Anime Review: Chihayafuru: The Sounds of Waterfall(1.08)

                                Chihayafuru: The Sounds of Waterfall(1.08)Review

In this episode the karuta club searches for it's final member at first they don't seem to be having much luck since everyone pretty much ignored them. Chihaya spots Yousei Nishida who she remembers from playing against in the tournament from elementary school so she becomes determined to get Nishida who she calls Porky to join the karuta club but Nishida has stopped playing karuta because he lost his match against Arata years ago and feels he can't possibly very be as good as him so he doesn't see the point in playing anymore.

Chihaya continues to try convince Nishida to join and once she watches him playing tennis she realizes that is only using tennis to replace karuta and that makes her even more determined to get him to join the club. Nishida ends up leaving tennis practice early and comes to the karuta club room to basically say that he won't join but then Taichi taunts Nishida a bit with saying that Chihaya could beat him that's why he won't play her and so Nishida agrees to play Chihaya on the condition if he wins she stop asking him to join karuta club.

Through the course of the match Nishida discovers that he still loves karuta and he remembers that he use to play the game to have fun not just to win. Chihaya sees that Nishida truly loves karuta which makes her extremely happy. Nishida also notices how good Chihaya has become over the years and he recognizes her as someone who truly loves the game. In the end Chihaya wins the match and Nishida joins the club and admits he was using tennis to replace karuta but he really wishes that Chihaya would stop calling him Porky but that doesn't look to be happening anytime soon.

I really enjoyed this episode which it explored yet another person's view on loving karuta and realizing that winning shouldn't be the only reason to play the game. Please tell me your thoughts on the episode.