Chihayafuru 2

Chihaya furu S2 starts with the start of a new school year. They introduced new characters that seemed greatly superficial on why they joined the Karuta Club, but I hope to be taken by surprise later on by their motivations.

This is such a romance forward episode, and I'm all here for it. The relationship between Arata, Chihaya and Taichi seemed to get even more complicated after this, especially after what was said in this episode. All in all a great closure with a hook for the next season in place!

The match that everyone has their eyes on, Shinobu vs Arata. This was tense, and visualization was so pretty, as Arata seemed to always associated with water. We get to see what made Arata the way he is from his grandpa's words, and Shinobu finally plays seriously. Great episode!

We continued from before, seeing Taichi's match in the final. This episode showed that despite how bullheaded Chihaya is, she still cares of people around her, and she's a woman of her word. This was a sweet moment between Chihaya and Taichi. I am curious for Shinobu vs Arata too

The last ep feels pretty chill and shows the characters getting closer. There’s a bit of bad news for Chihaya, but nothing too heavy. The animation fits the vibe nicely, and the comedy moments are still there. You might wanna stick around, there’s a pretty big reveal in this ep!

The animation in this ep really stands out and delivers so well. Arata’s play is insane, and it feels like Shinobu finally goes all out. Arata is surprisingly sweet too, first to Chihaya then to Shinobu, what a gentleman 😍 The match wraps up with a really strong climax!

The match between Chihaya and Shinobu start. Just like battle shonen, I feel like in this episode, Chihaya and Shinobu connected through Karuta. We get to see how lonely Shinobu is, which was implied prior. I really like the connection Chihaya has to Shinobu (And Arata) in a way.

Always been curious how Arata vs Shinobu would look, and we finally get a glimpse! Their skills are top tier, and Arata keeps a positive vibe under pressure. Moving to Taichi’s match, the card memorizing animation is beautiful. Ends on an emotional moment with Chihaya.

As always, a match with Shinobu is never chill. Chihaya really pushes herself, but Shinobu still feels on another level. We also get a bit of emotional backstory from Shinobu. The character dynamics are still solid. Next up, looks like we’ll see Taichi’s match!

We finally get to the individual match. Arata get lots more screentime in here, which we get some amazing shot of his karuta play. We also see how adaptable Chihaya really is, especially after that happened prior. The ending is just the right hook for the next episode, can't wait

This ep is not super intense, more about showing how serious and skilled they are. Chihaya pulls off some cool moves, Nishida keeps pushing no matter what, and Arata looks more fired up too. Gotta give props to all three, they really bring the energy!

You can feel a bit of awkward tension between Taichi and Arata here. There’s also a short flashback from Chihaya’s POV. Even with a setback, she keeps pushing forward. The vibe feels pretty hype overall. Curious to see how the individual matches turn out 👀

This might be the most intense and emotional match so far 😭 Mizusawa keeps pushing and fighting till the end. Everyone has their moments to shine, and the team dynamic really hits. The animation delivers the emotions so well. That moment with Arata hits too!

From start to finish, this match feels super intense and kinda unpredictable. It goes back and forth, keeping you on edge. Mizusawa’s team dynamic really shines and adds an emotional touch too. It’s a pretty long match, but still keeps you hooked!

Once the match starts, the tension really kicks in. You can tell their opponent is on a different level. I really like Kana and Chihaya’s dynamic, it feels like they communicate telepathically. The vibe gets more hype, and the animation delivers nicely.

The aftermath of the previous match. I almost cried too, seeing Chihaya receiving the flag as she cried. It's amusing seeing Taichi and Arata difference in seeing each other lol. What I do not like in the episode is the mini flashback. We just had a recap, we don't need this now.

Chihayafuru, as always, bringing in the tension at the end. It's a wonder how the author and the production team kept the audience on the edge of their seat. I like the visualization whenever Taichi remembering what cards haven't been read yet. Such a great climax for the match!

A little thought. I know this episode is about Mizusawa vs Fujisaki, a David vs Goliath moment. But I want to give props on the build up for Shinobu story. As I said before, Shinobu seemed to be the other side of the coin for Arata, and the two beliefs seemed to clash here too.

The tension is gripping in the finals between Mizusawa and Fujisaki. The author did a great job by focusing on writing about Chihaya's match before panning out to show how the others are doing. I like Shinobu here, bringing her easy going attitude as a comic relief of sort too.

A recap episode with little tidbits of extra funny clips in between. We've seen how Retro and Nishida's sister has a relationship, and they have their clips here, which was sweet and funny lol. But this is still a recap at the end of the day, so it's just an okay episode.