Last week’s introduction of the Taichi Cup had me excited for this episode. Who wouldn’t want to spectate a free-for-all tournament where Meijin hopefuls like Harada-sensei could clash with Class C challengers? Retro was in attendance, as well, which the show could have used to follow up his recent promotion to club president. The variety of participants might have created some fun matchups, maybe an upset or two – if the show had treated it as anything more than a distraction. When the Taichi Cup’s screen time ended just six minutes after it began, I was disappointed at the wasted potential that it represented. But as the episode ran on and it became clear where we were headed, I understood the reason for its brevity. Chihayafuru has historically placed climactic moments in its penultimate episodes, and used its season finales to cool down in their wake. And boy, did this one feature the mother of all climaxes.
“I’ve always wanted to be someone who wasn’t a coward.” Those were the words that ran through Taichi’s head right before he confessed his longstanding attraction to Chihaya, and I’m not sure what to make of them. Taichi is often given internal dialogue about becoming stronger, discovering his true self, finding a way forward, etc. The desire to overcome fear lines up with those ideas, but I don’t think that’s the mindset you ought to have when admitting your feelings to the person you love. A little pep talk to get your courage up is one thing, but Taichi went as far as admitting that he was the one who stole Arata’s glasses in grade school. The show quickly reminded us of the name that a nearly-blind Arata gave him all those years ago – “coward” – in its attempt to connect the past with the present. In doing so, it implied that Taichi’s dual confessions came from the same place, emotionally speaking. As an audience member, that’s fascinating to think about, but it doesn’t feel like a healthy mentality.
Taichi has always conflated his participation in the karuta world with his crush on Chihaya. I don’t mean to say that he has no enthusiasm for the game, or that his club membership is a ploy to earn her affection. He undoubtedly enjoys competing, even when he attends tournaments on his own to “get the jump” on Chihaya (her words). But when he bases in-game decisions on a romantic rivalry (sending Chihaya’s signature poem to Arata in their recent match), or claims that all 100 cards look pitch black in the wake of a failed confession, he’s mixing two things that ought to be separate. I’ve commented several times this season that Taichi needs to untangle karuta from everything else in his life, so that he can play either for the love of the game or not at all. At this point, the latter is a distinct possibility, since he quit the club just before they were scheduled to give a presentation to the incoming freshman class.
I can’t blame Chihaya for turning him down, but neither can I blame Taichi for leaving a space where he’d have to see her every day. Chihaya ran after him upon receiving the news of his departure, but he made his position clear with that resounding question: “Do you think I’m made of stone?” Taichi delivered the line softly, but it read less like a gentle call for reflection and more like an intended shock to the system. Truthfully, Chihaya considers very little outside of karuta, and the loss of a friend who shares that passion must be devastating to her. But the man she tearfully clung to at the end of this episode had already been devastated by her rejection, and he needed her to understand that. He’s not made of stone, nor of game knowledge and memorization capacity, but of flesh and blood. And when you’re made of such elemental ingredients, two things are bound to happen: you’re going to hurt others, and others are going to hurt you. Let’s hope we get a season four announcement next week so the healing process can begin soon.
It wasn’t 100% clear to me that Chihaya *did* indeed turn Taichi down. That’s certainly how Taichi interpreted it, and it would make sense: she was just starting to see Arata – whom she has always idolized – in a romantic light, starting to contemplate a relationship with him, and then this happens. In those circumstances, whatever the nature of her feelings towards Taichi may be exactly (remember that just last episode she was crying over her frustration about him being down without understanding why, so clearly he is very important to her as well), it makes very good sense to reject him. And the dark imagery lends further support to that interpretation.
But on the other hand, the show seems to make it intentionally ambiguous what she said. Yes, she said “I’m sorry”, and that was all Taichi could make out, but that doesn’t seem to have been *all* that she was saying, so it is very possible that her response was much more ambiguous than a flat-out rejection (e.g., “I don’t know how to respond to this … I’m sorry”). Besides, on a meta-level, people jumping to conclusions due to only hearing part of what a character was saying is a very common trope in romcoms. So until we get confirmation from Chihaya’s point of view that she did indeed intend to reject him, I’m going to remain open to several possibilities.
(I also still expect the love triangle to be dragged all the way to the finish line, so even if she really did intend to turn him down, she may very well start seeing him in a romantic light as well afterwards. But I could be wrong about that, and seeing Taichi move past his feelings would be interesting.)
But anyway, ambiguities aside, I agree this will be good for the story. If he is ever going to rival Arata, Taichi needs to stop pursuing karuta merely for the sake of furthering his crush on Chihaya: he’ll need to enjoy it for its own sake, and being apart from karuta for a while is the perfect opportunity for him to learn that he really does like the sport. On the other hand, Chihaya has been rather self-centered and overly naïve throughout the series, so this is a good chance for her to mature a bit. And both will probably grow not just as karuta players, but as human beings, as a result. Hopefully we won’t have to wait half a decade again to see it happen!
The word Chihaya repeated while the bell rang was “gomen.” In the manga she says it only once, but the show opted to put it on screen three times. There’s even a close-up of her lips at 14:50 to prevent ambiguity. There are no misunderstandings here – my man Taichi got turned down.
The series can withstand Arata’s confession and maintain the status quo, since he lives hundreds of kilometers away, but Taichi’s is different. From here, the show will change irreversibly – whether that change is good or bad is what we’ll discover next season, I guess.
I mean, even if she did only say “I’m sorry” three times (which I agree is quite plausible), it’s not like “I’m sorry” is itself unambiguous. It can mean “I’m sorry, I’m in love with someone else (i.e., Arata)”, or it can mean something like “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to respond to this right now because I have only just started to think about love and you’re basically asking me to choose between the two people who mean the most to me, one of whom I have just started to see in a romantic light; so I’m emotionally conflicted and scared of losing my closest friends, and unable to properly respond as a result”.
Again though, it’s certainly *possible* Chihaya intended it to be a rejection: my point is just that there’s significant room for doubt. And although I fully agree that this will have a huge impact on the show, I don’t think Taichi is out of the game just yet, whatever Chihaya’s intentions may have been: I just can’t see the love triangle being resolved this early, with about two fifth of the story still to go. I could be wrong about that, but it would honestly really surprise me.
In this case it meant “I am sorry, go die in a fire… no wait, don’t go, I need somebody good to practice with.”
Heh. That probably would be her reaction to a confession by Suo – but minus the practice bits. 😉
By the way, you (Wooper) didn’t mention it in your review, but now that Komano/Desktomu has achieved his goal (of placing first in the year) we may see him confess to Kanade soon (though probably not this season). Although you never know: it’s always possible he still doesn’t feel ready.