Alright folks, let’s get right back to season three of Chihayafuru! It’s currently Wednesday, and I just logged on to Crunchyroll hoping the new episode had been released, only to see that two new episodes have somehow already been released. That doesn’t make any sense to me chronology-wise, but I’m not going to look a gift Chihaya in the mouth, and am eager to get back to the karuta drama. Last episode served as a fast-paced but generally effective return to the series, using an early series of flashbacks to remind us of both the rules of karuta and the relationships between Chihayafuru’s leads, before diving right into Chihaya and Taichi’s training with the Fujisaki team. Their training under Sakurazawa went on to lay out a variety of threads for us to follow, from Chihaya’s quest for a more strategy-minded understanding of karuta, to Taichi’s Chihaya-bound relationship with karuta itself.
Though Taichi’s relationship with karuta has always been closely tied to his feelings for Chihaya, the consistent reiteration of that across season three’s premiere seems to imply that we’ll at last be directly addressing that fact, and moving him towards either a more honest relationship with Chihaya or a healthier one with karuta. At the same time, Chihaya’s new understanding of Taichi’s situation feels like a neat echo of her newfound interest in strategy. In both her personal and competitive life, Chihaya has always been propelled forward by her single-minded love of karuta, an instinct that at times has made her feel more like a narrative force than a fully realized person. Chihaya’s desire for a more thoughtful approach to karuta seems mirrored by her new awareness of Taichi’s feelings, as if in both karuta and her personal life, she’s finally taking a moment to step out of her enthusiasm and assess the world around her. I’m excited to see Chihaya taking steps towards greater self-awareness, and am expecting some gloriously thorny drama ahead for her and Taichi. Let’s see what’s in store in the next Chihayafuru!
