Chihayafuru 2 Episode 3: Given an Opportunity

Once again it is time for the High School Tournament! While initially the first years were to sit out for the tournament and watch, Komano suggest that they revise their strategy and let the first years participate after Tsukuba was caught red-handed scratching out one of their names and putting his name down to play.

Impression:

AHHH THIS EPISODE FELT TOO SHORT! I couldn’t believe how fast it flew by!
This week Arata kicks off the episode! Unfortunately he didn’t get anymore screen time after that./TEARS But hey, we learned that rather than aiming for the Master’s championship match,  Arata is aiming for the High School Championship so that he can compete against Chihaya and Taichi! <3
This is our second round of going into the High School Tournament and man it actually feels a whole lot more intense because we have no idea whether they will actually win this one or not. With new members in almost every school there is no telling who they will run into. However, with two new members in tow and the team’s growth, you can see just how much everyone improved. Chihaya now has a flawless streak winning by 25 cards (Perfect Score) with two games so far. Lets see if she can maintain that streak for a little while. She definitely has been having the advantage since she is a A Class player and she has been paired up against the lower classes, but even so- you see a huge improvement on her part since as you can remember from last season she frequently committed faults and relied on her speed too much.
In the beginning, I became very wary of Tsukuba’s character starting from the point his three younger brothers showing up to watch the match. To them, he is their “Hero” because he was very good at Tsukuba.  I grew anxious knowing that the minute he offered to submit the paper of the participating members himself he was going to scratch someone else’ name off. And he did- but luckily Nishida had caught him red handed and Taichi gave him a flick on the forehead for a punishment. However Tsukuba was extremely fortunate that Komano suggested that they revise who’s playing again and let their new members participate by giving them a chance. This was important to Komano because even though he was able to play by default because they didn’t have enough remembers last year/season, it was Chihaya and Taichi who gave him that chance. With that said; Komano has grown so much, both as a character and player and is really an ideal strategist. Sometimes you wonder how our beloved team would do without him? I know I can’t.
Back to Tsukuba: I felt bad for the guy because his first opponent ended up being the captain (who is the only A Class player on her team) of West High (remember her everyone? I certainly do!). But he certainly has a big potential because he has 16 cards with the verses that start like his name, the key cards: “The” and “Feel”. His facial expressions and loud voice too are also a weapon since it freaks out/startles his opponent making them lose focus. Honestly- as much I hate the challenging the card part of the game… with how often he complains- he probably can do really well as I can imagine he can potentially be extremely persistent like Yumin.
I found it hilarious how at first everyone thought when Chihaya had told Tsukuba that he is lucky she meant it as: An opportunity to experience a match against another A Class player outside of their club. Only they all quickly realized that she was in fact jealous that he was playing against an A Class player. Funny actually because even Tsukuba noticed that his opponent, the captain wasn’t as nearly as strong as Chihaya, Nishida and Taichi.
SUMIRE!!! WOOO YOU GO GIRL! I AM IMPRESSED!!!!
Wow. Just, even though she was not mentally prepared to take part of the matches, she got into the game. She was inspired by Chihaya dominating the field against a male opponent. However as Komano’s predicted, by having most of the girls play against the boys and the boys playing against the girls, they would have certain advantages. Sumire managed to pick a couple of cards in one match because her opponent was head over heels and was pointing out the cards to her (hahaha- instead of feeling flattered, she was horrified). Either way, the fact that Sumire put effort into her matches is a huge step to how she saw Karuta last week. At this rate Sumire will be the one who will be head over heels for Karuta- but more like Kanade and not even remotely close to Chihaya (unless she becomes fascinated by the Queen title and she becomes obsessed with Karuta- but who knows!). Also I am loving now she and Kanade are currently bonding!
Shinobu! We got to see her today at the end of the episode. Surprise surprise! Shinobu knows Arata from her childhood as well. Could this be a new love triangle?! /SLAPPED I can’t wait to see how and when these two have met, and what are their history. I am definitely hoping to see a match between Arata and Snowbu as well- but if they encounter each other during the individuals tournament, that means one of them will have to lose and if Chihaya wins her matches /sobs I want her to play Arata but I REALLY want to see her much anticipating rematch against Shinobu.
Finally I am extremely pleased and amused with how the Empress took advantage of the 20 applications (only 2/20 actually joined) that were submitted and used it to fulfill the agreements of recruiting five new players onto the team so that they can keep their club room.
Oh and one last thing: While Sudo had graduated, Retro-kun reveals that Hokuo has an ultimate weapon/trump card up their sleeve. Whether it’s a bluff or not, we’ll see- but it’s either he and his team have improved just as much (if not more) than Chihaya’s team or they have a new ace player that will shake things up.

PS: CHIHAYA CLAIM THOSE CHILDREN TO THE SHIRANAMI SOCIETY!!! DR. HARADA WILL BE SO PROUD AND THRILLED! 😀 SORRY NISHIDA YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO STEP ASIDE ON THIS ONE SINCE YOU BROUGHT OVER KANADE AND KOMANO TO YOUR SOCIETY!!!!