Memo to Suetsugu-sensei – you showed us the wrong match.

Is a sports anime more exciting when there’s some doubt as to the result of the competition?  I would certainly argue that it is, though foregone conclusions can have their own dramatic weight.  This has sometimes been a problem for Chihayafuru, which has tended to be pretty predictable in match results over its run.  That’s just a function of the characters and how they’re written – it’s a character-driven show, so the arcs of the characters decide the direction of the plot.

For me as I read this section of the manga, I was very much irritated that we were being shown the Arata-Murao match at the expense of Harada-sensei’s battle with Sudou-kun.  But hey, I figured we’d switch back-and-forth at least, so no big deal.  Well, when we found out the results of the Eastern Qualifier the way we did my profanity filter blew out cold.  It’s not simply a matter of being more emotionally invested in Harada-sensei’s match (thanks to Suetsugu’s own writing) – it’s that there was never any question of the result of the other one.  So why did we need to see every damn second of it and not one of the match with real drama?

This is pretty much classic Chihayafuru at work.  When Chihaya passes out, her sempai opponent forfeits a match to make sure she advances.  When Arata is adrift and lost, his sempai slaps him on the face and brings him back to the moment.  As long as you’re one of those two people, anything you do will be forgiven and there’ll always be someone in the supporting cast there to help you out.  By contrast – well, you know.  They say death and taxes are the only sure things, but Chihaya and Arata having good fortune matched only by Taichi’s rotten luck are two to add to the list.

So, 11 cards?  12? It never even occurred to me for a moment that Murao would win even with a huge lead – even when Arata had to make an emergency run to the crapper in the middle of his match.  By rule they keep reading cards and no one is allowed to tell the absent player what was read (which I had no idea was the case).  That leaves it to Arata to try and figure that out by process of elimination – which, along with the surprising disadvantages to having a huge lead over a superior player – is the most (only) interesting part of this match.

But hey, that’s fair dos – of course we’re going to see Arata play, even though we know the result.  As to why Suetsugu chose not to give us a panel from Harada’s match after giving it such a dramatic buildup I have no idea, but that really amounts to an unforced error for me.  At least we do see some glimpses of self-awareness from Arata for a change – he realizes (he must be the only surprised person in the world) that he’s been carrying a condescending attitude towards Taichi all this time.  As well he has to confront the reality that he’s not too much the white knight to feel threatened by Taichi – he’s actually just as competitive and petty as anyone else.

As for Chihaya and Taichi, they meet up again in Kyoto when Taichi arrives late at night and joins the rest of his class.  He lies to her about his day of course, but I’m certain he doesn’t think for a moment she’ll believe it.  Chihaya has managed to resist reclaiming her cellphone battery (a flip phone in 2019?  Well – we still do see a few here…) until Taichi’s arrival, but when he tells her it’s Harada-sensei representing the East in the Meijin final (and thus, admits his lie) her will finally breaks.

Taichi does have his support system of course – principally Tsutomu and Kana (with Sumire making her presence felt).  And while I’d take their friendship over anyone’s in the cast, regrettably they’re never able to help Taichi actually get what he wants – unlike the bit players perpetually enabling Arata and Chihaya.  Taichi is the one who asks the big question looming at the end of the episode – who is Chihaya going to root for in the final?  Anyone who wants to root for Harada-sensei is welcome aboard the bandwagon, but the line forms behind me…