there! - It’s Arata appreciating and grateful and all kinds of raw feelings towards Taichi, for spending his youth on an activity he didn’t really know about until he met Arata.  - Now that I think again, Taichi is a genius, beyond-explainable because he’s good in studying, but he’s also working hard in Karuta.  

Another feeling I got was when Oe-san asked Taichi about his feelings towards Chihaya.  And he said: “It will eventually fade away those feelings.” Then we see Chihaya frozen in her stance; I bet she totally overheard that conversation. My wish for her (besides winning the Queen’s title of Karuta) is confess already to Taichi; I know you like him. So DO IT!!!

And then the last scene, where Taichi falls asleep but realize that’s not his own futon. <-- the Mangaka totally went for a joke here (or a comical relief) - But I’m happy that the end of Chapter 207 is not a big cliff-hanger.

I also wish for the trio: Chihaya, Taichi and Arata to have one last blast together!

[alexiethymia]

ramblings about taichihaya

I’ve finally read the last chapter of the manga, and it was just, it was beautiful.

Incoherent ramblings abound. I felt a bit sad when I read someone post sorry to chihayafuru fans because they were put through an ichiruki situation, because i have always thought there was no such thing as a fated love in Chihayafuru. (Also this is ironic, because while I slightly preferred ichiruki, no way would I say that ichihime was farfetched, in the same way that there is absolutely no way taichihaya was farfetched considering the development, and again ironic because both chihaya and taichi have the sun and moon motif so they actually healed my heartbroken ichiruki heart, but I digress -)

Anyway, I need to process my words. When I say there was no such thing as fated love, I mean that as much as I loved taichihaya, if Chihaya and Arata ended up together, I wouldn’t say that there was no basis. There was such a thing as fated friendship between our trio, but unlike other shoujo manga I’ve read, I wouldn’t consider either Taichi or Arata as Chihaya’s soul mate (I consider the three of them soul mates). Other people have shed insights about how Chihayafuru is a story of transience and youth, and I think the finale maintained that theme until the end (like Arata’s joke for example about wanting to be with Chihaya at 28, as he said the future isn’t set in stone). 

What I loved about the ending is how it was a culmination of everything they were passionate about and fighting against. For Arata and Chihaya who were passionate about Karuta, and for Arata fighting against or for what his Grandfather means in the Karuta he plays now, for Chihaya growing up to be more sensitive to the world outside of Karuta (her wonderful conversation with Retro comes to mind, as well as her gaining a new dream in becoming a teacher). In the same way that this story was all about passion, and for Arata and Chihaya for that passion to be directed towards Karuta, I find that there’s nothing wrong with Taichi’s passion to have been directed at another person - specifically - Chihaya, even as he was fighting against himself.

I loved the finale, because it showed how much the people around Arata and Chihaya, specifically the people who had nothing to do with Karuta, like Arata’s childhood friend and Chihaya’s older sister impacted them and meant so much to them winning. 

As a taichihaya shipper, I really loved the finale because it shows that it’s not just Taichi’s nearness that caused Chihaya to love him back, but at the same time it was him going far away that really puts things into perspective for her. It was just so Chihaya to confess even when she thought that Taichi had already lost his feelings for her. In others words, even if Taichi no longer loved her romantically, his confession impacted her that much that she had to answer it with a poem of her own. 

I love taichihaya not because I was sure it would be canon, but because I just really preferred it, and these are just some of the reasons. 

1. the parallels with harada sensei and his wife, as well as kana-chan and komano

I love parallels, ok? The parallel with harada sensei and his wife actually works two ways, harada sensei paralleling Taichi with the latter also becoming a doctor in the future, and both Chihaya and harada sensei’s wife saying all they wanted was to see their important person smile. It also works the other way around in that both harada sensei’s wife and taichi steadfastly supported their loved one’s drive to become the meijin and queen respectively. 

kana-chan, our beloved taichihaya ship captain. I still remember how she compared chihaya and taichi’s match with her match with komano, and how they were each pair’s best matches precisely because of how well they knew the person they were facing. the irony and not of how it was these two who finally managed to push chihaya and taichi to get together. 

2. the heartaches of love

I love how they each exemplified the highs and lows of love. How Chihaya showed how love could be greedy, in Hanano’s words, and how their experience was reflective of Taichi’s comment about love in the beginning of the series, about how love was painful but you still wanted to be with the other person.

How it showed from the very beginning that even if Chihaya wasn’t fully conscious of it, she had always been jealous of the girls around Taichi, first with his girlfriend, and even in the last chapter when Taichi mentioned Hanano. 

I always mentioned this, even after the angsty confession and break-up (?). Chihaya relies on Taichi like no other. To be honest, they were practically co-dependent. Which is another reason why I loved why everything played out the way it did. Chihaya’s crush on Arata always seemed easy in that it didn’t seem as if she wanted it reciprocated (a happy crush mixed with admiration), meanwhile Taichi needed to confess to have Chihaya reevaluate what he meant to her and how she was supposed to relate to him. 

And yet I’m so happy they made up first, Taichi was finally at peace with himself, and even chose to go somewhere for himself, even if it meant being physically apart from Chihaya.

It shows that Chihaya’s confession was not out of fear that she had to reciprocate to keep Taichi by her side like she wanted because Taichi had reassured her that their friendship along with Arata would remain strong even if she didn’t reciprocate. In other words, their friendship would remain the same, but it was now Chihaya who realized she wanted more.

3. spending your whole youth on it

Taichi’s conversation with Harada-sensei about wasted youth was both about Karuta and Chihaya, and yet despite his fears, he still kept working hard, still kept trying to reach out for the Chiha card. 

The confession and Taichi’s behavior throughout the entire series always screamed to me about how self-sabotaging he really was. He is the one to bring Arata up during his confession. He never acts in a way to get Chihaya to like him because he was already sure that Chihaya loved Arata. 

And despite all that, despite all his fears, in the same way he was sure that he no longer had any luck in the draw, in the same way he was sure that he had no chance with Chihaya, he still loved her anyway, still supported her the best that he could. Wasted effort but one that he no longer considered wasted even if Chihaya never loved him back because he was finally at peace with himself. But of course, he was overjoyed when she said she loved him, because as he said, he would always be helplessly in love with her. 

I’ve always thought that in the same way throughout the story Taichi thought Chihaya didn’t notice him, it was also about Taichi never noticing how much Chihaya noticed him (the towel scene is really symbolic of this). It’s quite ironic how Taichi considers Chihaya dense, when he’s also a bit dense when it comes to Chihaya. 

4. how taichihaya might as well be self-fulfillment for ariwara no narihira and the empress

listen, listen, brilliant people who are more well-versed in poetry have pointed out the parallels between narihira, the empress, the emperor and taichi, chihaya, and arata. It was pretty on the nose with how narihira was even drawn to look a bit like taichi, and now chihaya and arata are the queen and meijin respectively. 

with how shinobu pointed out that the chiha and tachi cards were always paired together, nothing will now stop me from imagining chihaya and taichi as the empress and narihira who were reincarnated and can now be together.

I just really loved them, even way back in the beginning when I was just watching the anime. I was prepared for heartache, but even then, it wouldn’t diminish what they went through, so to have that last chapter is really heartwarming. I’ll probably be rambling more about Chihayafuru once I reread everything. Thank you for these past ten years Sueguetsu-sensei!

[nyoomzz]

so about chihayafuru 246

suetsugu really is a goddamn genius and deliberately set up a will it be se or tachi moment?? both is perfectly in line with the narrative. both sets a wonderful stage for the long awaited reunion. seriously nobody really knows until the end which one will be read

and so it's tachi, which was honestly surprising!! like se was the number one card that seems totally set up for trio reunion??and then it's tachi. taichi's namesake card that arata and chihaya gave him. insane

now just going by the basic translations, the difference between se and tachi seems like inevitability vs intentionality. through divided by a boulder, the rush of the streams will join again; it's inevitable. separation is never meant to last and reunion will happen no matter what. it's simply by nature that they will meet again

but with tachi, if i hear you're waiting for me, i'll run straight back to you, i'll return as soon as possible--there's the act of departing, calling, waiting, and returning; those were all the choices they made. in those acts, there were the years that all three spent chasing their dreams in their own ways, wishing to fulfill the promise that they made together.

"as long as we have karuta, we'll always meet again" but it wasn't that easy after all?? chihaya threw down the cards when she thought her two friends would be leaving her behind. arata didn't touch them when he was stricken by grief. taichi saw nothing but ashen black when he thought everything he did had amounted to nothing. but each time, the other will wait, continuing in their own path, getting stronger in the meantime, believing that the others will come back. that even though the joined paths has always been there, they will wait for the missing piece to eventually choose to walk that path back home.

and at the last decisive moment, when confronted with a luck of the draw, instead of relenting to destiny, to fate, chihaya and arata chose conviction. and so team chihayafuru protected the same card: the taichi that has always been there, that had never truly left their side, that came back by his own choice. once again, they are reunited by karuta--and by their own yearning and efforts and trust.

tldr; they're soulmates and they love each other and deserves to be happy together forever thank you for coming in to my ted talk

[sailorfuncomics]

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Karuta (2/2)

な The mysterious trio, the Sailor Starlights に The popular idols, the Three Lights ぬ I want to sleep with a stuffed animal

ね Glittering Star Seeds are what she's after の The girls having a picnic in a field

は Luna and Artemis are easy to talk to ひ Resound! Mercury Aqua Rhapsody! ふ Rei Hino has mysterious powers

へ Pendants and intercoms as transformation items ほ Galaxia seems to want the power of the stars

ま The solemn soldier, Sailor Pluto み The girls are all high school students む There's a shining star inside my heart

め Ami Mizuno also looks good with glasses も The burning fire of Mars Flame Sniper

や The kind and beautiful Setsuna ゆ Minako's dream of being an idol よ Neptune has a gift for psychic visions

ら Don't scribble over everything り Usagi runs late after oversleeping る At home with Mama Setsuna

れ We want to fall in love ろ A romantic date with Mamo

わ Feel the force of World Shaking を Making sweets with Makoto

[huapaiqingyuan]

what does it mean when they say “as long as we have karuta, we’ll see each other again”? 

for something that was repeated since the very beginning, and used throughout the story through various’ characters’ growth, and demonstrated through secondary characters, there seems to be some confusion.

we have to realise that karuta, like any sport has an “expiration” age where players’ skills (hearing, sight, movements) decline as a natural consequence of ageing. but unlike most sports, karuta is not what we conventional know as one that is “professional”. this is addressed within the manga itself! there may be classes but these are based on skill. 

age is a factor, but it also isn’t.

and the beauty of this is that it allows such a rich variety of cast. it’s not just your average sports manga where your seniors leave the story the moment they head for college (hello sudo), but we see people from various backgrounds, dealing with various personal, career and familial problems and commitments all competing together.

chihayafuru has always shown us what it means for karuta to bring individuals together, even as other things in their lives have them drift apart.

the trio begin the story proper at the stage where they’ve already drifted apart. (i say proper here, because that is where the meat of the narrative is at. if anything, the elementary school arc serves as a prologue). 

they were never going to maintain their childhood dynamics. they were never going to have that same level of familiarity and closeness. this is part and parcel of growing up. this is something that was acknowledged. and it was this ackowledgement that sparked the fear that they will become strangers.

karuta is like a balm on this hurt, on this aspect of growth, that as long as we have karuta, we will see each other again. we won’t just be a figure immortalised in faded pages of a yearbook, but an encounter to look forward to again. 

chihayafuru is a story that shows how the trio find their way back to each other. and in the background, we are presented with parallels through various characters.

within mizusawa itself, we see an example with nishida; once on the opposite team as the trio played That One 3-on-3 match, he now plays alongside chihaya and taichi. another example, is shinobu and arata, with the former at one point claiming the latter as her only friend. both meeting through karuta, and reconnecting because of it. we also see this play out with sakurazawa and inokuma. both of them have absolutely nothing in common and their only shared hobby, as well as connection, is karuta. it was karuta that introduced them, by bringing both of them to match for the queen title for years on end. and then there’s this lull period. inokuma focused on her family, sakurazawa on her career. even if there was never an established friendship, they nonetheless, they drifted apart. it is karuta that finally brings them together, and they become close enough that inokuma names her daughter after her once rival and now confidant and friend. another example would be harada-sensei, kitano-sensei and makino midori (haha, both examples have a midori, nevermind that the kanji are different). whilst in this case, only harada-sensei is playing competitively, they all still are very much involved in the sport as a whole, with makino reading in the match harada-sensei plays against arata.

i specifically picked out examples of those more in the forefront, and from various distinctive age groups to drive my points, that as long as there is karuta, they will always meet again. this has no expiration date. secondly, all these relationships were always evolving, never staying stagnant. their dynamics naturally shifted as the individuals themselves grew.

[watayaaratamblr]

Chihaya has feelings for Arata: Another confirmation! + other..

These are the 6 waka poems chosen for the waka corner in Chihayafuru's new & ongoing art exhibition; every poem has a commentary explaining it and its role in the story.

Before I post them, please know that Suetsugu sensei supervised this exhibition, why I say this? Because Sensei said in her latest NOTE that she visited it for a last check and mentioned that a certain illustration wasn't horizontal like she drew it -or something like that- and she mentioned it to the person in charge and they fixed it immediately WHICH MEANS that sensei approves of everything in the exhibition as it is now She even said about her last visit to the venue before the launch of the exhibition: "そうか、最終チェックってこういう「原作者の違和感を消して、最終的なGOに練り上げる」場なのだな、といまさらそんなことをフワッと思っている作者を導いて、" which means: "So, the final check is a place to "erase the original author's sense of discomfort and refine it into the final GO".")

The poems are: 1) "17/Chihayaburu" + the scene where Kana explained it to Chihaya and told her that it's a poem about a bright red love" This poem however did not have a commentary, I believe that it's both because Kana's explanation was good enough for its meaning and this card's role is being explained little by little in the remaining part of the manga so it's saved for the end.

2) Next to Chiha, we find "57/Meguri aite" + the scene where Chihaya was studying in a train next to Kana and then mentioning this poem, she compares its story to her & Arata's relationship. The commentary is another & RECENT confirmation of Chihaya's romantic feelings for Arata (I asked a Japanese friend to make sure native fans also get the same meaning, and she confirmed it to me!) It makes perfect sense: Chihaya's feelings of "friendship" are not "unconscious", her admiration too, so this was a reference to other feelings she has for him that she didn't realize yet at that stage which can only be her romantic love that she discovered a bit more in the hospital scene.

3) "77/Se O Hayami' + the scene where Taichi receives Chihaya's message telling him that the last card read in her match was "SE" and Taichi recalled someone's words about asking fate for a chance to meet again (nothing indicates that they were Chihaya's words, so for me, it's either Taichi's thoughts according to what he already knows about the meaning or, they are Kana's words, I believe it's the latter, she explained it to them and all Mizusawa members know this meaning) This scene didn't mean to me more that what I saw in it, but with the new scene from chapter 234 (which felt so out of nowhere), I was waiting for a clarification, maybe something indicating that this is a card that Chihaya associates exclusively with Taichi for a meaningful reason? but this commentary clearly explains that: 1) Se is about the "TRIO", so every time two of them feel a distance , SE is used to remind us that they will meet again as part of the trio that promised to always meet (thanks to karuta). 2) in Taichi's scene, the meaning of SE is explored better as it highlights specifically the determination in the second verse of the poet's words to meet again (which seems to have caught sensei's interest) and making use of it to show Chihaya's determination too which is very "IN character" for her. This determination was drawn differently when Arata was the one who drifted away as Chihaya immediately decided to travel to Fukui and see Arata personally, and "SE" was not used then because it was saved for another scene where SE between them was hinted to have implications more than being "friends who are determined to meet again" and that was when Kana recited it as a love song when she saw Chihaya texting Arata before one of their early matches.

4) "40/Shinoburedo" + the scene where Kana compared Taichi's hidden love to the poet's. Clear as it is, like the commentary like the manga itself, this is a scene completely unrelated with Chihaya's feelings.

5) "43/Ai mite no" + the scene where Kana finds Chihaya seeing everything glowing after Arata's confession. I have no better words to show how this is about Chihaya's pure love for Arata than how the commentary itself said it.

6) "48/ KazeO Itami" + the scene where Chihaya cried telling Fukasaku sensei how she is the rock that crushed Taichi's feelings and Fukasaku sensei told her that she too looked like she could break.

As we can see, this poem is about an unrequited love, exactly like Taichi's. And Chihaya is despairing because she sincerely does NOT have what the waves wanted from her, what Taichi desired, she DID NOT LOVE HIM back and even though she was the rock, but the waves hit her too and she was also under pressure that none maybe cared about but Fukasaku sensei highlighted it. Chihaya was also hurt by Taichi's feelings and how they couldn't be another chance for her to show her known care for him. she can't fake a love that is not there.

WARNING: I'm not fluent in Japanese so take these translations with a grain of salt.

+ Original post on MAL HERE

[margarethelstone-2]

Our Sleeves Were Wet With Tears | Chapter 2

Read on AO3!

Taichi's gaze was filled with astonishment once more as he listened to Chihaya's nearly aggressive ramble, unable to wrap his head around the situation he'd found himself in so unexpectedly. He heard the words and thought that he understood the substance – he knew what Chihaya was referring to and comprehended the meaning behind her words. And yet... Something about this whole scene was just too bizarre, too unrealistic for him to believe that it was happening for real.

Too strange to have him take it for more than yet another of his feverish dreams.

Had she really gone to his house so spontaneously, after he had as much as ignored her for the past few weeks? Had she really risked meeting eye to eye with his mother, when it was obvious how uneasy the latter had always made her feel? And why had she decided to come see him now, so long after their fateful conversation in the clubroom and with so much happening since that dreadful afternoon?

Was it in any way connected – or worse, prompted – by the photo Arata had undoubtedly sent her as well?

And if so, what was the connection?

It wasn't like the message had contained any special words or wisdom, or even anything particularly nostalgic. It was a simple photo of Arata and his teammates, with a simple greeting meant to encourage them to do their best on their part so that they might meet at the Nationals this time. It was very much like the one he and Chihaya had sent him during their first year... but that was as far as the nostalgia went.

Of course, it was possible that Arata had sent Chihaya a different email, with more than just the few words he, Taichi, had received. After all, he knew for certain that Arata had spoken to her after the Master qualifiers and since that conversation had clearly taken its toll on Chihaya, it wasn't difficult to determine what he had said. He was also aware of the advantage Arata had always had over him and that Chihaya did favour him, even if she didn't fully realise it herself...

...and still, he couldn't help but think that it was not the case this time.

It was the similarity of it to the message they had sent him that made him so sure. It was not a taunt meant at him, or another display of affection addressed to Chihaya and only shared with him for propriety's sake. There was a much simpler, and much more genuine intention hidden behind it: an honest wish to inspire his friends in the same way they had inspired him before, mixed perhaps with the pride he must have felt for both himself and his new charges.

One friend reaching out to the other ones.

Friends.

Taichi's jaw tightened, his soul filling up with disgust and shame.

Had he really forgotten that that was what the three of them were, first and foremost? Friends?

Or was he just too tired pretending that he was all right with such a setup, because deep down, he realised that even as a trio, they had never been entirely equal?

Was he too much of an egoist to accept that?

"What the heck does that even mean?" he said out loud at last, letting out a hollow, mirthless chuckle that resembled a snort more than anything else. Chihaya had already managed to reach the front gate and was just about to step onto the pavement before it but now, she stopped mid-stride; if he had waited a few seconds more – or if she hadn't held back from running like she obviously had – his words wouldn't have reached her. He almost expected them not to anyway, despite her still being relatively close.

They did, however.

In for a penny, in for a pound. He had no choice but to go for it now.

"Why do you think I needed to hear that now?" he continued, careful to maintain the air of indifference or maybe even irritation, while Chihaya slowly turned around. "I didn't say I was a coward, just that I didn't want to be one. And of course I've changed since primary school; I'm not some Peter Pan who never grows up."

He could feel her stare at him, but refused to meet her gaze this time, all too aware of the effect it had always had on him. Feigning nonchalance, he adjusted the strap of his bag, hung over his shoulder and set off, descending the stairs one by one, as if he hadn't wished to get out of there just as much as Chihaya did.

The very sight of her was aggravating to him.

He knew it wasn't fair, that it really wasn't her fault that she could not respond to his feelings in kind. She had never led him on or pretended to care for him when she hadn't. She did care, she always had, and in a way, Taichi felt like an ungrateful scoundrel every time he remembered everything she'd done for him so far, never mind if it was a small smile meant to comfort him or a crazy, complex, completely over-the-top karuta tournament organised specifically in order to celebrate his birthday with him, in the most Chihaya-like way he could think of.

She wasn't the one to blame for all this.

And yet, every time he saw her, the memory of his stupid, impossible dreams came rushing back to him, always accompanied by the one of them being crushed to bits just a few short weeks prior.

It wasn't her fault, and still, he couldn't find it in him to forgive her.

Still, in the corner of his eye, Taichi saw the expectancy painted all over her face, the same perfect mixture of perseverance and dread he'd had a chance to observe more than once now. He went right past her, resolved not to grace her with a single glance, no matter how rude or cruel it might seem, and stepped onto the pavement she hadn't managed to reach in time.

He was indifferent.

He wished to be indifferent.

So why did he still listen closely, awaiting her to make the move, to turn and look after him, to catch up with him and shower – no, bombard – him with another set of half-baked wisdoms and untimely arguments? Why had he slowed down, anxious, restless, apprehensive, aching to hear her say another word, no matter how absurd it might be?

He had been so good at avoiding her lately, at numbing the overwhelming feeling of solitude by simply making sure she did not come into view – so why did he feel like he was missing her already?

Was a fleeting encounter like this all it took to make all of his endeavours worthless?

He was hopeless.

Hopeless.

Just like all of his love for her had been.

Oh, screw it.

"There's a playground nearby, if there's anything else you want to talk about," he offered, the pathetic, self-disrespectful moron that he was. "I doubt there would be any kids there at this hour, and there are actual benches to sit on. Or I can just walk you home if that's what you prefer."

He set off right after, no longer knowing if he wanted her to respond or not. A part of him hoped that she would, that there was more she wanted to say than that random, abstract proclamation she had surprised him with – that there was more thought behind it than she had made it appear at first. Simultaneously, his other half (a third? a quarter? a mere, pitiful percent?) screamed at him to pick up his pace and leave that cursed place before Chihaya could even answer, to run away and pray that the consequences of his stupid decision from the previous minute would not catch up to him.

Torn like this, he walked on, the rationality of his mind battling with the naiveté of his heart and the ardour of his soul. Step by step, he moved forward, hearing nothing but the sound of his blood pumping in his ears and his own sharp, uneven breathing. If he focused hard enough, he could distinguish his own, weary step, but even that seemed to come from a distance much wider than the one hundred and seventy centimetres separating his feet from his ears.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not hear anything from behind him.

So she hadn't followed him.

Of course she hadn't, you idiot, he berated himself silently, clenching his hands into fists and jamming them even deeper into his pockets. She looked like she wanted to get away from there as soon as she could, and only forced herself to stay and talk because she thought it was the right thing to do.

She didn’t come to chat, to pour her heart out or to clear things up with me, mostly because there's nothing to clear up in the first place; she came because she felt she needed to, because at some point, she'd decided that it was something a good person would do and obviously, she decided to spontaneously follow the wacky idea her mind had presented to her.

A totally spur-of-a-moment kind of decision, honest but rash, misguided and ill-conceived, just like about everything Chihaya does.

He felt his heart shrink, as if it was squeezed in quite a literal sense, and yet, he refused to admit to his hurt, even if only to himself. There was no reason why he should've felt surprised, no excuse for the disappointment that was threatening to take over him. He knew her; he knew what kind of person she was. Bright, outgoing, sincere. Blunt to a fault and so very, very caring that it made his head ache at times.

Still, her consideration was just like her entire self: impulsive. She always went all out and never put much reflection behind it.

As for Taichi, he still couldn't quite determine whether he found it frustrating or just very, very endearing.

Perhaps it was a mixture of the two.

The fact remained, however: the only way he could find his way to her thoughts was through incidents like this. After all, he could hardly imagine Chihaya spending her nights lying awake in her bed, unable to stop thinking of him.

Certainly not in the way he thought of her.

He fought the urge to kick the pebbles under his feet, regardless of the fact that there was no one around to see him if he had, much less to care about it. The street he strolled through was empty, and since it was getting late, there was no reason to believe that the state of things should change. However, Taichi knew better than to indulge himself with his whims, no matter how insignificant they appeared to be. He'd been raised to be that way; and no matter how much he wanted to change, no matter how grand was the amount of effort he put into achieving it, there were things about himself he simply couldn't reform.

He couldn't tell if it were those traits that had made him the unlucky loser he undoubtedly was now; but at least they helped him cope with the fallout his misfortunes had brought.

Which was exactly why he needed to stop wallowing in self-pity and focus on getting on with his own life instead, just like he'd been striving to do recently. He'd done a pretty good job so far, studying harder than ever both for his regular classes and the cram school, fooling everyone that it was his exams that had made him quit the karuta club.

Good gosh, he'd actually let Master Suo persuade him into not giving up on karuta after all, and only changed the environment of his practice instead.

He was fine, or at least, he was going to be.

The recollection of his latest, little successes made his faith grow a little, bringing back that tiny bit of optimism he'd been looking for so desperately. His chin rose a little while his pace turned brisker...

...only to have him halt in surprise at the sound of a dull thud and a hiss that came from behind him.

Taichi turned around almost involuntarily, completely taken aback and therefore totally incapable of forming even the vaguest expectation of what he was about to see. Had he had more time to think about it, he probably would have come with more than a few reasonable explanations of the sound.

For one, it could have been an ordinary jogger, whom he couldn't have seen when he'd exited through the cram school's gate, but who'd caught up to him silently while he was occupied with his own thoughts afterwards, and who now tripped over something and now was groaning in pain. It might have been a passer-by who'd emerged from around the corner, carrying an object so heavy that they had eventually dropped it on the ground.

For all he knew, it might have been a kid running from his friends in another round of tag. Out of all people, he surely was aware how fast little children could move; how quickly and unexpectedly they might invade other people's space.

All of these he could have thought of, and yet, he still wouldn't have guessed the real cause of the noise that had startled him so.

Of course, the culprit simply had to be the one person he'd been trying to ban from his mind.

How had she even got there without him realising her presence until now?

And yet, it was her, undoubtedly, undeniably her. Ayase Chihaya, the love of his life and the greatest, most unpredictable dork of a friend, now hunched and squatting, with one knee rested against the hard concrete surface while she eyed her other one attentively, instinctively pressing her scratched fingers against the more severely injured skin on her leg. With the few metres separating them (and his still fresh bemusement) Taichi needed a moment to fully absorb the scene before him, as well as its less obvious details. Despite the initial falter, his instincts soon took over him, however, and pushed him towards the wounded girl, before he could even see the grimace on her face or observe the way in which she chewed on her lower lip.

In no time was he kneeling down before her, pulling her hands away from the wound by her wrists so that she wouldn't accidentally infect the cut with one hand, while he rummaged through his hastily unzipped bag with the other one, searching for the towel and a water bottle he was sure he'd packed in there earlier.

"Taichi, no! Wait!" He heard her protest against his actions, only to ignore it completely. "It's just a scratch, nothing serious, I can handle it myself just fine here!"

"Like hell you can," he muttered in response after he'd finally found the objects he'd been looking for. "You've just pressed your dirty hands against a fresh wound, you idiot. I don't even want to know what you were planning to do next."

"No, but -"

"Just do me a favour and don't press them like that again now, will you?" he cut her off sternly. "I can't exactly hold your hands and dampen the towel at the same time, I'd need at least one other pair of arms for that. So stop arguing and keep your dusty fingers away for just a second, while I do my job over here."

Chihaya opened her mouth to argue with him some more but shut it right after under his severe glare and bowed her head obediently instead. Seeing that her opposition would not last – or at least, that her revolt would not rise again for a while – Taichi let go of her wrists and focused on wetting the fabric in his hands, before applying the now cold towel to Chihaya's injured knee. She winced under his touch, her head jerking up once more and her eyes glued to his intent countenance.

He saw her movement in the corner of his eye, felt the shudder that jolted all of her body, however, he refused to look up himself, instead making sure that his own gaze remained plastered to the cut he was supposed to be taking care of.

Not that clearing up the skin on her leg was doing any good to his sanity, mind you.

"How on earth did you even do that?" he muttered the question under his breath, if only to make his attention shift to something else, desperately hoping it would be enough to drown out his rebellious thoughts for a short while at least. "There's literally nothing you could have stumbled upon and you don't usually go tripping over your own feet; I know you can be careless sometimes, but you're not a klutz."

"I just wasn't paying attention," Chihaya answered him, her tone slightly offended, but still quieter than he might have expected. "My shoelaces had come undone and I stepped over one."

Taichi sighed, almost impatiently.

"And fell like this? What were you doing, trying to break the world speed record?"

"I tripped! Why does it matter how I fell afterwards?"

"Because I've seen you trip about a hundred thousand times since we first met and it was always due to some crazy stunts you were doing and never because you were simply distracted," he continued to parry her arguments; with every second it became more difficult for him to maintain his grumpy, cool attitude and not let his lips curl into an amused smile at both her behaviour and the memories he'd just recalled himself. "You were constantly running around, jumping over fences and climbing trees and half the time your shoelaces weren't tied, and yet you hardly ever let that get in your way. And now you want me to believe that you've hit the ground with your knee and cut it because you'd stumbled over it? When you were walking?"

"I don't know why you find that so improbable," she replied, shifting her eyes up at him for a second only to have them cast down a moment later. Unlike her most recent retort, this one was once again quiet, so much so that it was almost a whisper.

"I never thought Chihaya was capable of speaking quietly enough to be drowned out by a bell."

Was that it? Was that how she was now?

Was he responsible for that change in her?

He shook his head resolutely and lowered his own gaze onto her knee once more. He realised he was giving in to his nonsensical fears again, finding alterations where there were none, simply because he'd felt the change so acutely. Sure, Chihaya's voice was much softer than what he was used to; but to think that it was a general transformation was a little too much. It wasn't like she couldn't speak loudly or even downright shout at him – she had proven that much with the entire 'you're not a coward' scene, and even with the little comebacks she had thrown at him a short while earlier.

She wasn't mad at him, she hadn't taken offence. She wasn't avoiding him like he had avoided her, nor was she trying to daunt him with her curt, frosty answers; if anything, she'd given him the impression that she wished to talk to him but had no idea how to do it without overstepping his boundaries.

As if she had been afraid of him.

Was she?

Taichi risked another glance at her and saw that she still wasn't looking at him or even at the wound he'd been treating for her. Instead, her gaze was turned to her right, focused on some distant spot he couldn't name unless he followed her gaze with his own eyes. Afraid she might catch him staring, he looked down again quickly, however; he could figure out what had arrested her attention later on.

He had enough to think about as it was, without adding any additional information to the mix.

"There, it's all clean," he announced after a moment, taking the wet towel in his hand away; he pressed it back to her knee almost immediately when he saw that the seemingly unserious injury hadn't stopped bleeding. "It looks like it's a pretty deep cut you've got there. Nothing that would need stitches, but you certainly should have it wrapped up, and not only because of the possible infections. That is, unless you actually want to walk around Tokyo with bloody streaks all over your calves. I don't have anything of the sort so-"

"I do!" she cut him off, energetic again. Taichi raised an eyebrow at her sudden cry and she turned away, blushing. However, she continued, "I do. Just hand me my bag, please?"

He did as he was told, and passed on the bag that had somehow ended lying behind him. Chihaya grabbed the item zealously and began to search its insides, flipping the books and other tools she kept in it with as much hurry as if her life really had depended on it. Taichi regarded her curiously, suddenly indifferent to whether she decided to meet his eye this time.

It took her a good while before she found what she'd been looking for; it was a perfect opportunity for him to have a closer look at her at last.

No matter how silly his behaviour was, Taichi made good use of that time.

She was a mess; there was no doubt about that. No longer panting like she had when he'd seen her first (something Chihaya had been trying very hard to conceal and perhaps even thought that she'd succeeded, only Taichi obviously knew better), she still seemed to be anything but relaxed. Her hair looked as if she had combed them with her hands (which she'd done often enough in the past to make his guess more than likely) and her cheeks were grey from the dust, though again, it looked like she had attempted to clean it in some amateurish way.

He wondered if the slightly darker traces he saw on her cheeks really might have been the remnant of her tears, like he feared they were.

Gosh, she really cried too damn much, never mind how serious the reasons were.

He was roused from his meditation when Chihaya finally pulled out the small first aid kit which she'd been looking so frantically for and straightened up a little, relieved. She sure was glad with herself, a softer, more placid expression finally reflecting on her face as she opened it and drew the bandage and gauze packs she needed from it, and even waved them before his eyes as if to tell him that she could take care of herself now.

That darn moron.

"I can deal with it now," she said, confirming his suspicions. "If you just take the towel away from my knee I can wrap it up just fine. But you really have to move away."

"And how do you plan to do that with your leg bent like this?" he asked, simultaneously ignoring her suggestion completely. "You're still kneeling."

"I can straighten my leg anytime, so-"

"And lay it flat on the ground? Good luck moving your hand underneath when you try to go around it. Also, are you really carrying a first aid kit in your school bag?"

It was the first time Chihaya met his eye since her unfortunate fall and boy, was she vexed. "My mum made me carry one around after I stepped onto a nail and had to block the blood flow with my classmate's spare t-shirt in middle-school. She wasn't very happy with that."

"Your mum or the classmate?"

"Neither. But at least I learnt to carry these things around, and since I know how to use them, I'm going to wrap my own injury now. I just need to stand up and-"

Without a word of warning, she leaned on one arm and pushed herself off the ground, leaving the startled Taichi to stare at her helplessly. She hissed at the pain when she put more pressure on her wounded leg but said nothing, determined to carry out the plan she had formed in her head without letting her friend interrupt.

Only, his hand was still pressed against her knee... and he wasn’t going to do anything to change that.

"You're impossible," he told her instead, the faintest shadow of mirth flashing in his eyes.

"Move your hands, Taichi, I'm bandaging my knee," she ordered him, feigning deafness.

"You'd need to dry your skin first."

"I know that!"

"Not what I heard."

"I am, but I still need you to move away. Why aren't you moving away?"

"Who knows." Taichi shrugged, raising his eyes so he could meet Chihaya's weary glare. "Maybe I'm just being awful for the fun of it. Or maybe as usual, I'm the sensible one here and realise that you're gonna need help with that stupid cut. And since the only way to make you give up is by this kind of opposition, it's exactly what I'm doing now."

Chihaya's fingers tightened around the packages. "But why?"

"Who knows," he said once again. "Perhaps I'm just too used to looking after you to simply walk away and leave you to deal with it on your own. After all, I know you well enough to realise how incompetent you are."

That little jab at the end of his reply was meant to lighten the mood, to avoid a situation in which his earlier words would sound like yet another confession on his part. He wanted to make sure it didn't sound tender – that the 'looking after you' part was a statement coming from a long time buddy rather than from the love interest he so wished to be, from an easygoing, disinterested comrade and not a suitor she was so afraid of.

He wanted to turn it into a joke, and yet, it only took a second for him to realise that his tactics hadn't worked.

She didn't answer him; didn't snap or turn away, didn't huff, offended by his remark – but she didn't laugh, either. He saw her knuckles turn white as her grasp tightened even more and opened his mouth to apologise...

...but then she straightened her arms, shoving the bandages right before his eyes, while she looked away from him, again.

She nearly hit him on the nose and yet, he was too stunned to care.

"You do it then," he heard her mutter under her breath as she moved the package even closer to him. "Just... be quick about it. It doesn't need to be that precise, I only need it to last until I'm home."

He wanted to contradict her, to say that the main reason why he'd insisted on helping her out was to make sure that the dressing around her wound would not be a shoddy one; but something stopped him. Whether it was the way in which she was so determined not to meet his eye again or how her hands trembled when he finally took the cursed bandages from her, he couldn't tell; but he couldn't be more sure if Chihaya had told him that directly.

His jokes hadn't been too terrible a strategy overall – one more challenge, however, and he could lose it all.

So he remained silent, attentively drying her skin with fresh gauze before pressing another piece against the injury and wrapping it up with utmost care. It didn't matter that it was her bare skin anymore, or that the rim of her skirt was moving gently right above his bowed forehead. He was a friend, a companion. He was willing to call himself a nurse, for goodness' sake – as long as what he did was of any benefit to her.

Now wasn't he a failure.

Bet someone else, someone like Sudo, would never let anything like that happen, he thought to himself. He probably would have left her at that gate and walked away without a word, unless it was to roast her with one of his terrible lines. Actually, I'm sure nobody I know would've acted as stupidly as I have, whether it would be Nishida or Komano, or – Arata...

"All done," he announced a little too hastily, deliberately breaking his own train of thought before it could take him too far, and stood up. "I hope it's not too tight, but if it is, just tell me and I'll fix it. We don't want your leg to go all stiff and blue while you walk back home, right?"

"No, it's good. It's perfect," she answered, shaking her head. "Thank you."

Her head and gaze were still lowered when she spoke to him, so Taichi couldn't quite tell what her expression was and so he couldn’t use that knowledge to guess how she actually felt. At first, he was sure she would turn away as soon as he was done treating her wound, and just set off towards home without further delay, or that she would at least step back, no longer needing to stay in his close proximity like she had before.

They really were standing quite close now, so close that one step forward would make her forehead rest against his collarbone, literally.

And yet, she still didn’t allow him to see her face. He waited patiently for another moment, even though his heart was threatening to jump out of his chest any moment now. He stuck around, motionless and quiet, giving her every chance to flee like he expected her to, awaiting the moment when she would leave his personal space.

He couldn't imagine her wanting to be there, not after how he had treated her today – how he'd been treating her ever since the day she had rejected him.

And yet, she was still there.

"Chihaya," he whispered eventually. "Do you want to talk?"

It was a simple question, an obvious question. It was a ridiculous one, too – after all, they'd been exchanging statements back and forth, so technically, it was way past time for asking it. However, he certainly knew that it was not a simple chat he'd had in mind; and maybe it was naive of him, but he still believed that Chihaya understood it, too.

She didn't answer him immediately, and not even after some time had passed. It wasn't because she hadn't heard him, of that he was sure... but that didn't mean that he had more than the vaguest idea of why she tarried, either.

Was his question not so simple after all?

He didn't dare to lean forward, on the off chance that she would decide to look up at him after all, in which case their closeness really might become too much for him. His eyes remained fixed on her, however, boring into her hair as if to jinx her into replying at last. She didn't move; she didn't look up.

And for the longest time, she didn't make a sound.

Until...

"Yes. Yes, I do."

[kabutoraiger]

since kiramei wasn’t big on duo focus eps within the team i think it would’ve been fun if they’d leaned into a dairanger thing instead, at least with the RGY trio, where they each have someone outside the team they have an important recurring relationship with. juuru already has kakihara, and as for the other 2 tametomo/goth gamer and sena/her karuta rivalfriend would’ve been a win for the gays.

[natsumi-no-hotaru]

Chihayafuru #51: A new dawn before the night is done

AKA. The first episode of season 3!!! I finally caught up to the latest season!

[Previously: Back to the old apartment where you and I played karuta]

[Shameless plug: Complete Season 2 Collection] 

When season 3 came out last October, 6 years have passed since the season 2 finale was aired. The more I think about it, the more amazed and thrilled I feel at the fact that Chihayafuru was renewed for a third season. How many shoujo anime even got more than 2 seasons? From my limited knowledge, not many. So this is an incredible feat for Chihayafuru, for a shoujo manga whose primary focus is not romance or singing but a little-known card game, one not even that popular among Japanese people. Truly though, banzai Chihayafuru! Banzai!

As there’s such a big time gap between this season and the last, it is no wonder that this episode took some time to reacquaint viewers with the core story line and karuta itself, through a series of flashbacks showing the trio of Chi-chan, Taichi and Arata. We traveled back to that small apartment where they played karuta for the last time before Arata went back to Fukui, where life-long bonds were formed in recognition of their karuta fellowship. Their path further diverged, with Chi-chan and Taichi each going to a different school and finding new friends and interests. Yet, all roads lead back to karuta, if Chi-chan had any say over it and oh boy, she had plenty of say. Had it not been for her persistent efforts to drag Taichi and Arata back to karuta, things would have turned out very differently.

Back to when she was almost Ayase-san of the track team...

She took her new friend to Harada-sensei’s karuta society and introduced her to karuta. We got a brief but helpful explanation of basic karuta rules (I must confess that prior to this, I only had a kind of vague understanding of the rules, gathered after watching game after game, hahahaha) and though Michi-chan didn’t find her calling in karuta, I love that she remained Chi-chan’s friend all the way to high school. 

Chi-chan’s match against Michi-chan, where she completely decimated her new friend, seamlessly led to Arata’s recollection of his first match against Chi-chan and the Chihayafuru card she made her own.  

It was this moment that Arata would later revisit and draw the strength needed to face any opponent. Thematically, it also tied in with the end of Chi-chan’s match with Michi-chan: regardless of their opponent’s inexperience, both Arata and Chi-chan put in their best efforts because they found joy in devoting themselves to karuta, to what they loved so much. 

If loving karuta for Chi-chan and Arata is as simple as breathing, the same could not be said for Taichi. In just a few screens, the complexity of Taichi’s affair with karuta was beautifully laid bare in a most succinct manner. Karuta, for Taichi, was the joy of being in the company of Chi-chan, and was also the humiliation of being a coward and a bully to Arata and the inferiority complex of pursuing something that he believed he had no chance at being the best (read: better than Arata). 

Seasons went by and they grew ever further apart until Chi-chan, by chance, went to the same high school with Taichi... 

And the rest is history.

As fond as I am of seeing the adorable middle school versions of our main characters, the present beckons me back. It’s time to check out the Fujisaki training hell camp!

And they said karuta is not a sport. Lol. 

Training, romance, and bonding 

The training regime at Fujisaki is nothing less than spartan and true to its very name. Enhancing endurance and stamina is a priority, with a slew of physical exercises and activities the likes of mountain running climbing (they really mean it when they said Fuji), coupled with marathons of consecutive matches. Coach Sakurazawa was determined that the participants would be pushed to the limits and that meant having her Fujisaki kids facing off their rivals from top competitors like Mizusawa and Hokuo. Her open-minded, strategic approach to karuta training was the result of her own competitive experience in karuta, of battling scores of opponents to get the right to challenge the Queen five times. 

Intense and serious as it was, the training camp was not without its moments of lighthearted tomfoolery, primarily sponsored by the mascara-holding eyelashes senpai and the endearingly oblivious Yama-chan. 

The denial game is strong with this one. 

“... it’s to improve relations, friendships among club members...”

Lmao

Meanwhile, the girls’ bedroom talk turned to romance and to the surprise of no one but new acquaintances, Chi-chan is woefully lacking in this department. Rather than getting curious about dating and crushes, she fondly dreamed of reuniting with her favorite opponents at the tatami mats for karuta. But as her karuta grew, so would her emotional maturity, albeit at a slower pace. Like Kana-chan said in the last season, she won’t be clueless forever. 

Listening to her roommate talking about confessing to a fellow club member on wining at the tournament got Chi-chan wondering about Arata’s feelings.       

Throughout their stay at the Fujisaki camp, Taichi did not seek out Chi-chan on his own, not even once. It may seem like he wasted the opportunity made possible by Kana-chan’s effort to prevent the rest of the Mizusawa gang from going along with him and Chi-chan. However, it soon became clear that Taichi was in for the long game, not for the temporary gains. 

Though he was somewhat taken back by the mannerism of his roommate, he soon enough found something for them to bond over. It is not often that we get to see this sociable side of Taichi and together with his interest in the more physical training, it spoke strongly to his determination to prove himself and draw Chi-chan’s attention. And in a way, that gave me a small measure of reassurance - that Taichi has a plan and is putting it into action.

I love Retro-kun’s reaction - and it’s absolutely hilarious that both the girls and boys going for baths ended up peeking at the 2 presidents doing stretches. 

And of all unexpected things to happen, an illuminating conversation between Retro-kun and Chi-chan about how well Taichi has been doing in karuta. 

Chi-chan has yet to really see Taichi as a serious challenge, in spite of Retro-kun’s friendly warning. 

Again, Retro-kun made a very good point - Chi-chan had never faced Taichi in an official match, when he put everything on the line. 

I initially thought that Retro-kun might be a covert shipper but sadly, have been proven very wrong. You traitor to the cause, damn you!

“I really don’t know anything.”

Morning after with Yama-chan

Truly a well of optimism in her heart, lol.

I love that Coach Sakurazawa paired Chi-chan and Rion for the entire day of practice; their temperaments are very different from one another but they both have a kind of earnest approach to karuta and similar advantages in speed and hearing. Rion would likely make later appearances at future tournaments so it’s a good idea for the viewers to have a better sense of who she is, with and without karuta. 

Chi-chan’s post-match collapse like a battery-dead phone never fails to crack me up lol. 

#girl_with_onigiri

They shared a bento! And such a fancy onigiri feast too! The black onigiri balls look interesting - wonder what gave them that colour.

Breaking news: the girly side of Chi-chan making a rare appearance!!! 

Literally, Rion’s motivation for playing karuta and staying in her grandma’s karuta society is to get rice for her family. #unexpected_poverty

As silly and outlandish as it is to play karuta for rice, Rion is no pushover when it matters. She may not have much of a desire to be a Queen but she is determined to meet the expectations of her club members, the same way she discharged her duty to her family.

Coach Sakurazawa’s wisdom

“I never give advice during a match, but just one thing...”

Fatigue and exhaustion caught up with both Chi-chan and Rion as they took to repeating the morning routine of playing 3 consecutive matches against the same opponent in the afternoon. Mistakes and faults were abundant on both sides and even such a basic thing like maintaining proper posture during the matches became a challenge. None of this was out of the usual, until Coach Sakurazawa, for some unfathomable reason, broke her habit of non-intervention in ongoing matches to give Chi-chan incredibly insightful and valuable advice.

“Rather than taking cards by speed, do it with grace in your natural form.”

Her action baffled all of the Fujisaki kids, especially Rion, who recalled that she had never given them any advice that way. There’s something about Chi-chan that held Coach Sakurazawa’s attention and she just can’t help but gravitate to the Mizusawa ace. I’ve talked at length about the connection between Coach Sakurazawa and Chi-chan in my previous posts and once again, in this episode, we see the growing role and influence of the former as a mentor figure, who came close to the pinnacle of the karuta world several times and had a wealth of experience to offer. Good thing that none of her coaching went wasted as Chi-chan took to her advice like a duck to water. 

It seemed that having better posture than her opponent did not help Chi-chan score that longed for victory. However, Chi-chan’s passion for karuta and her determination to do her best and master new skills (playing with her left hand) regardless of her injury might have struck a chord with Rion, who decided to open up and answer Chi-chan’s earlier question about good game sense.

“...The pitch of the sound right before the unique syllable...”

Rion: I regret my decision immediately.

It came as quite a surprise that Coach Sakurazawa would pair Chi-chan and Taichi up for their final match. As Rion said at the end of the training camp, what’s the point of pairing two people who played against each other almost every day?

“He seems like he could make vast strides with just a little more confidence... there’s a kind of confidence only Ayase-san can give him.”

It’s absolutely incredible how perceptive Coach Sakurazawa is, given all that she knew of Taichi came just from observing him during his official matches. She had yet to speak to him in person and yet, she instinctively understood the crux of the problem facing Taichi - which is truly nothing else but lack of confidence. I wonder how much she picked up on his constant desire to prove himself to Chi-chan, but without the shadow of a doubt, she hit the nail perfectly on the head in noting the importance of Chi-chan’s approval to his self-esteem. And hearing those words and looking at the last scene gave this Taichihaya shipper so much hope and happiness.

And before I bid you a very fond farewell, here’s Taichi, with an extra shot of confidence, issuing a challenge to Chi-chan.

#notice_me_chihaya

Haha, she certainly won’t go down easy like this time though, Taichi! Take care!!

Until the next time then, folks!