Welcome back to Shoujo, the anime recap and discussion
podcast where I, Sarah, introduce my friend Jo
to Shoujo anime series. Our current series that
we're covering is Chihayafuru season two, episodes
four through six. Uh, and so if you guys haven't
started watching it yet, you know, watch that
and then get back to us here. Or if you're just
here to listen to us two randos talk about the
things we've been doing in our lives and then
aren't here for the anime. Well, we do recap
it. I don't know how, I don't know how good the
recap is if you don't watch it. That's a good
point. I feel like Chihaya Fever specifically
is a little bit harder because I'm like, anyway,
they play Carter and it's like, that's like 10
minutes of animation, but I just say that in
one line. Yeah, it's a much more visual, like,
not dialogue heavy or dialogue that helps to
pick the scene. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, we're.
We're here on a three -day weekend. Yep. I had
a four -day weekend. Wow. Yeah. We have a Friday
of the month off, and so if there's an already
long weekend, we'll put it on that to make it
longer. I never do anything fun with my long
weekends. I just do more of the same. But that's
still nice. That's not bad. What have you been
up to for your long weekend, Joe? Or just your
previous week? I keep hanging out with people,
but everybody wants to get dinner, so I keep
getting dinner. But then I have all this leftover
food and then I just can't eat it because everybody
keeps on like, I'm going to get dinner tonight
or something. Like, why do I keep getting dinner?
Am I like? And then my dad's going to come visit
me in a couple of days. And so like, we'll be
going out to eat then. So it's like, I'm never
going to have time to eat any of this food. It's
going to just go bad in my refrigerator. You'd
have to eat all of it at the restaurant. Just
bring it with me. Just get a little salad. Hey,
can you reheat this for me? Thanks, guys. Yeah.
Yeah. So for some reason that keeps happening.
So I've gone out to eat a lot and will continue
to do so. I watched it. Chapter two. I have a
friend that I was watching for the first time.
No, this was the second time. So I watched we'd
watched part one like forever ago, but I'd already
seen it. I'd already seen both of them for some
reason. And then we watched chapter two. It was
my first. It was my second time seeing it. I
didn't like it the first time because it's a
long movie. And I don't like how it doesn't really
stand up on its own and it keeps doing flashbacks
to kids stuff that you didn't see in the first
movie because that it just like doesn't really
work as a story without any of the kids stuff,
which I thought was weird. But I was pretty impressed
with everybody's with all of the acting of like
you have to act like this kid did. You have to
like vaguely kind of look like and then act like
the way they did. And I think they did a pretty
good job, especially Stan. With Bill Hader in
it, right? Yes. Yeah, I watched those as well.
I like the first one a lot. It's because it's
very similar vibes to Stranger Things or I just
like seeing kids in like an era I didn't get
to experience and then cool like eerie things
happening at the same time as fun. I couldn't
hang with Stranger Things for some reason. I
watched the first season and then I started watching
season two and I'm like, I can't do it. I would
say just the first ones, you know, the first
one's really good. So, yeah, if that's all you
watch, that's fine. TV shows too long. Yeah,
it's it's too it's too much. Well, I feel like.
Well, is it like only like more serious shows
like that that go too long? Do we like it when
like little sitcoms go longer? Because those
are just smaller usually shorter, like 30 minutes.
Are they? No, I mean, like season length. Oh,
I mean, a number of episodes. I guess so. Like
there's something about hour long TV shows where
if it's not cut in a way that's like interesting
or like they're not really putting all into like
creating like a like a specific vibe or like
doing some kind of interesting character work.
It's just it's excruciating for me. Like, there's
some shows I can watch and I'm like, OK, this
works. Yeah, because if you watch the ones that
are like, oh, everyone likes this one. Like if
I watch Mad Men or if I watch The Sopranos or
if I watch, you know, something that's like acclaimed
or whatever, I'm like, oh, this is great. I can
watch an hour of this. No problem. Like I could
I could watch two episodes of these in a row.
But if I watch just like whatever hour long TV
show on Netflix, I'm like, this is painful. This
is painful to me to watch. And it's like. If
I'm like someone's one, he's like, watch a show
with me and we do a whole episode and I'm like,
we need to stop. They'll like put on the next
one. I'm like, no, I need to like get up and
go do something. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So
I don't know. I don't know what that's about.
You know, something about I don't I don't know
what about the show is, but it's like some shows
I can sit through the whole thing and there's
other shows I'm like, I cannot believe. This
is this long. Well, some people don't have like
a lot of hobbies and there's TV shows. They're
only hobbies. So they need to take up more time.
But it's not good. This is the thing. It's like
the TV show is just like it feels like it's just
wasting a lot of time. Yeah, you know. But I
don't know. I don't know how to describe why
I'm not into it. Like this happened when I was
watching the live action one piece with like
my friends. I wanted to watch that. And I'm like,
this show is so boring. Yeah, yeah. I mean. It's
based off of action series and action is supposed
to be fast paced but And if you stretch it out
with if you stretch it out like loopy Yeah, it
Isn't as good. It's not although I guess I mean,
yeah, the episodes are short But also half the
episode at the beginning of one piece is recapping
So is that still happening in one piece that's
coming out now? Well, did they so okay notoriously
a problem? on certain arcs. So some arcs go just
fine. Like, I'll watch stuff with, like, one
pace or whatever where they cut it down. And
some of those just, like, are not that changed
from the original. But some arcs especially are.
So, like, Dress Rosa, for example, extremely
cut down, like, extremely long, terrible, like,
just... One pace. Yeah. Where do you watch? What
is that? It's like a fan done thing. You can
find that somewhere. But yeah, so that one extremely
long and like overdoing it. Wano apparently also
like a lot of the newer ones are extremely long.
And that's because like you need to give yourself
time to catch up with the manga or like to have
some runway for that. And also you got to make
this every week. So you can't make that much
new animation every week because the time schedule
is crunched. So they end up. Don't know not having
that much new stuff per episode. It's kind of
brutal. It's bad. I don't People have been better
about this newest one. So I'm assuming it's not
happening I've stopped watching the anime like
a long time ago, and I'm just reading it got
Gotcha. Gotcha. I don't know. Well and anything
else going down in Joe town? I don't think so.
I thought I can really remember I guess I'm playing
some games. I'm almost done with thousand times
resist. I'll probably talk about that when I
finish it, though. OK, I have a game to recommend
you that seamlessly transitions into what I've
been up to. OK, that game fantasy life I've like
for months been like, oh, when this comes out,
we should play it together. I don't know if you'll
like it, but like I am. I. It's so I don't know
if it's addictive, but like I just like. playing
it like it's comforting to play and because it's
like cozy but it's got combat and it's got um
like a plot and stuff in a world to explore and
you're super adorable and i just can't stop playing
it i have it on my steam deck and so i like have
survivor running on the tv and then i have the
game music off and i'm playing that while i'm
watching survivor so i get to like multitask
and It's so I like because you can do multiplayer.
I haven't played with anyone yet, but it's just
so cute. And I don't I'm trying to think if it's
like grindy, like you wouldn't have to grind
to progress in the story. It's more so I think
if you like want to because you have like these
different professions, basically. Yeah, like
cook or. blacksmith or, uh, you know, like a
mercenary and stuff. And so you like can level
up those to unlock better skills and stuff. But
like, I don't think it's necessary to do that,
to go through the story really. So it's more
optional, but, ah, I'm loving it. Fantasy life.
I think it's fantasy life. The girl who steals
time. Yep. That's what it looks like. Yeah. Uh,
so that's what I've been mostly doing this week.
Uh, I saw the movie Friendship last night, uh,
with. Oh, dear God. Is it Rob? No, Rob. No, I've
never heard of this. It's got it's got. Oh, Tim
Robinson. Yeah, him. Um, it's not playing in
all theaters, and I can tell you because it's
a weird. It's a weird one. It's weird. I. Did
not. Do you not like it? Do you like Tim Robinson?
I do like actively hate it. Well, I've never
watched anything he's been on, but I see all
the clips from that one sketch show thing he's
on, and those are all really funny. But it was
like almost scary. I was like, is this going
to turn into like a horror movie or something?
Because it was just bizarro. I should see this.
Should I see this? I'd be interested to hear
your thoughts on it. Maybe you like it more than
I do. Maybe I will. Yeah, it's got the kid from
Shazam, the one who's the friend who turns into
Adam Brody in his transformed version. Okay.
Yeah, so I saw that. Yeah. Oh, I did an interview
for work, my first like little interview kind
of with the press thing. Oh, that's exciting.
So that was cool. I know, right? I think I posted
a link in the Discord. But yeah, I thought that
was fun. And then also, I got invited to be a
part of a panel at TwitchCon. So maybe if that
works, I'll do that. Because then I'll be like,
oh, look at me freaking talking. Talking. Yeah,
so I'm like. Maybe I'm getting more recognition
for my work right now. That's good. Do you feel
like doing this podcast has helped you talk a
lot? I think so. I think the streaming has helped
a lot. Because I'm trying to think like in college
and stuff, you know, doing like presentations
and stuff was not like ideal for me. You know,
but yeah, I don't know. I guess in like recent
years, I've. Or I'm like so confident in like
knowing like the work we do that's easy to talk
about. But yeah, I definitely think so. The like,
you know, the kind of like, you know, in the
I like live stream because then I don't have
to edit it. And it's just like, I just got to
make sure nothing terrible happens during it.
And then editing is like, you know, if you mess
up, you can change it. But because I like apparently
there's questions. Like, I had a time to look
up, but I didn't get those in time. So I was
just winging it. But I think I did pretty good.
I do, it is hard when you watch it and you say
like, uh, or um, a lot and it's like, uh, that
thing, that, yeah. You just have to get used
to that. I've like given so many press like doing
a PhD or whatever. I've gotten like so many presentations
on things that now I can just like, yeah, I'll
just go up and say stuff. It's fine. Like, whatever.
Yeah. I've just done enough, given enough presentation
at this point that I'm like, yeah, I'll just
go up and say some things here. Try not to say
I'm going to all the time. Try not to just stop
talking. I have had times when I was giving a
presentation and I'm just like out of things
to say. I just stopped talking and I'm like,
well, hmm. Uh, well, cause with the presentation,
okay, cause right? I'm made of honor and so I'm
going to have this made of honor speech at my
sister's wedding. And my sister's like, have
you prepared? And I'm like, I'd rather just wing
it. And she's like, at least like have a bullet
list or something. Cause I think it's more. Like
doing a presentation. It's like you got to make
sure you hit all the points and but I'm like
Brain will just like skip a section and then
I miss a part or something So I like just but
also right where I interrupt myself constantly
Yeah, and pivot to something totally different
than never come back to the other thing. So I
don't know. My biggest thing is like no embarrassing
stories about her, you know Which is like, you
know, I'm fond of all the stories where she's
been clumsy or Uh, this or that, but, and I also
don't like being super, like, feely, so. This
is a wedding speech. I'll lean more into humor,
but I don't want to be all like, oh God, I boohooed
at my mom's wedding. I hope I don't cry at hers.
You should just stand up and burst into tears.
And that should be the whole speech. Uh -huh.
God, we'll see. It'll be fine. It'll be fine.
Yeah, I've come a long way. like pre -subway
job, like crippling anxiety doing interviews
and stuff. And then once you're like on the job,
I felt, you know, and I'm very much like, oh,
you know, I got to do things. I'm a good worker.
So like, then you just like put it in situations
where you have to, you know, overcome for the
sake of the job. And so I think just all the
different jobs I've done. Yeah, comfort zone.
Yeah, it's like. Yes, well cuz like I know I
know someone who you know like I kind of grew
up with and We were very similar as kids and
now and now I see like oh if I hadn't really
overcome it That's what I would have I would
have been a much more reserved like smaller World
around me, but I get I'm not that I'm like super
going out and doing so but like No, I don't think
I'm like super Like I This is character development.
Oh, yes. Yes. Oh, and yeah, like the last year
or two is like put me in situations where I had
to like I have to address things I super don't
want to and then Yeah, just the more you have
to do stuff the easier it gets the next time
Sorry, this is I don't know what this turned
into That's good. We'll go through your resume.
Get your career path planned out. We're having
a little career counseling. I'm going to crush
it at the Game of Life board game. I've only
played it once. I'll demolish that game now.
OK. I played a game called Smart Ass. That was
fun because I like games where it's like I get
to be a know -it -all. Sounds like the perfect
game for you then. Or when we played when we
play Pictionary, like. Uh huh. I think. OK, we
need. I don't know. There's no Pictionary tournaments,
but I think we're a good pair at Pictionary.
Sadly, we weren't on the team that much. So it's
be like, I know what it is, but I'm not on your
team, so I can't say. I feel like it's like that
when you play games like that, where it's like
you always connect with the person who you're
not on the team with. You're just frustrated
the whole time. Well, because there's like very.
You know, the straightforward things to draw
to depict something. But then, like, you know,
we consume very similar things. And so I feel
like we, like, jump to a different thing to depict
it than maybe a normal person would. Yeah, that
may be true. Like the sirens. Yeah. I love that
so much. I still have like a Fire truck or something.
Joe drew like a like a mermaid. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like a mythological siren. We all know this.
This is common knowledge. Everybody knows that
that's what a siren looks like. They sing little
songs. I loved it. It's so funny. My family did
not get it. The mast. Yeah. Lord. OK. Yep. I
guess we have to talk about the show at some
point, huh? Yep. Joe! How are your feelings about
those episodes? Oh, I should have my notes out.
I'm like 10. You should have your notes out.
I'll tell you when we get through it. Just top
line. Top line. What are your feelings? Fine.
Fine. All right. All right. I guess we'll get
into it then. On these fine episodes. But first,
I'm going to talk about some voice actors because
we didn't do that last time. And we have two
new characters. I guess they're like the only
two new characters. Huh. Is that true? Of note.
Yeah, that's true. Of note. So the voice actress
for Sumire is Megumi Han. She is the voice of
Moji Soma. Oh, Momiji Soma from Fruits Basket,
which is a little rabbit. Little tiger one. Yeah.
Oh, no, you're right. J .K. No, you're right.
I don't know. I haven't watched that far in Fruits
Basket before. Also the voice of Akko from Little
Witch Academia, the main chick. This is why I
was saying that, like, you look at the IMDb,
and it's like, oh, here are their top things,
and then you scroll down, and it's actually,
like, way bigger stuff that just isn't mentioned
in their most notable stuff. The voice of Obado
Ochiha in Naruto Shippuden. Oh. A pretty important
kid. For Sumire? Yeah. It's a chickplank? I guess
so. I haven't watched the Japanese version, but...
I haven't either, but that's how it's listed
on this. Okay. Yeah, big character. Big, giant
character. Yup. Also, the voice of Gon Freaks
in 2011 Hunter x Hunter. Oh, wow. I can't believe
that isn't the number one thing. For real? That's
what I scrolled down and I was like, what? That
is peculiar. And for me, she's the voice of Salem
Mass in Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin. Stop.
So she's new sailor. OK. For the other one, Tsukuba,
he is voiced by Miyu Irino, Irino, Irino. Sorry,
I said that weird. Who is the voice of Haku in
Spirited Away because we're doing kid voices
also. Long, long tenure. He's the voice of Ritsu
Kageyama, which is the brother in Mob Psycho
100. He's the voice of Konshi Sugawara in Haikyuu,
who's one of them. Oh. Do we know who that is?
Wait, which character? Sorry, say that again.
Konshi, I'm like searching it now so I can tell
you who this person is. Sugawara. Oh, he's the
gray -haired one. He's the gray -haired one.
He's cute with the little like mole by his arm.
Yeah, yeah, that's it. The second string. A setter.
And for me, he's the voice of Sora in Kingdom
Hearts. Just the whole thing. OK. So there we
go. I guess. Oh, I mean, when you played that,
you played, I'm assuming as a kid, you played
the English version. Did you ever play through
it with the Japanese? No, I don't think those
discs had the audio for it. Oh, now the new one.
Like I got it on PC. It probably does. But those
originals did not. I don't think. Gotcha. I remember
playing Final Fantasy 13 and there was like DLC
where you could download the like Japanese. But
it was like 30 gigs. I'm like, no, I'm not going
to do that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So there we
go. New characters get the voice actors who have
longer resumes than I feel like some of the other
ones we've had. So what? Maybe this is a bad
pick on my part because I'm like, I really like
watching Chihaya Furu. Maybe it's just not as
good to recap. I mean the recap's fine. It's
my bad. I just like, do we have any analysis?
Like, we can just say what happens, but it's
just like, yeah, we'll talk about it. All right.
So Chihaya Furu, season two, episode four is
called To Tell the People in the Capital That
I Make for the Islands. It's a good name. I'm
liking these poems starting from the ones from
last season. Oh, yeah. We open on errata in his
family praying at his grandfather's grave His
dad is extremely dismissive and we learn that
they had a bad relationship because he didn't
care about carida This is apparently what also
that's like hmm. I was gonna say if I had a kid
and they didn't like video games I'd be like
oh, dude. He just like does not care about grandfather
like his dad's grave He's just like whatever
is that his dad or is it his father -in -law?
Do we know I'm assuming it's probably his No,
it has to be his father, since he's like, he
didn't like me because I didn't play, which you
wouldn't hold that against someone who's been
marrying into the family, I imagine. Yeah, that's
wild. Apparently, this is also what instigated
Arata moving to Tokyo in the first place. Arata
tells his parents that he hasn't been messaging
Chihaya and Taichi very much recently, and he
thinks about Chihaya and how he wants to see
her again. And then he tells his parents that
if he wins the regional championship, he's going
to ask them for a favor. Which maybe you'll be
like, what could that favor be? Hey parents,
can I be in season two of Chihaya Furu, please?
Can I be a character that shows up? Well, I have
a note, I'm like, cause who, he had bought himself,
I can't remember, did he buy himself a phone
or did Chihaya buy one for him? But he has the
cutest, girliest little phone. It's like pink
with like a cute flower, floral, like dust or
wallpaper on it. Oh, does he? Or rather his phone.
No. Yeah. I don't know. I don't remember. His
parents are like, or his dad's like, if you don't
message them, they're going to forget about you.
And he's like, I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure they're
not. I'm pretty sure I cast a large shadow over
them. Yeah. Pretty good. Like, dang. Yes. We
cut to Dr. Hirata walking with two women from
the Karate Society. They're going to cheer on
the kids at the high school tournament. Dr. Hirata
comments that Taichi is going through a rough
spot, but he doesn't really know why. He has
the skills to be Class A. It's just kind of weird
that he hasn't made it yet. And then one of the
women comments that she's seen Taichi play, and
her diagnosis is that he's super unlucky. Poor
guy. Which I guess is true. Was it? It didn't
really seem like what his problem was, but...
Well, right, when him and Nishida... Went against
each other when they were both Class B. They
had the luck of the draw thing and he didn't
get his call. Yeah. So I think just that just
like keeps happening to him. Well, and we see
more examples of it in these episodes. That is
ridiculous. Back at the tournament, Sumire presents
Tai Chi with a bunch of cookies she made herself,
but he tells her that he doesn't like to eat
anything solid before a match and she's bummed.
She's putting in so much work. You think she
actually made them? Probably. She made it for
Tai Chi. I guess so. Dr. Hirata shows up and
tells the team that he isn't here for just them
today. They're all like, what does that mean?
And then he shows them the team, that team Mizusawa,
coached by Tsuboguchi, the guy at the Card Society
that wanted more girls in his classes here. Also,
they're going to play in the next tournament.
They grapple with this sudden challenger. We
see team Mizusawa. It's four normal people and
one weird girl. Tsubaguchi is like the has big
new teacher energy is what I said here, because
he's like all PEP. Oh, yeah. He's all jazzed
up about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Totally mundane
and then one one distinct character. Yep. Tsubaguchi
wishes Taichi good luck, but Taichi is worried
because he knows that Tsubaguchi is like going
to take it super seriously. The other two women
that came with Dr. Hirata give Taichi good luck
charms, which confuses him because he is not
aware that that is his problem is luck. Then
Dr. Hirata tells him that an individual match
is also a team match, which confuses Taichi.
What could that mean? The next game starts. Taichi
is paired against the weird girl. Chihaya's opponent
is some guy who immediately hits on her. She
gets all flusters, and we see that this is a
deliberate tactic by Tsubaguchi. Not so much
to mess with Chihaya, who's going to lock in
as soon as the game starts, but really a tactic
to mess with Taichi, which seems to work. Yeah,
it's so good. Taichi clocks him immediately as
the culprit for why that guy's doing it. Lots
of people hitting on other people at this tournament.
Yeah, that's true. Just kind of keeps happening.
What's going on here? I'm surprised he hasn't
gone against, because it's only Chihaya, or it's
only like guys hanging on girls. There's no,
but we see how like, Hai Chi is popular with
chicks. I'm surprised we haven't seen like any
of his female opponents just be like, goo -goo
eyes at him during a match or something. Yeah.
This might be the only woman he's faced though,
this chick who's like just being weird. I don't
know. We didn't get to really see those first
two games, so who knows. No, the game starts
and we see that there's a new reader He sucks
at his job though and keeps screwing up the timing
to read and this is a problem for experienced
players because they are used to the normal rhythm
Taichi tries to encourage Satomi and Kana as
they play Nishida and Shihaya are on their way
to an easy win, but Taichi is having some trouble
with his opponent She's super weird is doing
like some like sorcery stuff or something. She's
like casted spells or something He's like what
is happening? We get her backstory about how
she always wanted to become card a queen But
she's weird and off -putting and nobody was into
it like her but then like super Gucci shows up
And she's like oh, there's somebody who cares
about this how nice At one point we learned her
name, I didn't write it down. Nah, not important.
She keeps taking several cards against Taichi,
and it appears that she's just kind of guessing
and getting lucky. Dr. Hirata notes that Taichi
won't believe that his luck is just bad, and
he's gonna always think that he's just unskilled
instead, which is gonna cause him to self -doubt
and spiral. No, Taichi, no, you're so good. Taichi
surveys the field. Chihaya and Nishida have decent
leads. Only Taichi is lagging behind. He tries
to come up with a strategy. while not thinking
about how everyone has more talent than him,
which is incredibly sad. I still feel bad for
Taichi. Everybody is just more naturally talented
than him. I know! No, he's very skilled. Like,
his memory is incredible. That's a great asset.
Uh -huh. We see that he's sweating a lot. It's
because the AC unit above him is broken. His
luck is truly the worst. We're really leaning
into actually he's just been unlucky this whole
time. I guess it's gotten worse. Well, they were
in the Hakamas, which makes it even hotter. That's
true. They were in heavy clothes. Dr. Hirata
and Tsubaguchi talk about the game and Tsubaguchi
explains that their strategy is to split Taichi's
attention by having him try to lead the team
while also playing against an opponent that relies
on luck to sow self -doubt. It's all a master
plan. And Tsubaguchi comments that in the master
match, he didn't really try his hardest. So he's
trying to make up for it now or in the master
qualifier match or whatever. Dr. Harada is very
skeptical of all of this. I mean, it seems like,
you know, other schools, everyone but our team
has like teachers or guides that like play the
game. And that's and this team has like a very
good player guiding, you know, like that seems
like a big possible advantage. This almost works
for me, but then I remember that all of the player
matchups are basically random. So it's like,
you can't really have you can't really do this
strategy matchup. No, I mean, I'm sure some teams
are just like, we're just going to use the same.
Yeah, but we know that Chai's team doesn't do
that. So it's just random. So, like, all of this
being a master player, it's like, it's not real.
You kind of just got lucky. Yeah. Well, I don't
know. You know, sports anime, they got to add
as many potential aspects of it as possible.
Yeah, I just don't know why they drew attention
to that before. They literally have to make up,
like, that retro can do divination in a later
episode to make it make sense. That happened
before. The fact that we have to give this kid
a superpower in order for this to make sense
is very funny. Anyway, let's see. Nearby, Sumire
and Tsukuba are watching together. Tsukuba is
absorbed in the match, but Sumire is distraught
that she can't get Taichi's attention. What the
heck am I supposed to be doing here? She's like,
it's been two months and these people it's like
super obvious that Taichi is just in love with
Chihaya, but Chihaya basically just isn't paying
attention to him. Why is he so hung up on her?
We see their advisor show up to the match and
the room is hot as hell Taichi is riding the
struggle bus in the heat and he gathers enough
confidence eventually to ask for a towel and
immediately all the women who came to watch throw
towels at him and to his left Chihaya has leaned
over Tsutomu to hand him a towel too. There's
no way I'm like, uh I'm annoyed. I'm like Chihaya
buzz off. You can't just like in the mo - Just
in this moment You pay attention to him, but
like, and then he's going to get hopes up and
then nothing. She has like a big grid on her
face, too. I'm like, you are such the mascot.
I can't like not see. Yes, I got goofy little
man. He picks someone. But she's paying attention
to him because they're playing the game like
she still considers it a team. Yeah. And so she's
like, oh, like we're a team. Like I got to support
my teammates or whatever. And it's like, oh,
my God, he hesitates before taking the towel
from Chihaya. And then thanks, everybody. Bro,
she's not into you dude. She's just doing this
cuz you know This is heartbreaking. He's never
gonna You have to save him He thinks about how
he's embarrassed to lose in front of everybody
and how he'll have to push past that to get stronger
He starts playing better and focusing more in
his game while calling things out to his teammates
Sumire sees that Tai Chi has locked in after
receiving Chihaya's towel and decides that, like,
she's seen enough, I'm just gonna go do something
else. She goes to scout the next round's opponents
instead, because she's like, I gotta do something
more useful than sit here and watch my crush
be in love with someone else, which is so true.
Incredibly true. Tai Chi starts to clean house
and takes five cards in a row. It's now one to
six, so his opponent tries to do the tried and
true strategy of lining up all of your cards
and then just smacking them all at the same time.
It works for a little while, but eventually Taichi
is able to take one before she can hit the cards
because he's kept track of all the dead cards
with his wild ass memory and then wins. After
the match, Taichi returns the towels to the women
and all the guys hate him for being popular.
Taichi tries to return Sumire's towel too, but
she thinks that she'll have to watch out for
Chihai after all of this. Uh, because it turns
out she is kind of paying attention to Tai Chi,
which is pretty conditional as to whether or
not they're playing Carta. Yep. Yep. Yep. God,
she looks at their opponents. While we do this,
Chihaya looks at their next week's opponents,
which is Retro's team, as we cut to credits.
Oh, right. Sorry. I was going to say, Taichi,
he should just never have ran into Chihaya again.
That would have been better for him. Just doomed
from the premise of the show. He should have
just not done that. You know, I'm like screaming
at the screen, like, don't get off here. Stay
on the tray. Don't understand. Hang out with
your lame girlfriend instead. She's kind of annoying.
I just, I'm like, I don't understand the appeal.
You can find an earnest girl who, like, isn't
a lunatic at the same time. But this episode,
I mean, it's a Tai Chi episode, so I end up liking
it, right? Like, you know, playing the individual
match where he needs to, like, focus on his own
stuff and not worry about everybody else's is
pretty good. you know, that end up being the
individual match is also a team match or whatever
the other way around. I don't remember how they
said it. Yeah, we get a lot of Tai Chi time in
these episodes, so hopefully that means we're
leading up to him, like, succeeding. I can't
believe his, like, his problem is that he's just
unlucky. It's like, OK, not only does he not
have that much talent, he's also unlucky. Like,
we're just making things as bad as possible for
him. You just have to believe in yourself, Tai
Chi. Guess but it's very funny to be like, oh,
he's just gonna blame himself because he doesn't
have luck But it's like what else he's supposed
to do. You can't just like make yourself be luckier.
Yeah, uh Cuz he was so cocky as a kid like and
now he's so not I'm like, can we get like in
the middle? Like just a normal person who like
police is enough. So what? Okay, yep, Samir again
He's so cute. Being a champion. Sorry. Yes. Yes.
I'm rooting for her. She is easily the best.
She's like, I can't believe that he's just in
love with her and she just doesn't pay attention.
I don't want to watch this. And I'm like, yeah,
I don't really want to watch it. Yeah, that would
be so awful to like experiencing, you know, experience
watching it. Oh, man. In person. Yeah. God. It's
like a dude friend who like is aware of the world
around them and isn't just like in, you know,
like spoofy characters like Nishida and Satomo,
but like he needs a male Kana to like see what's
happening and be like, hey man, you know, like
you're doing, you know, he needs like a... He
needs a confidant. Yeah, I mean he would right,
but I feel like that's why we can't get one I
feel like that's why all the guys have to be
these like dopey little cartoony guys Yeah, I
guess so, but yeah, I mean that is like another
mature Yeah, there's only cartoony it's like
we have the two beautiful people in the club
and well and Sumire is like a normal -looking
character too So you have three now and then
kind of kind and then the other two are super
cartoony So it's like I mean they do get serious
moments despite being cartoony, but uh, I don't
know They're all like casually friends, but he
doesn't have like a phone to rely on Talking
about their feelings or, like, shared secrets
or anything. We're not getting anything like
that. Just goddamn Canada. No. Why aren't we
getting that? All three of these episodes are
just tournament time. Yeah. I want them to hang
out. Yes. Maybe next time. I mean, already, compared
to other sports animes, they get tons of time
to, like, to spend time together compared to
other sports animes. Is that true? So this is,
like, yes. How can that be true? How is sports
animes something people like? There's literally
no time. Who would like this? It's like half
an episode. It's always tied to sports. There's
nothing that exists outside the sport. I had
a thought. I had a thought. Which is like, you
know, I was thinking through last episode or
like last of our podcast episode and being like,
OK, so nobody can explain why they like Cardiff,
but it obviously has some draw. And at the end
of these episodes, it's going to draw in everybody
and everyone's going to be all on board. It's
less it's less operating like a hobby or like.
Like an activity you just like to do and it's
operating more like a religion You know because
it's like, oh, I don't know what's fun about
it But you just got to do it like you just got
to keep doing it You just got to keep committing
to it and that's like Just kind of how it's operating
in my mind now. Well, we just need like normal
people being playing. I just feel like no one's
like a normal person. No, and they're gonna get
less normal the longer this goes. Yeah. All right,
should we go to the episode five? Yep. Episode
five is called Be as Dear Now. These were the
good old days. We open on Retro's team. PSP kid
has been promoted to captain after pseudo left
and he's like, well, since the top two teams
advanced this year, I guess we don't really like
matter if we win or not. And Retro is like. Oh,
come on, man, we got to avenge ourselves from
last year. But PSP kid is not convinced. But
like, whatever, we got to play this game anyway.
Also, Retro could do the divination so we could
just like do counter whatever their lineup is.
We jumped to Chihaya's team where Nishida is
like, well, we advanced anyway, so I guess this
game isn't that important. But then Chihaya says
that if they're going to be undefeated from here
on out, they can't lose. And Nishida is like,
ah, all right, fine. Anyway, hey, remember two
episodes ago where Retro said he had a secret
weapon? What's up with that? She deters to look
at Retro doing his divination and is surprised
to see his sister is there with Retro. He remembers
that she said that she got a boyfriend recently.
Is it Retro? Is she dating Retro? Is this the
secret weapon? This was pretty good. Yes. Did
not come up as much as I thought it was going
to in this episode, but it was still kind of
funny. No, yeah, yeah. Minor details, but there's
a slight payoff, I guess. Sumire mentions that
while she was watching the other match last episode,
she overheard PSP kids plan, which is basically
to try to beat Taichi and forget about Chihaya
and Nishida. This pushes off Taichi, Satomu,
and Kana. Cause PSP kids like, we'll just line
up our best guys against those three and just
win. Taichi selects the order and Tsukaba tries
changing it again and Nishida's like, dude, what
the hell? And they start arguing. Taichi has
had enough though. And he says that none of the
guys can start the sentences with but anymore.
His mom made him do that. And now they have to
do that too because it forces you to make better
excuses and be less cartoony. Their opponents
have two class A players, including a new first
year, and the rest are all class B. Man, having
an actual teacher, sir, is useful, huh? It's
crazy how everybody else has coaches and we just
are like five people. Actually, we're like seven
people now. They start calling the like player
assignments. We see Retro's team order is not
correct because clearly Retro has sabotaged it.
Retro or no the player assignments are called
out and no one is against who they thought they'd
be against except retro who's up against Tai
Chi essentially what retro did is put them like
their top five in order against The other team's
top five in order so it's all straight matchups
PSP kid yells at retro and retro admits that
he wanted to beat them in a fair fight not taking
advantage of his ESP They all get into a little
argument that's broken up by the sudden appearance
of sudo He's not here to watch, though. He's
here to be the reader. Sudo's back. Haven't we
missed him? Your favorite character ever. I can't
believe those guys. I need to get rid of some
of these guys. The guys in this show are not
good. Let me just say that. Truly. Tai Chi and
Arata are like the only... I don't even like
Arata that much. Well, they're like the only
detailed drawn characters, male characters in
this show. I don't know. Is it like? I like.
Yeah, those three are like the only good looking
characters in the entire world in this show.
It's crazy. No, Shinobu looks cool, too, I guess.
I'm like, not many, very many characters get
the detail. Guy characters that I like in the
show, Tai Chi, Dr. Hirata. Yeah, I guess. Arata
is OK. And Satomu is OK. There we go. Bad, bad
lineup, bad guy lineup. Yeah. It's not feeling
very shojo to me, you know? That's true. Well,
I guess it's just it's all about the three. Is
it is it all about the three or is it about mostly
the two? And then like we see we see like a five
second scene with Arata in every like two episodes.
Well, I feel like the author is like team Chihaya
Arata and then like Tai Chi is the champion of
the people like we all have. Him and it's a feeling
it's just not gonna work out for him. Well, we'll
see how this game works out for him Retro's team
is feeling the pressure from their old team leader
pseudo being right behind them as he reads these
out Chihaya's coach gives their team all husky,
which are like this little band You can wrap
around your shoulders to give your arms for your
movement in their clothes She is like, wow, our
coach might not know anything about this game,
but she's still trying to look out for us, which
is nice. That's cute. Yeah. Taishi thinks about
how Retro has been kind of in the same boat as
him since being stuck in Class B. They both have
been to a lot of tournaments together and haven't
won. I'm sorry, you were going to say something?
Oh, yeah, I was going to say, oh, she says like,
oh, I put the finishing touches on these just
now. I'm like, what do you mean? They're just
strips across. What finishing touch did you put?
I don't know. Maybe there's something special
about them. They're so cute, like embroidery
or anything. I mean, they're purely functional.
Yes. We see that PSP kid is up against Chihaya.
The game starts and she starts losing. Nishida's
opponent is the Class A first year who's also
pretty good. In better news, Kana is doing surprisingly
well because Sudo is a very precise reader, and
we get backstory about Sudo learning to be a
reader. And basically, to sum it up, if you understand
a reader, you can beat any opponent basically,
which is what the current master does. You know,
if you can like figure out how they read the
cards, you should do that. So Sudo became a reader
to do that. I don't care about Sudo's backstory,
but this was like... you know, three minutes
of screen time or something. She is still struggling.
She keeps dwelling on her mistakes and practices
cards that just got taken away. Retro team clearly
has the advantage because they're all used to
pseudo reading, except for Kana, who's doing
really, really well at it. So that's not great.
Their coach thinks about how Karuta is an equal
opportunity game or gender, size and age don't
matter. This kind of comes out of nowhere. But
it's true, I guess. Yeah. Is it true? I guess
it's true. Sure. I mean, there's probably advantages
to like having longer arms and stuff. But but
basically, like you can make up for those differences.
Like this is, you know, this is like a sport
where it's like a girl doesn't stand a chance,
you know, because it's more strategic. There's
so many components to it rather than just like
athleticism. This is the thing that messes me
up, though, where it's like, oh, this is a this
is a game where like gender and age and that
stuff doesn't matter, except we separate off
the best card of players by gender and all of
the best players are like below the age 25. So
that's true. Is any of that true? I mean, Arada's
Arada's grandpa was like an answer for a while.
I think when he was older. Yeah. So I guess we
just haven't seen it. Yeah. Suddenly, Nishida's
game ends with him losing by 13 cards, which
is a massive upset. And now Chihaya's team is
in a bind. Nishida says he was distracted by
his opponent's weird hairpin, which like wasn't
even that weird. And also by the fact that his
sister was there cheering for his opponents,
which was pretty weird. So I'll give him that.
Yeah, because he's been like, he hasn't really
gotten a lot of like focus on him, but he's just
kind of there to count as like a win for the
team reliably. Um, so at least this is something
different. Yeah losing. Yes Taichi surveys the
field. Kada's match is neck and neck and Chihaya
is losing by five cards. That's not good. Taichi's
match is also close. So things are looking pretty
bad for them. Chihaya tries to assess the situation.
She is not fast enough to beat her opponent on
speed alone. Because why couldn't she? Why was
she not putting him on speed alone again? Well,
cause she, Dr. Hirata is like, you can't, you
need to, don't take cards with your speed. Kind
of like a task for her, a challenge to like develop
different skills rather than just that. Cause
she would like make a lot of mistakes and stuff
doing. And so like for the last, right. I think
they say in the next episode, like the last nine
months, she's been trying to be a more like a
well -balanced player. And so. But now she's
got to kick it into high gear and pull out that
her old hat trick. Right. So now she needs to
lean into her strength of listening and speed.
And then she takes the car as we cut to credits.
So she's just like holding back this whole time.
I was like, not really. I wasn't really sure
why she was losing so badly. Well, yeah, I guess.
Well, maybe she's in her mind. She's like, oh,
we're both going to. the next level anyway, so
I don't know. Basically, it seems like she's
treating it like a practice round rather than
like in a competition that her team relies on
her. So it's kind of a little selfish, like,
you know, like, don't do that right now. Focus
on the match you're in and not like, you know,
like. Yeah, I mean, she was like, she's like,
you know, she's like practicing after each one
and everyone's like, oh, it sounds like you're
not taking this seriously. But like, is that
not taking it seriously? I don't know. Basically.
We have PSP Kid makes a comment and Dr. Harada
agrees, but basically she should be like focused
in like in the match she's currently playing
and like like working towards the next card and
not just like dwelling on the card she just lost.
Yeah, yeah. So I don't know. That seems like
a more like she's analyzing the. the game as
she's playing it versus like doing that after
the fact. That feels like because then it's like
you're distracting yourself from. Proceeding.
I guess it's just kind of like it doesn't feel
like a thing that she does. It feels like a thing
that Tai Chi does. That's true. Whatever she
was doing. I don't know. I was just kind of confused
as to like what changed because it's like all
of a sudden she started doing better because
she's like, I'm turning on hearing mode. Super
hearing mode activate. We also get like a freaking.
Guy talking about Kana's chest to her. Oh, I
forgot about that. Yeah. Booby girl. I'm like,
this is like harassment. Yeah. What the hell?
This tournament's full of, like, creepy guys.
It's pretty bad. Yes. My God. Yeah, I don't have
that many more things to say about this episode.
I still don't like Retro's team. We didn't get
to learn anything. OK, is... Is the new, the
first year, the secret weapon? What's the secret
weapon? OK, that's what I was thinking, right?
The secret weapon is, well, there's three different
possibilities. It's the new class A freshman.
It's the fact that Nishida's sister is there.
Or I think they have, where their teacher told
them if they win, he'll take them to like Yakitori
or they'll take them to like a big... Meat dinner
or something which is like always the which is
always like the incentive in sports anime where
it's like Oh, yeah, we're gonna get you know,
barbecue after this. We gotta do it guys kind
of I don't feel like any of those things are
a secret weapon I feel like the first year the
new player is the only one that could be yeah,
but we didn't get to see his game. There's no
focus on him. He wears kind of a weird hairpin
and destroys Dishida Essentially, so I don't
even know what he did. Yes Okay, I will say the
good thing about this show is that like in a
lot of sports anime there's You know, like each
team you play has distinct characters and you
learn and then like one match is like You know
half a season or something, but then you get
all the backstory of all these players on the
other team which like I think It's a good thing
here that we don't do that, because we don't
have any, like, a lot of time with any of the
teams, even if we play with them again. Like,
we're very brief backgrounds on them, and then
we get to move on. It's not like it's taking
up a ton of time. They're not making the opening
credits scene, you know what I'm saying? Like
it kind of works and it kind of because it still
does it right like cuz last episode we had like
oh the weird girl is we get Like a little flashback,
but it's so generic and nothing. I'm like why
is this even here? Yep, so it's like yeah. Well
just imagine it was either Are you think it'd
be better if there was more time with it? I feel
like you should either have something to say
and make it interesting or just not do it. And
it's like there's it's still kind of doing it.
I mean, you're saying it's like, oh, yeah, this
thing that sucks is not doing it that much, which
is good. But like, you just don't have to do
the thing that sucks. It is my opinion. I'm like,
you don't have to give us backstory on this stuff.
But I don't know. I don't. This is why I don't
like sports anime. People like this. People like
the the bad backstories of characters that don't
matter. Uh huh. Yeah. Oh, last episode. Episode
six called to set the. tatsuta river ablaze uh
we open on the game chihaya is starting to take
cards again and she can hear the intonation of
the first syllable Um that sudo is reading and
guess the card because that's how she is good
at taking cards quickly And sudo figures out
that she's doing this because he's mr. Learn
the reader guy now We were reminded through montage
that this is shihaya's strength They like recap
us from last season of like hey remember that
one time satomu tells her that she has 21st syllable
cards or whatever and it's cute Well, that's
still that still matters. Um bsbk is starting
to fall apart as shihaya equalizes the match
So PSPKids starts playing really defensively.
We jump to Satomu's game where he's wearing his
opponent down. Last year, he got stomped by this
guy by 15 cards, but this time he's doing way
better. And Satomu takes against him even when
he was covering a card. So that's how good we're
doing, which is great because like... Yeah, I
like the shout out to like the progress he's
made by facing against the same player again.
Especially because like earlier in the tournament,
it's always like, oh... It's like three wins
to two or something. Like, Satomu and Kana are
not just, like, winning their matches normally
anyway, still. Well, I think they just don't
count on it. We just didn't super see, like,
maybe there was a match or two where they got,
like, four wins instead of just three. Yeah,
but they haven't had any, like, triumphs yet.
Because it's not like when you... Yeah, true.
Right? Because I guess we haven't seen... I'm
assuming each person plays through their entire
match, even if it's... been determined that your
team is going to lose because three people on
your team already lost. It's not like you then
end your game. You like finish it out. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. I don't know where I was going with
that thought. Oh, yeah. It's like, I guess you
could just start throwing at the end if you don't
care. Let's see. We're down to the last few cards,
but all four are still playing and Nishida is
like, oh, this is bad because if it comes down
to luck of the draw, we're only going to win
two out of four, which means we're going to lose.
It comes down to luck of the draw in all the
matches Retro's team starts moving their cards
around to quote -unquote split their cards And
what this means is that half of their team has
one of the cards and the other two have the other
half So if either card gets read they should
win two out of the four games which will let
them win the match They spent a lot of time explaining
this incredibly specific scenario So that means
Chihaya's team will have to take at least one
card from their opponent, which is basically
impossible in order to win. Chihaya realizes
this is the last moment and looks over to see
Nishida blaming himself. Chihaya starts practicing
swings to take from her opponent and then Taichi
joins in and he in his head goes over all the
remaining dead cards and there's one duplicate
in the remaining dead cards. Retro sees this
and thinks so hard about blocking Taichi that
when the next card is red, he taps his card while
defending it and faults losing the match. So
now it's back to luck again because there's three
and... It's two and one. A PSP kid tries to get
out on it and starts practicing his swings too,
because he's like, uh -oh, I might have to take
Chihaya's card, and I can't just be defensive.
The final card is... Practice swings are so embarrassing.
Sorry. Taishi points it out in season one, but
I'm like, that's so embarrassing. Oh, God. That's
like, there's this thing in paintball where,
like, I never did it because I was like, what
the hell are you guys doing? But they would,
like, hold their arm out, like... And like pretend
it was the scope of their or the barrel of their
paintball gun. I was like, oh, you guys look
so weird. Like, what are you doing? Mm hmm. Shadow
boxing. But it's but it's. Yeah. The final card
is red. takes and then wins, Satomu's opponent
takes and wins and he loses, and Shihaya and
PSPKid both try to tap his card on his side.
None of the spectators can tell who tapped the
card first, and PSPKid says he took it first,
but Shihaya says that they did it at the same
time, and technically that means that the person
who cited it on wins, so she loses. After the
match, Sudo asks PSP Kid if their team was the
strongest, and he says no. He only moved because
Chihaya did, and it was kind of just a luck anyway
that he won. And Sudo uses that to encourage
them, I guess. Chihaya tells him that that was
a fun match, and then they all go home. Sumire
breaks off from the group, and we see Sumire,
Tsukaba, and his brothers join the car to society.
Because religion, baby. Take First Communion.
Chihaya and Taiji board the train together. Chihaya
gets an email from Hirata asking if she had fun
at the high school regional. She starts crying
and thinks that this was the most fun she's had
yet as we cut to credits. OK. I mean, because,
right? First season, it's Nishida gets Kana and
Satomo to go to his society. So at least this
time, Dr. Hirata is getting some new disciples.
I guess that's true. Good for him. They spend
a lot of time this match describing splitting
your cards. A thing that can only happen in a
team game in which multiple people go down to
the final two cards. This is just a scenario
that almost never happens, right? They're acting
like this is such like a known strategy. And
I'm like, when would this ever happen? It's so
unlikely. Well, that's true, because I'm trying.
Is it? Cause right, we're seeing, we've only
seen team matches in like the school system.
Are there team matches outside of the school
system or once you're not in school, there's
no opportunity for team matches anymore because
then it's like those kinds of matches wouldn't
be broadcast. So people would never see that
scenario happen. I don't know. It doesn't. I
don't know. Weird. And then, of course, Tai Chi
and Chihaya. And then she starts crying after
freaking Errata. Oh, my God. She cries. She's
like, I got an email from Errata and Tai Chi's
doing his like sad boy look where it's like the
hair is covering his eyes. He's like, read it.
Just get just get wrecked. Basically, I. I think
she's crying because she's, you know, a little
discouraged that they lost when she wanted to
win. But also, girl, then you should have been
playing to win in your match and not playing
to learn. Or pay attention. Yep. You know, some,
I mean, yes, right, Tai Chi learns the lesson
of like, it's an individual match, but it's a
team match and blah, blah, blah. But Chi Hai,
like, is super the opposite where he's worried
about the others and she, like, doesn't look
at them at all. Yeah. So there we go. That's
the end of that's the end of this episode. How
do we feel about it? Um, I'm I'm let's see. Um,
yeah, I mean, it's fine. They don't have to.
Well, now I'm like, if they don't bring a trophy
is old geezer from the last. episode's going
to be like looking into their club because they
didn't get another win. It's like, oh, they didn't
win this time and they don't have members now.
We can super shut them down. I don't feel like
that plot point's ever going to come up again.
OK. I feel like that's such a cliffhanger that
didn't really matter. Pay off. Yeah. Well, I
guess. Hopefully Sumire starts getting good.
I feel like last year it was like we had team
matches and then the following day with individual
matches for high school, but that didn't happen
this time I mean they could just because the
high school matches were by class right next
time Yes, the individual matches are like so
maybe hmm. I don't know But also, can you rank
up from winning a school one? No. Or is the only
right? Yeah. OK. Good Lord. Maybe it was maybe
they would they just cut to the next individual
match. And that's why it was confusing. I mean,
I just misremembered. What? Well, basically,
I'm guessing the next episode is going to be
everyone's training, whatever. What can be the
other component to that? Maybe some Sumire making
moves on Tai Chi or I don't know because it has
to be something other than just training. We
can't immediately cut to the next one. We gotta
have a fucking training arc. Come on. This is
the only time in an anime I'm asking for a training
arc. There's gotta be a full -blown... They gotta
hang out. They gotta go to summer camp. Dr. Hirata's
summer camp. We're all going to. Well, because
what did they lose? They lost something that
then they trained afterwards for because it wasn't
because they they won this tournament last year.
So what is it that they did that they made? I
don't know. You're asking me to remember season
one. There's not. OK. OK, well, we'll find out.
Yeah, they got you. The show has to do some character
work now. We did the tour. We did the tournament.
We did it. Yeah. And we're only on episode six.
You know, this is episode six. That's fine. Whatever.
Re -matching is a bunch of characters that I
don't care about. It don't matter. But we did
it. That's great. Satomu and Kana are just as
good as those guys are now. So that's good. So
great. We need I need them. to have actual interpersonal
drama soon that needs to happen. Hey, remember
when Shinobu saw, like, a shadow vision of Arana?
What's going on there? When's that gonna come
up again? Yeah, because we... Well, maybe we'll
get more time with him where he's, like, doing...
We learn what his ask his request for his parents
is which i'm guessing is the mood that i hope
so So that he can be a character. Yeah, so but
then tai chi's gonna be devastated. Let's watch
tai chi be devastated. Oh, no, no We love tai
chi we want the No, yeah Yep, uh, I don't think
I have any other opinions about points about
this so That's our coverage of Chiaya Furu season
two episodes four through six. Next time we'll
do seven through nine. We could do four episodes
if we wanted. No, you're just like looking up
at your ceiling like that. I have to do the summaries
for all of these basically tomorrow. So we're
just going to do three again. We can maybe switch
to four. OK. I'm looking up at my ceiling because
I'm just like, oh, my God. We got through it.
So this is your favorite show. We got through
it, you guys. This is one of your favorite shows.
Is it still one of your favorite shows after
we watched through it? I like watching it. Sports
anime does have like a lot of things missing
that I like, but also like it gets me hyped.
So I just enjoy, like, Haikyuu, I like, yeah,
when I'm watching it. That, like, I get, like,
this excitement level that I don't get in, like,
a lot of other animes. But so I think it's just
better for, like, binging than it is to analyze.
It's not holding up under our criticisms, but
I do love watching it. I feel like it's not only
that. I feel like every episode we come back
and you hate Chihaya a little more. Okay, but
I'm sorry? Okay. I feel like you really don't
like her. Because even when she's being endearing
in these episodes, I'm like, that's kind of cute.
But you're like, God, Jihaya, just play the game.
Stop being such a weird little freak. Oh, God.
Yeah, I get... I've been, like, critical. Is
she the protagonist I've been the most critical
of, probably? Oh, yeah. I feel like it's not
even close. I mean, I freaking hate... Marie
Antoinette, but she's not really the show kind
of also hates Marie Antoinette, so it's fine.
Yeah, yeah. I and then she's what's her Misaki
is just like a what? Nothing. She's just like
a nice kid. Yeah, I guess I just I like one.
Particular, because there's like a lot of series
where I don't like the protagonist because I'm
like, oh, I don't want the like, I'm a loser
and become better over time. I want someone who's
like badass by default. I was born different.
I want like a protagonist that I like and then
we get to go along with them for the ride and
the ride isn't becoming a person that I end up
liking. Like I want them to be. Likeable start
as a person and then we see them in scenario
like a normal person, please Yeah, I guess not.
I'm just impatient. This is not a show development
Now it's super duper not but I like a door Tai
Chi so much The only guy who's kind of normal
is Tai Chi and he has he just gets like red every
episode It's like he's either losing car to games
or she hires like crying about errata in front
of him or Well, I guess he went right. He's winning
in a lot of ways where it's like, okay He's well
his family's well off. He's good -looking. He's
smart Popular girls like him. So he's got like
a lot going for him It's just that none of the
things that he wants are like fulfilled by those.
Yeah, which I guess is Good like makes him more
likeable. But also it's like if he had everything
then Oh, no. I mean, Tai Chi's great when he's
like sad and pathetic. That's why I like him.
Get wrecked, Tai Chi. Every episode, every time
he's like something bad, I'm like, yeah, Tai
Chi's sad. Woo! Well, I know at least our rankings
for Chihayafuru will change after we finish just
front the left. Can we just make Sumire already
sprinting to the top? She just become the main
but POV character, please. She's already applied
to be the Shojo protagonist. Well, hopefully
we get more time with her. Well, in the meantime,
rate us five stars on your podcast platform.
Send us emails. If you have emails, if you want
to nominate somebody else as the main character
of this show, email us at shojopod .gmail .com.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did we learn anything? And,
uh, split your cards, Dan. It feels like this
is not a thing you'd ever, like, today we're
gonna learn about splitting cards, guys, in a
scenario that will almost never happen. Well,
it's not even, like, every episode is a, like,
Monster of the Wink format where we learn something
new, but... It's just, like, I don't know. And
will this ever come up again? Surely not. It's
just really goofy to be like, and they all four
matches go to the final card, the luck draw.
And I'm like, really? All four of them? Nobody
ever. Just like one, two in a row. At least Tai
Chi won his, man. That's true. He just faked
them out. That's pretty good. Right around. Yeah.
I don't think I learned anything. If your sister
starts dating somebody, maybe you should learn
their name so you're not just caught off guard.
Maybe you should care about who your sister's
dating. Yes. How old? I'm like, how much younger
is your sister? And how old is Retro? Is he like
too old to be dating her? Like, ugh, I don't
know. Like, because if she was like a year below
Nishida, she would be a first year too. I don't
know. Maybe she's just like a very unimportant
plot device. I mean, if she's one year, that's
one year difference, it's nothing. Whatever.
I know that's true, but I feel like if that was
the case, we would see her. And she doesn't like
heart it. How'd they even meet? What? I don't
know. I need the me cute. What happened? We saw
her. She was just in like the she was like the
little break because we had like the one random
ass bonus, like just little short of the recap
episode. And she was like in that. And that's
the introduction of her. So she wasn't even actually
like in the canon parts of the first season.
Whatever. Yeah. Do that. That's fine. We didn't
learn anything. Figure out who your sister's
dating. In advance. Yeah. Yes. Care about your
family. The Shia. That's why you lost so bad
at the beginning. Uh -huh. That and swirly hair
pins. All right. Yep. Well, OK. Thanks for joining
us for this episode, guys, and catch us next
week when we... Chuck, more Chihaya Furu. Joe's
favorite. He's just gonna hear and get more and
more excited about our character. I need Shinobu
to show up. Where is she? Yes, we do. We do need
our cool characters. I'm on Shinobu watch. Forever
on Shinobu watch. Where is she? Why is she not
in the scene? We need more snowman stuff. Every
scene, I'm gonna ask where Shinobu is and why
she isn't here. He has to be the mysterious rival.
Yep. God, okay, whatever. Okay. Hey, bye. Bye!