Emotions are raw when Cihhaya manages to confront Arata in the only way she knows how – with karuta.
What They Say:
After Chihaya hears Arata say that he quit playing karuta, she and Taichi make a trip to Arata’s home in Fukui. Once they find Arata, Chihaya is thrilled and suggest that they play karuta together again, but Arata turns her down. He’s no longer the same boy he used to be. So Chihaya tries to learn the truth—
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After spending most of the first four episodes in the past, showing the early bonds between the three main player, the series has now shifted to the presented as Taichi has learned just how far Chihaya has progressed. With her becoming one of new ranked players in Tokyo having passed the exam, it made an impression on him to be sure. But Chihaya’s excitement does take a bit of a back seat for her as she learns from Arata that he has stopped playing karuta when she calls to tell him about it. With the way she did so much of this for herself but also for him in order to be able to have something like this to share with what she viewed as such a gifted player, finding out that he’s gone in this direction kills the joy she had been feeling up until that point about her progress and attaining a big goal in her young life.
That revelation gets her on the train ASAP to head to Fukui where Arata went years ago. Taichi ends up going along with her of course while trying to figure out exactly what it is that she’s feeling and trying to accomplish. Their’s is an awkward relationship and it’s amusing to see them fighting even right in front of Arata’s door as others watch on from a short distance away, wondering exactly what these Tokyoites are all about. Watching their relationship really is a treat here, since there’s been some layer of tension since they got back into each others lives since she noticed his girlfriend and he’s unsure of where she really stands. When they’re walking under the cherry trees going to where Arata is, the way his hand is so close to holding hers is almost painful to watch, because you want him to but you know it is completely not the right time or opportunity for it.
Watching as Chihaya tries to reconnect with Arata is painful as well, since she’s so in love with the game and its meaning for her when it comes to Arata. That he’s completely out of playing it, filled with anger and animosity over the game, that she can’t understand it. Arata wasn’t exactly the most outgoing kid as we saw before, but even here he’s gone much further down this path. Taichi even says that he’s not the person they knew and can sense the way he’s withdrawn and uninterested in anything, even after all this time apart. Chihaya didn’t exactly handle it right to be sure, but Arata’s lashing out shows exactly where he is at this point and makes it clear that he has significant problems that he’s unable to cope with. There’s a mass of emotions underway here and seeing them being dealt with from different quarters, openly and honestly in a way, is definitely one of the most engaging aspects of this series so far, making this the best episode yet.
In Summary:
The few episodes of the series was certainly interesting, but it was the kind of series that was really on the edge for me as to whether I’d continue. I liked what I saw, but wanted only so much of what it was doing with the characters when they were younger. The shift to the present has upped the ante and made it much more accessible as this episode is entirely about the characters themselves and not the game. And the characters have a lot of potential to it as they’re each dealing with different things, though the focus is on Arata having given up karuta for what seems like good reasons to someone his age when tragedy strikes. This episode has some big emotional moments that come across as honest and well done and made me want more of it right away to see where it’ll go next.
Grade: A-
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
