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Post by mizusawa60 on Aug 15, 2018 4:33:34 GMT -8
crimsonangel thank you for your post and explanation. Your explanation in poem thread convince me more that my feeling that Chihaya kind of grow up recently is true. And marisa I agree with you. And I think most of us here too want to see more tricks and feints from Taichi. How much I want to see our beloved Taichi defeat the arrogant Arata. But not for now. I want Taichi to show it when he face Suou. Cuz it could be Taichi's secret weapon to defeat Suou. All his tricks and feints will be useless if Suou see it now. That's why Taichi needs to win againts Arata using his hearing ability and other methods.
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Post by chiakimagoto on Aug 15, 2018 7:40:47 GMT -8
little drawing from Suetsugu san......she keeps drawing Taichi with his long hair.....I guess she can't get used to the haircut she gave him herself. I hope she will make his hair grow fast in the chapters after this, so that if he is the challenger, he'll have more hair by then.......lol! and our favorite mangaka, with her always so ever nice manicured hands!
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Post by biribirichan on Aug 15, 2018 9:20:32 GMT -8
Just read 199 (thanks TDX) and what a beautiful chapter! I think my favourite scene in the whole chapter is when Taichi is smiling in page 18, as he is defending the Hito wa isa card. Such a beautiful poem too. The depths of the hearts Of humankind cannot be known. But in my birthplace The plum blossoms smell the same As in the years gone by. According to Mostow, this was by a poet, who hadn't gone to someone's house (where he used to previously stay) in a long time, but upon going there again, found a welcome note saying, "there's always lodging for you." I wonder if its referring to Taichi and Arata's rivalry through the years, without them really meeting up with each other. Suo and Taichi's mom's scene was really heart warming too. I wonder why Suo thinks Taichi cannot win because of him? He says, "He cannot win against Wataya kun, and then later on, because its his mentor's fault." The scene where he tries to deny his connection to Taichi really pulled at my heart. And man! Suetsugu is such a genius - I'm sure most of us disliked Taichi's mom at the beginning of the series, and for her to turn this lady into one that just wishes to be acknowledged by her son and daughter is just beautiful. You see that despite her poor parenting philosophy, all she had wanted was the best for her son. Thanks marisa for the raws, iatheia for the summary, and crimsonangel for the poem analysis for 203! chiakimagoto: Like you, I was a little disappointed in him pulling Chihaya back, I do want him to play for himself. I guess I will wait until the scanlations because sometimes reading the whole thing gives a different feel. Thanks for posting the pictures! They're gorgeous! virane: Ping Pong the animation is one of my favourites! iatheia: the movie was great too, but I think the uniqueness of the animation (and how the pulled you in by animating the background as vague, but the spin of the ball with super clarity) and the amazing soundtrack, made me like the anime better! The liveaction actors did such a good job though, and Peco was hilarious!
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Post by marisa on Aug 15, 2018 10:54:48 GMT -8
But not for now. I want Taichi to show it when he face Suou. Cuz it could be Taichi's secret weapon to defeat Suou. All his tricks and feints will be useless if Suou see it now. That's why Taichi needs to win againts Arata using his hearing ability and other methods. I presume that Suo knows all sorts of Taichi's feints better than anyone else. However I doubt that most of the bunch of Taichi's tricks will work against Suo. Suo knows him well and Taichi was his game partner in the last half-year.
But in the end we have an intimation that Suo might fall for Taichi's feints too as well as others. In chapter 184 Suo thinks that Taichi's feints are better than his own:
In the end, even if Suo knows about it, even he knows Taichi's feints well probably he won't be able to resist it. And Taichi is very creative player, he definitely will find how he can surprise Suo.
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Post by mizusawa60 on Aug 15, 2018 11:37:25 GMT -8
But not for now. I want Taichi to show it when he face Suou. Cuz it could be Taichi's secret weapon to defeat Suou. All his tricks and feints will be useless if Suou see it now. That's why Taichi needs to win againts Arata using his hearing ability and other methods. I presume that Suo knows all sorts of Taichi's feints better than anyone else. However I doubt that most of the bunch of Taichi's tricks will work against Suo. Suo knows him well and Taichi was his game partner in the last half-year.
But in the end we have an intimation that Suo might fall for Taichi's feints too as well as others. In chapter 184 Suo thinks that Taichi's feints are better than his own:
In the end, even if Suo knows about it, even he knows Taichi's feints well probably he won't be able to resist it. And Taichi is very creative player, he definitely will find how he can surprise Suo. That's what I meant. Even if Suou knows all Taichi's trick and feints somehow Taichi will make it work againts him. I know maybe it's mostly becuz I wish Taichi get it all. But I get a feeling Taichi's going to be the challanger and win againts Suou. For many reason that's been foreshadowed a couple times in this manga. Like when recently Taichi imagining that he and Chihaya fight together to challange Suou Meijin and Queen Shinobu. Or when Suou got loser stick of ice cream while Taichi got the winner. And since this maybe the last year Taichi can go all out cuz next year he will be busy in his medical school. So this year Taichi will get the Meijin title but lost it to Arata next year. And Arata will be the eternal Meijin. Just like the background story of Chihayafuru poems that Kana had explained in early chapter of this manga. I've wrote my explanation and prediction about it before. Well that's all just my feeling. Doesnt necessary will going to happen. But if it does happen wouldnt it be nice to us team Tauchi. Taichi get to defeat Arata after all his work hard. And defeat Meijin Suou too. To show everybody in Karuta world that work hard people can win againts talent. That Suou can be defeated too by some average boy. Not by Arata whom they always think high. Wouldnt it be nice....kekeke...
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Post by chiakimagoto on Aug 15, 2018 12:07:56 GMT -8
Suou knows Taichi pretty well, but that also works the other way around. I think Taichi is the person that has succeeded in coming closest to Suou, in karuta and friendship. Taichi has great observance and must have picked up all Suou's little quirks and manners. I guess the only weakness in all this, is the time he spent and his age (18) which is very young to go up against someone who has more experience in analysing weaknesses of his opponent. I think Taichi does have a talent to wiff up someone's weakness though.....and could maybe surprise someone even as experienced as Suou....but he would have to win at least 3 out of 5 matches....I'm not sure that is realistic nor possible for Taichi at this point, and heck, he still has to get past Arata.
I really hope Suetsugu san will show us something badass if he does beat Arata. I mean, he should have been able to sniff out Arata's weakness by now.....is Arata's weakness his own antagonism? is that all? His arrogance will be his fall? Taichi is already phychologically using this against him but Arata doesn't seem easily shaken for now. Only when Taichi was able to take the Chiha card from his side, did he seem in rage at himself......he couldn't defend it like he had feared already in the past, when the Chiha card wasn't read in that tournament against Taichi. Taichi will definitely have to use all his tactics and effort to win. Arata always seems so composed, confident and concentrated.....it really seems hard to ruffle him.
I somehow think that for Taichi to win against Arata, Chihaya will have to do something to give him the level of confidence that only she can give, like Sakurasawa said. If only she could make clear somehow that she is rooting for him, that just might give him wings. He is already giving it his all, and seeing the Meijin, his mother and Chihaya rooting for him could give him a boost. Same call for Arata ofcourse, if Chihaya roots for him. She needs to wake up and make a choice. I don't think she can be honestly be impartial at this point. Btw the one she wouldn't be rooting for would certainly be put off balance by this.......Arata definitely was looking for her at the end of that second match. Hard to read what he was thinking while catching a look at her sleeping on Shinobu's lap. Taichi didn't look for her like Arata.
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Post by marisa on Aug 15, 2018 14:19:15 GMT -8
chiakimagoto , I think that Arata has other weaknesses. Actually Arata has a very few advantages over Taichi: acceleration, experience (but this is controversial) and, maybe, an aura of supremacy which kinda press on his opponents. And his confidence is not absolute. When Arata is cornered he might lose self-control. We saw it in first game: he committed a fault, he contested a lot of cards (I strongly suspect that without all those contests he definitely would lose). And in the second game too, he covered "Chigiriki" before he gave it Taichi. Maybe I am wrong (since we still haven't got proper and full translation), but I presume he wanted to show everyone that he would win if they don't make that bet. All this shows us that Arata might lose his control. If Taichi made him feel cornered again then Arata would lose control and after that fall for all kinds of Taichi's feints and tricks. In that case all Arata's advantages might be disadvantages as well. But, in the end, I doubt that Taichi might win against Suo and become new Meijin. Probably he has a chance to play all five matches, but I doubt he has a chance win against Suo. Maybe later, after year or two. However, I should say that Taichi has a better chances against Suo among all karuta male players. I also doubt that Chihaya will win too, lol. Moreover, I think that her chances even worse than Taichi's.
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Post by crimsonangel on Aug 15, 2018 18:07:27 GMT -8
Thank you so much marisa , mizusawa60 and biribirichan ^^ Biribiri, I also agree with you wholeheartedly on the interpretation of poem 35, it describes quite beautifully Taichi and Arata's relationship through the years. Such a heartwarming poem. Thank you iatheia for the info on the next middle school chapter, I'm looking forward to it too. They always give some kind of subtle hint on the main series so I like to check them out! chiakimagoto Thank you chiaki-chan for the beautiful shared pics! I'm so curious about the next round. I'm happy that Taichi was the one coming in as the second round winner. Even though luck of the draw and Arata's promise were involved, that kind of achievement certainly gave his self-confidence some good boost and now even Suo seems to believe this chance he conquered with so much effort cannot go to waste. So he stayed to watch the game and root for him. If I could have chosen beforehand, I'd have the chronology just in this order with Taichi winning the second match rather than the first precisely because flow is something Arata seems to care a lot for and it was somehow broken since his own unfair take in the first game. The promise for compensation followed (which nobody liked including me) and then Taichi's win, the whole build up being quite anticlimatic for Arata while positively ascending for Taichi (granted that both have their reasons to fight in the 3rd round, being it a comeback or a confirmation). The atmosphere looks a lot more chilled and less dark for now anyway, which I like as a mood to start the game with. Putting your mind at ease helps you plan the best strategy and make good use of your mental strength. Arata thinks Taichi is talking a lot because he's tired but I wonder if that's the real reason. All in all, it may also be because he has achieved a certain degree of increased confidence and calm. 3 matches with Arata are no joke and both must certainly be tired at this point, but let's not forget Taichi used to have plenty of training with no less than the Meijin himself and games of that kind must be pretty energy-consuming especially because of the mental factor with all of the clever strategies and tricks involved. Even with Suo Taichi hardly commits any fault which shows he has great capability to stay focused even throughout games which are considerably challenging mentally-wise. Plus he has great physical training coming from football and the most recent full-immersion in karuta practice (not to mention Sakuraza-sensei's ever useful teachings - not sure whether Arata would adopt them too -, the Mizusawa tasuki and Oe-san's especially designed and sewed "uniform for victory". All these being slight but significant advantages on the physical side, especially in the long run). Quite possibly both Taichi and Arata may have consumed some extra energies also due to the emotional factor, although that seems to have weighed more on Arata this time. Overall I think there's room for a great match. I think none of them will concede it easily this time. And both have potential to win. I like it that there is no recognised favourite player in this 3rd game, it's not unusual for the one who's depicted by friends/teammates/live commentators (who are basically entitled to play with the reader's expectations) as the most likely to win to end up being defeated, for the sake of a certain coup de théâtre (it just happend with Suo vocally denying Taichi's possibilities to win against Arata only to be later proved wrong). It's an old trick. But now I think the audience in the room (and outside) can hardly give any predictions over the outcome of this match. This, per se, is a great achievement imho for Taichi, conquering equal chances to win after 2 games where he basically annihilated the much rumored distance with a hardly defiable (and hardly defeated) player like Arata. I think that it was important for Taichi to win out of pure skill (to prove his quality as a player) in this second match but strategy matters too. And being the strategist he is, I'm pretty sure he's capable of setting up the best plan for the situation. Feints do count (they're actually legitimate and even praised in other sports like football). Psychology being as important as tecnique and Taichi just showed in these 2 matches that he's both technically and tactically considerably skilled. The second match showed Taichi and Arata's technical value is more or less comparable with the gap between them being reduced to an equalizer luck of the draw but tactically I think Taichi is way more resourceful. So if I had to compare possibilities, I'd say Taichi has more chances to win at the moment and, as you guys mentioned, he's probably the only one who stands at least a chance against Suo. Of course, objectivity aside, there's storytelling, so anything can change by the circumstances if the author wants it to. But Taichi has all the needed ability to win plus a great range of possibilities to adjust or change the flow of the game. Arata has a solid, recognisable play, I'm not sure he has the same variety of resources though. With so much consecutive playing, you might need to come up with something new or surprising when you have already been "studied" by a player for 2 games in a row. Remember the strange (brilliant!) formation Taichi used with Chihaya at Yoshino? He took the risk with a calculated surprise factor by studying a "trap" arrangement that was tailor-made on the opponent's skills. I would love to see something like that from him against Arata or Suo. Some tactics nobody has thought of or practiced before. Since Taichi has played Suo many times, I suspect he might have elaborated some extremely clever solution to play at the right moment if they really should come to an official face-off. That's something that makes me extremely excited! I would love to see that. Arata's gameplay is certainly quite solid and established but, on the other hand, that makes it more predictable. That's why, much like Suo, the idea of a clash between him and the meijin fails to ignite my interest. On the other hand, Taichi vs Suo would be a great challenge in terms of script-writing and psychological character handling also for the author. If I was the mangaka I would love to write that!
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Post by chiakimagoto on Aug 15, 2018 20:37:56 GMT -8
I think Taichi has some good info on how Arata plays....remember how Chihaya and Taichi respectively took on the roles of Suou and Arata to help out Harada sensei for his preparations, so I think he knows alot about Arata's card placement and tactics, even if Arata has lots of stamina, physical training and his photographical memory which allows him to change the card placements over and over, I think Taichi might just'have what it gets to fluster his gameflow. I guess Taichi has been observing Arata much more than the other way around, since Arata never really took the time to truely "look" at Taichi, so now might be a bit late, when Taichi has already been working on this for a while. I wonder why Taichi was placing his cards in the middle row for this last match.
About beating Suou, this is another story, but Taichi definitely is one of the persons that can make Suou anticipate the matches. I guess what I really would like is that Taichi could share his new found "having fun" with Suou, that their match would be full of smiles from both sides, that the Meijin will finally also fill his cup with all the passion he has missed out on all these years, that would be very fullfilling. I don't think Arata can do this for him.......but again Suetsugu san can write as she likes.
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Post by crimsonangel on Aug 15, 2018 21:28:34 GMT -8
I guess Taichi has been observing Arata much more than the other way around, since Arata never really took the time to truely "look" at Taichi, so now might be a bit late, when Taichi has already been working on this for a while. I wonder why Taichi was placing his cards in the middle row for this last match. I noticed that too, chiaki-chan. That was one of the brilliant ideas behind Taichi's special arrangement against Chihaya. I have great expectations about that. I really hope he pulls something surprising for this third game! Arata, as you mentioned, doesn't seem to have studied any particular strategy against him (probably also because he didn't think it was necessary) except practicing with Shiranami players but Taichi's play is quite a hybrid one at this point so it has its differences and peculiarities (a mix of defensive and offensive), plus it changes by the minute during the game not to mention he has a lot of unpredicatable moves up his sleeves. Another reason why the match with Chihaya came to my mind is that at the time she said she felt like a blast of wind was going to hit her after seing that formation and before starting the game. A storm of maple leaves was pictured in the background. Now let's look at this panel from chapter 203: Poem #69 is there: By the wind storm's blast From Mimuro's mountain slopes Maples leaves are torn, Which turn Tatsuta River Into a rich brocade. It's the same image as the maple leaves that make the Tatsuta river red in the Chihayaburu poem (which Taichi has just conquered in the 2nd game with Arata). #17 Even when the gods Held sway in the ancient days, I have never heard That water gleamed with autumn red As it does in Tatsuta's stream
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Post by mizusawa60 on Aug 16, 2018 14:29:25 GMT -8
I'd like to know what everyone thought about this. The name of characters in Chihayafuru. And please correct me if I'm wrong cuz I only depend on my hearing through out the anime series. Chihaya names from Chihayaburu a state of calmness in mind one must achieve to be the winner of the lifes games. Mashima names from Masochist. Someone who can bear the pain. While watching Taichi's game someone says Taichi play defend he only picks his own card but also succed in annuling the attacks. Sudo names from Sadist. A sadist one always try to get on his opponent nerves. Oe (Kana) means supporting,cmiiw, names from her supportive role in her fellow Mizusawa captain and president. She support Taichihaya relationship both in Karuta and in love. She still calls Taichi, Kucho, means president, even after Taichi leaves from their club. Komano means a cram school lecturer. Cuz he is the analys and lecturer for Chihaya for a short period of time. Hyoro means Tarot cards. As he loves using Tarot to predict his opponent games. But he recently drop this habit and after that his team won the national championship. Shinobu means something that stays in the dark. Mysterious. And to predict the end game. We must try to understand the story behind the poem. Or the poet life's history. Like poem no 17. Chihayaburu. The poet was the ex-lover of the queen. And the poem was his way to show her his un-dying love for her. In karuta, Chihaya ex-lover means Taichi. We always got the impression that Arata will be the eternal Meijin. So Taichi will be the ex-lover of the Queen, Chihaya. But in love and life, Taichi is the King of Chihaya's heart. She depends on Taichi to convince her mother to allow her to join the Qualifier and she won. When Chiha cards not around she feels at ease knowing Taichi's around as she must achieve Chihayaburu state to win the game. I'm sure she unconciously rooting for Taichi. The tasuki she gave him was her way to show it. She even shows Taichi the card she succeded to take. Just like when they playing in teams and shouting to support each other. And the bonds she built with Taichi is nowhere near her bond with Arata. So Arata was Chihaya's king in her heart and Taichi is the present king. Meijin Suou life's link to poem no 68. As the poet was the king that has to gave up to his blindness. Refers to crimsonangel explanation in Poem Thread. So what do you think?
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Post by iatheia on Aug 16, 2018 20:41:58 GMT -8
mizusawa60, no offense, but, I'm not certain you are correct in this regard. It is always better to go to the source for the translation
Mashima - 真島 - true + island, nothing even remotely close to masochism Sudo - 須藤 - necessarily + wisteria - though, sure, they do like to state for the laugh that S is for sadist. Not the rest of the name, though Komano - 駒野 - horse + field vs komon - 顧問- advisor Oe - 大江 - big + creek, not sure what you were thinking of Hyoro is a nickname, his name is Hiro - 浩 - wide expanse, Hyoro possibly meaning something along the lines of spindly or weak Shinobu - 詩暢 - poem + stretch, as opposed to Shinobi - 忍び - to sneak
Chihaya - 千早 - thousand + early -> Chihayafuru - 千早振る, though it definitely doesn't mean anything calm, the word itself relates to a very swift action. Think back to the spinner top analogy - it moves ridiculously fast in order to appear steady.
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Post by mizusawa60 on Aug 16, 2018 21:49:58 GMT -8
I know about the correct meaning. What I meant was the name and its character was taken from it. I'm sorry if my wording wasnt correct.
But the character of Sudo, for example, is Sadist so he was name Sudo. And it fits him well. Or Mashima for his Masochist character. Suetsugu sensei could just name him Taichi something. But she choose to name him Mashima. To fit his character. Well its just my intrepretation anyway. And I'm open for any correction since it was just to make it easier to understand the characters of Chihayafuru.😁
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Post by iatheia on Aug 17, 2018 0:10:21 GMT -8
With very rare exceptions, I am very much not a fan of Meaningful Names for the Entire Cast. It is only a step above color coding them for your convenience (Kuroko no Basuke is the worst example I've ever seen that does it, I still snicker at the conversation I had with my friend about it after they forced me to watch it "wait, who are you talking about? Ah, right, yes, Midori, the green one." - "I see you care about it so much")
And I'd still say your comparison of names is quite a bit of a stretch. Most examples that you mentioned are not at all intuitive or make sense linguistically. And reducing them just to a single character trait seems unfair to them. Plus how you get masochist from Mashima is something I still scratch my head, especially since I never? considered him one? So, I personally am quite stumped there.
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Post by virane on Aug 17, 2018 1:55:43 GMT -8
Guys, Unshou Ishizuka (voice actor of Harada Sensei) passed away apparently... Suetsugu-san posted about it. RIP Ishizuka-san...
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