Chihayafuru: But at Osaka's gateway the guards are never fooled.

[blkmage]

yesssssssssssssss crush the first years chihaya crush that first year taichi

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

This show is just the best.

[Vii]

Riding in the car on the way home from being out all day + suddenly remembering that new Chihayafuru is waiting for me at home = Good feels.

[blkmage]

New girl is hella annoying and I hope she grows up fast. New guy is super interesting, especially from the game dimension (as opposed to the relationship dimension). It reminds me of trying to play Hong Kong mahjong with my family and mystifying them and/or sucking at it because I play Japanese/riichi style most of the time.

[Vii]

(I managed to win a 90-day CR membership with the power of ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼ so now I can watch Chihayafuru on a non-delayed schedule ^w^)

The only thing I like about Sumire is that she made me realize just how much I ship Chihaya/Taichi.

[blkmage]

Yes, this week brought what I was hoping for in terms of development. I also liked how we got some reflection on how far some of our old friends have come in terms of development as well.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

It was so so nice to finally see some real karuta'ing. I loved watching Chihaya stomp all her opponents. It was also pretty interesting how they mention that having the newbs on the team (something everyone but Chihaya were opposed to really caring about) made them all have to play better so they could be cool senpai. The part at the end when his brothers were like BUT SOME DAY OUR BROTHER WILL STOMP YOU made me very emotional. This is pretty much the best thing ever.

[Vii]

Taichi-centered episode. ヽ(`≧ω≦)ﾉ

The towel bit was great.

[Lynna]

I just caught up. I am so excited!
Am I the only one who actually likes Sumire? I find her shallow-ness hilarious xD
We've had some very funny moments, too. "I can feel the blood flowing through the brain cells I've neglected to use!" lol.
All in all, I think this is a great start. I'm so happy they made a second season ^_^

[Vii]

Never let Tsukuba hand in the roster. Ever.

Also, Sudo-sempai!

[blkmage]

ＴＨＩＳ　ＳＨＯＷ

I can't say enough how clever all of the traps were this episode.

[Vii]

Wow. Tournament and Chihaya and Luck-of-the-Draw and Arata and...wow.

[Falx]

http://youtu.be/nKAmZxVhQww

Here's a real life karuta demonstration match I just found.

[Vii]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRm4UB2z7E8

They're really freaking fast. I wish I could have that speed when playing Egyptian Rat Slap. :<

[Vii]

Interesting blog post comparing the two Chihaya ships to the story of the poem on the Chihayafuru card.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I think this episode raised Arata in my estimation more than I would've expected, though I got tired of seeing Shinobu talk about team matches like five times.

[blkmage]

kinda displeased at the two Fukui guys and Arata for giving in to their request

no way would I jeopardize my reputation for something that, it'd take a lot more to make me even consider it

[Juliannesan]

LOVE THIS SHOW. SO FLIPPING MUCH!
SO many things about this show are great. It just keeps getting better and better. I'm glad they seem to be involving Arata more in this anime, then in the previous one.

[Lynna]

I really wish I wasn't an entire episode behind everyone all the time :/
This is the first time I've seen characters in an anime who weren't Japanese but were raised in Japan to the point where they couldn't actually speak English. I was under the impression that that only happened if their parents were foreigners, in which case they could easily be bilingual. Of course, I guess it was a given that they weren't going to be much good at karuta.
[Edit]
I loved the Arata-centered episode. It's nice to see he's finally getting more screen time. I still don't want him with Chihaya, though. Though now I'm starting to feel ArataxShinobu vibes

[Vii]

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Glad that round's over. Didn't like that team at all. Megu-tan was annoying.
Fujisaki vs. Mizusawa should be interesting.

...Taichiiiiii~

[Lynna]

^ Shouldn't that have been in spoiler tags?

[Vii]

^ Maybe? I'll put them on to be safe. Thanks.

[Lynna]

For ep. 14:
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Was it just me, or was that the longest match ever? I'm so glad they won. That last bit of the match was so intense, though! Even though I had a feeling that Mizusawa would win, I coudn't rip my eyes away from the screen. And awww, we got ourselves another Taichi moment!
I really hope that The Queen watches their next match~

[DarkNozomi]

This show inspired me to find a store that sold Karuta cards... now I have my own deck!

I think this series is really good. It's weird how people assume there's some love triangle between characters though, because nobody has said or done anything along those lines... except Taichi and that new girl might have a connection, but meh, I find Taichi a somewhat unlikeable person in any case.

Chihaya is by far the coolest character in the series!

[Vii]

It's weird how people assume there's some love triangle between characters though, because nobody has said or done anything along those lines...

Welcome to the world of shipping.

Although, SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Taichi did state that he was in love with Chihaya halfway through the first season

[DarkNozomi]

It's weird how people assume there's some love triangle between characters though, because nobody has said or done anything along those lines...

Welcome to the world of shipping.

Although, SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Taichi did state that he was in love with Chihaya halfway through the first season

Perhaps, but it takes two to tango, and Chihaya is in love with Karuta

[FllMtl Novelist]

Perhaps, but it takes two to tango, and Chihaya is in love with Karuta :P

You can't wait until love is reciprocated (or even--gasp--CANON) to ship it! It doesn't work that way! Don't be ridiculous! Geez!


Anyway, finally caught up with all the other freeloaders. It's probably good for my emotional/mental state that the match finally ended (the breaks between episodes nearly killed me) but I'm super sad that we probably won't see any more of SPIRIT OF YOUTH~ club adviser guy.

I mean look at him.

I wish he was my dad or something.

[Vii]

So I was all hyped that it was Chihayafuru Friday today.

[blkmage]

For all intents and purposes, it's a love triangle even though two of three parties haven't declared their intentions. It's not inaccurate to call it that when the dynamics of those three pairs of relationships are the main driving force for much of the plot and especially when the love aspect is the main sources of conflict for one of them.

[DarkNozomi]

Maybe, but I just don't see why THIS specific series needs a love triangle, overtly or otherwise. It's an exciting story about a really fun game and the challenges of competing both as a club and individually. We really don't need to see any two combination of the characters sucking face. Romance anime, when done well, can be amazingly good. But if it's not relevant to the plot in any way, it just feels tacked on. Not everything needs a romantic subplot.

And if you wanted to get technical, it would be a romantic pentagon, as there's both Sumire, and also that girl that seemed to care for Arata.