What They Say:
“They all exchange hellos and goodbyes at the famous gates of Afusaka”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the gang managed to at least get into the nationals by making it to second place at the regionals, the impact of it has definitely made an impression on Chihaya. As we see at the start of the episode, she’s fairly despondent at home about it and is creating quite the mood, one that’s surprisingly infectious as her sister sees it as an out herself as she’s struggling with her potential acting career and is at the point where she’s giving up on it in front of her family. We haven’t seen much of Chihaya’s family, but there’s some key moments there as the girls mother watches on as her two daughters are in such different places. But while mom has given a lot of time to one child, she has to refocus on the other a bit more.
And that works out for Chihaya later in the episode as we see how she takes her shopping to get a new hakama for her outfit during the matches. With nationals being such a big event, and her not having seen too much of her daughters events, she’s intent on doing what she can in the here and now. It’s a good moment to watch from the mothers point of view as she realizes that her daughter is growing up in so many ways, especially when she’s surprised at how Chihaya knows how to wear and put on the outfit, something she didn’t expect. While it’s not a break the bank moment, it’s the kind of thing where Chihaya understands the financial impact of it and the meaning from her mother over it, though apparently mom forgot about the trip expenses of going to the nationals, to good comedic effect.
Because of the way the gang is getting to nationals, they’re working hard on bringing themselves up to speed, especially with Chihaya facing off against an imaginary Shinobu. But the school life is taking front and center stage here as we see how the karuta club has to give up its space because it couldn’t hold onto enough members and Chihaya has a creative way of fixing things so that everyone is mostly happy. And it also comes back as a bit of good luck, which is what she was hoping to, as the concert band takes over the club space and provides them with something special. There’s a lot of good little character moments during all of the school material, but the section that stands out are those final moments as everyone is preparing for nationals and Taichi catches Chihaya talking to Arata on the phone about the matches and how competitive they are. It’s maddening to see her so oblivious to how Taichi feels and the way it crushes him so, especially for a character that’s barely been visible at all this season.
In Summary:
Chihayafuru has a pretty good episode here even if it is largely just a transitional one. The movements are more character based and less focused on the actual play or mechanics of karuta, though we do get a few moments of it here and there. The family bonds at Chihaya’s is what gets the most meaningful scenes here as we see her with her mother and sister together and individually and the way that each of them causes ripple effects on the others. We also get a good look at that in the school setting as Chihaya’s attempt to create some good luck may just do that through her sacrifice in the present for something in the future. There’s a nod when one of her teachers talks about how she may really be a gambler at heart and you see how she’s working that situation subconsciously, not really thinking about it. The evolution of the episode is simple but it’s also made clear that small things can have a big impact in many, many ways.
Grade: B
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.
