Well everyone, I believe it’s high time for some Chihayafuru. When last we left off, we’d transitioned from the rapid-fire matches of the challenger tournament to a brief training period, with all of our leads stewing in the emotional blowback of that tournament’s conclusion. With Arata having finally confessed to Chihaya, the tone of fraught but unstated romantic longing that has defined Chihayafuru for so long has at been disrupted, and even Taichi is able to tell something is different. Chihaya’s understanding of romance is basically non-existent, but Arata’s confession has already turned into a source of strength on the one field she truly cares about – when falling back into her old self-doubting patterns, it was his face that returned her to focusing on her current Suo match.

Taichi’s window to choose his own future seems to be rapidly closing, but at the moment, we’ve got a more pressing concern: Suo declaring that Chihaya isn’t allowed to be Queen. He might simply be stating the obvious fact that Chihaya doesn’t “need” to be Queen as badly as the emotionally isolated Shinobu, but given he last predicted Arata would fail, I’m not going to take his sorceries lightly. Let’s ramble on through another episode of Chihayafuru!

Episode 16

Taichi asks Suo to play a round against him as well. In spite of his fatalistic attitude earlier, Taichi seems to have largely recovered at this point, and is once again personally invested in improving at karuta

And of course, he knows that Suo is stubborn but easily bribed

Chihaya took Suo’s words pretty hard! I suppose someone who has such reverence for these titles would naturally be put off-balance by a firm denial from the Master like that

Ah, here we go. Taichi actually defending Chihaya, and calling Suo out on his cruel tricks. Suo has no real defense, only “when I see someone as straight as an arrow, I want to bend them.” Even compared to most of this show’s high school characters, he is emotionally a child – petty, sulky, jealous, narrow-minded, and largely unconcerned with the feelings of others. Both Suo and Shinobu come across like “monsters of karuta” – people whose profound strength is largely a reflection of them rejecting emotional maturation and a full, fulfilling life in favor of pouring every ounce of their energy into karuta. In contrast, characters like Harada, Haruka, and our young protagonists are attempting to prove you can have it all – that karuta glory and a fulfilling life need not be incompatible, and might even enrich each other

“Don’t verbally bend someone who didn’t bend to you in the match!” Yep. Suo’s play never rattled Chihaya, and so he decided to just psychologically attack her instead. He’s a child

It’s strange being able to kinda tell this society has a weaker speaker than the ones used for the tournament. Her tone is a little flat and halting – Rion would not approve

Taichi also loses by fourteen cards, but doesn’t commit a single fault. Suo failed to intimidate him as well

Suo tells them not to come again, because he is a big whiny baby

Ooh, lovely shots of the two of them heading home, illuminated by the city lights and these soft color filters. The filters create a greater sense of full space within the frame, implying there are lights coming from behind the camera as well, and also evoke a sort of sentimental mental space that implies Chihaya might be seeing Taichi differently now, in the wake of Arata’s confession

Taichi wants to do a match review like in shogi, Suo says No, I hate you

Ahaha holy shit. Taichi confessing he’s not actually dating Chihaya makes Suo immediately reverse course and see Taichi as a kindred spirit. Suo is no match for Taichi’s manipulations

Chihaya is finding it hard to reconcile her respect for Suo’s skill with her frustration at his blunt denial. Meanwhile, the dude next to her on the train is just jamming out to the season three OP

Aw shit, she found a weakness in Suo’s play for Harada!

Harada wants to keep the info to himself for now. Even his greed is very charming

Shinobu’s dealing with the same end-of-high-school career struggles as the rest of the cast

The fact that this year’s karuta finals are not being broadcast on TV is such a mean dramatic choice. It’s a good one, certainly – it emphasizes in the most dramatic possible way that karuta is a dying sport, and that there simply aren’t enough young people interested to even effectively advertise it anymore. But I really didn’t expect this season to go so hard in its reflections on aging and the end of an era, from the feelings of its older cast members to its pessimistic view of karuta’s future

It’s nice to get a glimpse of Shinobu’s own anxieties. She generally puts up an extremely strong front and refuses to discuss her feelings, but she herself doesn’t feel up to par at the moment, ever since she lost to Arata

“If I lose the Queen match, I’ll have nothing left.” This is Suo’s very fair argument. Shinobu has always been isolated, and instead of breaking free from that isolation, she eventually turned it into a source of strength, and even pride. Now, having defined herself entirely in terms of her Queen status and “relationship” with the cards themselves, she has nothing to fall back on when her reign eventually ends. Her title and her sense of self are the same thing, putting her in an incredibly precarious position

Taichi’s “endure” shirt is extremely him

Suo tells Taichi that there are “four outcomes” in karuta – you take a card, your opponent takes a card, you make a mistake, or your opponent makes a mistake. And of course, most players aim for “you take a card,” because that’s theoretically the one positive outcome you can actively pursue

But Suo isn’t like that – he’s aiming specifically to make his opponent fault. And to him, someone like Taichi is a genuine threat, because Taichi’s actually quite similar

“Making your opponent mess up… there’s a style that focuses on exactly that, and there’s a part of me that finds it appealing.” As Harada stated, Taichi is fundamentally a defensive player, even though he’s been taught offensive karuta. And the ultimate form of defensive karuta might be Suo’s style – playing with such skill, confidence, and precision that you force the opponent to win your game for you

I’m frankly so damn excited for Taichi to pursue this path. His matches are always a dizzying mental battle, and seeing him apply all that calculation to manipulate his opponent, rather than just read the board, is going to be a delight

The team get together for Christmas Eve at Tsukuba’s place. Hanano has a really cute Christmas outfit

The gang terrifies Tsukuba’s younger brothers with a Santa home invasion

Oh my god, this is the most heartwarming sequence. It’s wonderful to see Tsukuba get a sympathetic character moment like this, and moments like this also embody precisely what Shinobu and Suo are lacking. For these young boys, karuta is a joyous activity made far more rewarding because it is shared with people they love. If karuta has a future, it is through embracing that

Chihaya’s just sad she didn’t get to say the lines she worked so hard to memorize, lol

For Tsutomu, rather than isolating him, karuta has actually provided him with friends and a family

The gang plan to actually attend the Master and Queen matches this time, which was basically a foregone conclusion. Not only are the matches no longer playing on television, but Chihaya and her teammates are also Harada’s peanut gallery

And then the harsh contrast of Shinobu alone, practicing on Christmas by herself

As she’s said before, the cards are her only family

Oh shit, actual support from her grandmother! In a clear gesture of solidarity, she actually draws a line in sharpie on the tatami mat, to help Shinobu visualize the shortest route. Having been repeatedly told to stop playing karuta in the reception room in the past, this act directly implies that her grandmother supports her choices, and values her passion over the rules of decorum within their traditional home

Everyone kept making fun of Shinobu’s teddy bear hair ears, so now she’s wearing them to the Queen match

WHEW. Bless Tsutomu for this far more optimistic analysis of karuta’s changing fortunes. He believes that the match is not being played on television not because karuta is in decline, but because viewers have shifted from watching television to streaming events online

Arata’s sick, which seems like a smart narrative choice. His presence here would steal focus from the actual matches – the next time he meets Chihaya is going to be a pretty key dramatic event, and should be given its own space

Even just this phone conversation is emotionally charged as heck

I love Dr. Harada’s kaiju music. It’s just Chihayafuru’s usual “ominous turn” song, but it’s also become the default song for Harada stomping his huge ass up to some new match

And Done

Well, shit! That was an unbearably cruel episode, taking us right up to the commencement of the Master and Queen matches, while giving us basically no answers in terms of the show’s ongoing emotional conflicts. Chihaya and Arata’s relationship remains a massive open question, Suo’s words are still hanging in Chihaya’s head, and Taichi’s path forward is only marginally clearer than before. It was frustrating to watch Taichi perpetually hanging towards the back throughout this episode, watching a clearly preoccupied Chihaya, but unaware of the precise conflict she’s grappling with. But these three kids sorting out their romantic feelings will have to wait for future episodes – for now, it’s time for Harada and Haruka to fight for the throne!

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