Today we’re diving back into Chihayafuru! I was expecting last week’s episode to get us into the meat of the team tournament, but instead it used the first round more to celebrate the individual strengths of all our leads in a very low-stakes competitive situation. The charming team of ostensible foreigners were a fun group, and I appreciated how Tsutomu has naturally settled into a support role for the team, but I’m frankly ready for some blood. This annual team tournament is perhaps the only time Chihayafuru can fully make use of its ensemble, team-focused setup – every member of the team is simultaneously crucial here, leading to matches that can sometimes struggle to highlight everyone, but are always rich with drama worth mining. The regional matches leading up to that showdown with Retro were some of the most exciting the show has pulled off yet, and considering how well the show has built up Chihaya’s teammates over these thirty-some episodes, pretty much every team match episode feels like a direct payoff for all the training they’ve suffered. With the opening match cleared and Tsukuba having already gotten his chance to shine, I’m ready for the original five to turn some heads. Let’s get right to the action!

Episode 9

Opening with a reprise of last episode’s cliffhanger, as Arata is ambushed by Shinobu. That sounds great to me; I’ve certainly been wondering what the relationship is between those two

Arata slightly blushing at acknowledging his own lie to Chihaya is cute. I’m very ready to see Arata demonstrate things like embarrassment and pettiness and humor and all the other incidental displays that will help make him a genuine person in this narrative, and not just a tragic, distant goal

They really, really build up this confrontation, painting Shinobu as some kind of horror film monster. Manic repetitive strings, the slow movement of her encroaching hand, and then the shift from music to blaring cicadas, a classic horror movie trick underlying the unsettling anonymity of violence

But of course, all that tonal framing is in service of a joke here – they build up your expectations with the sound design and slow pace of the setup, and then undercut those expectations with Arata’s blank “who are you?”

It looks like Shinobu knows Arata from childhood, but he doesn’t actually remember her. What a cruel blow

Shinobu is so good. It is very hard to keep her looking menacing for long

Ah, looks like he does remember her. So apparently her very last defeat was four years ago, at his hands. That’s a convenient way to tie Shinobu into the rest of this character drama

That thought probably deserves slightly more explication. It seems like the show is now shifting Shinobu from simply being a rival in the show’s competitive mode to also being a rival in its shoujo love drama mode. Becoming infatuated with the only person who beat you is an easy and parsable trick, and helps solidify her place in the narrative in both a physical and emotional sense

This also means we’re probably going to be getting more of both of these characters, if their present-day romantic prospects are being built up into genuine narrative pillars. I’m excited to see more of Shinobu in a non-karuta context in particular – she’s one of this show’s most strange and charming characters, and I’d love to see how she handles muddling around with Chihaya and the gang on a day off

Shinobu seems far more comfortable talking to Arata than she has been while talking to basically any other character in this show

Shinobu claims team tournaments are for “people who don’t love karuta,” a statement that only highlights her own isolation

Apparently Fujisaki, the big bad team rivals, have five straight Class A players, and used them all in the first round. Not taking any chances!

Their leader is the arrogant Makoto, whose signature trick is… balancing matches on his powerful eyelashes? We are diving into some weird territory in search of rivals here

“The best karuta players are all total weirdos.” Ain’t it great

Retro comes over to talk trash, causing Chihaya to just barely miss Arata’s appearance. C’mon guys, there’s no dramatic impact in drawing this out anymore – you’ve already stalled this reunion forever, and at this point, continued delay only makes me feel like the story isn’t respecting my time

Granted, a lot of beloved stories rely heavily on circuitous, protracted storytelling methods that technically “waste the audience’s time.” I mean, Cross Game goes through the same romantic rival conflict like three times, but it’s still my favorite comic book. I suppose the more salient issue here is that I never found “when will Chihaya reunite with Arata” interesting, and thus am unsurprisingly continuing to find it uninteresting now

“Whether he’s here or not, our second match is coming up.” Taichi neatly combines his romantic bitterness with a line leading us back to this episode’s actual conflict

Wait, nevermind, Taichi’s just as obsessed. “What if Arata comes to watch us?” Well, I suspect in that case he’ll probably watch you, Taichi

Hah, Arata actually hid from them. More welcome goofy characterization that actually makes Arata feel approachable as a person

And now it looks like… we’re actually following him for the day? This is essentially the first time Arata’s been allowed to participate in Chihayafuru’s principle mode – the lighthearted, relationship-focused tone of the show’s non-match, non-flashback material. Arata’s earlier material was all gloomy, momentous flashbacks, so it’s again nice to see him humanized through lighter material

Perfect. Arata is now being swept up in a ridiculous caper, standing in on a team he’s not even a part of. This is exactly the sort of stuff I wanted for Arata – light, natural conflicts that allow his personality to shine over his circumstances

This also seems like a genuinely useful conflict in an emotional sense for Arata. It forces him to consider the struggles of working on a team, and outside of his own self-oriented headspace

Also, in tactical terms, forcing Arata to take off his glasses in order to disguise himself means this actually might be a fight worth watching. Clever choices abound in this narrative turn

Great, now Taichi’s got Arata on the brain

Yep, Arata’s now coming to understand the unique appeal and dignity of team karuta. On top of that, his lack of glasses is naturally connecting us back to the time when he, Chihaya, and Taichi first became friends. We’re essentially bringing Arata up to speed regarding the things the others care about, and doing so in a natural, non-expository way

Poor Shinobu, relegated to being the ignorant counterpoint to what Arata’s currently learning about teamwork and friendship. Another smart use of character, given Shinobu’s isolation is such a core part of her design

“I can’t help them out because this isn’t my team.” Man, this is such a brutal way to illustrate this point – by demonstrating how tragic it is to see a team that really cares about their progress, but can’t be helped by you

They’re kind of overplaying the contrast between “teams are for squares” and his flashbacks, but this isn’t really a show known for subtlety and understatement, so that’s fine

Oh god, he put his glasses on. THE TRAINING WEIGHTS HAVE BEEN REMOVED

Damnit, Arata’s gonna get himself kicked out of the individual tournament, though

A wonderfully mild “victory.” Arata can’t win this for this team, and it’d be screwed up if he did, but he still inspires the third player to rally back and claim a victory of their own

Welp, he gets found out, and yeah, they’re floating exactly that threat. Not the best source of conflict – there’s no struggle to overcome there, it’s just “will they arbitrarily decide to bar him or not”

And Done

Whew! Well, that was once again not the episode I was expecting, and I am once again happy to be surprised. This episode did so, so much work in shifting Arata from a vaguely defined tragic icon to a living, breathing high school student. It was essentially the episode I’ve been clamoring for since early in the first season – an episode willing to revel in all the little personal details that make sterile character concepts into people worth caring about. I’m guessing its placement here, along with the emergent Arata-Shinobu drama, means we’ve finally reached the point where Arata is once again a major part of the narrative. Given the humanity he displayed here, I’m eager to see it happen.

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