Summary
The karuta club try to advertise for new members to join them, and though winning Mizusawa’s relay race helped them gain attention all the visitors end up leaving, thinking karuta is too hard for them. As Taichi and Nishida understand how hard it is to move from Class B to Class A, Chihaya gets told by Harada-sensei that she should stop relying on her speed, leaving Kana-chan to remind her once again that karuta is poetry.
Impression
I found it pretty ironic that the episode started with a relay race, which is all about speed, and ended with the idea that speed isn’t actually everything in karuta. Obviously for people like the Queen, both her speed and accuracy win her matches, but when all you’ve got is speed, then everything else becomes pointless if you end up having to gamble too much. Also the Queen is scary when you’re playing her, while Chihaya’s mostly harmless. I guess if she understands the hundred poems more, she’ll be able to improve her karuta skills on the whole?
So Taichi and Nishida finally learn just how hard it is to get to Class A. Makes you wonder sometimes how Chihaya did it. Taichi especially wanted to get to that tournament and make Class A real bad, I’m not exactly sure how much Y20,000 is, but to spend that just on a whim to go to a faraway qualifying tournament when there’s one just a week later is pretty desperate. Yeah, as Nishida said – stupid rich boy…
Taichi’s motivation is most likely because of his desire to meet Arata again, though unlike Chihaya who wants to meet him as a karuta player, Taichi might have a hidden agenda for meeting him – this whole developing Taichi x Chihaya situation. It’s obvious that Taichi didn’t feel anything for his girlfriend (now ex), and instead it’s heavily implied he has a thing for Chihaya, who has absolutely no clue, as per usual. He should have held her hand when she fell asleep next to him on the train! He’s just wasting all these opportunities and calling it “being sneaky”. What, so he wants to make moves on her only when Arata’s around? Go for it Taichi!
Overall I’m not really sure what direction we’re going to go from here. Why is this only a two-cour, when there are so many lower quality kiddy magical girl anime that end up getting a year-long slot? No, I really don’t want a year’s worth of Jewelpet Tinkle, but why the hell did they green-light one? Considering last week was a recap, Chihayafuru’s been…lacking recently, ever since the end of the Omi Jingu arc. Apparently, things actually go a different way in the manga, so unless the order of things are being swapped around (which they’ve done before) the only other possibility is a crash course to an anime-original ending. Sucks to be us, huh?
I think for Chihaya to understand the meanings and interpretations of the poems will help her memorize. For example, her Impassionate God card is red, so if she were to color code the differences between similar poems or understand the difference in story and time, it might strengthen her memory which is her weak point.
After having watched today’s episode, more than ever I firmly believe Chihayafuru needs a second season or continue into 50 episodes. I would hate to see an Anime Orignal ending, there’s lots of material for them to use in the manga, and I would be incredibly frustrated to see them end here after having wasted last week’s episode on a recap/gag. I know the BD/DVD sales aren’t too hot, but I’m crossing my fingers that hopefully this will get a second season. There’s one way to confirm whether they are heading into an Anime Orignal ending, and that’s depends on whether two new characters show up and join their club like in the manga. I don’t know whether this episode happened in the manga, I’d have to check- but to be honest, I’m actually afraid to do so.
Ah, I see. It would mean she wouldn’t have to take wild guesses for multi-syllable cards too, since there’s always a chance for a fault.
I doubt a continuation would happen at this point, but I’m really hoping a second season turns up as well. If they go anime-original though, it’s a clear sign they’re not willing to do any more and just stopping there. If on the off-chance they do, I hope quality doesn’t drop or anything.
//If they go anime-original though, it’s a clear sign they’re not willing to do any more and just stopping there.//
That’s precisely what I’m concerned about. LMAO!
Nice catch on contrasting the relay race at the beginning with the rest of the episode. But relay races are won not just on speed but on teamwork–the track team (which you would think would be a lock to win) loses on bad baton passing. So I don’t think the episode is saying contradictory things about speed. Instead, I think the prelude emphasizes the importance of teamwork, in order to bring out the contrast later between Chihaya, Kana, and Tsutomu helping each other figure out how to improve their play versus Taichi/Nishida being sneaky and trying to advance themselves individually while going behind the team’s back.