CHIHAYAFURU Season 2: Episodes 16-17 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2026-01-08 14:00:09 +0000 UTC*MOTIVATED HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
It's a two-for-one as we review the new scenes of the "recap" episode 41 (S2 EP 16), and dive into Episode 17 (42 overall) as the match takes off between Fujisaki and Mizusawa!
Our crew is finding their own struggles in this final match, but Chihaya is going to go above and beyond to aspire the rest of her team to step up and get their "motors running" against this powerhouse champion team!
LINK TO REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/CaDQL72sbDoZNkRbEL8hqU
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
I love the concept of “intense passion” that this show elicits! Y’all are just going to have to deal with me being bothered by the conflict of interest - I’ve helped organize for competitions similar to Karuta and there are ways they could have gone around it, which I’ll talk about in Episode 18. It’s just…it could have “technically” been avoided. But it is what it is, but y’all will just have to deal with me talking about it next week, haha, and then that’s hopefully the last of it. And yeah, that’s not RIGHT that Arata was going to be given special privilege because of his lineage - just because it happens, doesn’t make it right. And thank goodness Arata is a good person and called them out on it and said, “No, I’m taking the punishment.” Good for Arata! I do love that Murao is basically Hiroshi for Arata as Hiroshi is for Taichi; that’s a cool note. I’m excited about the mystery around Suo and looking forward to hopefully more of him in the future. I love Shinobu being there to watch Chihaya! And yes, Chihaya’s injury worries me as well – both our sweet girls being injured and possibly out for the individual matches – we shall see! And Chihaya wanting to be with her friends! :3 And yes, someone else noted that about Arata as a kid, which I’ll talk about in a future intro (for episode 19). I can’t say I blame her, though, because she hasn’t been able to be AROUND him much right now in the present day. The mangaka needs to get on that! I really love Makoto realizing he loves Rion - it’s super cute! I hope that Rion makes more friends and Makoto is more openly friendly towards her after this match – we shall see, but I can’t wait! Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2026-01-15 03:12:32 +0000 UTCThis episode was intense and the end of the episode really felt like we tapped into the heart of the show - Chihayafuru which part of its overall meaning is intense passion. I think while it's unfair that Rion's grandmother is reading I think it makes sense from the association standpoint why they're not bothered by the conflict of interest. It feels fitting to bring in the best reader for the nationals finals especially after learning how high ranked the staff are from the recap and no one else as a reader is on the level of Yamashiro so they probably didnt think of calling in anyone else despite the conflict of interest with Rion being a student at Fujisaki. I mean for them this school was winning the championship before Rion was there and will probably continue to do so under Sakurazawa guidance after she's graduated so I can understand from an administrative pov why it's not a big deal even though it is. It also feels that in these competitions the rules are based on tradition and bias towards what would represent the heart of karuta and only an incident would cause them to be called into question like the incident with Arata taking another player's place in the team matchup. Even with that incident they were willing to bend the rules in Arata's favor because of what he represents to karuta because of his lineage. In the matches themselves you could also say that its unfair that for most plays the players can judge between themselves who took a card etc. On that note, Murao who shares the same role as Hiroshi in Arata's life is overseeing the matches as an official referee for the finals which is interesting since so far he has mostly observed the matches and hasn't stepped in for anything. At the end of season 1 in the Masters match we had learned that Suou is a huge fan of Yamashiro so much so that in his head he was saying I love you Kyoko-tan. The fact that in his head he refers to her on first name basis and uses a cutesy honorific (tan) that otakus use towards their favorite waifus in most cases was already a sign for me in season 1 that Suou is quite a character. His overall view of Yamashiro in that episode connects to what we learn from Shinobu Rion and Kana in this episode. Based on Suou's inner thoughts in season 1 Yamashiro loves the Japanese language the most and so what would be the same syllable in one poem is entirely different from the same syllable used in another poem because when she reads a poem she communicates a different image for each card. What's even more interesting is that he follows up this thought with only I can tell the difference. Based on this episode he isnt the only one however because Rion has grown up listening to Yamashiro and can tell the difference between certain syllables because of the imagery communicated. It may not be to the level of the 28 one syllable cards that he has but he certainly isnt the only one. Shinobu not remembering Chihaya is so on brand for her but at least she remembers her now. Shinobu and Taichi have freakish memories for sure but Shinobu probably doesnt have the same issue as Taichi and can be more relaxed about it because she most likely doesnt have to play as long as Taichi. So if five matches for Taichi is five hours long then for Shinobu its probably three hours long approximately and she only has to use more energy for the semifinals and finals. Taichi has probably past his limit in terms of energy right now and that's why he cant forget the previous matches so easily. I do agree that Taichi Nishida and Tsukuba need to focus less on how weird their opponents are and just focus on winning. Chihaya's injury does worry me as well for the individual matches and the future and I hope Kana's injury will heal properly as well. I think it's really wholesome that when Chihaya thinks of wanting to be together whether it's romantic or not she thinks of Arata. I think as much as I dont want Taichi to compare himself or anyone else to Arata in the same way the one nitpick I have is that Chihaya is not thinking about present day Arata. Her thoughts of wanting to be together is shown with child Arata who she made the promise with and who gave her a new dream. While I understand that for Chihaya who Arata was back then is important for who she is now whether its for friendship or romance I need her to be able to connect with who Arata is now or to think of who he is now is more what I wanted to say. Rion is precious and so is her connection to her grandmother. I hope Chihaya can inspire her just as much as she does her team. In regards to tropes I think the character type you were trying to think of with the laugh and all that is normally associated with the rich girl trope otherwise known as the ojou-sama so usually they would have a fan and cover their mouths to laugh etc. I watched a very adorable romance anime last year with characters like Makoto and Rion as main characters and so Im looking forward to watching Makoto being the most tsundere towards Rion and Rion is probably going to be oblivious to all of it until Makoto is honest. I do feel bad for Rion and hope she can have friends who will understand her for who she is maybe after this match she and Chihaya can be friends. This match is heating up literally and I cant wait for more next week.
sanime
2026-01-09 11:27:01 +0000 UTC
