So yeah, that was pretty intense.

We’re in pretty dodgy territory here for a manga reader like me.  I’m going to assume most new viewers will be asking the same  questions I was at this point in the manga, which of course I can’t answer.  And a lot of what went on here is hard to talk about without addressing those questions, because you can’t un-know what you know.  For me the gist of it is,  this was as into a match as I’d been in Chihayafuru since before Taichi made Class A – one of the real high points of the entire series.

Truthfully, this is such a classic matchup.  The grizzled and rough-hewn old bear against the navel-gazing wunderkind hailed as the next God-king of karuta.  Even if I didn’t know the participants I’d still be rooting for the bear just on principle, but knowing them as well as I do my partisanship is off the charts.  Suetsugu drives me crazy as often as not but she is a genius-level talent, no question, and when it clicks the results are really spectacular.  The contrast between these two could hardly be more extreme and the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife.

There is a Queen qualifier going on here, and it too is a veteran vs. teenager matchup in Inokuma-san vs. Megumu.  But the shadows cast by the Meijin participants are so huge that the Queen match never really rises above the level of afterthought (though the whole “Good luck Megumu!” headband gag is a keeper).  Harada is doing what he has to do right from the beginning, even interrupting the reader to ask that the aircon be turned off.  Anything to disrupt Arata’s “flowing water” style of karuta.  But Hiroshi is concerned that Harada-sensei may have overprepared, since Arata has expanded his repertoire to prepare for Suou-san, who he assumes awaits him after an easy win.

As for that long-standing feud with Kitano-sensei of the Suihouku Society, we finally get an explanation – and it involves the reader for the third match, Kawai-san.  Harada-sensei was apparently as impolitic as a young man as he is as a middle-aged one, but he is who he is – he’s not a delicate soul by any stretch of the imagination.  A few of the olders in the audience seem to find themselves getting drawn into his struggle, though Kitano of course resists.  Arata’s full arsenal is on display – his God-like speed, power cross and general physical grace.  But an old-timer like Harada has learned a few lessons about economy of movement that a limber yoot like Arata has never given a second thought, and somehow the boy can’t open up any sort of a lead on the bear.

The fact is, not only does Harada-sensei manage to bull-rush his way to a win, but seeing him do so is the inspiration for Inokuma-san (yes, I am rooting for her too) to score a 2-card win for the veterans.  The really fascinating part comes after, when Harada-sensei withdraws from the second match.  I’m reminded of Jimmy Connors, who used to intentionally drop sets in order to rest when he was playing in grand slams in his late 30s.  Harada knows his body only has so many games of karuta left in it, and he decides to gamble on the extra rest and throwing his lot in with the reader of the third match over the second – and that reader happens to be Kawai-san.

The strategy involved here is of course really fascinating.  Arata seems legitimately shocked by Harada’s decision, though in context it’s not surprising – if he feels more confident with Kawai reading and feels he’ll be totally spent if he plays and loses the second match, he’s making the right choice.  The elephant in the room is of course Chihaya – to wit, what did she (who admitted her allegiances were split) whisper to Arata to provoke such a reaction?  I waited to find out and so can you – and a lot less time than I had to.