Chihayafuru

wee see them back in the present, too bad abourt wataya not playing karuta anymore...

I really like Chihaya, her personality is very straight forward, which I enjoy in strong female leads. The two males from elementary seem alright, more like accessories though. As for the new members being recruited, I can't say that any of them has really struck a cord with me. I hope there will be a female rival introduced soon, whether or not she is in the club or from another school/club.

daaaaawwwwwwww

[font=verdana][color=green]So, arguably the more important aspect of the tournament; the singles. The reason Chihaya plays karuta. Overall, I liked this episode yet again, but I can't help but think they rushed to the match against the Queen. I would have liked at least for it to be one round further in the future, as it would allow Chihaya to get into her rhythm more, as she does tend to struggle sometimes.

However, I find the Queen to be a little too unrealistic. I mean, we all know Arata is a great player, but the fact they left his skill unexplained means that we didn't need to see these far-fetched occurrences in the match: the way that the Queen reacted on the third syllable and still getting the card; how her hand slipped under Chihaya's hand when Chihaya attempted to guard it; when Chihaya aimed to smack both cards out of play but the Queen just hitting the corner of one, plus more. I mean, these occurrences happening just don't seem to have much foundations to stand on; Chihaya is class A herself as well. I am almost certain that Chihaya will still lose, being down like 15+ cards, but it'd put her name on the map at least; in fact, I would rather she does lose.

Away from that, I am interested in how the Desktomu/Kana and Nishida/Taichi match ups go. They might not play each other, but it'd be interesting to see how they fair in their own divisions. If they do play each other, I'm calling it as Kana and Nishida winning. In fact, I'd bet that Nishida wins the division; he has already beaten Class A players. Also, slightly away from karuta, who else thinks that Nishida likes Kana? The way that he told Taichi to watch her play and let her know he's rooting for her...it must be.

Good episode like always. Hike the drama more than I was expecting, but suppose shows like this need it. Sort of reminds me of Saki when up against Koromo. Just hope they do not drag another episode out than it needs to be against the Queen.