Anime Review: Chihayafuru: Exchange Hellos and Goodbyes(1.10)

                         Chihayafuru: Exchange Hellos and Goodbyes(1.10)Review

In this episode the karuta club plays in their first tournament as a team and they all wear hakamas like they promised Kana they would Tsutomu and Nishida who weren't in the club when this promise was made don't really understand why they have to but this doesn't keep Kana from making sure everyone looks just right in their hakamas. Through out the first two rounds when the team was playing individual matches Tsutomu was very discourage from his losses but he feels slightly better while during the first break he learns that he played one of the strongest players. Also during the break Tsutomu and Kana learns that part of the reason that Chihaya is so set on making it to nationals is to meet Arata who she's been texting a lot since her birthday although he hasn't been responding but this doesn't seem to stop Taichi from feeling jealous.

At lunch and after the second round of matches in which Kana had won her first match ever Tsutomu is feeling bad about loosing and asks to go home because he feels that the only reason that he is on the team is because they need five players. Chihaya is very surprised and upset that Tsutomu feels that way and Taichi explains that they aren't really a team yet and before their next match Taichi tells Chihaya she has to win her match.

Chihaya because she feels pressured to win and is upset about Tsutomu ends up not doing very well in her match because she can't seem to remember how to play or hear the words all of a sudden. Taichi sees this during the match and he realizes that he shouldn't have put pressure on Chihaya and he instead tells Nishida and Kana who are doing well in their matches that they should do their best to win and he tells Chihaya to breathe and this helps Chihaya refocus.

Tsutomu who overheard some people talking about how Chihaya isn't doing well and how she won't win tells them that she will win and then goes to watch the match from the doorway. Towards the end of the match were Chihaya is now pretty much tied with her opponent Tsutomu words of encouragement. In the end Chihaya, Taichi and Nishida win their matches which means the team will advance to the finals. Tsutomu realizes that since he's a beginner and most people have been playing for years that he probably won't win but he still wants to be part of the team and he congratulates Kana on her first win.

I really enjoyed this episode it does a good job of showing the different kind of pressure that people can feel when competing and how people may put pressure on someone without meaning to. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.