Anime Review: Chihayafuru 2: Rain Takes Longer to Dry(2.10)

                                Chihayafuru 2: Rain Takes Longer to Dry(2.10)Review

In this episode the karuta team is playing against Yamaguchi Mioka which the public school that is known for being the smartest and the members of that team all specialize in memorization and accuracy. At first during her match Chihaya isn't doing well since her opponent keeps changing around the placement of the cards so she's unable to remember where they are. After awhile Chihaya remembers to take a breath and a step back and stops trying to focus on memorization and instead uses her skills of speed and game sense and ends up winning her match in the end.

Nishida is able to win his match in the end because his karuta society teaches the technique of defensive karuta which is more about protecting your own cards than taking the opponents which makes the moving around of the cards rather ineffective. Kana is able to win her match by focusing on the poems and their history but isn't bothering to remember their positions because there's no meaning behind. Taichi is able to win his match because he also uses the technique of memorization and accuracy but has lately been focusing on the other aspects of karuta such as the physical ones.

Also in this episode the committee is debating whether or not they should let Arata play because while they agree that he should be punished for breaking the rules they also want him to compete because he's one of the few people that has a chance at defeating the current master who is widely disliked for being a bad role model. Arata though insists that he should be punished but when he tells Shinobu that he won't be playing in the individual tournament she goes to the committee and tells them she won't play unless Arata can compete as well.

I really loved this episode for once again showing how karuta can be such an intellectual sport. I'm also really have been enjoying what we've seen of the relationship between Arata and Shinobu. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.