Sunday, September 22, 2013

Anime Review: Chihayafuru 2: As My Love First Came(2.02)

                             Chihayafuru 2: As My Love First Came(2.02)Review
This episode starts off with Sumire following Taichi after he leaves the train to find out more about him and she is disappointed to see that he has went to karuta society. While at karuta society she is shocked by how fast the players move and she confused by why so many people seem to find karuta fun.

At one point during the episode Chihaya has decided that she should help with cleaning up the karuta club room because she notices that Kana is the one that always ends up doing it and feels like she should pitch in. At first Kana is very touched by this but she notices that Chihaya is doing it wrong and then she tells Chihaya that if she wants to help out she's going to have to teach her the proper way to do so. Chihaya then goes off to teach the first years and is very sadden to discover that very few had returned and the next day there was only one person left a boy named Tsukuba.

Meanwhile Sumire is learning that she has already ran out of things to talk about with her new high school friends and worries this is what her high school experience will be like if she doesn't join a club. Sumire also gets a text from her ex which angers her and makes her more determined to get a new boyfriend and since she has decided that she wants Taichi she decides to join karuta club. While at karuta club it becomes clear that she isn't exactly there for the right reasons due to how much she cares about her looks and that she flat out tells this to Chihaya and Kana, Kana calls her foolish for caring so much about love and Sumire points out that the hundred poems are all love poems.

Tsukuba reveals that he use to play second verse karuta and that he was pretty good at it this causes a few problems since he's pretty arrogant about his abilities and has been refusing to take other club members advice despite the fact that competitive karuta has different rules the second verse karuta. Chihaya notes that when Tsukuba plays he uses both hands and that he can go start for the card he wants. When Sumire is playing against Tsukuba and gets her first card Chihaya notices the joy it brings her and tells Sumire she should cut her nails because if Tsukuba would hit her nails too hard it could get torn off. Sumire refuses and ends up revealing that she likes Taichi to the whole club and feeling embarrassed she runs out of the club room.

Chihaya ends up revealing that one of the reasons that she was so invested in the first years is because at the team tournament last year she felt bad about fainting and leaving the team without the proper number of players and wonder how well they could have done if they had at least one more player. This inspires Nishida to agree to teach Tsukuba and it looks like this will also end up teaching Tsukuba some humility as well. Kana goes after Sumire and tells her that she was right about the hundred poems being about love and that she thinks crying when ones embarrassed is a sign of a beautiful soul. In the end Sumire returns to the club room and cuts her nails which symbolizes her willingness to take karuta seriously.

I really enjoyed this episode I think it did a good job at showing us what the new club members will be like and even a bit about how they'll interact with the original club members. Please tell me your thoughts about this episode.

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