Chihayafuru 2 - 18

"My Fear is That You Will Forget"

Another week, another excruciatingly tense match.

I know I'm a week behind on Chihayafuru and that there's another episode lined up right after this one, but that only makes it that much more torturous to stop and write in between. In typical second cour fashion, very few cards were actually read this match, and painfully detailed accounts go into the plays and various determinations of the players. Though the ace match has traditionally gone to Chihaya, this is the episode where we get to see a bit more into the thoughts of the other players while the tigress is injured, and that's never a bad thing in this series, especially when matches tend to hinge so much on Chihaya eventually getting into her rhythm. It's not boring to watch (on the contrary, I've rarely been on the verge of biting my nails as much as while watching this season) but it does get a little old after so many matches.

Thankfully, Chihaya's injury allows the focus to wander elsewhere, and while all the Misuzawa players get a little coverage, the spotlight here is really taken by Rion and Taichi. Rion's genius talent for only playing when a reading is "beautiful" isn't enough to win her this match. In this case, it's not the reader that distracts her; Chihaya's injury makes Rion feel guilty and worry over the pain her opponent is in, enough so that Chihaya can begin catching up. Her ability is overwhelmed, as Chihaya's often is, by the inevitability of what goes on around her. Without the support of her teammates, it's likely that Chihaya would have had this game regardless of injury. It's only when the stakes are high and Rion realizes that her team is counting on her that she finally plays in earnest.

As for Taichi, things are never simple. His opponent continues to remind him of Arata, a simultaneously motivating and distracting factor that keeps him from really playing his A-game consistently. It seems that no matter how hard he tries, luck is always against him, and though the rest of the team really needs to rally together (especially once Tsukuba and Komano lose), neither he, Nishida, or Chihaya have managed to overcome their deficiencies. Then there's Arata and Shinobu, both deeply affected by the match despite one's initial disinterest and the other's inability to watch. It's very true that both characters are loners, but it seems that threads are being laid down to change that. Shinobu certainly shows interest by remembering Chihaya's name as a potential opponent, and I wouldn't be surprised if the link she feels to Arata doesn't lead elsewhere by the end of the season.