Well folks, we’re really in the shit now. After a grueling series of episodes dedicated to the fight for the challenger seat, both Harada and Haruka emerged victorious, proving they can still compete on the highest level. For both of these characters, their final matches turned out to be difficult but ultimately joyous celebrations of the time they’ve spent both with and apart from the sport. In a season that’s consistently emphasized how Chihaya and Taichi’s freedom to only prioritize karuta will end after high school, Harada and Haruka have emphatically demonstrated that growing up and accepting responsibilities apart from the sport need not diminish your passion, or your hunger for the top seat. It’s been an exciting, thematically compelling, and consistently poignant arc, and I’m happy for both of them.

Unfortunately, pretty much exactly the moment Harada declared victory, Arata also declared he was in love with Chihaya. Meanwhile, while pursuing Suo, Taichi oh-so-casually announced that he’s already Chihaya’s boyfriend. The time of competition has ended, and it seems the time for bare knuckle love triangle shenanigans has come. Secure your hard hats and protective goggles, folks – this is gonna get messy.

Episode 15

Chihaya’s total shock is emphasized through her mother and sister’s contrasting enthusiasm. A very staple dramatic trick, though the particulars here make it shine: “I’m playing the friend of a high school girl who gets a phone app that makes people fat!”

After all that, Arata was the one who declared his love first. God damnit, Taichi

I feel like “god damnit, Taichi” could be the title for like half of this show’s episodes

A pan in on exam prep is met by a very appropriate episode title: “As helpless autumn leaves are caught against the flow.” Our cast are currently a bunch of autumn leaves, uncertain of where they’ll be blown either professionally or romantically

Taichi has no idea why Chihaya is like this. Huh, that would also be a pretty accurate episode title

I love this very genuine discussion between Kana and Hanano. Love is a field where the two of them can fully communicate, and each have distinct but sympathetic perspectives here. Kana is basically in Taichi’s corner, and thinks he should be told about the confession – but Hanano, in addition to wanting Taichi for herself, isn’t wrong to think this situation should play out organically, and that Taichi doesn’t need this stress right now

Taichi tests the waters by mentioning Arata, and Chihaya jumps at the name. Taichi is too smart and too attuned to Chihaya’s emotions for this to remain a secret for long

Also, Chihaya can’t keep a secret for shit. She looks more anxious than I’ve possibly ever seen her as she struggles to avoid the topic

It’s interesting that she is avoiding the topic so deliberately, too. She might just not want to disrupt Taichi’s focus prior to exams (another reflection of her growing awareness for the feelings of others), but I have to imagine she’s gaining at least a slight awareness of the true dynamic here

“What keeps Mashima going is the pressure of knowing he’ll have to quit karuta if his grades drop.” Tsutomu reflects on his true academic rival, Taichi’s mom

Oh goddamnit, this image of Tsutomu confessing to Kana was actually just a hypothetical by Tsutomu. That was literally the one image I saw of this episode on twitter before watching. You can’t do this to me, twitter!

This is unsurprisingly a lighter episode visually, mostly just ornamented with goofy alternate backgrounds for the little gag asides

Ooh, here’s a beautiful shot – Kana coming down the hallway, bathed in sea green light by the windows contrasting against the corridor. The long shot of a character walking towards the camera creates a sense of anticipation, and the bright falling light amplifies that through its implication of a greater world outside. An excellent shot to begin a discussion of Chihaya’s future

Chihaya reflects her concerns for her own future onto the pigeon outside, perhaps even without realizing she’s doing it

“There are moments when you learn something so life-altering that it turns you into a different person.” Kana’s conflation of high school romance with the destined lovers of literature reaches impressive new heights

This shot of Kana’s mother returning home is pretty, but also demonstrates Chihayafuru’s visual limitations. Its conception of a “dazzling new world” is conveyed almost fully through light saturation, with the addition of shoujo manga embellishments like floating diamond shapes. And the problem is, Chihayafuru uses heavy light saturation as a shorthand for emotional impact all the dang time, so this scene doesn’t carry any unique resonance. A diverse aesthetic toolkit is a key element in keeping audiences interested, and creating moments that feel distinct

“I want… to play a match like that one at the challenger tournament.” All the episodes that aren’t God Damnit Taichi are instead God Damnit Chihaya

This episode has actually been pretty solid in terms of color work. I like this red and orange cut of the whole team walking home, where the foreground tree cover over the top of the frame creates a nice sense of intimacy

“I’m wishing for someone who’s trying so hard to have his heart crushed to bits.” Hanano was infatuated with Taichi before, but now she genuinely cares about him as a person, which makes her situation much more complicated. Things are so much easier when you don’t care about others’ feelings!

Excellent dramatic intro shot for Sudo. Concealing part of his face naturally compliments his closed eyes and personality

Aw shit, forget romance, SUO ACCEPTED CHIHAYA’S CHALLENGE

“I think of advancing to college as the last time to pick a door with a knob.” What a terrifying thought

Ah, okay, this teacher’s perspective is actually a lot more nuanced than I thought. Rather than “college is the last chance you get to decide your life path,” he’s simply starting that college is the last time you get to directly open the door to a specific career yourself, rather than seizing on opportunities as they appear. It still feels kinda fatalistic, but it’s not an unreasonable perspective

Both Suo and Sudo go to Tokyo U, a university that will forever be enshrined in my mind by the quasi-classic Love Hina. Love Hina was a harem/romantic comedy that got pretty big in western fandom back in the early 2000s – for me personally, as a teenager, it was a crucial show in discovering I actually prefer romance and character dramas to the action and thriller narratives that had been culturally pressed upon me. It’s not a genuinely “great” show, but it was an incredibly important one for teenage me

The gusting wind sound effect helps separate Sudo’s “chilly” aura from Arata’s “flowing water” one

Oh my god, Suo’s also applying his “are you class A” cookie distribution method to the serving of dumplings at his club

Suo understandably has trouble finding practice partners who can actually test him

Taichi is also seeking practice, which is nice to hear. He apparently didn’t lose all of his motivation after failing in the challenger tournament

This dramatic sequence of tumbling rice dumplings is killing me

It’s really nice seeing Chihaya apply so much of what she’s learned to this match. Calming herself down, checking in with her body, and interacting not just with the board, but with her opponent’s strategy. She quickly realizes that Suo isn’t even trying to fight over multi-syllable cards – he has so many one-syllable cards that he can win off them alone, and thus doesn’t need to contest every card

Chihaya is so greedy – she wants to beat Suo even on his personal one-syllable cards. And at this point, she has the power to actually attempt it

“When I try not to take the bait, I move too late!” Chihaya can beat Suo on speed, but only if she reacts before she’s certain a card has been chosen, thus leading to a lot of faults. Meanwhile, Suo can maintain his own ridiculous speed while also possessing the control to pull back if his read is incorrect. And he’s probably not even doing “incorrect reads” – it seems like he may actually be moving on cards he knows are dead, just to provoke faults from his opponent

Yep, Chihaya’s realized the same thing. What a strategy!

Great visual effects for Chihaya internalizing the realization of Suo’s full strategy. This cut panning up on Chihaya contrasted against Suo’s eyes actually makes him look intimidating for once – he’s a lot scarier without the shades

Sudo assumes Chihaya will just get sucked into his pace, and a year ago, he’d be correct. But Chihaya has developed a tremendous amount over the last year

Taichi sees something commendable in Koishikawa, the guy who always faults: the fact that Koishikawa accepts all of himself, something Taichi’s been struggling with for a while now. “I want to change, but I also want to still be me”

Of course, even Taichi understands that he’s always going to be an intensely self-critical, self-doubting person. That, too, is a part of himself he must accept

Oh shit, is Taichi going to adopt Suo’s karuta style? It seems absolutely perfect for him, but Suo’s only able to achieve it because he really does have the speed to outplay nearly everyone, thus making his opponents nervous and hasty in their movements

“If nothing else, with my eyes closed, I can’t be misled by his movements.” Chihaya Strong

Chihaya’s most fundamental power is also great against Suo: no matter how badly she loses, she’ll remain invested and passionate the whole time. Suo’s style is partially a mental game, and while Chihaya can lose her focus, she’ll never lose her love of karuta

“You want to be Queen? You can’t.”

And Done

Jeez, what a line to end on. Suo could mean a variety of things by that, ranging from his usual ambitious predictions, to simply wanting to defend Shinobu, who clearly needs the Queen title far more than Chihaya. As Suo says, Chihaya is a young woman with many sources of joy in her life, whereas Shinobu has narrowed her life to the point where karuta is all that exists, and Suo might actually be her closest friend. Either way, it’s clear to see that Chihaya learned a great deal from her match with Suo, assessing strategies and developing countermeasures all throughout this match. The team has leveled up once again!

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