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natsumi-no-hotaru · 2 years ago

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Chihayafuru #53: What it takes to be the Queen

AKA. In which Chi-chan and Taichi were treated to an overwhelming show of support and older female players bonded over child-raising.

[Previously: Welcome to class A, Taichi]

Welcome back, me, to the world of competitive karuta.

Though I did technically come back to Chihayafuru with my previous post, I was just finishing off the draft that was half-written prior to my disappearance. So this time feels more like my actual return, since every word is fresh out of the press. Keeping up the writing is proving to be quite a challenge (again, lol) but I will do my best and your company is much appreciated, as always, on this lovely journey.

While the matches are the focus of this episode, there is just as much to unpack off-stage: the appearance, or more correctly, the return of an extraordinary female player (not Shi-chan), the strangely nice (until not) chat between Taichi and Arata, and the coaches’ thoughtful exchange about Chi-chan’s potential to be the Queen. These little surprises unfolded rapidly before viewers even get to the halfway point, and while they could do with some more congruence, together they highlight the theme of “pursuit” as central to all players present.

The former Queen

And, tada, this is Haruka Inokuma, 4-time Queen and proud mother of two, one of whom is still at breast-feeding age! She is such an inspiring character, what with returning to karuta after pregnancy to reclaim her title and breastfeeding her littler one during break. She is so cheerful, energetic and filled with that fervent, yet unassuming, tenacity that makes you want to immediately root for her. Truly, I am so grateful for Chihayafuru’s wonderful array of strong female characters who all have their stories to tell, and Haruka is another welcoming addition to the cast. If only there are more mangaka like Suetsugu-san, imagine the kinds of empowering stories and positive role models manga and anime would bring to girls and young women!

A husband who’s supportive of her passion and patiently looks after the young ones during her matches - gosh, she’s so blessed and I am so happy for this heartwarming portrayal of Haruka’s partner. Together they make an enviable real-life power couple and a warm, loving family.

Chihayafuru - Suetsugu-san - truly excels at the little details. It was incredibly endearing to see Haruka’s husband putting on the breastfeeding covering on her. And I love that Coach Sakurazawa came over to enquire after Haruka and ending up being awed by the latter’s dedication as both a mother and a karuta player. You know me (or you would, if you go back to read a couple of old posts, lol), I’m a big sucker for women’s bonding over topics unrelated to any male figure, and Chihayafuru has never disappointed me on that count.

What is my problem?

Fun as it was to get to know Haruka and her connection with Sakurazawa, it’s time to check on the Mizusawa gang.

Chi-chan won against fancy-hair senpai from Fujisaki but still needed some time to get used to the feeling of using her right hand instead of her left. Nishida-kun seemed rightfully worried about Chi-chan’s right hand as not having returned to its full strength.

Interestingly enough but not so surprising that Chi-chan was the one surrounded by her clubmates, and Taichi spent his break by himself - well, not for much longer.

ARATAAAAA!!!

No man is an island, and Taichi is no exception.

His surprised-blushy face is so adorbbb! And it was just like Arata to be the one reaching out, especially given his heartfelt desire to come to Tokyo and reunite with his childhood friends. He found Taichi at the perfect moment for them to have a lovely chat too!

Turned out that Taichi was using his alone time to forget the card layouts of the previous matches by humming his school song (seriously though, the lyricist’s urm... name is Karuta? lol). Though flustered by Arata’s question, Taichi soon got over his initial hesitation and the conversation flowed naturally as the two boys exchanged methods to reset one’s memory post-match and approaches to memorization during matches with unexpected earnestness.

On memorization during matches

Taichi’s excitement was palpable and Arata just gave away his tactics and tips without any reserve. Gosh they are so so precious.

You can hear in Arata’s gentle cadence his wholehearted attention for Taichi. Lol, now that I think about it, Hosoyan and Mamo-kun have quite the voice-acting chemistry, huh. It was with Arata and Taichi, and then with Kunikida and Dazai in BSD. So amazing.

Wide-eyed Taichi ~

A moment of self-awareness dawned on Taichi, who was truly surprised by how easy it was to talk to Arata and how much he wanted to reach out to Arata through karuta. Taichi himself might find it “weird” but it is far from the first time that he found encouragement and support in Arata, even when he did not know of Arata’s presence and despite viewing him as more of an enemy than as a friend at times.

Unfortunately, the good vibes did not last and the conversation soon left the comfort zone for rocky waters. Similar to their last meeting at Omi Jingu, it began with Arata expressing his desire to play as a team, this time not with Chi-chan and Taichi, but as part of his school’s karuta team.

“He wants to play team matches, too?”

Unlike the last time, what irritated Taichi is not just being on the same team with or facing his enemy but more deeply rooted in his perceived inferiority to Arata in terms of karuta. And as typical of Taichi, he downplayed his contribution to the creation of the Mizusawa club, citing Chi-chan as the one who “brought our club together”.

The conversation took a swift turn for the awkward and was cut short by one of Taichi’s rare outbursts.

“I thought you were focusing solely on the Master match.”

It’s ultimately a great shame because confidence or arrogance was far from what motivated Arata. It was his own participation in the school national team tournament, limited as it was, and the bittersweet joy derived from it, that drove him to give team karuta a go. But Taichi, who is still bogged down by insecurities when faced with Arata, read the latter’s desire as an expression of his self-assurance in all things karuta. Mere moments later, after leaving Arata to himself, it seemed that even Taichi did not believe in his words, frustrated as he was by his overreaction (poor kabe-kun had it bad).

“Think of all those ugly matches where I lost to myself!”

As someone who was stuck in a hyper-competitive mindset for a good part of 2020, I truly worry about Taichi. The more he sees Arata as an insurmountable peak that he had to overcome no matter what, and less as a childhood friend whom he could count on, the more he will be fighting a battle he can’t win, not against his rival, but against himself.

Taichi was aware of his own psychological pits, but it didn’t seem like he had fully gotten hold of himself. And that gave the Mizusawa gang and Shiranami Society peeps cause for concern.

The pairings

Chi-chan would face a runner-up Master, aka. a challenger sorely defeated by Master Suo. Setting up the old vs the young, Harada-sensei was paired with Ririka-chan, the talented young girl that Chi-chan once played against.

Another interesting pairing is Sudo-san vs. Yama-chan (Rion). Sudo-san plays a tough game but Yama-chan is not so easy to budge.

Taichi oftens gets paired against uhm... peculiar dudes. Last time, it was Emuro (Ero-senpai) and this was curly-hairpin-kun. Feels like the more hyped up Taichi is for a match, the more likely he will encounter very memorable opponents.

How incredible it is that Chi-chan and Taichi are playing on the same stage! They have come so far, especially Taichi. And this brings us to the question - who’s to watch? Seeing Nishida torn between Yumin, his club senpai, Taichi and Chi-chan, and unable to stop worrying about Chi-chan’s right hand and performance is absolutely precious. Troubled by the same dilemma, Kana-chan stayed true to herself and took the best seat in the house to shadow this round’s reader, whose voice is the textbook audio of karuta.

I love that amid the main action, an amount of screentime is still devoted to exploring Kana-chan’s passion for poetry reading and her ambition to be an accomplished karuta card reader. And the awe-struck expression on her face when the card reader raised his voice and filled the room with the melody of poetry - it was truly visceral.

A dream of silent karuta

The “Naniwa bay” verses recited, the matches began. Takemura took the first two cards with bursts of power and speed; his “tank-like” show of force seemingly overwhelmed Chi-chan.

There was something different about Chi-chan in this match. At the beginning of the episode, she looked like she might be struggling to keep up but Nishida-kun and all of us were in for a pleasant surprise.

It’s not that her swing was too wide or her capture lacked force.

Chi-chan’s time with her left hand did not weaken her right hand like Nishida-kun worried; in fact, it even helped her to be more judicious in the application of force and come a step closer to the silent karuta, the karuta that Shi-chan so excels at and that she ardently aspires to.

While Nishida-kun’s worry for Chi-chan was proven unnecessary, others’ worries might not be so quickly set aside. Just as Chi-chan realized that she forgot to put up her sleeves with the bands given to her by the Empress, the point of view switched to the two karuta club advisors of Mizusawa and Fujisaki.

It was quite a leap of faith that Miyauchi-sensei took, even in desperation, to seek advice about the possibility of Chi-chan becoming a Queen from a newly-acquainted coach of a rival school. Granted that Coach Sakurazawa took an interest in the Mizusawa students, particularly Chi-chan, and could draw from her own experience as a runner-up Queen to provide a reasonable answer, I still found it incredibly moving that the Empress posed the question without any reserve. Such bluntness shows how much she cares for her student and desires to be on their side as much as possible, even if she is not sure of the proper way to proceed.

Perhaps Miyauchi-sensei could sense something from Coach Sakurazawa, a certain willingness to engage with the question through her inquiry about the former’s reasons in asking. Perhaps it was for this reason that she let her guard down and revealed the extent of her worry for Chi-chan’s future in karuta and in life, like a silent plea for empathy from her younger colleague.

All of this once again highlights the care that Chihayafuru devotes to character development, even of minor supporting characters like Miyauchi-sensei. I love that the Mizusawa kids, especially Chi-chan, can count on surrounding adults and teachers for genuine support and encouragement. It’s a truly heartwarming moment to watch and so well-placed amid all the tension of the matches.

Deep in the snow of Yoshino

The game entered its most heated as tensions and fatigue began piling up. Some thrived in it, like Harada-sensei and Sudo-san who sought to overwhelm their opponents and demoralize them, while others struggled to keep a clear head, like Taichi and Yama-chan.

Even though his opponent seemed to be of a lower caliber than himself, Taichi refused to let his guard down and demanded nothing less than perfection from himself in his grabs.

What a misjudgment. Yama-chan is the kind of girl who would get rattled by her opponent’s mid-game injury, not by their taunting about her personal flaws.

And there are those who remained unfazed by their opponents’ antics and steadfastly marched on toward their goal. Arata was paired against Yumin, a tenacious sort of opponent who would contest for every possible card by claiming that she touched it first. It seemed like a very Arata thing to not argue and like Yumin said, “strive to play clean” and not let his mind be swayed by anything but the cards themselves.

Meanwhile, Chi-chan was steadily gaining the upper hand over the runner-up Master. As Nishida-kun came to realize, Chi-chan’s hand-eye coordination improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to her time playing with her left hand, which enabled her to go after her right-handed opponent’s weakness on the left side with surety and ingrained skill.

“There’s no way that she even realizes it. She doesn’t, but practicing with her left hand all that time resulted in mirroring her body and attack positions. Going after her old weak spots, her own left side and the opponent’s right side, broadened her awareness of where her hand is going!”

Fierce collision burgeoned forth at the instant the Chihayafuru card was read. Both Haruka and Chi-chan sent their cards flying so far that they had to literally go around and ask for the right cards from their decks.

What are the chances that Chi-chan would be meeting her next round’s opponent, the former Queen, this way?

It was a powerful set-up for a true moment of serenity, aptly amplified by Coach Sakurazawa’s realization of how their cards collided and her ongoing pondering on the Empress’ question of whether Chi-chan can become the Queen.

For Haruka, tension was just a way to warm her up and get her in the groove.

I love that Chihayafuru did not shy away from such candid revelations! She is a mother in the breastfeeding period, so she would very likely encounter a situation like this one.

And look at how supportive and excited her elder kid was! It’s super encouraging to see depiction of family as not an obstacle to the pursuit of one’s dream.

Haruka, from the flashback of Coach Sakurazawa, is certainly intriguing, not to mention a formidable opponent, whom Sakurazawa challenged 4 times but failed to dethrone. Unassuming and modest, Haruka openly shared the “secret” behind her success with the now Fujisaki karuta advisor - simply the ability to “hear well”. Not only does she have a genius level of hearing the likes of Yama-chan, but she also carries herself through the games with solid technique, rich experience, and a vibrancy and composure befitting of a Queen. It would be super fun to see her playing against the current Queen, especially since they have such opposing vibes: warm vs. detached, agile vs contemplative.

Sakurazawa’s insight proved valuable and enlightening again, as she compared Haruka to someone whose strength we are well aware, aka. Master Suo, the playful trickster that I can’t wait to see again.

For the team

Haha, this is so deja vu, huh. Another match, another struggle with your psyche at stake. Taichi initially dismissed his opponent for his “too heavy” movements and slowness but halfway through the game, he found that a reduced speed enabled curly-hairpin-kun to make grabs without having to slow down, and with considerable precision. Adding this to the pressure of being “perfect” and there you have it, Taichi’s mind was again encumbered by needless stress, even when he was actually in the lead.

At the very instant where things seemed to fall back into that loop of self-doubt and self-destruction for Taichi, he was struck by the realization that his opponent was not fighting merely to win for himself but also to drain as much of Taichi’s stamina as possible, in the likelier event of losing the game.

This quiet awareness gave more meaning to his struggle, in the sense that all is not lost even if he could not bring his A-game to the table. As long as he chipped away his opponent’s strength so as to make things easier for fellow members of the Shiranami Society, he still succeeded in making a productive contribution. And I think that helped him tremendously at this lost-in-his-head moment.

And it’s incredibly moving that both Harada-sensei and his Shiranami-society senpai (Hiroshi-san...?) somehow intuitively gave those lovely pats of encouragement to Taichi with such good timing. It’s like telepathy, I swear. I think it also spoke of how well they understood him and what he needed. Absolutely heartwarming to see that Taichi, in spite of all the things that sought to bog him down, always received the right support from the right peeps at the right time.

Gosh, that adorable face all wowed and awed by that reassurance of affection and care.

Ehehe, isn’t it nice to have someone looking after you right?

Mamo-chan’s exhale here was the very sound of burdens lifted.

Taichi recovered in time to take advantage of his opponent’s lack of speed. What use is a perfect movement when just covering your card or blocking his grab would suffice?

yayyyyyyy go Taichiiii

Contrary to Sudo-san’s expectations, Yama-chan was only more motivated to put up a good fight the more tired she got. She might not be able to come back from the lead that Sudo-san held but still managed to make Sudo-san expend efforts and stamina to maintain his not-that-significant advantage.

I’m sorta rooting for this senpai now, lmao. Hope he’ll get Yama-chan’s attention one of these days? But maybe you’ll need to get a bit better at karuta first....?

Sudo-san, don’t underestimate Yama-chan!!!

I love how energetic and radiant she looked, all sweat-drenched and reddened with exertion. It’s all the more perfect that she didn’t bother responding to Sudo-san’s taunts. Action does speak louder than words, after all.

Senpai so moved by Yama-chan’s shining determination ehehe

Don’t ever change, Yama-chan. Please stay like this always.

Poor Yama-chan finding it hard to keep her priorities straight, thanks to Chi-chan’s enthusiastic meddling from the Fujisaki boot camp.

Lightning speed on her favorite card!

Bad bad Sudo-san, so misogynistic. Can’t wait to see Chi-chan handing you yo ass. Or Taichi, I’m not picky.

I kinda enjoyed seeing Arata perplexed by how tired it was to not rise up to Yumin’s card contest bids. But Yumin’s assertion about throwing off his pace if she was able to argue for 4 more cards is pretty worrisome. I am not a fan of Yumin but mm, wonder if Arata might be meeting someone troublesome in the future. He had a close match with Shi-chan back at Omi Jingu but it did not seem to give him this much fatigue...

Runner-up master beaten by Chi-chan, yayyyyy!!! Poor guy though, being trounced by Master Suo and unable to do karuta for half a year is pretty rough.

Love how everyone is so happy for Chi-chan!!! And it makes sense too, considering she was up against a Runner-up Master no less!

Taichi dashing over, out of breath as usual.

Yayyyyy everyone is here to cheer on the gang!!

Another match done and dusted, good job, Chi-chan!!!

There is no answer in sight yet for the Empress’ question, though Coach Sakurazawa did mention the factors of “fate” and the “times”. Perhaps there is something to be said about them in the coming episode(s)?