I thought about delaying this post until next week, as there won’t be a new episode on New Year’s Eve, but my 2019 anime backlog is reaching avalanche-like proportions already, so it can’t be delayed any longer. Neither can the Meijin and Queen qualifiers, which are finally underway after last week’s very good table-setting episode. “So the Flower Petals” wasn’t as memorable as that earlier installment, in my opinion, but it does restore one element that the show has been missing for a while: intensity in its karuta matches. Chihayafuru has been keeping the spotlight off Harada-sensei recently, but he’s finally barreled onto center stage, giving us a clearer look at his tenacious playstyle – and I’m quite happy about it.
So, it comes down to Harada vs Arata. The winner gains the right to contest Suou’s imminent Eternal Meijin status; the loser gets precisely zero. That’s the karuta world for you – nobody who plays this game does it for money or fame. Look how small a room this match takes place in, and how small an audience it attracts. The great thing about this series, though, is that we know so many of those audience members, because the characters are knitted so closely together. Learning about Harada’s past arrogance was a treat here, as it was relayed through his longtime rival Akio Kitano, who has rooted against him since the show’s beginning. And seeing how his psychological tactics haven’t changed – interrupting the reader to comment on the air conditioner, forfeiting the second round to throw Arata off his game – got a smile out of me. Interestingly, Suetsugu has included two major concessions in the last few chapters. They feel a bit lazy to me, though I’m sure Harada scooped game 2 because his body can’t handle a full three game match.
Far from lazy, however, was the detail that went into Harada’s offensive approach to karuta. Position yourself to one side and focus on attacking a particular corner. Don’t rearrange your side of the field, so you can spend less mental effort on position changes and more energy on capturing your opponent’s cards. Disrupt your enemy’s rhythm through whatever means are available to you. Chihayafuru has been providing these sorts of player-specific strategies in a lot of matches this year, but rarely have they been combined with such physicality. Harada lunges, slaps, and yells to claim his cards, rather than gracefully swiping them and perhaps making an inadvertent straining noise. I loved a lot of these choices, but one thing I didn’t appreciate was the change in the soundtrack. Chihayafuru’s blend of modern and traditional sensibilities extends even to its orchestra, and the balance is usually perfect, but the scales were heavily tipped toward the former this time. There were multiple instances of violins teetering back and forth on just three notes to create an ominous, suspenseful vibe – it was too Hollywood for my taste.
Musical accompaniment aside, Harada won the first match, and so did Inokuma, despite Megumu’s massive cheering section. There wasn’t a lot of time dedicated to the Queen qualifier, but as Inokuma is one of my favorite anime characters of the year, I thought she deserved a mention. Shaking off her admiration of Megumu’s hachimaki kind of links back to her resolve in the previous episode, where she vowed to continue competing despite her age. That generation gap is something that she and Harada share in relation to their opponents, so I’m sure they’re both ecstatic to have won their first game – a prolonged contest will favor their younger, more physically resilient foes. I’m pulling for both of them, though the show isn’t content to deliver victory on a silver platter to anyone. Case in point: “Flower Petals” ends with Chihaya breaking her resolution to support Harada-sensei by whispering something to Arata. What could she have shared with him, I wonder? Unfortunately, with no new episode until January 7th, we’ll have to wait longer than usual to find out.
