Okay, I was stupid to think that this show would slowly introduce the main villain. I seriously thought that it would take until near the end of the series for her to really show up, like most villains do. How wrong this turned out to be: this episode was entirely about her, and she immediately gets to play Chihaya. So much for the individual matches being drawn out.
What’s more: the creators are laying a lot of parallels between her and the rest of the cast. She’s a bit weird like Chihaya, she’s calm like Taichi, and she’s incredibly good, like Arata. In fact, the creators hinted a lot that this would be like the first match that Chihaya and Arata had together, only to deviate from it again. It’s a bloody shame that the episode ended before the match was over, because this means that we have to wait a week to show how Chihaya really is going to lose. This can’t be just an ordinary cliff-hanger.
Now, this episode did introduce a bunch of one-like characters, like spectators, other participants and stuff. My one complaint was that they all seemed a bit too lumped together. But then again, this always was a show that focused on its main cast. Plus, there were some nice touches. Despite everyone wearing the same clothes, everyone here has different character designs. And while they may not look as good as the main cast, you can see how much time went into designing every single one of them. The lights guy also was pretty funny and an interesting way to break up the mood for a slight bit.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
If you want to be good, you have to suffer. Chihayafuru really nailed that in this episode without going overboard like most “hard work and guts”-series. This show has really convinced me that these kids are really good because of how they grew up, and not just because the plot demands it *coughSakicough*. I loved Chihaya’s mindset in this episode: it’s of course safer to just gradually introduce them to Karuta. But Karuta is a game about the mind. Being able to play against someone very talented is a much better way to get that mindset that is needed for this game. If you continue to play against amateurs, it’s much harder to.
My only complaint about this episode was that the creators have now completely forgotten that Taichi was supposed to have a girlfriend. In particular, no effort whatsoever has been spent into why he fell for her. At the moment it’s much like he figured what the heck and just picked a random girl to hang out with.
But still, there are two shows that really stand above the others this season: Un-Go and this one. Chihaya doesn’t just drag every character along with her, she also does so with the viewer. The final part of this episode in which Arata showed signs of life again only reaffirmed this. With this kind of reaction, he has the potential to become a really good rival, miles away from the usual rival.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]> 
First of all, I do want to say that there is one point at which this series has disappointed. At first, I thought that this would also be a series about how adolescence can change people, and how much interests can change. Things like Taichi’s girlfriend, everyone aside from Chiyaha quitting Karuta as they grew up and learned new things actually made me think that such an interesting twist would play a big role in this series, but then Chihaya came and forcefully dragged everyone back.
And really: in general I do prefer the series that try something new or interesting to the ones that stay with tried and true formulas like Chihayafuru, but in this case it’s just so damn well executed that it just does not matter here. This show rocks and stands among the best of the season. The new character in this episode was actually the number the guy who went against Arata in the child tournament. It is a coincidence like hell, but it fits this show so well. Chihaya at this point really needed someone at her own level, now that Arata isn’t gonna come back for a while. This guy is exactly that.
This episode also marks the end of the second part of this series. The first part was the introduction with the flashback, the second part was the introduction of the side characters. So far there has been no episode wasted and this show has always been quick t move on to the next relevant thing. And I’m really curious to see what the next major focus of this series will be.
After eight episodes, I can also see why Chihaya is the main character of this series. It’s not that she’s talented in the way of most talented people in anime, where things often are broken down into hard work versus talent: people either excel in one of those. Chihaya’s reason for standing out does have a lot to do with hard work, but it’s slightly different from usual here: on top of working hard, she’s also got the personality that draws people into her pacing. She’s that one person in 10000 whose personality just keeps overwhelming everyone around her, taking exactly who she wants to along with her in the process.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]> 
Character number four: he too has his purpose. There were two big roles for him in this episode. First of all, to develop Taichi. The previous side character was meant to fuel Chihaya’s interest in Karuta even more than it already was. This guy is meant for Taichi, to show that there are other people in his league, other than Arata.
Purpose number two: show variations of Karuta. For me, this is another very interesting way to keep the karuta matches interesting. Chihaya has been completely involved in competitive Karuta, so that she has no eyes for the details around it. Karuta is the type of game which lends itself perfectly for variations, like what happened in this episode with the flipped down cards, which give you a totally different perspective on how you play the game.
Karuta still is a bit of a strange game to me. Especially the way in which players are given the opportunity to memorize the places of each card for 15 minutes. This to me seems to take away part of the fun of actually trying to look for the card that gets called amidst the forest of other cards. Right now, it’s a game with a very high emphasis on memorization and reaction speed, with hardly anything more.
If the creators can keep this focus on such a simple game consistently interesting throughout the entire series like what it’s currently doing, then they can even successfully make a series about rock paper scissors.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]> 
The new side-character is really necessary for this series. Up till now, the Karuta in this series could just as well have been replaced with Rock Paper Scissors; we knew that it was a game that involved some cards, but that’s it. Instead, we got to see a lot of Chihaya’s and Arata’s passion about the game. This time, we get a character who can put meaning behind the game, the cards, and the traditions behind it. For such a seemingly simple game as Karuta, that really is a very welcome addition.
It’s indeed a bit of a strange start for this series: Arata was a professional. He was someone who was playing the game for the sake getting as good as possible at it, and that’s what drew Chihaya in. She never went into the basics and the meaning behind the cards and the game, and instead she immediately learned to not care about what the poems say, but what characters they consist of.
The thing is, that this new girl set a really high standard, and there are still two side characters left, according to the OP. I really wonder what the creators have in mind to show even more different sides of Karuta, because at this point it’s clear that this show is very well planned out. This episode once again pushes the storyline forward, and once again it’s completely different from the ones before. It will be awesome if this show can keep this up for its entire airtime, but I can hardly imagine how the hell it’ll be able to do that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]> 
The great thing about this series is that it doesn’t leave you hanging at all. This episode fulfilled all of the things it promised last week: we got to see why Arata went away from Karuta, and more importantly how he changed and what he had turned into. the characters actually immediately went to visit him. This also shows that this series doesn’t necessarily need to have a karuta match in every episode, and that it can also deliver in these kinds of episodes.
The real key in this episode was the moment in which Arata was chasing the train on his bike. It’s nothing new, but that point revealed a lot about what he turned into. Before that he kept hiding into this emo shell of his, but it all came together when he couldn’t keep up with the train and it turned out that he was very ashamed of his own inability to get over his grandfather’s death.
I like how these first five episodes didn’t dilute themselves with too many side-characters, but instead really focused on the three leads. It lead to some wonderful drama, and this feels like a good point to introduce them. They will really be necessary to keep the Karuta matches interesting, because seeing nothing but Chihaya’s style over and over for 26 episodes will very likely just get boring. The side characters will be key in spicing up the rest of the series, although they also need to know when to give the stage to the main trio, because the fact remains that these kids are really, really well portrayed.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>