Holy crap! When Nishida lashed out to Tsutomu last episode, I did not expect that it was about to build up to something as amazing as here right now. I mean, the outcome of this episode was predictable, but the way in which it happened totally wasn’t!
Most of the episode was about Chihaya and her growth. Chihaya lost to Megumu, but it’s clear that she has become better, while at the same time that she has a long way to go (the way how her nails were clenched into the palm of her hands the whole time). And then when she lost, Tsutomu really came out of nowhere to really steal the show. This show already had the luck of the draw decide against the team’s favor, so with this it is a really good way to balance out. Because of this you really don’t know what to expect when things come down to it. Either way it was Tsutomu’s crowning moment of awesome there.
Then there is Kanade. What really surprised me here was that there were two matches of which we hardly got to see anything: Kanade’s and Taichi’s. What really intrigues me was why Kanade finished before Taichi, which really made me think that we haven’t really seen much about how she actually improved. All we know is that she suddenly has gotten really good, with multiple wins in a row despite being dead tired. Still, was Taichi just against a better player? It seemed like the best two seemed to be against Chihaya and Nishida. I mean, Taichi is pretty much an A-Class player at this point, as soon as he manages to win that damned tournament, so what exactly worked against him there?
This episode was also full of hints about special cards: the cards that contain the names of everyone. Chhaya lost hers to Megumu, Megumu lost hers to Chihaya. And I noticed the creators also dropping the names for the cards for Arata and Shinobu. Yay for building up!
One thing never improved though: the photographing guys never really stopped being annoying.
Rating: 6,5/8 (Amazing)
you took a while to get to this one so I thought that you’d do a double-post next week. Episodes like this make it difficult for me to consider this as just another 8/10 series, if it can keep the upswing going then, oh boy.
so even when you like the episode the highest you’ll go is basically a 8 on 10 you should change the ratings from this to /5 or /10 to keep it rational
“All we know is that she suddenly has gotten really good, with multiple wins in a row despite being dead tired.”
She actually lost her last few games, but in very close matches which is probably worse, all that effort for nothing. You have to remember that firstly between her and Tsutomu she was the first to go up a class. Also this is a teem even so it’s not like she is going to be facing class A players.
The next team has at least five A class members though so it’s pretty likely they’ll have all of them playing for the final match, Misuzawa is in trouble.
Misuzama has 2 A class members and Taichi who is class B should really be in class A. If those 3 perform well they do have a chance.
Well, when it comes to B class members, there’s a lot of strong B class players stuck at the upper echelon trying to eke out a tournament victory. So even though Taichi is practically A class at the moment, that doesn’t mean he can beat every other B class player hands down because there are many players like him that get very close but can’t quite win a tournament. So yeah, Kanade obviously drew a weaker opponent. Although she has also become stronger than expected.
What also impressed is her admitting that she no longer has enough fuel left in the tank for the finals. As a player, having to admit you’re better off being replaced is really painful so props to her for giving up her spot.
If I remember rightly both Kanade and Tsutomu are class C players at the moment (it starts at D I think). For the lower classes you only have to get into the finals to go up a class. B requires a tournament win, or at least it does in the club Taichi plays in.
Confused about your Taichi paragraph, he won off his opponent’s fault and with a decent lead I believe. Though he usually plays a lot of close matches from overestimating his opponents and underestimating himself.
I loved all the little points about each team member in this match, especially that Chihaya should almost able to challenge the Queen now, that Kana made it so far in the tournament out of traditional clothing and Desk-kun’s brave gamble at the end of the match that he pulled off so nonchalantly.
I don’t think Mizusawa is going to beat Fujisaki next week, but I really want Tsukuba to step up and win his match!