Chihayafuru 2 - 20

"The Fall Paddy Shacks"

As if there wasn't enough drama already, was this really necessary?!

I really couldn't tell you what Chihayafuru has up its sleeve now. The euphoria of Misuzawa's win still hasn't quite worn off, for me or for the characters involved, but that doesn't mean that all is well and good now that it's over. Chihaya and the others may have become the best team in Japan (and thus the world), but there's still the individual tournaments to consider, and this time, Arata and Shinobu are active participants. All the old tensions and rivalries are back, and Chihaya is painfully nearly excluded after her finger injury turns out to be worse than expected.

Though I'm not a fan of flashbacks in nearly any series (and especially not long ones like these), they do serve a little purpose in helping us understand Chihaya's emotional state and thoughts as she contemplates all Misuzawa has accomplished and all that she might still miss out on. I feel like this could have been conveyed better without all those exact conversations replayed (and I have a feeling Madhouse is trying to use up as much time as possible), but I suppose it's marginally less terrible than another full recap episode. The real meat of the episode, though, are the interactions between Taichi and Arata, the ones we've all been waiting for. Though Arata doesn't openly declare war on Taichi or otherwise assert their rivalry, that's not what it looks like to the latter.

The revelation that Arata will attend college in Tokyo if he wins this tournament is bad news for Taichi's suit on Chihaya; it essentially places a time limit on him since he seems to want to wait until after he beats Arata to confess to her. If Arata wins and gets to come to Tokyo, it's unlikely that Taichi will ever get Arata off Chihaya's mind enough to get her to look his way. The pressure is on, and though Taichi's been playing unbelievably well, he's still stuck in B Class this tournament while Arata will play in A Class; this effectively means that he has one chance of beating Arata, as a senior, and that also means he has to advance to A class by then. And all of this is without counting Chihaya's own feelings or any change of hearts she may or may not have in the meantime.