Our journey through Chihayafuru continues! The last episode was more of a role-filler than a standout, but it did a fine job of both articulating and celebrating just how much Tsutomu’s research helps the team, an unglamorous role that doesn’t really lend itself to pulse-pounding narrative drama. And having emphasized the close bonds of Chihaya’s original five teammates, those teammates are now all on the field at last, fighting in the semifinals of the friggin’ national tournament. This is the closest this team has ever gotten to the top, and possibly the closest they’ll ever get, so I’m guessing every match from here out will be its own reward – a very close competition designed to thrill purely based on its tactical interplay, not just fit some role in a larger narrative. And with Chihaya now facing down the woman Yumin beat to challenge the Queen, we’re guaranteed at least one desperate and extremely high-level karuta battle. The preamble has been ambled and the preliminary matches liminaried – let’s buckle in for a high-intensity episode of CHIHAYAFURU!

Episode 12

We’re opening with a seriously extended recap of the last episode’s final minutes, discussing their lineup, worries about their opponents’ lineup, and the results. The show normally only has a line or two of recap, which to me indicates the relative importance of this particular match – they’re making absolute sure the audience has some context for why this particular opponent is both important and dangerous

Our general frustration towards recaps is perfectly understandable, but even they are reflective of the divergent needs of different productions, and even individual episodes within those productions. One Piece’s interminable recaps certainly reflect its fear of consuming source material and generally conservative nature, but they also reflect the fact that Saturday morning cartoons need to explain themselves to people who just happened to flip to that channel, whereas late-night anime can assume a far more dedicated audience. A major contribution to the greatness of western television’s current golden age is the fact that networks like HBO don’t have to build their shows assuming that people might just stop by for one random episode – there’s far more of an assumption of audience trust there, meaning narratives can be ambitious and non-episodic and tricky to follow

Oh right, Megumu’s the soft-spoken, sharp-tongued one that Hanano researched before

Chihayafuru, I do not think we need dedicated backstory for Megumu’s male admirers

Ahaha, Hanano actually calls out this bullshit flashback. Hanano is very good

“Megumu abused us at the school festival and then deleted all our pictures. Ever since, we’ve been taking pictures for Megumu-tan to delete.” Wonderful. Terrific. Glad to hear it

Once again, it looks like one of Chihaya’s opponents’ fame will rub off on her. Megumu was the Western representative last year, so all eyes are on her. If Chihaya puts up a genuine fight, she’ll start making waves of her own

It’s kind of interesting how small the gap is between being nobody and being a big name in karuta. I was thinking while writing that previous line on how Chihaya’s match against Shinobu failed to make her own name, but Shinobu herself is only separated from Chihaya by a couple of match results. If Chihaya gets a better-than-expected result at the singles tournament, she’ll instantly become one of the most prominent female players in Japan

“Everyone helped to give me this chance.” A nice reflection of Chihaya’s growth. She started out as single-minded in pursuit of her goals to the point of natural selfishness, but now she acknowledges that this chance to fight a great opponent was the direct result of all the support of her friends

They are really, really playing up this match. We’ve essentially had eight minutes of building up Megumu’s persona and Chihaya’s growth, and now we’re doing the slow-roll of listening to the speaker’s full introduction. It’s a natural way to build tension, but it burns time, and is a trick you can’t use very often without destroying its power

Ah jeez, Megumu’s actually stronger now than she was when she was fighting for the Queen match. Though I guess Megumu did lose that match, and then her own opponent went on to lose to an extremely out of shape Shinobu, so there’s still more improving to do

Hah. The crowd is saying Hokuo versus Fujisaki is the match to watch, and even the “real final,” because Chihaya’s team are such nobodies. It’s a funny way to frame this match, but it feels difficult to justify, given Chihaya’s group beat Hokuo last year and came inches from beating them this year

Now they’re building up the Fujisaki coaching staff, which spells bad news for Hokuo. If Fujisaki need to be established as real threats in a hurry, I can’t imagine Hokuo will be beating them here

Megumu seems to rely on a pretty tactically oriented style of karuta, at least based on this commentary. She seems to be intentionally mirroring Chihaya’s style, and sending cards that will specifically screw her up

Time for some levity from the crowd, as the Empress wonders if the headbands are the key to their enemies’ power

With the whole main team playing and no one like Harada around to tie down the commentary booth, it’s falling to Tsukuba to offer discussion for this match. And he rightly starts off by pointing out how exhausted his team must be, particularly Kana, who’s fought all day and lost a series of extremely close matches. As Tsukuba admits, it’s far easier to be blown out than to lose a close match – if you’re utterly outmatched, you can use that predetermined match to rest a bit, but if you lose by inches, you burn out all your energy and gain no sense of accomplishment in the process

This is an interesting match from Chihaya’s perspective, because it doesn’t seem physical at all – it’s all about her trying to figure out Megumu’s psychological weakness. That’s not a natural fit for Chihaya, and it’s making her seem more vulnerable here than she often does

Yeah, this sort of seems like a skill check for Chihaya. Megumu has the physical capabilities to become a Queen, and seems to possess a similar skill set to Chihaya, but has total, professional confidence in her capabilities. Chihaya has demonstrated growth, but at this point, she needs to have internalized her level-ups to the point where they’re not even conscious thoughts if she wants to continue

Incidentally, in videogames, a ‘skill check’ is some sort of challenge that’s essentially designed to confirm you’ve actually learned the skills the game has been trying to teach you. “We’ve demoed how to do double jumps and mid-air attacks across a series of small challenges, now here’s a boss that confirms you’re comfortable doing these things repeatably.” Videogames and sports narratives both draw from the same curve of training to demonstrated mastery that defines actual education programs, a fact that always makes me feel certain school should be much more enjoyable than it currently is

A brief flashback focusing on how Megumu inspired her teammates. This is actually turning out to be more of a Megumu-establishing arc than a Chihaya match arc, but I assume that means this match is going to be getting multiple episodes

Oh my god, Megumu’s coach is such a huge softy. He’s tearing up thinking about how hard the team’s worked while all the other coaches are just sort of quietly shuffling away from him

“Our goal is to get more experience, not win!” Such a great flipping of Taichi and Tsutomu’s reasoning from last episode. They figured Megumu was in the middle because this team wasn’t taking them seriously – in fact, she’s in the middle because she wants the hardest fights. Another quality that Chihaya and Megumu share

For once, the episode title is actually relevant! Kana actually riffs on the card containing “the only sign of summer,” helping Chihaya focus

Kana’s words tie into another thread that Chihayafuru has been letting simmer for a while – the idea that on top of her competitive drive and natural abilities, Chihaya needs to develop a genuine emotional bond with the cards, and care about them the way people like Shinobu or Kana do. Kana could theoretically be Chihaya’s teacher here, just like how Tsutomu offers data support

And Done

Damnit, they tricked me! I really thought we’d be jumping straight into the match here, what with the team already having sat down and the repeated emphasis on the player layout, but this episode instead slowed things down to the point where it only covered the first half a dozen or so cards. Rather than focusing on an active match, we instead received a massive amount of context for Megumu and her team, along with some sturdy reflections on Chihaya’s growth. It wasn’t the thriller I was expecting, but it certainly hyped the heck out of the match to come, and laid all the groundwork necessary for a match with emotional and professional repercussions on both sides. I’m ready for the fight!

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