Anime Review: Chihayafuru: The Plum Blossoms Still Smell the Same(1.18)

                Chihayafuru: The Plum Blossoms Still Smell the Same(1.18)Review

In this episode the karuta club goes to there first tournament of the fall in which they are all trying to advance in rank in individual matches. This tournament is the first tournament in which Chihaya will be competing against players of all ages rather than just ones that are in high school so she's a bit nervous about that. Chihaya ends up playing against an older woman named Sakura who takes advantage of Chihaya's speed because it allows for many faults and she isn't very fast at the game but she does have good timing especially when it comes to three syllable cards.

Chihaya while playing her match against Sakura realizes that she can't relay on her speed in order to win and she remembers what Tsutomu told her about how many cards he was able to take from her and from where Chihaya figures that Sakura may be using a strategy similar to that one to play. Chihaya decides that it would be best for her to take a step back in order to try to pace herself a bit more and to not let her speed get the nest of her. Sakura mentions that she feels like Chihaya is playing only with the cards which makes Chihaya realize that she should be watching Sakura and learning how she plays karuta. In the end Chihaya looses her match by six cards against Sakura but she promises to learn from the game that those two play.

Chihaya starts to freak out quite a bit once she finds out that the class B final is Taichi against Nishida and the class D final is Kana against Tsutomu, Chihaya doesn't know who to watch or who she should cheer for. Chihaya ends up watching Kana and Tsutomu match's where she notices that Kana is actually better at playing karuta in kimono because it helps support her. It's noted that Kana knows how to where a kimono very well and that in one all of her movements are very graceful. Tsutomu uses his information he has gather from practicing with Kana to note which cards she has trouble with but he also notes that since Kana doesn't relay so much on the first syllable as most karuta but rather the history and meaning of the poem this is something that both seems to help and hurt her with it being a disadvantage with speed but keeps her from making faults. Chihaya decides to watch their match because the way they play karuta is much different from the way she plays it therefore she has much to learn from watching them play.

I really enjoyed this episode and I liked how this episode continued with Chihaya trying to find new ways in which to play karuta. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.

Top 5 Thursday: Top 5 Movies

Top 5 Thursday is a meme that I create to make lists of things involving tv and movies. I would love for anyone that sees this post to make list of their own whether it's in the comment section or on their own blog.
This week's topic is movies because it's a rather broad one I thought it'd be a good one for the second week of this meme.

1. Thirteen: This has been my favorite movie for years now and I'm not exactly sure why I love it as much as I do. I just really love this coming of age story that is as much about self destruction as it is about growing up. I really loved how as the film went on the lighting changed in order to show how much further into self-destruction Tracy has went and I thought that the acting was really good in this film as well.

2. Donnie Darko: I really love this movie that is kind of hard to explain but really enjoyable. It seems to be a bit of a coming of age story that may or may not also be science fiction or it could be that Donnie is crazy although the creator of the film said he wasn't. It's a bit of an odd film but I really love it.

3. Almost Famous: I really love this coming age story about a teenage boy who gets a chance to report on this rock band and pretty much learns the hard way to not believe that the people he's working with are going to actually give him the material he needs. There's also the plot with Penny Lane a huge fan of the band that has a thing with the lead singer who doesn't really care about her the way she does him which is a rather sad thing but still interesting to watch. I really loved just about everything about this movie it was really well made and acted.

4. Heathers: This a movie that I love a lot because it has so many memorable quotes and it has a very dark sense of humor that I really enjoyed. I love this story about faking suicides of mean popular kids and I love that although this film dealt with such a dark topic it was still really funny.

5. Cardcaptor Sakura: The Sealed Card: I wasn't really sure of what movie to put down at number 5 but after think it over for quite a long time I decided to put this one down. I really loved this movie because I thought it was a good ending to one of my favorite series it brought back almost all the characters there was some romance, some action and the animation was really good. I don't think there was anything about this movie that I disliked so that's why I decided it be good to have it finish off my list.

Anime Review: Chihayafuru: World Offers No Escape(1.17)

                             Chihayafuru: World Offers No Escape(1.17)Review

This episode starts off with the karuta club winning a relay between all the other after school clubs and Chihaya had hoped that this would get more people to join but while it got some people interested in the club once they saw the team play they got scared off by how intense it was. This episode is the start of the fall term and so the team makes plans in which of the tournaments that they should compete in. In the middle of talking about the upcoming tournaments Taichi gets a call from his girlfriend in which is almost never mentioned and they break up and Taichi goes right on talking about the tournaments.

Everyone has become even more dedicated to karuta over the summer and everyone are working the best they can to improve their game. Tsutomu doubts his abilities for a bit since he isn't really athletic at all so he doesn't have as good speed or stamina as he would like but after talking about karuta with Kana a bit about how she sees karuta as an art rather than a sport his fears are lessened and he's really glad he choose to play karuta. Taichi who has now made it his goal to advance to class A has planned it so that he can go to a tournament over the weekend although he feels like he's being sneaky about his goals even though he tells Chihaya about the tournament and invites her to paly in it but it's far away and therefore too expensive for her. Nishida ends up also being at the tournament that Taichi went and neither of them end up doing too well at it.

Chihaya while practicing at karuta society over the weekend is told by Dr. Harada that she should stop relaying on her speed which causes Chihaya distress because for karuta has always been about speed. During karuta club after playing Tsutomu he shows Chihaya how many cards of her's he was able to take from her. Kana also tries to help Chihaya out by explaining how each poem his really different and how for her karuta is about the poetry. In the end Chihaya realizes that she should look at karuta the ways Tsutomu and Kana look at of to help her improve her game.

I really enjoyed this episode which showed how hard everyone was working on karuta and how focused everyone was on their goals. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.

Anime Review: Chihayafuru: The Autumn Leaves of Mount Ogura(1.16)

                     Chihayafuru: The Autumn Leaves of Mount Ogura(1.16)Review

This episode was pretty much just summarizing the series so far which was fine and all but I watched the series in a pretty short amount of time so I didn't really need this episode to remind me of things. There was a rather humorous story at the beginning of the episode how when Chihaya was 10 her older sister stole her Christmas money from her to buy a coat but then gave Chihaya the coat because she called her sister more beautiful than a model at a photo shoot.

There was some kind of random funny bits with the karuta club like trying to use an idiom to describe the other members of the team, I only really remember Kana calling Tasichi "A Jack of all trades, A master of none" because that's a really accurate description of him. Then there was a thing about how Nishida's shirts always says something on them and how his sister makes them for him. Then Nishida's sister makes shirts for the club and puts them in order of attractiveness which causes Chihaya(who's rated last) and Taichi(who's rated second to last) to freak out.There's also a bit with the members of the team saying who they would most like to date and everyone but Kana and Taichi say that they would most like to date Kana.

I overall like this episode even though nothing really happened in it but I really did enjoy the comic little bits in between recapping the story so far.

Anime Review: Chihayafuru: As Though Pearls Have Been Strung Across the Autumn Plain(1.15)

     Chihayafuru: As Though Pearls Have Been Strung Across the Autumn Plain(1.15)Review

This episode starts off with Chihaya having just got her second card from Shinubo and the people who are watching the match are really impressed by Chihaya's drive to win even though she was already down by so much. In the end Chihaya is only able to take five cards from Shinubo which to Chihaya means that there's much that she still needs to improve on. Shinubo recognizes that Chihaya being able to take those cards from her is something that leads her to seeing Chihaya as a rival. Chihaya I think is trying to make sure that she sees Shinubo as a person rather so she would seem less intimidating this shows when she says Shinubo's shirt is cute and that she refers to her as Shinubo-chan.

After the class A tournament which Shinubo wins is ending Kana comes and finds Chihaya to tell her that Taichi has made it to the final match in class B's tournament. The whole Karuta club ends up sitting on the sidelines nervously watching and supporting Taichi. Taichi is worrying about whether he can real keep pushing himself to keep on playing if he's going to loose if he can handle a defeat and use it to make him a better player like Chihaya has.

Taichi ends up accidently hitting the wrong card because he was probably remembering the position of the card from another match since he's played six matches already that day. Taichi messing up ends up leading to him freaking out a bit in his head and than he tries to rememorize all the cards again but his brain can't seem to hold more information than just the cards in front of him but then he realizes that should be enough. Taichi simply just doesn't have the speed to match his opponent so he ends up loosing his match.

After loosing his match even though Taichi is so clearly upset by the loss he tries to convince himself that he shouldn't be because he hasn't put the time into karuta that his opponent has and second place is perfectly fine so resolves himself into putting on a fake smile. When Taichi turns around he sees how upset the rest of the team is for him and Nishida tells him how second place hurts the worse so this allows Taichi to feel like he can be openly upset about his defeat. After their losses at the tournament the karuta club becomes more determined than ever to keep on improving their game and aiming for winning their class in the future.

I really loved this episode I thought it did a good job of dealing with how people can take loosing and I also just generally kind of love that Taichi seems to always feel the need to hide that he gets upset by a loose. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.

Anime Review: Chihayafuru: For There is No One Else Here(1.14)

                         Chihayafuru: For There is No One Else Here(1.14)Review

This episode starts off right before the individual tournaments which are played according to class levels meaning that Chihaya's in A class, Taichi and Nishida are in B Class and Kana and Tsutomu are in D Class. Kana and Tsutomu agree to see each other as rivals since they are in the same class but when Nishida tries to do the same with Taichi he's disappointed by Taichi's lack of fire.

In Chihaya's level she learns that the youngest queen in history at 16 is playing she's a girl named Shinobu Wakamiya who Chihaya quickly learns is insanely good at karuta while shortly after beginning her own match she sees that Shinobu has already finished her's and her opponent was only able to take one card from her.

When getting their assignments for who they will play for round two Chihaya goes between hoping to play Shinobu and hoping she doesn't in the end Chihaya has to play her. Chihaya quickly learns that not only is Shinobu extremely fast but she can also make her moves pretty much silently. Taichi who will advance to the next round in his class because his opponent didn't show up ends coming to watch Chihaya's match and he along with everyone else is shocked by Shinobu's speed but he thinks that Chihaya can be just as fast when she just focuses on one but Shinobu can do that with all the cards.

Chihaya tries to use her usual playing strategy of going on the attack but she notices that even though she's doing that she still can't get a single card. At this point Chihaya is beginning to give up any hope of ever winning the match but Shinubo mentions the character on Chihaya's search which makes Chihaya remember that Shinobu is a teenage girl just like her and that she should be able to beat her. Chihaya then starts to focus all her energy on just one card(which according to taichi what she was doing was really obvious) this doesn't end up working because of Shinobu's speed.

Chihaya starts to look like she's going to give up again which leads Shinobo to reflect how her matches always began with players being competitive but they soon give up and she feels like she might as well be playing by herself. Chihaya stops being discourage when she feels like playing against Shinobu is similar to playing against Arata so that motivates Chihaya to try out looking at things from a new perspective and with that she realizes that Shinobu is left handed and that she plays defensively.

After realizing that Shinubo is a defense player Chihaya decides that she has to try and take one of Shinubo's cards in order to shock her. Chihaya and Shinubo touch one card at the same time and since it was so close Shinubo tries to give the card to Chihaya but she refuses because she knows that Shinubo touched it first and she wants to make sure that she earns her first card from the queen. Chihaya actually ends up stealing two of Shinubo's cards in a row which shocks and amazes everyone.

I really enjoyed this episode even though it mostly only focused on one match that wasn't even finished in the episode it still felt super exciting to me. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.

Anime Review: Chihayafuru: For You, I Head Out(1.13)

                                   Chihayafuru: For You, I Head Out(1.13)Review

This episode starts with the karuta team arriving at nationals on the day of the tournament Chihaya starts not feeling well and while she tries to play still it's obvious that she can't play to the best of her abilities. When the team starts off pretty stiff Taichi reminds them to just take everything one card at time which works for the team other than Chihaya who Taichi notices that something is wrong with her at this point.

On the way to going to watch Chihaya compete Arata thinks back to his relationship with his grandpa with first remembering how much he admired him and how he taught him karuta in the first place. Then Arata thinks back to how grandpa was after his stroke and he remembers how his grandpa was determined to keep playing even though he can no longer move his right side. Then one day after Arata arrives home from school he sees an ambulance outside his house his mom tells him that his grandpa will fine and should return home in a few days but when his grandpa doesn't remember him it's revealed that he is now suffering form dementia.

Arata at first tries to get his grandpa to remember karuta but after he has no luck he is heartbroken and it seems that he had started to distance himself from karuta either because it started to become painful for him or because he spends his time taking care of his grandpa. On the day that Arata's grandpa will die he sees the date of the karuta tournament and tells Arata to go to the tournament and it looked like he really wasn't willing to take no for an answer.

When Arata finally arrives at the match he arrives pretty much just in time to see Chihaya faint which leads Taichi to pick her up and forfeit the match for her. After Arata asks what is wrong with Chihaya, Taichi tells him to take care of her. Chihaya wakes up briefly and while happy to see Arata really feels like she must finish her match despite her poor health. Arata sees Chihaya determination and this combine with a man saying that he would like to call someone master Wayata again leads Arata to decide that he will play karuta again because he still does love it.

After the tournament when the team comes by Chihaya's room she says sorry for not being able to compete in the days matches but they assure her that it's okay and Tsutomu excitedly tells her that he won his first match that day. Chihaya though is determined to be well enough to play in the individual match the next day.

I overall really enjoyed this episode, I really liked seeing a more detail story of why Arata ended up quitting karuta. Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.