Not to be a broken record, but Chihayafuru at its best really is a pretty miraculous piece of fiction.  In the annals of sports anime there have been very few series that have so successfully integrated the raw emotion of the characters with the events themselves (Hikaru no Go is one that springs to mind).  The competitor and the competition are completely entwined – the moment is the result of that entwinement.

If only this series could be this good all the time – though to be fair, there aren’t many good ones about which you couldn’t make the same statement.  To be honest this season has exceeded my expectations as a manga reader, because the pacing has been more deliberate than I expected.  On balance it’s been better than the second, which was likewise competition-heavy but with a focus on competitions that were somewhat less compelling than this season’s.  I thought’d we’d have burned through this stretch by now and moved onto- well, another stretch.  But that’s a rather wistful thought for me.

No question the way this is all played out is something of a “Shaka, when the walls fell” development – though I would hardly say it was a surprise.  At this point where Chihayafuru is concerned I’ve learned to live by one simple and universal rule – if I want something badly enough, Suetsugu-sensei will never let me have it.  Of course Harada-sensei wasn’t going to win – that would have been like Tom Watson making that putt on the 18th at Turnberry in 2009.  The only consolation, really, was the way Suou became such a fascinating and sympathetic figure during the buildup to that climactic moment.

Even so, I really wanted Harada to win.  Desperately.  As for the way he lost, well – technically it was the 5th match that was decisive, but make no mistake – it was that final card in the 4th that decided it.  As surely as Harada-sensei would never give up, he wouldn’t have enough left in that weary body to stay on level terms with the Meijin after a mere 20 minute break.  Especially if Suou-san got serious – and boy, did he ever get serious.  He shaved and tied his hair back, that’s how serious he was.

The way that fourth match ended was so fascinating.  Suou did what he does better than anyone – forced his opponent into a fault.  By not even flinching when the first two dead cards were read, he got Harada so paranoid that he was going to attack that final “May” card on his side that when he made a feint for it – knowing full well it was another dead card – Harada couldn’t stop himself.  It was kind of a cheap way to win really – but paradoxically, that Suou would pull that trick out in that moment was the ultimate sign of respect for his opponent.  The Meijin’s back was truly pressed against the wall, as it never had been before.  He did what he had to do.

It was clear in Suou’s attitude before the finale that he – for the first time I think – felt a little sheepish about the methods he uses.  I think even the shaving and hair-tying were a gesture of contrition.  Harada-sensei knew it was over, I think, no matter how hard he fought – he came to peace with it, sad as that was to see.  The aftermath moments – where he was consoled by his wife, who said she only wanted to see him smile, and the old reader consoled Haruka-san were some of most piercingly emotional of the season.

Leave it to Arata to intrude on someone else’s moment as usual – fitting behavior for a guy who truly seems to believe the universe resolves around him.  It was pretty hilarious to see Kana and Sumire’s reaction when the shoujo manga scene they expected turned into the main trio being total karuta baka as usual, but Arata stomping all over the Meijin’s interview – that didn’t sit well with me.  The results may have been positive depending on your perspective (I suspect the karuta elders would disagree), but it was really a selfish and tone-deaf thing to do.

Arata has been a loner for so long, I think, that he’s become too comfortable in his own company and has lost any sense of social awareness.  But what’s interesting is that we see Taichi now isolating himself more and more – once again he neglects to tell Chihaya his plans.  Sticking around in Kansai for a competition as the others zip back to Kanto on the Shinkansen sets Chihaya off, naturally enough, but she can only see the karuta implications – the guy who’s been reliably inferior to her is growing more and more discontented with that role.  But for Taichi it’s clear that even if karuta is at the heart of this, it goes much deeper than that.