Muse: Where do I even start with this episode? Is this real life? Are we allowed to have a finals episode that is this perfect? The tension in the matches, the strategy seamlessly connecting to the character development, and that final moment of “holy crap, they actually did it.” I cannot praise this episode enough. For me, it made sitting through the slow pacing worth it.
But let’s back up a little bit and look at how Mizusawa was able to win the championship (simultaneously becoming the best players in Japan... Victory is sweet!). Surprisingly, the lynchpin this time wasn’t Chihaya, although her win against Rion shouldn’t be devalued at all. However, the match against those two was essentially taking place in its own universe by the time it got down to the wire for the teams. In the end, it was Taichi who pulled together that final blowout win with two simultaneous luck-of-the-draw matches.
As we all know very well, Taichi’s extremely concentrated, analytical style of keeping track of all the cards that have been read in a match versus the ones that are still on the field is a very strong style of play, but not enough to push him to the next rank. His tendency to go for whichever card that has the higher probability of being read instead of trusting his gut feeling and reading the flow of the match has cost him time and again, resulting in the “horrible luck” that the characters on the sidelines have pointed out this season. But in this match, a funny thing happened. Taichi finally let go of all that and just focused on the cards that he needed. The repetition of “read it read it read it read it” is one of the more intense moments in this episode, mostly because that moment is almost two seasons in the making. Knowing how much Taichi has struggled with his playing style and how difficult it must be for him to break his habits in a finals match, of all things, makes it all the more compelling. And, of course, it’s even more incredible when it pays off.
Justin: Well, I predicted wrong. I do still think they didn’t need to win this match, but at the same time, I did say it would have been icing on the cake. Whatever the case, I had my chance to change my pick to Mizusawa since all of the usual flags that dictate a win were triggered last week. But like how it is in sports, I stick with what I pick until the bitter end. That backfired on me in the best possible way, since it provided one of the best anime ending episodes of the year.
So Muse covered one of the reasons Mizusawa was able to win the championship, backing up Taichi’s bold guarantee and also allowing our main characters trials and tribulations to pay off with the team championship. However, they would not have pulled off the victory had they not lost to Hokuo in the High School Tournament. In that matchup that took place many many weeks ago, their inexperience in team matches finally caught up to them as they were placed in a no-win situation where Hokuo had the advantage in what cards they needed and with their skill, Mizusawa stood no chance. This time, Mizusawa was in a position where they took advantage of what was left, but it required Porky to pick up on what Taichi was doing the entire time. It was reminded that in team matches it’s always one on one so you can’t focus all the time on what your teammates are doing, but there are times, as when Taichi announces which card to send over, that you have to know the situation for your team. We of course saw Chihaya screw this up when facing Hokuo, but if Porky didn’t send the right card in this match, we might not be talking about Mizusawa holding the advantage against Fujisaki. So in the end, and probably sneakily, Porky manages to redeem himself a bit, as he put the team in a position to win the whole thing.
And I have to say, it was for the most part worth it!
Muse: I think that sums up one of the reasons why Chihayafuru remains one of my favorite shows. There is no such thing as plot armor in the matches, and every win has to be earned through a combination of skill and luck. This episode had that out in full force, putting me on the edge of my seat until the very end of the match, since there was no guarantee that Mizusawa would win, even though they’d clearly learned from their loss to Hokuo. That moment wouldn’t have been nearly as dramatic--or euphoria-inducing--if this was the kind of show where the main characters always won no matter what. It was hard-fought, but Mizusawa truly earned it.
So what about the losing side? Fujisaki were more than worthy opponents, and the power we’ve seen on display for the last few episodes has made it obvious why they were the favorites to win. However, the weakness that we pointed out a few weeks ago ended up being their undoing, namely the idea of a team focused around strength rather than a mutual bond. I was happy to see that Fujisaki’s coach was able to realize that she’d made the wrong judgement call without blaming her students. Maybe she can trade training strategies with Mizusawa. They could use some of her stamina regimen, and she could use some of their heart.
As for Rion, like I said last week, she has all the talent but still a long way to go. Losing to Chihaya seems to be an important first step for her, since as her coach pointed out, this was the first time she lost with her advantage (her Grandmother reading). She’ll probably be less picky about readers from here on out, and hopefully wanting to have a rematch with Chihaya next year will make her a better player. Chihaya might not realize it, but she might become a similar motivator to Rion as Shinobu has been for her. She might not need to look up the ladder for her potential rivals in the future!
Justin: With this episode over, team matches should be over with and done. However, I admittedly didn’t think about this too much until Taichi had pointed out a truth that I should know:
“Chihaya...We’ll have plenty of chances to try to become Master and Queen, but we only get to play as a team during our three years in high school.”
I never actually thought about this, but I should have really. As important as the individual tournament is, we’ll have a number of opportunities to see everyone play. But with a team, you’ll only have a certain amount of time to see them play together. As you can probably tell, team matches provide more drama, more bonding, and everyone leaning on each other. But just like that, it can all be over in a flash. As the Chihayafuru manga is still ongoing, I’m going to guess there aren’t any more team matches (call me out on that if there are team matches going on. Just that though!). That has its own implications, but in general, we can try to believe Yuki Suetsugu intended to make sure the focus of the start of Chihayafuru revolved around the team first. Everyone will have their chances to prove how good they are by themselves. But you only get a few chances to do so with others. In adapting it to anime form, Madhouse had to roll with it, and only that mention by Taichi made me think about this significance -- Mizusawa started their club only a year ago, and in their second year, they made it to the finals. But after that you’ll only have one or two more years, and who knows if it’s with the same people? And then you know everyone in Japan that plays karuta will want to beat you. Winning is not easy. So as Taichi said they may never get another chance like this, it kind of made me think again of sports, and especially at the high school level, where an opportunity to win it all only happens every once in a while, but then rarely or never again, due to a number of factors. That’s why you always see the emotion, the sadness, the finality of it all take place a lot whether a team wins or loses, all because you know that things don’t stay the same once its over. Change is constant. But going for it all now is finding a way to stay in the present, and living it up.
So my final say on team matches -- assuming this is the last possible hurrah, anime or not -- is that it was a definite journey. It involved dealing with a lot of things happening at one time and maybe some parts that weren’t needed. But I think the message is clear since it’s been harped on since Season 2 started: it pays to win together. All the long hours, the training, the development of character, all of it, it basically culminated with Mizusawa winning the championship. If somehow nothing else happens to them the rest of their lives, they had their moment at Nationals that can’t be taken away, that everyone can always look back on and admire, and they can all celebrate as a team together. If this is the last time we see it from this perspective, then in the end, it was a hell of a ride.
Muse: So now that the team tournament arc is over, what’s next? I think that there are several directions that the individual tournament could take: Taichi still doesn’t have his A-rank, and Sumire seems to finally understand the appeal of karuta. Tsukuba needs to redeem himself, as does Porky (although they may drop that since he played really well in the finals). Also, we have yet to see Arata in a serious match, and the same goes for Shinobu. And we still don’t know what’s wrong with Chihaya’s finger! These are all possible roads for the show to explore, but we’ve only got six episodes left. Unless there’s a surprise third season announcement waiting in the wings, I’m afraid that the cutoff point for season two will be even more painful than season one.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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