“Become a player who has nothing but her right middle finger and her ears!”
Impression:
AHHHHHHH I HAD A FEELING THIS WAS GOING TO BE THE EPISODE WHERE CHIHAYA GETS INJURED!!!! (Read this chapter a while back by accident on a whim) I don’t know what kind of injury it is- oh wait a second… I just remembered I experienced the EXACT SAME THING while playing soccer as a goaltender, it was the way I grabbed the ball and I ended up spraining my all of my fingers on both hands due to putting my entire body weight on top of the ball that my fingers were under- or something, the memory is very vague this happened like back in 2008. Chihaya did that wrap around to slip under Rion’s hand, but like Makoto pointed out, Rion had panicked and she probably accidentally slammed her hand too hard against her fingers.
Anyhow regardless of her injury, this has actually come around to benefit both Chihaya and her teammates as everyone have been ruthlessly being destroyed by their opponents who both have great stamina, upper-body strength and have a brilliant coach who have trained them well. They are all frustrated with themselves that Chihaya is playing so passionately and is so dedicated to game and they aren’t able to do anything. All four boys had this moment when they all stood up and had this mutual agreement to slap their face to snap out of what they would describe as a “pathetic” state and get their game on. They are all fired up so hopefully they will be able to make a big comeback. I will put my trust into Chihaya, Taichi and Nishida to be able to do that since you need three out of five to win the match. It is very unlikely that Tsukuba will win, but regardless if he plays seriously this will be a good experience for him. As for Komano there’s 50/50 chance really. It all ultimately comes down to whether Makoto will lose his momentum or his focus end up elsewhere. Honestly it is amusing to see him playing so furiously- yet at the same time that expression of denial on his face is both ridiculous and hilarious at the same time.
Rion is an interesting… or rather a unique player. She is very picky about the pitch of the speakers and it heavily influences the outcome of her matches. She loves her grandmother’s voice and she is extremely fortunate that her coach decided to give her this opportunity to win. However she isn’t heartless and does feel guilty for having accidentally injuring Chihaya.
Back to Chihaya. I really want to give her a lot of credit, not just for her endurance, but also her ability to make her own choices and put together her own strategy. Dr. Harada’s strategy of taking advantage of the situations doesn’t fit her style, so she doesn’t force herself to take it up knowing that she wouldn’t be comfortable with it. She also knows that she needs to build her momentum, something that was constantly interrupted in her last match which resulted her loss. Also thanks to her special bond with Kanade, she heard her voice telling her, listen to the poetry being read, (seriously at this point Chihaya x Kanade ship can be taken just as seriously as the other ships with Arata and Taichi as her partner) and know what their theme or one word that can describe it. Chihaya made that connection with the card that meant “The desire to be together…” aka “May the time spent…” when she had thought of Arata.
I don’t remember if I have mentioned it at all this season, but last season I really elaborated on how powerful a spiritual bond with the cards can be (something that Shinobu has), and this can be a huge advantage because by instinct they would pick it up regardless of the fact there are such as, three other cards that start with, “May” and two others with, “May the”.
Definitely in a way, it was a hard episode to watch because you’re feeling for the characters, especially Chihaya who is in so much pain right now. I am looking forward to next week to see how our team will pull through. I am glad that Shinobu finally remembered Chihaya (I was honestly surprised that she had almost forgot about her) and that she is finally into watching the game. Oh and of course, it was absolutely hilarious to see Chihaya all so serious when she was trying to remember Rion’s first name and gave up in two seconds.
