Justin from OASG and I discuss the main topic of this week's episode: Taichi!
Justin: It was eventual that we would get an episode where one of our main characters would take the spotlight and be the focus out of everybody else. It started with Sumire; it switched between her and Tsukuba; and there was a half where Chihaya got her time. But if there was one episode that dominated with just one character so far in Chihayafuru 2, this episode would be it, and it would take a close look at Taichi, who prides himself on knowing everything and gives it his all. What this episode took to task is a bit of Taichi’s responsibility. He is the Captain of the Mizusawa Karuta Club for a reason, despite the fact that he pales in comparison at karuta to Chihaya. He’s got the mental understanding and voice to lead the team, but as we had seen in Season 1, there was always something that prevented him from taking the next step and getting into Class A.
As the match against Homei High began, basically everything was against Taichi: from the fact that Tsuboguchi, who lost in the Master class match in Season 1, happened to be teaching these kids how to play Karuta, and play effectively, to the fact that a new reader (and the importance of the reader was detailed in S1) threw off the rhythm of the cards, to his opponent, Sasa, who dreams of becoming the Karuta Queen, and even the lack of an air conditioner was fairly crippling. Combined these elements with Taichi’s tendency to overthink things because he wants to know so much and his responsibilities of looking over his team, and that is when we realize his weakness: doubt. That’s why it was important that Harada was a key figure in this episode: he knew what Taichi’s problem was, but it’s not like he could tell him that. Taichi had to figure it out himself. Hence why it was important that Harada told him before he filled out the forms that an individual match is a team match, and a team match is an individual one. The only way Taichi could win against Sasa was to disregard some of the responsibility of worrying over the rest of them, and pay respect to the person he’s matched up against.
Muse: I guess we’re going to have to wait a little longer to find out what the deal is with Arata and Shinobu, since the show is still about the Tokyo kids, and this episode belongs to Taichi. Chihayafuru usually has a few things going on at once, but this was the first episode in a while, even counting the first season, to really focus on one character. I’m sure that the Taichi fans who complained that he got the short end of the stick in season one will be happy to see that all roads lead to their favorite character in this episode.
And to be honest, this episode was a long time coming considering that this tournament match encompasses a big part of Taichi’s current character arc. Taichi has felt untalented and simply not good enough ever since he first lost to Chihaya and Arata as a kid. While he’s grown out of the more annoying aspects of his childhood character (thank goodness) and would sooner be crowned Queen of England than cheat, he’s still incredibly insecure, and that was front and center in this episode. There’s a saying that goes, “you make your own luck.” If you go into something expecting to fail, you’re more likely to make mistakes or let things trip you up. And unfortunately, it’s something that the person needs to find out on their own. Harada was right in not telling him to let his insecurity get in the way; that wouldn’t help Taichi because he has to conquer it on his own. The advice to just focus on the match in front of him was much more spot-on. Once it clicked in Taichi’s head, he stopped worrying about what everyone else was doing and being a good captain that he was able to focus on being the crazy memorization machine we know he is.
...And hilariously enough, that moment comes right after a cut-off request for a towel (where all the women who’d come to see the school just throw theirs at him). Chihaya jumps in too, with such a delighted face you know that she’s happy to help him. The weight of that moment comes when you realize that Chihaya was in “karuta mode” and basically dead to the world around her aside from the game, but she’s ready and willing to surface long enough to help her friend and teammate. This makes Taichi realize that he doesn’t have to constantly focus on the others; he just needs to play his match and help the others when they need it. Only in this show can an initially funny moment turn into a genuine character development scene without causing tone whiplash.
Justin: Yeah, I guess any talk about Arata and Shinobu was a bit premature, since the only thing I remembered to keep in mind while he was visiting his grandfather’s grave was his request to his parents if he can win the National High School Championship. The most important thing Chihayafuru continues to make important is the “Now”. While I’m sure many want to have Arata be a factor in the series, he doesn’t have to be at the moment. We already know his struggles and his talents thanks to season 1, and we still have more episodes to go in Chihayafuru, with the pace continuing to pick up in each episode. He’ll have his moment in the sun, and we’ll most likely get what we want. For now though, it’s all about Taichi and the Mizusawa team as they try to repeat as champions. Once again they have to face Hokuo in the finals, and while it seems like it might not be a match now that slit eyes/a true sadist graduated, we were promised by Retro that they would unleash their “ultimate weapon” against Misuzawa if they met in the finals. Chances are this will dominate the entire episode when it airs next week, but I can’t be sure who it is. Is it someone strong enough to beat at least three of the Misuzawa members? I’m guessing since Chihaya is Chihaya and Taichi may have overcome his weakness in karuta, Porky will take center stage in Episode 5. I’m probably alone in the corner on that one though!
Muse: Arata... I miss you anyway... Uh, I mean, Taichi episode. Right. I do want to talk about Tsuboguchi’s team in this episode, since they played an interesting role as character foils. While we see very little of the group as a whole, he’s trained them pretty well, and later in the episode we find out that his opponent, Sasa, is the only one who cared about karuta before he came around. She’s able to pull off a surprisingly complex bluff that only uses a little strategy, but it went right to the heart of Taichi’s weakness. That seemed to be their all-around strategy as well; confuse the opponent and get straight to their sore spot. On the one hand, this is pretty cunning of Tsuboguchi; he’s been playing karuta long enough to know how to exploit the regular players. But the other half of it is pretty heartfelt; after losing the King match, it’s inspiring to watch him transform a karuta club full of people who have little interest in it into a club that can compete with A-ranked members. If Chihaya still has that goal of being a karuta teacher (and I’ll eat my hat if she isn’t), then maybe she could get some pointers from him.
Justin:...Welp, I hope you’re prepared to eat a hat then Muse since I think she may become a teacher too...but it’ll never be known in the anime!
Muse: That’s a good point... Although I don’t want to think about this show ending and what it will or won’t cover, at least not yet! We’ve still got a lot of show left over.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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