Even thought we're past the halfway point in terms of episodes, it feels like the story is only just beginning. It's clear now why the previous episode left off where it did; despite Chihaya's fantastic comeback at the end of the episode, she was (unfortunately) doomed to lose from the start. While it was amazing that she was able to take five cards from her, as Chihaya points out, the Queen is still "twenty cards better." While losing always sucks, this is Chihaya we're talking about, and she takes away a lesson on how important bolstering her memorization skill is, as well as her speed. But even more interesting than Chihaya's realization of what she has to work on if she wants to achieve her dream were the Queen's reactions during an after the match. It's clear that Chihaya gets under her skin in a big way. We got a glimpse of that at the end of the previous episode, and it continues on here. Clearly, the Queen is used to completely overwhelming all of her opponents and doesn't really know how to keep her composure when they start to fight back, like Chihaya did. Her win was the result of their difference in skill level, and the Queen seems to already know that if Chihaya applies herself she could lose her title, if that scary face when she learns her name was anything to go by. But while the Queen apparently regards her with contempt, Chihaya is still respectful and gracious in her defeat, finally telling her that she likes her Snowmaru shirt. The Queen's expression this week was even more priceless than last week's; you can clearly see that she doesn't want to be happy but is anyway. So with that match out of the way, the nail-biter of the week goes to Tachi. We haven't heard about his complexes surrounding Arata and winning for a while, have we? Despite his strong showings in the last couple of episodes once he decided to take on the leader role, the stuff that bothered him as a kid still bothers him now. Although we have made progress; instead of just accepting his skill level, he genuinely wants to get better, presumably because he wants to face off against Arata. I've been wondering for a while what his goal was by playing karuta; playing it for the love of it is all well and good, but for the level of intensity this team plays at, there had to be something more. I'm glad that it's gone beyond just wanting to help Chihaya out (we're never going to find out what happened to his girlfriend, are we?). But back to the match. All the closeups and the repetition of what cards still remained on the field really made me appreciate the level of concentration that goes into this game. I was always awed by it, but never really understood it. I'll probably never fully understand it, since I can't see myself ever being in a position to play karuta for several hours in a row, but I love that this anime can make me feel that I can understand. Consequently, it was devastating when he lost, not due to a lack of skill like in Chihaya's match, but simply because he was running out of energy. But despite that, it was great to see that the group had all taken something away from their first national tournament, and they'll definitely be one of the top contenders next time. More training montage, anyone? Additional Screenshots                                               Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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